I graduated last year but I went to prom with my girlfriend for her senior prom. It was downtown at the Science Center. I forgot about the low parking garages. I pulled in and it was over. My antenna is a Francis 5' 6" antenna. It's mounted using Alons Bracket so it site up pretty high. It flexes really well and now even better! Every beam, pipe, dust bunny etc. was struck by my antenna. The max height was something like 6' 8" or something. It was freaking hilarious. All the dust falling and the dinging of the antenna hitting the pipes was funny. I took some video on the way out so you guys could see what I'm talking about. Notice it flying around in my rearview mirror. I was also driving slow as heck becasue I didn't want to break it. It's much lounder in person and we only had one window down. Then as I'm leaivng the garage attendant pokes fun at CB radios and stuff. I looked at it the next morning and it is beat to heck. The cap is missing and the top 5" or so of the antenna is all beat up. Here check out the video.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ95Nmkh0mg

Here you can see how tall my antenna is. It's a few inches taller but it's cut off by the picture.

 

lol, clank clank clank! sounded like a train rolling through the parking garage

 

ohhhh yea.....

 

yeah, the silence after I left then it abrupted into laughter, the night got better as it went on

 

If you're worried aobut Alons bracket breaking at all, it won't. I've already busted one antenna completly off and the bracket is still stong as it was new. Now after this incident I'd say it's hard to break it under normal uses. The antenna will break before the bracket ever does.

 

Mine does the same thing especially since its a roof mount.

 

What kind of antenna do you have?

 

Just some cheap Cobra 30" mag mount, got it and the radio for free from my grandpa and haven't upgraded it yet. Sucker will whip around if i hit it with something lol

 

Mine is fiberglass though, it isn't a metal whip, which it sounds like yours is. I'm going to see if the performance is affected too much since the tip and upper 1/4 is beat up.

 

Yeah its a black stainless whip or something like that. Doesn't work for crap thought lol, I need to get the whole thing tuned once I get my new antenna. Do you recommend that antenna your running? I'm looking for a 5' fiberglass and I'll just make a copy of Alon's mount.

 

It's an ok antenna. I liked my old 5' FireStik better but this Francis is pretty good too. I'm thinking of getting another 5' FireStik and putting a spring under it so I won't snap it off. The Francis I have now is more flexible and it'll take one heck of a beating even though it seems weak, plus it's 6" longer than the FireStik. My buddy has a Wilson fiberglass whip. I wanted what he had but in 5' and the longest they have it in is 4'. His is super flexible compared to every antenna we've tested. FireStik (broke wheeling), Francis (currently on my rig), K40 (broke 2 of these, with similiar conditions as others tested) and the Wilson and overall the Wilson is our favorite. I need/perfer a 5' though with my hi-rise campershell. I'm getting close to finding my optima setup!

There is a link if you're interested.

http://www.wilsonantenna.com/fg.htm#flex

 

Looks like I might be getting a Wilson then. Thanks for the info

 

lol mine barely hits in the parking structure at the local mall, the tip on my antenna is all scraped up (<dirty?)

 

I just got the 5.5ft Francis and new coax and had my radio tuned... I can get out about 15mi on the highway... about 10-12mi in town... It's so nice! I've got a spring at my mount as well to help with whip lol

 

funny

 

jeeese buddy... take it easy on that mount!

 

Haven't been in a parking garage since I put my CB in, thank God. I don't think my firestick would hold up as well.

 

Thats funny I would imagine it being pretty loud.

 

bent the holy hell out of my spring...antenna faired well. Got some really funny looks hearing that 4' firestik slap the concrete rafters. lol.

 

Try doing that with a 102" steel whip on a bed rail mount, Loads o' fun!

 

Where do you find a 102" antenna lol

 

I think those are metal whips, the 102"

 

Still, where do you find that?

 

I think this is one

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=family

Here is another

http://www.dxengineering.com/Parts.a...tNo=DXE-WP-102

 

I'm goin to the shack tomorrow to pick one up lol