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Antenna Questions

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Wibler

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Jun 20, 2018
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I have a couple of questions about antennas, hope somebody can help here. And yes, I realize there are tons of threads on antennas but rather than search through all of them I thought it be easiest if somebody could answer my specific questions.

1) I don't really want an antenna on the roof sticking up in the air about four feet or so. Are there any smaller antennas on the market?

2) What are the options I have on my Ford F-150 as far as where I can locate an antenna?

3) If the antenna is mounted somewhere other than the roof would the actual roof itself affect the performance of the antenna?

Thanks for any help!
r/Mike
 

mmckenna

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I have a couple of questions about antennas, hope somebody can help here. And yes, I realize there are tons of threads on antennas but rather than search through all of them I thought it be easiest if somebody could answer my specific questions.

1) I don't really want an antenna on the roof sticking up in the air about four feet or so. Are there any smaller antennas on the market?

Yes, there are smaller antennas, but they don't work well. CB really wants a 1/4 wave antenna, which is around 108 inches long. You can base load the antennas and still get some decent performance, but the smaller you go, the worse the performance is.

2) What are the options I have on my Ford F-150 as far as where I can locate an antenna?

Center of the roof is ideal. Anything else will be less than ideal. Some choose to mount them on the corner of the hood. Issue with that is it gives you a lopsided ground plane that will result in a less than omnidirectional radiation pattern. For local communications that's probably good enough for most. If you want the best performance, you need the most ground plane under the antenna. Hard to do that anywhere else other than the roof.

3) If the antenna is mounted somewhere other than the roof would the actual roof itself affect the performance of the antenna?

Depends on the location.
 

krokus

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2) What are the options I have on my Ford F-150 as far as where I can locate an antenna?

There are a lot of options, that give varying levels of performance.

On-glass mounts, trunk lip mounts used on the hood, bumper mounts, thru-fender mounts, trailer receiver mounts, cargo bed stake hole mounts, gutter clamp mounts (if you have gutters), mounts that attach to your frame and come from under the vehicle, and custom jobs. I am sure there are others, these are just ones I have seen.

3) If the antenna is mounted somewhere other than the roof would the actual roof itself affect the performance of the antenna?

Yes. How much, and in which way(s), depends on the situation. Some guesses and theories can be made, but the only way know is to test it.


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lmrtek

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Feb 11, 2009
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The shorter the antenna the worse the performance so a 7 foot firestick on the bumper beats a 2 foot whip on the roof every time.
 
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