Cb antennas
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Cb antennas
I just bought an 02 f150 extended cab, and I am putting a cb in it. I'm not sure what antennas to use. I have a truxedo cover on it that i'm taking off to replace with a tool box. I want dual fiberglass whips off the side of the tool box. I was either going to only hook 1 of the box whips up with the other as a dummy, or I was thinking of 1 antenna in the roof that is hooked up to the cb and dummy duals for looks. Either way I want a good functioning cb.
Can anyone tell me which way to go and if, in either way, the dummy whips will interfere with the signal?
Can anyone tell me which way to go and if, in either way, the dummy whips will interfere with the signal?
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Joined: Sep 2006
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As an Amatrur Extra Class; only one operating antenna will work 'properly'.
Reason is the antenna spacing cannot be made far enough apart for 11 meter operation.
The correct spacing for two in 'co-phase is 1/4 wave length. 1/4 at CB frequency is 8 feet +/-. Even then in co-phase the radiation pattern will not be fully circular but favor two direction depending on feedline lengths.
I would for max utility, use a single magnetic mount in the center of the cab that can be removed anytime.
Placing an antenna below roof line and to the side is somewhat of a small loss in performance because the ground plane the antenna has to work against is very different considering the box and the cab are split in mounting and the box sides are fiberglass in many cases. This also results in a very distorted radiation pattern.
Ive addresssed this specific to a pickup truck and not to a big tractor so there are differences between the two for heights and distances plus the cab and trailer etc.
Good luck.
Reason is the antenna spacing cannot be made far enough apart for 11 meter operation.
The correct spacing for two in 'co-phase is 1/4 wave length. 1/4 at CB frequency is 8 feet +/-. Even then in co-phase the radiation pattern will not be fully circular but favor two direction depending on feedline lengths.
I would for max utility, use a single magnetic mount in the center of the cab that can be removed anytime.
Placing an antenna below roof line and to the side is somewhat of a small loss in performance because the ground plane the antenna has to work against is very different considering the box and the cab are split in mounting and the box sides are fiberglass in many cases. This also results in a very distorted radiation pattern.
Ive addresssed this specific to a pickup truck and not to a big tractor so there are differences between the two for heights and distances plus the cab and trailer etc.
Good luck.
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