102" whip antenna

[kb8ymf]

I lost my old 48 inch fiberglass antenna and need to buy a new one. Google tells me a 102 inch is awesome. Anyone have any comments on this? Can I arc it from back to front?

For a cb if that wasn't clear.

DON'T do it. Strapping the antenna down and curving it over the truck will make is as effective as a set of Dixie cups. The EMI (Electromagnetic Intereference) with the antenna that close to the body of the vehicle will effectively cancel out most of your transmitted watts. You radio puts out typically 4 watts. The rejected wattage with the antenna near the steel body will suck up probably 90% of that. You'll put out maybe a 0.25 of a watt if you're lucky. Leaving the antenna free to whip around is a huge danger to those around you when you're doing some slow rock crawling stuff.
Antennas like wide open areas around it. Plus that antenna is NOT very forgiving when it comes to tuning it. To tune it you have to cut off the length to get it matched. What happenens if you cut to much off? I'll let you figure that out.

I have a better solution. One I have used for years. And with still only putting out 4 watts, I'll challenge anyone to match the performance of my little radio.
See the link below to what I have. Notice the tuning tip at the top. Completely adjustable up and down. The REAL secret is to tune the antenna to the radio properly. Here's where it gets interesting. Antenna's can only be tuned to ONE frequency or channel optimally. Channels on either side of that channel will degrade further and further SWR wise. Meaning if I tune my radio to a SWR (Standing Wave Ratio) of 1.1:1 on channel, it in theory would be transmitting all 4 of the watts out with nothing being consumed as heat. If you measured the SWR on adjacent channels You will find the SWR gets higher and higher the further you move from your set channel. The problem with a high SWR is that if you put out 4 watts with a high SWR, 3.5 watts of that is being rejected or used to create heat actually and NOT being used to communicate. So pick the channel you want to use most often and tune it to that channel. I wouldn't pick channels near the ends because you will have an extremely high SWR on the far reaching channels. Instead pick something near the middle. Channel 19 or 20 if you have a 40 channel or Channel 11 or 12 if you still have a 23 channel unit.
The other thnig to remember, SWR of greater than 2:1 can be VERY distructive to your radio, Meaning too much output is being turned into heat which in turn can start to heat up the internals of the radio. It's one of the reasons big power radios blow out their final amplifiers because at very high output levels you have to be very careful.

Get this antenna and match it properly and you won't be disappointed.

http://www.k40antennas.com/products/...0-watts-black/

[fsumotorhead]

DON'T do it. Strapping the antenna down and curving it over the truck will make is as effective as a set of Dixie cups. The EMI (Electromagnetic Intereference) with the antenna that close to the body of the vehicle will effectively cancel out most of your transmitted watts. You radio puts out typically 4 watts. The rejected wattage with the antenna near the steel body will suck up probably 90% of that. You'll put out maybe a 0.25 of a watt if you're lucky. Leaving the antenna free to whip around is a huge danger to those around you when you're doing some slow rock crawling stuff.
Antennas like wide open areas around it. Plus that antenna is NOT very forgiving when it comes to tuning it. To tune it you have to cut off the length to get it matched. What happenens if you cut to much off? I'll let you figure that out.

I have a better solution. One I have used for years. And with still only putting out 4 watts, I'll challenge anyone to match the performance of my little radio.
See the link below to what I have. Notice the tuning tip at the top. Completely adjustable up and down. The REAL secret is to tune the antenna to the radio properly. Here's where it gets interesting. Antenna's can only be tuned to ONE frequency or channel optimally. Channels on either side of that channel will degrade further and further SWR wise. Meaning if I tune my radio to a SWR (Standing Wave Ratio) of 1.1:1 on channel, it in theory would be transmitting all 4 of the watts out with nothing being consumed as heat. If you measured the SWR on adjacent channels You will find the SWR gets higher and higher the further you move from your set channel. The problem with a high SWR is that if you put out 4 watts with a high SWR, 3.5 watts of that is being rejected or used to create heat actually and NOT being used to communicate. So pick the channel you want to use most often and tune it to that channel. I wouldn't pick channels near the ends because you will have an extremely high SWR on the far reaching channels. Instead pick something near the middle. Channel 19 or 20 if you have a 40 channel or Channel 11 or 12 if you still have a 23 channel unit.
The other thnig to remember, SWR of greater than 2:1 can be VERY distructive to your radio, Meaning too much output is being turned into heat which in turn can start to heat up the internals of the radio. It's one of the reasons big power radios blow out their final amplifiers because at very high output levels you have to be very careful.

Get this antenna and match it properly and you won't be disappointed.

http://www.k40antennas.com/products/...0-watts-black/

haha, I hope you realized in my pic, that the antenna tuck is only for storage/getting in the garage.