Cb anntennas

[sssooo]

Can you run a ground wire to the chase to make a regular antenna work?

[Gdetrailer]

d1h wrote:
Last time CB's were used.

:B

10-4 "good buddy"..

Was already on it's death bed when that movie was made.

RV'rs however keep putting it on "life support" in a vain attempt to bring it back from the dead..





Totally outdated and dead technology, only a die hard RV'r can hug..

[d1h]

Last time CB's were used.

[ford_truck_guy]

I am also in the "no longer use a CB " but when I did, I used a K 40 magnetic mount.... And a good SWR meter as well...

[wa8yxm]

Many of the 'THrough the glass" antennas DO have a ground plane... If you know where it is. .It's just not big enough.

[Gdetrailer]

Bumpyroad wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:
One of the worst examples of a no ground plane antenna is the through the glass antenna mounts.

I have used through the glass antennas on my various vehicles and the range is reduced but usable. I learned to NOT do this on dual pain windows however. 🙂
bumpy

CB range is questionable at best on it's "good" days a couple of miles when mobile.. Intentionally making the antenna underperform even better isn't going to help things even for receive only.

And yeah, dual pane windows are a buzz kill if one is trying to capacitive couple signals.

If one is wishing to go to the hassle of hard installing a CB (why I don't know) then you may as well go for the fences on making the best attempt of squeezing out as much performance in the antenna as one can.

The use of no ground plane CB antennas (or any other band) handicaps you right out of the gate.

The best mobile CB antenna I used was a coil base loaded antenna from Antenna Specialists (AS) with a 3ft stainless whip.. The worst was a 2ft shorty wire coiled fiberglass stick (may as well just used a coat hanger instead). Never tried the full 1/4 wave stainless whip as I didn't wish to drill a big hole in the bumper or side of vehicles.

[Bumpyroad]

Gdetrailer wrote:
One of the worst examples of a no ground plane antenna is the through the glass antenna mounts.

I have used through the glass antennas on my various vehicles and the range is reduced but usable. I learned to NOT do this on dual pain windows however. 🙂
bumpy

[wa8yxm]

Another thing you can do (this will take some research) now you will have to use "Short" antennas because doing it right means 18' of antenna (too high)

But if you take two of the spiral wound CB antennas and the mount below....
Mount at Ham Radio Outlet You mount it so the "Antenna" goes up (between the bolts on teh photo) coax and counter antenna go down. both the antenna and the counter antenna are the same... NOTE: this mount is used by many hams with "hamstick" antennas (I use hamsticks myself but not (yet) with this mount.

[Gdetrailer]

wa8yxm wrote:
No the radio is generally already "Grounded" BUT.. You can get "No ground plane" antennas.. I used one.

OH. on my motor home I mounted it on the "A" pillar.. I mounted with the tip about 1" higher than the highest other point on the Rig (Instant bridge stick) Worked well.

I used half a Mirror mount... (The L shaped part) the antenna mounted as normal. 4 lag bolts to the pillar (Sealed) and a hole behind the bracket (Also sealed) for the coax to exit. the one I had had a "V" shaped notch to engage the rod it was designed to clamp to.. that's how the coax exited. Worked great.

Firesticks... they make a NGP design I'm told (mine was a differenet company)

Today I don't do CB any more.

While no ground plane antennas for CB do exist, they tend to not work as well as an antenna with a decent size of ground plane. One of the worst examples of a no ground plane antenna is the through the glass antenna mounts.

Typically the body of the vehicle will act as a ground plane, if you have a all fiberglass body then you will have to depend on the steel frame of the vehicle.

In theory the OP could create a simulated ground plane on say the roof of their RV (assuming fiberglass or non metallic roof) by running some wire radially from the antenna base on the roof like spokes. Four wires at 1/4 wavelength might be enough to create a OK makeshift ground plane.

1/4 wavelength at CB frequencies will be around 103", typically radials should be a bit longer (12% if I remember correctly) so four wires at 116" length should get the OP into the ball park..

Alternately could run some wire from the base of the antenna to the frame of the vehicle and see how well it matches.

Most likely will see very little difference in distance with either radials on the roof or connected to the frame.. CB distance typically is going to be 50ft on bad days and on good days a couple of miles.

Yeah, I no longer do CB either.. Gave my last one away for $5 at a Hamfest this last fall.. No one really wants them but mine was spotless and the guy took pity on it and took it home with him.. Feels rather nice without one laying around dong nothing :B

[FlatBroke]

We use to ATV and had CB’s with Fire Sticks. Not much ground plane there and they worked well over the years for communicating. Guess it all depends on your use.

[wa8yxm]

No the radio is generally already "Grounded" BUT.. You can get "No ground plane" antennas.. I used one.

OH. on my motor home I mounted it on the "A" pillar.. I mounted with the tip about 1" higher than the highest other point on the Rig (Instant bridge stick) Worked well.

I used half a Mirror mount... (The L shaped part) the antenna mounted as normal. 4 lag bolts to the pillar (Sealed) and a hole behind the bracket (Also sealed) for the coax to exit. the one I had had a "V" shaped notch to engage the rod it was designed to clamp to.. that's how the coax exited. Worked great.

Firesticks... they make a NGP design I'm told (mine was a differenet company)

Today I don't do CB any more.

[CA_Traveler]

ScottG wrote:
Don't know what you mean by "regular antenna" but if you're referring to an AM/FM antenna the answer is NO. It is not tuned correctly (can't be) and you will fry the finals in the CB that way.

X2 There are CB antenna for grounded and not grounded (NGP) antennas depening upon vehicle construction.

CB usage seems reather limited these days.

[ScottG]

Don't know what you mean by "regular antenna" but if you're referring to an AM/FM antenna the answer is NO. It is not tuned correctly (can't be) and you will fry the finals in the CB that way.

[ArchHoagland]

MountainAir05 said: "Make sure you tune it using a swr meter."


That is an absolute must do!

[MountainAir05]

Just get a top loaded antenna and you do not have to worry about a separate ground. It gets its ground thru the coax. Make sure you tune it using a swr meter.