What exactly is a ground plane? I have a base antenna for my CB radio, it's just a verticle antenna. Is a ground plane like a horizontal pole under the antenna, because i've seen some CB antennas that have those. Also, I think my mobile cb in my car puts out better than my base lol, any suggestions? I know it has something to do with the wiring or the antenna. I used 50ft of RG-58 U coax with PL-259 connectors on each end. The antenna is mounted 40ft in the air.
Ground Plane
- Thread starter CSL126
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Al42
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A 1/4 wave antenna (~108" on CB) is half an antenna. The other half is in the ground. If the antenna isn't mounted on the ground, a substitute can be made by running at least 3 wires out horizontally (or at a drooping angle) from the base of the antenna (not connected to the antenna) and connecting them to the shield of the cable. Those wires are the ground plane and an antenna like that takes its name from them.CSL126 said:
One wouldn't work very well, but better than none.
BTW, if your antenna is 18 feet long, it doesn't need a ground plane, since it has both 9 foot halves of the antenna.
50 feet of RG-58 has a loss of 2.3db (less than half an S unit), so it might account for some of that. If the connectors are crimped it might account for more. But if the antenna is just a 9 foot pole, that would account for more.
How about the Solarcon Imax 2000? It's 24ft long... would that work? The specs are located here: http://www.premiere-electronics.net/store/cbbaseant.html
Highlander_821
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The Imax 2000 is a good antenna. They are easy to install, easy to tune, and handle adverse weather very well. Don't skimp on the coaxial cable and connectors, use RG-8 or RG-213, and use the solder type PL-259's.
it says that it's $89.95, do you know where i could get it cheaper? is it worth paying $89.95?
Highlander_821
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Try www.copper.com, they might have it cheaper.
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