ok. im just getting into cb's. so far i picked up a cobra 29 nw st on ebay. i know there not the best but i got a pretty good deal in it. anyways i need some advice/ help on what to do for an antenna and anything else i might need. im lookin at one of those mounts that go in the post hole on the bed rail of the pickup. i really dont want to drill any holes and i dont really want to do a mag mount either. i was thinking about getting a whip antenna because of duribility. something shorter than a 102" though, maybe like a 72"? if you have any input on what to get for an antenna let me know, i really dont want to spend the money on a predator right now, maybe later. what should i get for coax? anything else i need? thanks for the help.
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Noob Needs Help bad
- Thread starter chevy1500
- Start date
C
CDX126
Guest
How about a Wilson 5000? Great antenna. Keep looking around the forum, you may come across a 10K. Good luck
ok thanks for the help so far. any opinions on the shorter ss whips? ive heard good things about 102" but nothing about shorter ones. also is grounding as simple as wiring the antenna base to the frame? will the post hole mount work ok or do i need something else? how good is the SWR meter in the cobra? will i be ok using that to tune with? in the manual for the cobra it says swr can be tuned on the radio? that there is a knob to do it with? how does that work? thanks again for the help so far. keep it coming.
There should be switch on your radio that says calibrate and swr and s/rf if I remember corectly. There should also be a knob that says SWR cal. Flip the switch to calibrate and rotate the knob all the way counter clock wise to start. Then key up on the radio with no audio. Good way to do this is to turn the mic gain all the way down. Then turn the knob untill the needle hits the calibration spot on the meter. Should be a small triangle. Then flip the switch to swr and key up the radio and it will show your swr on the meter. As for an antenna if your going to use the stake hole mount I would recomend an antenna that you could get the load above the top of the cab for best preformance. something such as a fiberglass whip such as linearone said. I recomend a fire stick with the tunable tip. There easy to tune in my opinon. We have tuned them to ac condenser and file cabinets :shock: Ther is also antennas such as the wilson 2000 that has the load up the whip a ways and it is stainless. Best bet to find an antenna is to browse the internet and see what you like and what works well in your aplication. Good Luck!!! 
Go to rat shack and buy a cheap SWR meter,they r not the best but better then the meter in a cobra 29.I do not think that mounting that antenna on you beds post hole is a good idea.I tried for a week to get my SWR down on my truck mounted like that and it would not go any lower than 2.1.I made a mount and mounted it on the rear bumper,ran a 2 gauge ground wire to the frame of the truck then to the mount and now the SWR is 1.1 from 1 to 40.Also,stay with a 102 steel whip.You will not find a better antenna so dont wast your money!And just because you are running a small or stock radio does not mean that you can go cheap on the coax.Buy the good stuff because......THE ANTENNA AND COAX ARE 90% OF YOUR CB'S PERFORMANCE!!!!It does not matter if you have a $500.00 galaxy radio or a 1000 watt amp.If you get shety coax/antenna you will have a shety performing radio.
well heres the deal. i cant put a 102" on the truck. its just not practical for what i need the truck for. and also a bedrail mount of some kind is about the only option i have. thanks for the info on that stuff but it just can't happen. i may have to compromise and not get the best of everything. so going with an antenna no longer than a 72" ss whip and a bed rail/ stake hole mount what can i do that will work decent.
well then if your not looking to spend a lot of money and are going to do it like that then i would look for a 5 foot skipshooter($25.00)wilson silver load($25.00)I have used both of these on my truck and they have both performed well.
I agree, a good top-loaded antenna is the way to go if you use a stake-mount. I, too, like Skip shooter and Wilson Silver Loads. I also recommend Power Sticks if you can find any. They are a quad-wound antenna, and will give wider bandwidth.
ok well i got my cobra 29 nw st hooked up to a 4ft. wilson silver load. i got my swr down to about 1.4:1.5 with the stake hole mount. i havnt used any grounding wires yet or anything like that (i ran out of day light). will that get me down more? i should be ok with what i have for SWR right now right? not the best but not going to hurt anything? how far can i expect to get out with this set up. i was talking to some guys and their location was about 5 miles away. is that about all im gonna get? thanks for the advice so far.
get a van ordt power stick...that DTB is talking about...they come in sizes of 4 to 5 and a half feet can buy here at a good priceand they are a very good antena
1:4 is not a bad swr! Its not 1:1 but its not pushing 2 So it should work good. Only thing that could make adifrence would be to put in a 5 foot antenna or one of those Van Ordt antennas. Also coax will make a difrence as mentioned before. As for the ground wires I dont see them changing it much if any but it all depends in what kid of ground is already availible. Best thing would be to try and see if it helps.
i tried more grounding and it didnt seem to make much difference. i think i got pretty lucky with my SWR. it doesnt seem like the radio has much for ears though. I am about 5-7 miles away from a major interstate with lots of trucks on it and i can't hear any of them. is there any way to get this set-up some ears? i might go for a 102" ss whip to use some of the time and then switch in the wilson 4ft. for running around town. would that help a lot? thanks for the info again. i am a total noob and need all the help i can get.
102 has got some ears! Its one beast antenna!!! Only other thing that would help would be a pre amp but they cost as much as the radio so its not realy worth it. Also what kind of coax do you have?
Some people can work magic on the receive. All depend who does it for you. I think uniden have something with their receive becouse my friend has a 76 and it receive is not all that great. Nothing against uniden hehe(notice sig) but they need some bug worked out. Like I said some people can make a radio receive better just need to know who can do it for you. 73s
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