For those running ball mounts on the side of your truck.

[Z3PR]

Has anyone tried 36" antenna extension ??? I'm moving my 102" SS whip to a ball mount on the right side of the body just behind the right rear wheel well. I don't want the antenna slappinng the topper, so I was thinking I'd get the antemma extension to raise it up 3 foot. Then I'll use a mobile ground plane, Heavy Duty (Pot Belly) spring, and finally the 102" SS (stainless Steal) whip antenna. That should put it up high enough that it's not slapping the topper. (Plus it'll look real cool /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif) Just wanting to know if anyone has tried one of those antenna extension shafts, any what your opinions of them are.

 

[rebelk5frk]

The biggest problem with your idea is it would make your antenna WAY too long to be resonant for the cb band. It'd be a closer match for the 15m ham band than anything with that 36" additional length.

Those so called "Mobile ground plains" are total BS too. For starters, they are on the wrong side of the antenna circuit. How can it be a ground plain if it's part of the radiating element? Plus they are way too small to be effective even if they were on the right side. Basically they are just a slick way to get money liberated from your pockets. They are worthless.

In short your idea wouldn't work unless you trimmed the snot out of your 102" whip.

You wouldn't really be getting any height advantage because by the time you trimmed enough off to be resonant again you would actually be a little shorter than you would have been if you ran just the SS whip by itself. The only advantage is it would keep the antenna from folding down and smacking the side/roof as much.

 

[Z3PR]

I'm not against trimming the antenna. I just want to get it so it's not slapping the side of the K5. So the extension might still be an option. I'll have to try it and see how it works. I always use a heavy duty (pot belly) spring with a 102. The spring will go between the extension and antenna.

 

[Highlander]

Heres a pic of mine and first I didn't put the hole there it was there when I got the truck. When I put the radio in I couldn't get the SWR's down below 2.5 or 3 I took it to the CB shop and we tried every antenna he had I replace the coax all he could tell me after two hrs later was the placement of the ant. was the problem he said I should move it up to just below the top.

Eric

 

[k20]

maybe im just missin it, but just stick it on there, without the extension and put a tennis ball where it would constact it. Or, just mount it on the side of your bumper like mine, because when mine swings it tends to swing straight forward ar directly to the side. So it would miss both.

 

[88Silverado]

A quarter wave (102" whip) antenna is half of the electrical circuit. The vehicle body and capacitance to ground makes up the other half. If you want a really good (and BIG) antenna you could use a loaded fiberglas type mounted upside down (top mounted (isolated) to your bumper then put a small insulator at the feed end then attach your 102" whip and feed it at the center point like a 1/2 wave vertical dipole. Hell, why not just build an 11 meter J-Pole antenna. it would only need to be 27 feet high /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif /forums/images/graemlins/rotfl.gif

Just poke a hole in the center of your hood and mount the whip /forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif

 

[Ddragggon]

[ QUOTE ]
tennis ball where it would constact it.

[/ QUOTE ]seems to be the best way to keep it from smacking your rig... I'm planning on getting a giant whip attatched to the roof of my sub, ( the kind that'll hit overpasses, and break lights at the drivethrough) and have found that to be one of the better places to keep it from hitting my truck. this was also after I tried a sidemounted ball... decided I'd get a superior radiation pattern out of a roof mounted whip. the key to not tearing a hole in your roof is to get a medium weight spring on it, so that it can flex in the wind, and when it hits things like overpasses, and drivethroughs. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif

-Rich