You must have an amp. No way you could get that much power out of the 29's chassis.

Cross country skip happens on 5 watts as well -- the only time you need the power is when the band isn't so "open". Right now we're hitting the "trough" in the sunspot cycle. It'll be a few years before propagation picks up again.

That is a problem with the 102" whips: in motion they bend and detune. You've hit a pretty good reason why the helically wound antennas on the fiberglass core could be better at higher speeds particulary (unless you put a guy line like monofilament on it, lol -- some guys do that, but it wouldn't work for offroading for sure). I hadn't really thought much about that so good deal.

I have worked Moscow on 10 watts from my ham rig. Using a "hamstick" on 10 meters (right next to the CB band). The hamstick is a hybrid between a continuously loaded helical, and a center loaded whip. It has a wide spaced winding on most of the stick, a tight winding near the top (varies in size with the ham band it's for), then a 3 or 4 foot whip section. The hamsticks are 7 to 8 feet tall, but the whip is very flexible, but not long enough to bend in the wind to the point it detunes. A nice compromise.

 

yeah john, i have a pride 150w linear. the cobra does really well. barefoot peaked and tuned it puits out right at 20w. eventually i'm gonna get a big radio, a galaxy or something, my pockets just aren't deep enough at the moment. i hope i didn't come off negatively in my last post. i enjoy talkin about CBs, not many people know too much about em, and i always wanna learn more.

Josh

 

mines pushin... 3.5 watts lol

 

If you continue to pursue radio, consider getting a ham license. It's another hole to pour money into, true -- but it gives you MANY more communications modes and frequency bands. A great number of hams got started in CB, including myself.