I’ll bow to y’all’s expertise, still . . . .
I haven’t found a mobile antenna under 5’ yet to be worth owning versus something taller
given that one is chasing system SNR problems to solution.
This intersection — given DSP filtration —is where CB becomes
high performance versus the expectations of the last five decades of what’s “reasonable” to expect.
On the big truck the change from 6’ to 7’ is where total height is from near 13’ to near 14’.
True, that I’ve a 13’ 3” trailer behind me.
On the roof of my 6’ tall pickup roof using a triple mag, a 6’ Skipshooter loses to a 9’ whip
and 7’. (The 9’ hits 15’ and that’s just too tall even for Interstate. It also bends too much as do the top load verticals).
Is another foot it a big change once past 5’?
No . . unless, like me, that faint distant signal with the warning is what drives one.
This is difficult to test as it’s situational.
My experience is that it’s highly desirable (I didn’t run over some men on the other side of a highway ridge crest pushing a vehicle off the road where other drivers didn’t hear the warning as being the most dramatic).
The pic of the Sirio is on a permanent mount
a la Breedlove. Base load antenna seems easiest to live with on the roof of a personal vehicle.
Height is Might is the “rule” been easiest to observe in my experience versus design. Once height maximized (composite whips are cheap = 5’, 6’, 7’
Skipshooter brand) then design plays in for experiment.
— The exception to length has been the top hat-equipped
Signal Engineering GR-45.
NMO30 or 34 with WD640 whip would be “best” so far as I can see. Height + ease of removal + longevity without coax plotting its own demise.
One can get beyond it but mount needs reinforcements. (5’ length minimum and height closest to 14’ given correct tuning).
The OP is on the right course.
A clue is that
Skip has been so overpowering since approx October ‘22 that daylight hours (one past to one before sun rise & set) are such that his receiver should be jammed on AM-19 all day.
The men around me on the road aren’t receiving this interference continually, only sporadically. (Variety of reasons).
There are some days without
Skip.
May be several weeks apart.
This difference in what’s received is marker for
building my system to overcome the poor systems of others.
Hear, and Get Heard.
SSB (given a little fire in the wire) is the better test where geography can be tied to conditions with multiple participants to map-plot.
Still can’t account for conditions where chance rules. (Test is an approximation).
At present — on AM — I’m hearing both England and Hawaii on the same day.
From a craptastic plastic Freightliner fighting the winds across The Great Plains with 19 as my prayer flag.
HF is King of Comms.
.
