Trying To Choose CB Antenna

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Bman,

Pretty solid advice, but I have to differ on a few points.

I am a licensed amateur radio operator, KE5CCC. I do not agree with your views on tweaking CBs (the 11m band) and adding amplifiers. First and foremost, that is illegal. 2nd, that is what has cluttered up the 11m band and has driven a lot of folks away from it for "safety" purposes. I would never rely on CB bands, no matter how much power I had behind my radio for rescue. It could happen, but I wouldn't count on it. The bands are just too cluttered with noise that most don't pay attention to. For close quarter trail communication -- CB is very useful.

I have a Wilson 4' Flex FGT fiberglass antenna on my FJ40, up front, passenger side on my brush guard. I consistently have the best radio transmission/reception of any CB in our group with my Uniden Pro 520XL (stock). The antenna has been ABUSED terribly ever since I have owned it and it doesn't have so much as a scratch on it and looks & performs as new. I agree with your views on ground plane and location helping/hindering TX/RX. Just wanted all to know that my Wilson flex FGT fiberglass antenna has performed well and when I get the ARB for my Taco, I'm putting the same antenna up thee on the passenger side mounting tab for my CB. My 2m/70cm antenna is in the center of my DCab roof on a mag mount and I *really* get out there and receive very well (Tram 1180).

Anyhow, just my .02 USD. I await the brimstone....

Jody.
 
I will agree to disagree with First Toy on the tuning bit. Radio Shack's $20 SWR meter will do just fine when tuning your antenna so the cost is not high. Any SWR below 2.0 is acceptable working range, but the closer to 1.0 you get the better. The reason you need to tune your antenna to radio is simple. High SWR's put undue stress on your radio causing it to run hot and effectively shortening the lifespan of your radio. A high SWR will still transmit but your recieve and transmit qualities will be adversely affected. While it is possible to put your radio and antenna on your rig and instantly have good SWR's it is more likely that you will have ok SWR's that can be greatly improved with a little tuning. The $20 cost of a SWR meter is much cheaper than the cost of replacing a radio with burned out finals. Even the cheapest radios out there are around the $20 range and an expensive radio that would warrant replacing the finals will still cost $50 and up to have it fixed.

When tuning your antenna, you want to check both channels 40 and channel 1. Tuning them as close to equal and as close to a 1.0 as possible will give you the best SWR's across all channels. My checked but untuned Wilson 1000 on my 60 is clicking a 1.25 on channel 1 and a 1.5 on channel 40. While well within the "Acceptable" range I know that my antenna is a little on the long side and needs to be shortened about 1/8 to 3/16 of an inch and rechecked. With the 1000, when trimming is needed for tuning you want to pull the antenna out of the base and nip a little off the bottom then file the tip back to a bluntish point \/.

EDIT** Had to leave work half way through my post and lost my trane of thought.

Outback,
No brimstone for you. Speeding and changing lanes without a signal are also illegal yet we do these things safely every day. I am a proponent of short wave radio, although not yet a user I intend on becoming versed and licensed eventually. As far a radio's go for safety reasons I will also agree with you in that Ham is the way to go, but when it comes to being on the trail there are still far fewer Ham operators than clowns with CB radios. A well tuned and tweaked CB would be likely to reach more people who could lend a helping hand, in the general vicinity of the places I wheel most, than a 2meter radio. You, from my own personal experience, you are one of the few fiberglass whip users who are completey happy with it's performance. The biggest problem I've found with them is chaffing and tearing the outer sheathe and exposing or cutting the wire. You would probably agree with me though that you MUST tune your antenna and radio every time you do a new install.
 
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We do see eye-to-eye on this subject Bman.... Excellent, civil, loaded with info response. Hats off to you buddy....

With respect,

Jody.
 
Thank you Jody. No reason to get irrate over a subject like this one for sure. Some people can't post without freaking out, I am not one of those people.

A little more information for those interested http://radioproshop.com/antennatest.htm

This was a non-scientific test performed by some respected users on a forum I visit occasionally. They compared multiple antennas and rated them. Check it out!
 
Turbocruiser,

Where are you located? I'm sure we can find a local tuner for ya.
 
Well, good news and bad news.

First, it turns out that one lady i work with and her husband are real amateur radio buffs. He does all sorts of things from CB to UHF/VHF and HAM. She's on her way to her own HAM operator's license although she admitted she did it mostly for him. Anyway, he told me through his wife that he would be happy to help tune things.

The bad news (minor not major) is that the Uniden 538 is just too big to fit. With some super careful dremel work I can make it fit right under the Alpine it terms of the width and height of it but the dang thing is so long that it then sticks out past the Alpine about 1.5 inches and thats without the coax line plugged in yet! :mad: So it looks like I'm going to go for the 520 or another brand altogether that might make a din sized unit. I think the 520 will work well enough, I had just read that the electronics in the 538 were really well done.

I'll update you fine folks as I learn more, ohh yea, that might take some time! :D




:cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
 
For some reason, my last post (since 11.56 or so last night) is not showing up on the thread review screen and is not showing up on the database in a way as to bump the thread up to the top. So if people are waiting for something past BMAN's post to show to read and respond, they will think the thread is dormant since yesterday sometime. Anyway, hope this works....
 
Glad you posted up, I had missed your response. What is the depth of the 538's carriage? Alvaro just installed a Cobra 18 in his 80 and it's a super clean install. John (offroader5) has a 538 in his Heep that works like a charm It's a good radio but he has problems with his firestick. He just ordered a Wilson 5000 mag mount and we're setting him up with a 75 watt kicker amp that's gonna give him a ton of range. My next radio http://www.www.premiere-electronics.net/store/galaxydx959.html which I plan on putting in the 60 with a little 250 kicker. Coupled to my Wilson 1000 this setup should really sing.
 
BMAN said:
Glad you posted up, I had missed your response. What is the depth of the 538's carriage?
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Its almost 8.5 inches. The problem is the back touches things inside the dash. I can recess the cb a little more if it is mounted above the Alpine but then alot of the most important/most used buttons on the Alp are sorta covered by the protruding cb and that looks weird to me. When the cb is above the stereo it sticks out about an inch and when it is below the stereo it sticks out almost two inches and really looks weird to me.

Anyways, I think I found the best of both worlds: bumped into a place called clay's radio supply. They take the Uniden PRO 520 XL and perform the following things to tweak and tune:

- Turning up the Transmitter's wattage
- Cutting the transmit limiter and or adjusting the modulation.
- Modifying the mike amp circuit for more gain when necessary.
- Aligning the receiver for optimum signal to noise ratio.
- Adjusting the squelch range
- Calibrate the transmit and receive meter settings.
- Frequency adjustment to zero tolerance.
- Perform a complete check of all functions.
- Perform a visual of the circuit board for cold joints and flaws.

So I got the radio, a wilson lil'wil' and the coax and connections etc from them for just under 120. Turns out that they do not carry the Uniden 538 for whatever reason and could not comment on how it compares to a suped up 510 or 520. So whaddya experts think? Is this a good getup as far as radio, antenna, etc. ??? Thanks. :cheers:
 
Update

Hi all, just wanted to write to say that i got the good little 520 today along with Wilson LilWil antenna. The 520 will easily fit without any worry, its almost too small! The shop tweaked and tuned several things and I'm looking forward to trying it out on our trails with some wheelin friends. Anyways, I was wondering what is the BEST way to wire for power? I can easily splice into the wire that powers my stereo, it even has an inline alpine fuse box that should either add some margin of safety or just constantly blow the fuse since there would be more load on it than with the stereo along. Of course I can route power wire separately but not super sure on where to tap into (fuse, another wire, etc). I'd appreciate any advice at all as I am really still rusty on automotive electrical. Thanks. :cheers:
 
Hello ke5ccc from ke6sge. Turbo There are some radios that are better then others just as there is coax that can be better then the other as well as antennas being better then others. When you can match the radio to the coax to the antenna back to the radio you will then have a talking rig. As Bman stated if you mount the antenna on the front right corner then your signal will be a little stronger off the back left corner. Will you notice it? Probably not. But if you are out back and the signal is weak then try driving in a circle and stop if the signal gets better or keep going if you lose them and then stop when it gets better. When you roll up your coax you can create a balun or chook and this can be of great help to you because it will get rid of stray rf going back to your radio but to make it work you will need to do the math. If you are going to use your cb for safety reasons then I strongly suggest that you also have a gps system of some kind and know how to use it and how to tell the person on the receiving side where you are. I am good at t-hunting but I am better at geocatching. Radio signals can bounce off of things and will give a tracker a false reading but the lat. Long. Will be good all most every time and will get me close enough to find you. Your antenna is in my opinion 75% of your rig. You can have an expensive radio and match it with a losey antenna and no one will hear you but if you take a weak radio and match it to a lossless antenna you will find that people from far away will respond back to you. I think that Bman is for the most part right on. The coil of coax is the only thing that can be iffy. The coil can change the impedance of that line and then will match your radio to the antenna or throw it off. If you are going to make a coil then know what end to make it from how big of a coil you will need and how many turns it will take and why you need one in the first place.
 
Why can't anything be easy!!!!! The more I learn the less I know. Thanks for the timely post Turbo. I just got the same radio 538 pro and the Wilson 1000 antenna and had the same questions you had. Thanks to the guys that responded and answered them for me in advance of me posting the questions. Now I guess I will have to learn tons of stuff about radios so I can hook up and tune mine. Bumbed to think it won't fit below my radio though. Never thought of measuring as I thought there would be plenty of room in there. On to plan B.
 
It can be easy though. Allot of us will make things larger then they need to be that’s all. Every thing mentioned so far can be played with as time allows. What do you need the cb for? If it is for the group outing then you really do need any thing powerful just follow the manufactures instructions and every thing should be fine. The SWR is all that you need to watch out for. If you do not cut or modified the antenna then you should not have any swr problems from it. When you mount the antenna do not put it too close to other vertical metal may it be the truck cab or other antennas or this can cause swr problems so just keep it in the open. Just use Velcro to hold your rig to the dash or install to the side of your seat. I think it is better to run off the battery then to use some thing like your cigarette lighter because the radio can pick up line noise. There are allot of gremlins out there to play havoc with radio equipment for you to worry about at this time. As a fast test and as long as your squelch is not turned up. There is always some one on cb (depending where you live) so if you do not hear people talking then you probably have some thing wrong with your rig and you need to check it out before you fry your radio. Do not worry about it, plug it all together as the instructions tells and start talking.
 
I do and will be doing a lot of travel in the south west and I usually do it alone. I hate crouds. i am going to use it for an emergency conduit incase I end up over my head and need assistance. I am going to mount the Wilson to the passanger side of my ARB and fasten the tip to my roof rack. I was suprised to read about it being 60+ inches long. I might have to look into a "kicker" like BMAN was refering to. I need to find a good radio man around here to do some brain pickin and see what is out there. I need visuals. You guys are a great help!
 
photogod said:
I am going to mount the Wilson to the passanger side of my ARB and fasten the tip to my roof rack. I was suprised to read about it being 60+ inches long. I might have to look into a "kicker" like BMAN was refering to. I need to find a good radio man around here to do some brain pickin and see what is out there. I need visuals. You guys are a great help!
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What do you mean by fasten the tip to your rack? Do not let the metal whip touch your rack during transmission or recieve. This will throughly "F" with you performance. If you are talking about a type of guy-line to keep the antenna from whipping around you will want to use something non-conductive like nylon or cotton chord.

A small 50 or 75 watt kicker amp can be purchased on ebay for around $75. Texas Star makes a damned good amp and from what I hear they run the closest performance to what they advertise. I have no personal experience with them however and base my opinion on those of others whom I trust in the radio hobby.

82-40,
I do not have enough experience with coiling coax to use as a choke or balun and wouldn't even begin to broach the subject in this case. Again, from personal experience I have found that not coiling your cable yields the best"out of the box" results for ammature use.
 
BMAN said:
What do you mean by fasten the tip to your rack? Do not let the metal whip touch your rack during transmission or recieve. This will throughly "F" with you performance. If you are talking about a type of guy-line to keep the antenna from whipping around you will want to use something non-conductive like nylon or cotton chord. .
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Yes to the nylon cord as I don't want it whipping around. Thanks for the advise on the kicker. :cheers:
 
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