did an antenna comparison now i feel stupid

[trailrider]

yesterday evening my son came over to show me the new cb antenna he just put on his pick-up. it's a radio shack bottom loaded 64 inch ss whip. i believe it's called an all terrain. looks just like a longer version if the 3 foot half breeds i run on my 18 wheeler. after talking i realized that this antenna is almost exactly like my wilson 5000 magnet mount. except it has a smaller base coil. so we set up a test between the two antennas with as close to exact match as we could get. without going into lenghty detail' from my house to a wal-mart 2 miles away this 20 dollar antenna put the same amount of pounds on my meter as my wilson 5000 and to my ears i could not hear the difference. so now i'm wondering why i spent 100 dollars on an antenna that dosen't do any better 2 miloes away than a 20 dollar antenna??? maybe at 10 miles there might be a differece' but i don't know.
scratching my head. can someone smarter than me help justify the extra cost. thanks in advance.

 

[oldslowchevy]

go 5 then 10 then 12,14,16 ect till you can not be heard anymore. see which one goes farther and has better receive. you will need to use the same radio for both tests. i believe the wilson will out perform over the longer distant and will deal with power alot better.

 

[becareless06]

id be interested in seeing that antenna my self i use a 5000 also..

 

[AudioShockwav]

They are a tough little antenna for what they are, several guys around here run them on there Jeeps and they are good for that.
They are a good little antenna for use where they get beat up a lot.

73
Jeff

 

[trailrider]

go 5 then 10 then 12,14,16 ect till you can not be heard anymore. see which one goes farther and has better receive. you will need to use the same radio for both tests. i believe the wilson will out perform over the longer distant and will deal with power alot better.

neither of us run any power' so that is not an issue. the only real differece between these two antennas that is visible is one is a 64 inch and the other is a 62 in. and the wilson has a much bigger coil at the bottom. they were both magent mounted. now this was totally unscientific and just a side by side comarison. but you give me an idea. on how to compare these two antennas for distance.

 

[ElectronTubesRule]

I have never seen any base,middle or top loaded antena out perform a 102 inch SS whip when set up properly! Not for how far you can talk. I have seen some open coil middle load antenna's that had a wider band width.

 

[bob85]

my 62" valor halfbreed works just as well as my wilson 5000 or 1000 and rides much stiffer on the move, downside is i can't run more than 150w on the valor

 

[The DB]

yesterday evening my son came over to show me the new cb antenna he just put on his pick-up. it's a radio shack bottom loaded 64 inch ss whip. i believe it's called an all terrain. looks just like a longer version if the 3 foot half breeds i run on my 18 wheeler. after talking i realized that this antenna is almost exactly like my wilson 5000 magnet mount. except it has a smaller base coil. so we set up a test between the two antennas with as close to exact match as we could get. without going into lenghty detail' from my house to a wal-mart 2 miles away this 20 dollar antenna put the same amount of pounds on my meter as my wilson 5000 and to my ears i could not hear the difference. so now i'm wondering why i spent 100 dollars on an antenna that dosen't do any better 2 miloes away than a 20 dollar antenna??? maybe at 10 miles there might be a differece' but i don't know.
scratching my head. can someone smarter than me help justify the extra cost. thanks in advance.

Antennas of a similar length should perform similarly. If they don't there is likely something wrong with one of them.

Your receive s-meter is also not the best item to do such a test with. It takes four times the power to get to the next higher s unit on the meter, and one fourth the power to get to the next lower one, well if the meter is tuned properly that is.

Also, the Wilsons can handle more power, and for years they had a reputation for quality. So unless it was brand new in the last year it will likely last a lifetime.

I have never seen any base,middle or top loaded antena out perform a 102 inch SS whip when set up properly! Not for how far you can talk. I have seen some open coil middle load antenna's that had a wider band width.

Wider bandwidth than a 102"? Why would you need or want more bandwidth than a 102" whip? I've seen them tuned for 10 meter radio give good SWR reading through 11 meters and fully covering the 12 meter band as well with no higher than 1.5:1 swr. We are talking a useable antenna that is tuned nearly 5Mhz away from the frequencies being used! Why would you even need more bandwidth than that to cover the less than .5Mhz of spectrum needed for the CB band? (official 40 channels) There are also other disadvantages to to much bandwidth. Also, to much bandwidth in an antenna is a good sign that there may be something wrong with it.


The DB

 

[Mudfoot]

Any links to this Radio Shack antenna?

 

[jessejamesdallas]

About all that larger coil on the 5000 is for, is handling more wattage...

 

[AudioShockwav]

I think Radio Shack calls it a All terrain antenna, and you can also find them under the "half breed antenna"


http://www.wearecb.com/store/procomm-jbc1300-foot-base-loaded-quarterwave-cb-antenna-p-4098.html?osCsid=360521b9d4048cc3b0a448918c242361

Astatic 500 Halfbreed CB 3-Foot Antenna Review

Procomm Half Breed CB Antenna - 3 Lengths - jbc1300-1500

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102661

I have run a Texas star 350 on the Pro Comm version shortened for Ten Meters with no problems in the past on a 5 inch Mag mount.
It is just a little 7 or 8 inch or so Fiberglass bottom load with a Stainless steel stinger...as I said, they are OK for what they are and tough if you are beating around in the brush on a pickup or 4x4

73
Jeff

 

[trailrider]

Any links to this Radio Shack antenna?

no links. but i called my son and he says it's called an ALL TERRAIN item # 21-988 hope this helps.

 

[trailrider]

my 62" valor halfbreed works just as well as my wilson 5000 or 1000 and rides much stiffer on the move, downside is i can't run more than 150w on the valor

I guess if you change the name this would be a half breed just 64" long. as i said earlier this is just like my 36" half breeds only longer.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Simple explanation of why you see virtually no difference is because the antennas are virtually the same.Similar antennas, similar results. The price difference is likely due to quantity purchasing, quality of materials put into the antenna (purity of copper in the coil and quality of stainless in the whip), as well as just plain marketing hype and mark up. I mean, a much more expensive antenna just HAS to work better doesn't it?

 

[oldslowchevy]

is this it?

RadioShack Stainless Steel Mobile CB Antenna : CB Radio Antennas | RadioShack.com

i don't see it being a mag mount....