Which would be better, doing two 2' antennas on each side of the hood? Or one single 3'

Or is there really a big difference?

 

I don't know about reception, but, personally, I like pairs of things, I'd go with two 2 footers.

 

http://www.firestik.com

There's a lot of info there. I'm sure you'll find your answers - they have it organized loosely by topic.

 

Yeah I think it would look really cool...not that style is everything but it counts!

 

2+2 is not equal to 4 (feet of antenna) in this case.

Dual antennas cause the antenna radiation pattern to be directional. If the distance isn't right, you won't get the pattern you want. If not the right distance, you might do more harm to reception and transmission than good.

You also need to consider if you really want directional in the first place. Big trucks are wide enough to get the right distance between antennas, and I believe they end up with a directional pattern that puts more power toward the front and back than to the sides which might be good if you're mostly on straight roads and want to talk to people in front or behind you. If you want best overall performance front/back/left/right you don't want directional patterns.

In this case, I think "looks" should be low on your list of priorities if you actually intend to use the CB.

Alan

 

Blah blah blah...get all technical
I acually read up on that, and saw it wouldn't be a great idea, I acually bought my CB the other day (Cobra DX 19 III), and a 2' antenna that I mounted on the side of my hood (done today). Thanks for the advice though, I understand looks shouldn't be a top priority

 

yeah thats the same one i bought Rickey. have you already mounted the anteanna? cause you'll need to tune it. mark (mpulver) as you know has a tuner. once he gets it back from Ray im sure he'll let yo borrow/use it. maybe at the next 4roc meeting.

 

Oh you know it...next 4ROC meeting... "Operation: Tune Rickey's Antenna"
But yeah, I ordered the CB off ebay...cheaper, damn GI Joes, they had it for $50, I couldn't pass it up, but the bastards didn't have any in stock, I was so dissapointed. So I checked Ebay and got it cheaper

Yeah I mounted the antenna today...But am not going to acually put the antenna on until I get the CB in the mail...But it looks good, I did it about middle of the hood, drivers side (when I say middle I mean on the side )

 

(hey dood!)

Alan's basically said what I woulda', that you may not _want_ to be directional, and dual antennas will do that to you.

On the trails, you REALLY want to be able to get out in all directions. Becoming directional may put you in a spot that a guy 1000 feet away on a perpendicular to your antenna pattern won't be able to hear you. That's not good. And running _short_ dual antennas will reduce the overall "get out" and thus give a higher impression of being directional.

They're also a beyatch to tune since you have to tune them to each other and then tune the pair to the radio.


One point on the side of a single is distance. A longer antenna is more efficient at both transmit and receive than a shorter one. That generally translates that you can get more distance from a longer antenna than a shorter one. What it really means is that the radio doesn't have to work as hard with a longer antenna on transmit, and you're increasing sensitivity on receive.


Then general rule of thumb for _trail_ riding is to run the tallest _single_ antenna that you can. If you're out doing a bunch of highway driving, down something like the straight and narrow I-80, then running duals is a good thing.


And yes, you can most certainly borrow the SWR meter!

 

If you wanted the looks of a pair of them couldnt you just hook 1 up? You'd still have the cool looking pair but only 1 would be doing the work.

 

Two foot sounds a little short for your hood. You might want to mount that on your roof. It might be okay for close range, but in my experience it needs to be higher.