edy

i need to chop about 6 inches off off my cb antenas i have dual whips will this mess with the tunning of the antenas will not fit under my appartment over hang they are 3 foot barjans. thank you for any help.

bmoeller

Would be best to get a pair of 2' sticks or keep the ones you, and use either a set springs or quick disconnects, and put them under the seat to get into the garage.

http://www.walcottcb.com/antenna-mou...-c-29_112.html

edy

think i am going to get 2 foot one so i can go thru the carwash to

jrs_dodge_diesel

Short answer, yes it will mess with the tuning.

greenworks

Sorry to be a hijacker but...

How do you tune a antenna? I never got great reception wth my cobra unit maybe this was my problem I was looking to put it back in but what kind of wire does a guy use and what type of antennas are good.

HorseHauler

It's up to you, but remember the taller the antenna the better the range, so with that in mind I would deffinately look into a couple fold overs like seen above on the link...

edy

not for shure i had one of my buddies do it

HorseHauler

You have to get a SWR meter, can be had enexpensivily at radio shack, to tune your antennas to your CB. It's pretty simple to do, or just go to a CB shop, they charge like 5 or 10 bucks to do everything you need. lots of truck stops have them nearby.

Depending on what kind of antenna you want, wilson makes great mag mounts and fire stik is also a good company for whips. Those are the most heard of, I love my wilson mag mount.

Forrest Nearing

if they're whips, I'd just let 'em "tickle"

Christov

If you are looking for CB then you will be working on the 11 meter band which is around 27 megahertz. The cable you will be wanting is a 50 ohm impedance cable with PL 259 connectors on either end. The cable should be RG-58 or similar coaxial cable. Tuning of the antenna is done by either raising or lowering the antenna in its base. To do so you will need an SWR meter which will show you the Standing Wave Ratio for your feed line and antenna. You are shooting for an SWR of 1:1. A bit higher is normal, but the higher the SWR the more "load" in your feedline. A standard CB should be putting out a maximum of 4-5 watts RMS. With a high SWR the output of the transmitter is being dissipated in the cable and not reaching the antenna for proper transmission. As far as cutting lengths from antennas, don't do it. You will ruin the antenna unless your measurements are exact to the proper wavelength. The length of the antenna is directly proportional to the frequency that the antenna is designed to operate. You will see antennas listed in wavelengths also. 1/4 wave, 1/2 wave, 5/8 wave.... the higher the fraction to the whole number means more effective radiation power or erp. I am a ham radio operator and run several different frequencies, all of which are different sized antennas for the different bands. My call is KF4ZPX.

HorseHauler

yea what he said!

jrs_dodge_diesel

Ideal VSWR (Voltage Standing Wave Ratio) for a lot ofradios is 1.5 : 1. If you can gets yours between one and 1.5 you are golden. The 1.5 : 1 applies to a lot of transmitters (VHF, Marine ship to shore radios, HF, Ham radios, etc) are designed to operate at. Check the specifications in your manual, it will tell you there. In fact we use a 125 watt HF (2-30 MHz) tranciever thats designed for 2 : 1 VSWR.

J.R.
Electronics Technician 2nd Class, U.S. Coast Guard