I agree there is something wrong. Somebody is trying to pull the wool over our eyes that is 100% polyester.
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Mobile 3-foot mobile antennas
- Thread starter DeedleD
- Start date
it's the antenna, honestly its a very lossy antenna and radiating heat not signal
OK, can you suggest another 3-foot antenna that I can try? I do have a Sirio Turbo 800 and it performs very similar except won’t handle anything over 150W which is why I tried this Midland one. Are you saying all 3-foot antennas will have this problem because they are very short or is there a better one I can try? Thanks!
Why do you need so much power? My 980 Uniden reaches out 20 miles in the mobile on it's whopping legal power. The antenna is 50% of a good radio system. A great radio behind a junk antenna won't reach out very far.
A cheap radio behind a great antenna will reach out. I paid $50.00 for my 980 brand new on a credit card offer. The antenna is a Sirio 5000 tuned for 1:1 SWR.
A cheap radio behind a great antenna will reach out. I paid $50.00 for my 980 brand new on a credit card offer. The antenna is a Sirio 5000 tuned for 1:1 SWR.
I'm sure I'd do much better with a 6-foot antenna like your Sirio but I'm looking for a 3-foot'er, do you have any suggestions? Believe me, if I didn't have a height restriction, the 1st antenna I'd be putting on the roof would be a Sirio 5000 or something similar.
I read and re-read you orignal post and there was nothing about a height restriction.
So If you have to keep it at three feet you are tied to that. I have not seen many three footers worth a damn. Blowing a truck load of power will get you heard but you won't hear many of them coming back. You are talking a lot farther than you can hear.
So If you have to keep it at three feet you are tied to that. I have not seen many three footers worth a damn. Blowing a truck load of power will get you heard but you won't hear many of them coming back. You are talking a lot farther than you can hear.
Thanks, you're right about the OP, I needed to be more clear and provide more info. At any rate, I'm kind of glad, in a way, that the height seems to be the main issue and not the antenna itself, I have a 3-foot Sirio and I love that thing, I might even put it back on since I'm rarely running high power (this whole thing was an experiment) not to mention you're also right about not being able to hear others that might be hearing me... I just like testing different setups to get best possible outcome with what I have. At least I now have another 3-foot'er that I can use as a backup antenna.
Next thing I'm thinking about doing is replacing the RG58 cable that came with the tri-mag mount with RG9A/U since I have about 25 feet of it laying around collecting dust from my base antenna installation and see if this makes any difference. I know it's much lower loss than RG58 but at 15 feet, not sure if it will make any noticeable difference.
Trying to get performance out of a 3 ft CB antenna is like trying to find a job doing porn with a 3 incher.
Cable has nothing to do with it, the run is too short to make a difference.
A quarter wave CB antenna is 108", anytime you make the antenna smaller than that its a trade off of performance, the smaller you get the less actual signal gets out. It also depends on the grounding system involved, its the metal under the antenna that counts. Mag mounts are not the best antenna mount, they convenient but produce a loss as well.
Tall antenna with quick-disconnect or foldover. (And should be on a puck mount).
TX/RX matters, or it doesn’t.
Today’s big trucks are nothing but headaches. And tend to be a “cure” for being halfway in the door.
Private vehicle nothing but FANTASTIC in comparison.
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TX/RX matters, or it doesn’t.
Today’s big trucks are nothing but headaches. And tend to be a “cure” for being halfway in the door.
Private vehicle nothing but FANTASTIC in comparison.
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Yeah, I think RG8x is a better choice, RG9 will be too wide and RG-59 is for a dual antenna setup I think since it's 75-ohms.
Thanks, over the weekend I'll go back to the parking lot 8 miles away from base and conduct the same test with my Wilson 1000 and see if there is any improvement. I understand that 3-footers have degraded performance and did point that out in my OP, my intent with this experiment was to see if I could make up for the loss by dumping more power to the antenna that could actually handle it and stay within bounds regarding SWR. I wouldn't be surprised if I get the same performance with a mere 10W using my 5-ft Wilson 1000 and if so, I'll test 100W to see what that gets me...
I appreciate all the replies.