Hey guys, I was wondering what I could do to get better reception with my CB. Right now I have a 64" whip antenna mounted in the back driver's side stake hole of the bed. I don't ever seem to get very good reception with it. Is it a crappy antenna? Or can I put it somewhere else that will work better? I got it at Radio Shack.

 

There are several things you can do to ensure that your antenna is working properly. The first thing you should do is get (borrow or buy) an SWR meter and verify that your antenna is tuned properly. If you are unable to get it tuned in it's current location, then you may need to move the antenna.

Some antennae are better than others, but the first thing you need to do is get your antenna tuned before trying to determine if the antenna is any good.

 

How do i tune it? There doesnt seem to be a whole lot on there that can be tuned? And where could I get an SWR meter?

 

Usually there is a little set screw that will let you adjust the height of the whip up and down.

Crapio Shack has SWR meters.

 

There's a guy in our offroad group that has a swr meter, just remind Beau in the 84 ranger that ya want him to check it for ya when ya finally come to spring creek..

 

Sounds good to me! Will he be there next weekend? What kind of SWR reading should I be looking for with a 64" whip?

Oh and FireRanger, are you talking about the little allen screw that holds the whip into the fat black part? Lol sorry I don't know what they're called.

 

Yes, that. You can loosen the screw and adjust the whip up and down then re-tighten it. DON'T do that while holding the microphone transmit. Just check the SWR, moe the whip and see if it got better or worse. You play that game until it gets as good as you can get it.

1:1.x is great. 1:2.x is ok but could be better. 1:3.x sucks. Anything higher blows and you can damage the radio. You want it as close to 1:1 as you can get it.

 

Cool! Thanks. I guess we'll just have to see what it's at right now. Probably like 1:10 or something

 

yeah Beau should be there the 22nd, if he isn't I'll make him come cuz he's just 10 mins away..

 

There are Antenna Analyzers (MFJ-459B) that are designed to tune the SWR of the antenna MUCH better than a standard SWR meter... The analyzer takes ALL the guess workout out of adjusting the SWR. You can center the tuning of the antenna where ever you want it....
IF you are using a CHEAP antenna.... then this is one of your problems... A quality antenna makes a cheap radio perform OK..., but.... a CHEAP antenna will make a quality radio sound like junk !!!
The antenna makes the system... not the reverse....
Make sure the antenna is grounded very well or you wont get the performance you are looking for !!!!!
Purchase a quality antenna such as a Wilson 1000 or a Wilson Silverload....
While radio operators may disagree on whether a fixed mount or magnet mount works better, they do agree that for the money... Wilson makes a QUALITY antenna.

OR 4x4

 

1. Get your Cb peaked and tuned
2. Get it done to the type of antenna you have...
You can get this done at some car audio stores...mostly places that sell cbs..and have alot of accessories...im getting mine done soon by my moms friends boyfriend for free...hes going to teach me how to do all this cb stuff...theres some little things you can do...free mods....
3. Ditch the Radio Shack and get another Cb..

 

Hes got a cobra CB which there is nothing wrong with. My suggestion would be go get a 4 ft firestick II antenna from a truck stop. They run a lil more than 20 bucks, have the tunable tip, and with a spring they are very trail friendly. One of the big things in CB reception is to get at least 2/3 of the antenna above the cab of the truck and to have it properly tuned for SWR. As long as you haven't burnt your radio up already there is nothing wrong with it. The radioshack whip is probably not helping you out at all.