mobile cb antenna

Well in theory yes in practice no. Here is why.
Radio ways travel in all directions but if you mount it horizontal most of the waives would be hitting the highway, and everything around it( cars, road Debee)

If it is mounted up so does the waves traveling every which way but there is less interference

2008-03-26 23:18:31 by jrhd

Im looking to get the most out of my cobra 29 thats jacked up

A quarter wave whip mounted to the center of the roof will outperform any other antenna available. Antennas which have loading coils or otherwise shortened will be less efficient. Similarly, antennas placed on the trunk or bumper will be less efficient than a roof mount. Bottom line, use as long an antenna as possible and mount it as close to the center of the car as you can. If used, loading coils should be high on the antenna, not at the base. Use these pointers as a guideline to assess the antennas available on the market.

2006-10-04 16:28:30 by Buck D

Price: $31.99 $18.03

you'll get much better reception if it's grounded. a magnet mount on a baseboard heater works great.

2007-01-07 07:49:52 by jasonsky@verizon.net

Price: $23.99 $20.10

0.38-Inch x 24 thread
0.38-Inch dia fiberglass construction
8 gauge silver-plated wire
4-ft fiberglass CB antenna

I have my mobile cb antenna on my roof right now and it is going to need grounded, but is there any way I can properly ground it without putting it on a metal pipe?

Not clear if this is in a vehicle or not. As the other answer says, connect it to the frame.

But in any case, connect it to the ground of the CD transceiver. That will usually be done via the shield connection on the coax cable from the antenna to the transceiver.

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2009-07-16 10:47:23 by Paul

I have a mobile style antenna that is meant for a car and uses a magnet to attach to the roof of a car. I want to know if I could use it as an antenna for my base station CB radio. My plan was to solder and/or screw four steel backing sheets together and then mount them on my roof, to make a flat surface and to use as a ground plane. Then I could take advantage of the magnetic base of the antenna and just stick it in the middle of the four baking sheets. Will this work?

Again, as metioned above, the results may not be optimal.
But, given a little consideration, I think it is do-able as follows:

- You can use a square iron or steel base-plate that the antenna magnet will stick to.
- Drill a hole in each of 4 corners of the plate for attaching radial copper wires. The copper wires needs a firm clean connection to the base-plate.
- Each copper wire radial arm needs to be about 18 feet long. 18 ft is ~ 1/4 wavelength at 27 Mhz CB band. With the 4 radials extended full length from each of the 4 corners of the base plate, this will create a ground plane for the antenna system.

The weakest link in this scenario may be the vertical antenna component itself. As mentioned, antenna elements generally need to be around 1/4 wavelenght for best effeciency. The vertical elements of Mobile Antennnas are generally far less than 1/4 wave (~18 ft.) and thus will never be as effecient as a full 1/4 wave vertical element.

Go ahead and try it. Experimenting with antennas is half the fun of radio communications. It may not be optimal, but it may be a cheap "functional" option, if implemented with care. You can decide afterwards if investing in a commercially manufactured, full size, base antenna is a better solution.

2008-09-22 05:47:10 by drwebster93