I'm either going to go with a mag mount Wilson 1000 or a K-40 antenna. The Wilson has a 2 year warranty, the K-40 a 4 or 5 year warranty.<br><br>Does anyone run either of these? Which is the best? What's your experience?<br><br>I haven't ran a CB radio in many a moon and am way out of touch with the industry. Any help would be greatly appreciated.<br><br>Thanks

 

Bull Dog,<br><br>Hit the &quot;Search&quot; button above and type in &quot;CB Antenna&quot;. You will find some good stuff all ready on the subject.

 

Ran livestock with a guy who used the K-40 on his truck he seemed to have pretty good luck with it. He drove o pst so he was allways behind me trying to catch up so he used it a lot

 

Thanks FiverBob. I wanted to start another post just to make up my mind between the Wilson vs the K-40.<br><br>Lotta good input out there.

 

I run the K40 I think it can't be beat. works better than any firestick I ever had. Just my 2cts though.<br> Bob

 

It helps to keep a line on the basics while considering antennas. A 1/4 wave antenna is the standard, all loaded antennas are a comprimise regardless of what they cost. I use a 96&quot; Shakspere which is slightly capacitance loaded and works great, does not bend over. The longer the antenna the better capture area for receive. On a mobile the closer to the 1/4 wave resonent the better the transmit. This of course also depends on the mounting location, the center of the counterpoise is the best. If the hight does not bother you, the full 1/4 wave is the best. I can attest to the fact that a 96&quot; mounted at bed rail hight is not too high unless you need to put it in a garage.

 

Back between '96 and '98 when I was driving from Temecula, CA to El Toro every day there were a bunch of guys that had CBs; all of them swore by the Wilson because it could handle more power. Of course these guys were running with 400, 500, &amp; 600 watt kickers. I don't have a linear, but have always used the Wilson with good results.

 

Many years ago I was A CBer (Johnny 1 with a Sliver Eagle) now I listen more then anything...Whats the best placement on a rig to receive with a trailer in tow...a single antenna center of the roof...or duals one on each side...which setup will give the best ground plane with a trailer in tow...BTW a magnetic mount will not be an option for me

 

If you have a Quad cab or Crew Cab the roof is large enough<br>for a decent reflecting ground plane surface. With a magnetic mount and an antenna with a coil load these work well and the<br>bonus is it can be transfered to another vehicle easily.In addition put a small steel plate like a electrical <br>junction box cover plate on top of your trailer roof and you have a spot for another mag. mount antenna.This is so you can have a portable base unit in your trailer for when your<br>rig is parked. The antenna on the RV roof works well because<br>of the height but since the Mag Mount won't stick to fiberglass,Rubber or Aluminum this is the reason for the<br>Steel cover plate as a mounting base on the roof.<br>The Mag mount antenna of course is taken down before moving the trailer, its quite high and may snag something.<br>The theory behind Ground plane antennas for vehicles is to<br>use the sheet metal surface as the ground plane to work against. This is why antennas mounted in the centre of full<br>sized Vans work so well.<br>One caution...If you have a compass in the roof consel of your<br>truck move the mag mount back so the magetic field does'nt<br>interfer with the compass.Mine is about a foot from the rear<br>edge of the cab roof and not problems with the compass.<br>Hope this helps, I've been a licensed radio operator for<br>25 yrs. and tried just about everything when it comes to antennas.<br>

 

The reason that cophase works well with big trucks and would do the same for a high trailer is that it gives some rear reception around the trailer. It also tunes out the normal 2.1 to 1 mismatch that a 1/4 wave antenna has. If the trailer is not full higth (13') a single stick will work well as I run, but the cophase centers the pattern over the width of the truck and you hope to get the dimention of the spacing somewhere near optimum for a true cophase pattern.

 

Interesting stuff. So how does one connect two antennae to a single radio connection-----a coax signal splitter in reverse?

 

[quote author=mikejorn link=board=11;threadid=9863;start=0#96892 date=1043642301]<br>Interesting stuff. So how does one connect two antennae to a single radio connection-----a coax signal splitter in reverse?<br>[/quote]<br><br>Any truck stop or Radio Shack has a cophase harness to hook two antennas to the radio. Remember one thing though, the higher the antenna the better the performance. A big truck mounts the antennas on the mirror frame, over seven feet tall, mounting them lower means to get the same performance you need to have a longer antenna to get higher. On the road the max hight is 13.5 feet. My 96&quot; is about 12 feet.

 

I currently have dual 1/4 wave antennas with the dual coax cable mounted to my bed rails...works petty good until I pull my trailer then rear reception dies (caused by the trailer blocking) but doesnt cause any troubles becaues I still get good forward reception which is more important to me when traveling<br>Would my trailer cause the SWR to rise if my antennas are tuned without a trailer on ??

 

[quote author=pappyman link=board=11;threadid=9863;start=0#96949 date=1043673280]<br>Would my trailer cause the SWR to rise if my antennas are tuned without a trailer on ??<br>[/quote]<br><br>Yes.<br><br>You should retune them for running the trailer.<br><br>If you use the CB the same with the trailer as w/o, see if you can tune the antennas for a middle point, that way you don't have to retune each time you pull the trailer.<br>(as long as it isn't too much of a swing, then you run the risk of burning up your transmitter)<br><br>phox