Is this antenna any good? I dont know anything about them, but was thinking about running two of these right behind the cab mounted on opposite bed rails.
http://www.rightchannelradios.com/fi...tenna-255.html

 

I've never heard anything bad about them. I'd steer away from duals....I tried it with bad bad results...even with firestik's dual antenna coax. Our Rangers are far too narrow to gain anything with duals..they actually hurt your performance because they are so close to eachother and they are "fighting" each other.

 

You're really wasting your time, effort, and money on dual antenna. A ranger is not big enough to make proper use of that concept. Just get one, use quality coax cut to only the needed length, with well done connectors. You'll do fine.

 

18' stranded coax only. Don't coil excess.

 

So would one only 3-4' work well or are the 7' or so ones that much better?

 

The 4 or 5 foot firesticks are your best buy. If you check out what alot of truckers have, it is the 4 or 5 foot firestick. Check their mirror mounts when driving down the highway. Like said before, the dual antenna idea is a waste of time. The frequencies could be messing with either sticks reception. Just make sure you don't bunch up the coax wherever you line it from the antenna to the CB. If you have excess wire, spread it out. Also, a big part of reception is getting the CB properly tuned with a SWR meter after it's installed.

 

OK, thanks for the info guys. one more question, how much does the quality of the CB play a role in clarity? I mean is there a big difference between a $10 and $50 radio?

 

i am running a cobra 29 peaked and tuned with a 102" whip and it works great for me, i can get out about 10-12 miles if i am not under power lines

 

You can have a bad *** peaked and tuned 29LTD and a bad antenna ground, and the $50 19IV with a good antenna ground will work better. It's all about having a good antenna ground.

Quality of the radio matters imo. FCC regulation says that a new radio max output is 4watt. With a peak and tune you can get up to 60-70watt of power. Some radios can't be modded....the popular ones can. Like the 29LTD is probably the most popular and most common. That's what i'm running...peaked and tuned.

 

yeah a good antenna with a cheap radio is better that a good radio and cheap ant

 

You antenna means everything along with your coax... Without a good antenna you won't get anywhere Kyle..

I personally like the francis antenna's... They make them in 4ft and 5.5ft.. Stick one of them on a spring and hood mount and you're set... If you need help I can show you how I was taught to run coax under the hood without coiling it.. It's pretty sweet!

Glad to see you finally come around and get a CB instead of that handheld **** lol

 

I've got a Wilson 4ft using Alon's antenna mount (on the back of the truck near the tailgate. It works great and takes well to the beating from some of the desert plants and low-hanging beams or pipes in the parking garage downtown.

 

Well for now i think i will just plug it in to my "handheld ****" since i already have one and i only use it when i go wheelin.

 

Yeah but it's nice to have that radio goin down I-5 and find out where all the bears are lol

 

So i cant find any place around here that has any good deal so im resorting to the internet.
How do these look? the first one has free shipping and the second one is pretty cheap.
http://secure.data-comm.com/GL/Detail.bok?no=252205
http://consumerelectronics.escstores...tkitblack.aspx

 

Those are mirror mounts for semi's... They'll work if you use only the side with the coax attached to it and bolt it to your bed or something, but even then you're not gonna have a good ground for the antenna... Best mount is on the front fender.

Look for fender mounts

 

I find it very hard to believe that an out of the box CB radio can be simply re-tuned and adjusted to pump out 70-80 watts. And if it does, it will no doubt not last very long and probably be pretty messed up.

 

Tell that to D&R Communications..

One of the only shops in the US to be able to tune Cobra's.. Shane pumps out the watts... I'm pretty close in wattage with my RS TRC-446

 

And see how long it lasts when you run a cheap internal power amp designed for 4 watts at twenty times it's spec.

 

Actually Trevor, D&R is one of only two Cobra Lisenced/Authorized Repair shops. The shop told me I should be pushing 60-70watts.

 

Have you ever actually measured that?

I will admit I haven't touched a CB in a very long time. However my experience with "real" two way radios tells me that you might be disappointed if you put that jacked up CB radio on a service monitor. To begin with, I doubt you are actually doing 70-80 watts. But thats just a guess. In either case, it is probably transmitting the equivilent of RF vomit. You just can't take a radio spec'd for 4 watts and make it do twenty times that without it being screwed up.

 

I'm pretty sure i could easily make those mounts work for me, i was more asking about the antennas and if they are good quality since i know nothing about them.

 

Alot of folks have ran mirror mounts to their bed front. No clue how good their setup was, but i think your fine. I wasn't fine with a mirror mount mounted to the toolbox, relocated it just recently.

 

How can I ground my antenna that I made a hole in my toolbox and have the stud and antenna with spring mounted right to the toolbox? Otherwise I may move the CB antenna and put another radio antenna there in its spot.

 

I was told my D&R Communications that the only way to propery ground an aluminum toolbox, is to put a ground strap from the toolbox to the truck bed at each corner. And for me and my headache rach and my deep toolbox, that's impossible to do the front corners of the toolbox with my fat ***. lol. Shorter the ground the better too.