RadioBanter - View Single Post

November 7th 05, 09:09 PM

wrote:
Ok, I have decided to go with the 102" steel whip with 6" spring for a
total of 108" or 1/4 wave. I am planning on mounting the antenna
behind the driver side on the bedrail approx. 12-18" from the cab. It
is an older Dodge ram long-wheel base, so the drilling is not a problem
for where I am going to mount the antenna. (long wheel base may give me
a real good ground plane, hopefully) I am running a Cobra 25 LTD in
the truck. The antenna mounting bracket is aluminum I believe, so I
may need to fabricate one myself from steel for good grounding.

Also, I am hunting some coax for my base setup. I want to go with RG8
I believe, but RG58 is all I can seem to find in the 30-50' range.
Will there be too much loss with the RG58? I can get a length custom
made, but I need it soon and the CB shop is down for now. It is a
Cobra 142 GTL radio with an Antron 99 antenna with the top section
replaced with another 102" steel whip after the wind took the original
someplace else.

Any thoughts or suggestions on these two setups will be greatly
appreciated.

Thanks

Get some RG-8m and put your own connectors on it. Coax length
does NOT matter. A properly installed 1/4 wave will have an
SWR of 1.56:1 because it is a 30 ohm antenna. Do not trim
antenna or coax trying to get less then 1.56:1, it won't
happen and it won't affect the radio either.