The Mobile antenna websites practically tell you to keep the coax at 18 feet, or
else. I thought that was true, until numerous people at this group and several
websites said that is nonsense.


It's just a convenient premade length of coax. My RadioShack 19-210 2 meter
antenna came with the same junky 18 foot length of crappy RG-58 with a crimped
on connector. After removing it from the magnet and drilling a hole to properly
mount it, I cut off the extra cable and put a solder on end on it. If it didn't
have a propietary connector going into the base of the antenna, I would have
replaced it with something better. RG-58 is barely good at 27 MHZ and even
leakier at 146 MHz. The shorter the better. Coax length does not matter if
the SWR is at 1.5:1 or less. I haven't bothered to check my SWR on my CB
antenna since I got my ticket. The CB still works just fine with the RG-8X
and 225 amp on it!!!