I am so happy with my MNO27 antenna. I don't see how a better antenna could be on my pickup. The whip and base are all black sitting on a black truck. It blends in perfectly! It does really look professional. Most people don't even know I have a CB in my truck. It talks and hears consistently 10+ miles. Or it did when my radio was working. It's the best antenna I have ever owed though I don't re-call really what I run in the 60's and 70's. Seems like at one time I had a dual hustler antenna and various other back then. Recently the K-40. Of course the Firefly crap stick. Even with my cheap little PRO505XL the MNO27 works very well. My F350 is 7 foot tall and with the NMO27 I must be 11 feet in the air.
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"The Great Antenna Test of 2025"
- Thread starter niceguy71
- Start date
prcguy
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I don’t have my AT5555N II or my CWB27 with me so I won’t be driving that far. Lacking a spectrum analyzer this should be changed to “The Great SWR Test of 2025”.
slowmover
Active Member
Height is Might
11’ height with 47” is “okay”, but a ways from what QT60 can do.
14.25’ TTL Clearance is the outer limit. To 14’ on roof center mount is the ideal given a long flexible-whip baseload design. Mines at 13’ with 84” and it’s no hindrance in errand-running.
Black NMO “disappears” on every vehicle.
As to picking up everything in 10-miles, no, the weaker radio rigs won’t get picked up at a distance despite a modern NRC radio. It’s in the marriage of longest/tallest (roof center) with an (NRC) AM/SSB (and DRX-901 over left shoulder) that limits are reached.
I was parked in an area of SE Oklahoma fairly late one night with quite a lot of local AM activity. At my RX limit I could faintly hear one side of a conversation on 6’ Skipshooter. I changed over to 7’ on big truck and could then hear both sides beyond intermittent others.
— You’ll know you’ve reached this limit when not able to follow more than three conversations at once. Will have to adjust radio controls to limit RX capture radius there’ll be so many voices. That 7’ caused things to become overwhelming.
That was from under 13’ to under 14’ given antenna tilt.
An advantage in understanding differences as a truck driver is that conditions are a near-constant change.
Here’s a 2500-3000/mile, 14-day OTR trip:
Range isn’t a given. It’s a potential to always have maximized.
.
11’ height with 47” is “okay”, but a ways from what QT60 can do.
14.25’ TTL Clearance is the outer limit. To 14’ on roof center mount is the ideal given a long flexible-whip baseload design. Mines at 13’ with 84” and it’s no hindrance in errand-running.
Black NMO “disappears” on every vehicle.
As to picking up everything in 10-miles, no, the weaker radio rigs won’t get picked up at a distance despite a modern NRC radio. It’s in the marriage of longest/tallest (roof center) with an (NRC) AM/SSB (and DRX-901 over left shoulder) that limits are reached.
I was parked in an area of SE Oklahoma fairly late one night with quite a lot of local AM activity. At my RX limit I could faintly hear one side of a conversation on 6’ Skipshooter. I changed over to 7’ on big truck and could then hear both sides beyond intermittent others.
— You’ll know you’ve reached this limit when not able to follow more than three conversations at once. Will have to adjust radio controls to limit RX capture radius there’ll be so many voices. That 7’ caused things to become overwhelming.
That was from under 13’ to under 14’ given antenna tilt.
An advantage in understanding differences as a truck driver is that conditions are a near-constant change.
Here’s a 2500-3000/mile, 14-day OTR trip:
Range isn’t a given. It’s a potential to always have maximized.
.
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niceguy71
Active Member
I saw your pictures,
it looks awesome! great install and I think that NMO27 will work fantastic for you.
once you get your "final" radio installed... it will take a few months to train your ears to hear ..... I got my base installed and didn't hear much but listened and tried talking to people everyday...... after a few months I was talking to hundreds of people.... I had a friend over and was listening and said to my friend, hey that's Ireland .... and he said he didn't hear anything????? I said the guy just asked if New York could hear WAG 904... you couldn't hear that??? it was as plain as the nose on his face..... then I realized a few short months ago I would have said that was all static too.
so in a few months Bill you'll be pretty amazed what a good working CB system can do.
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niceguy71
Active Member
I'm hoping to learn something.
if the Sirio 5000 and the Lil Will both sound the same and transmit the same distance.... I won't be happy
I believe the 14.25' antenna is the outer limits. Hey, I use to watch that show. It's just too tall for me. I live in the country with low hanging branches everywhere. If I was drive on the interstate most of the time it would be different. At 11' that NMO27 is just the prefect length for my needs. A few inches taller it would be hitting my power line coming into my house, and my garage has a 8' door, though I have thought about putting on the NMO30 for my yearly trips to Arizona and back. Maybe, I don't know yet. I am pretty darn happy with the NMO27!
Thanks @niceguy71! It will take a lot to train these ears. Some people I just can't understand. They either talk to fast or have a voice that's not very detectable to my old ears. I am trying that 901 speaker to see if I can somehow mount in over my left ear. Problem is there is no room but still figuring. I will be watching your antenna test but I won't be changing what I have, but you maybe changing to what I have. Just drill the dam hole! I couldn't help myself.......
slowmover
Active Member
I understand. But its the radio making the difference.
I started without DSP (NRC) and first had tall antennas. Then added DSP. This made antenna length/height stand out.
There’ll be those inside the NMO27 range you won’t hear, and beyond its range is another world.
Yes, be prepared by having longer antenna selection.
niceguy71
Active Member
I fixed my K40 today as I REALLY want it in the test.... hopefully it will be ok to transmit... it has a short ..but if I pull the coax the opposite way it's ok and it seems to stay ok on my roof.... for now. ... you have to bend the coax a great deal to get it under the K-40 cap... and that is where the short is... I watched a video on replacing the coax.. it looks like a nightmare... the exchange is already in the works
I got the Lil Will today and the NMO27 ... not crazy about either of their SWR.... see pictures.... nothing I can do on the lil will it needs to be longer and that's the 36 inch whip that came on it.... all I can do is test it on the lower channels.
the NMO27 was great on Channel 40 but channels 20 and under was over 2 SWR... I had channel 40 at 1.0 a few times... but channel 1 was 2.5...... so I cut it and cut it until I got it under the 2.0 on SWR.. it screwed up the higher channels.... but I think it's the best I can do... I moved it around on the roof... did all the tricks I know.... nothing helped....I was surprised to see the K-40 and the NMO27 were only 7 inches difference.... you hardly notice the difference.
I love the look of that NMO27 .... really a great looking antenna even on a mag mount.
all the antenna's were a little trouble to get the SWR's decent... like the Wilson 1000 was 1.1 on one end and 2.4 on the other channels.... not much I can do about that??
my Tram 3500 I have set them up on lots of peoples vehicles and they always tune easily..... not as nice as the Stryker.. but very easy.
I have a bunch of stuff my Tram has to go through.... so I tried the SWR before it went through the filter and the jumpers and the power meter and SWR meter.... it was about the same. so that makes me happy.
oh and the EL-Cheap-O Chinese SWR meter was right on the money!!! on my RigExpert channel 20 was SWR 1.24 and on Channel 19 on the Cheap Chinese meter it was SWR 1.2 see picture... the watts was just dead key to get the SWR to show up on the meter.... it's usually 11 watts dead key.
any ideas on how to better the SWR on the NMO27 ...and how to get the Lil Wil SWR to work better on the higher channels????
I think I am returning the Lil Will...... I knew I wasn't going to love it.... but I thought I could at least set the SWR
I got the Lil Will today and the NMO27 ... not crazy about either of their SWR.... see pictures.... nothing I can do on the lil will it needs to be longer and that's the 36 inch whip that came on it.... all I can do is test it on the lower channels.
the NMO27 was great on Channel 40 but channels 20 and under was over 2 SWR... I had channel 40 at 1.0 a few times... but channel 1 was 2.5...... so I cut it and cut it until I got it under the 2.0 on SWR.. it screwed up the higher channels.... but I think it's the best I can do... I moved it around on the roof... did all the tricks I know.... nothing helped....I was surprised to see the K-40 and the NMO27 were only 7 inches difference.... you hardly notice the difference.
I love the look of that NMO27 .... really a great looking antenna even on a mag mount.
all the antenna's were a little trouble to get the SWR's decent... like the Wilson 1000 was 1.1 on one end and 2.4 on the other channels.... not much I can do about that??
my Tram 3500 I have set them up on lots of peoples vehicles and they always tune easily..... not as nice as the Stryker.. but very easy.
I have a bunch of stuff my Tram has to go through.... so I tried the SWR before it went through the filter and the jumpers and the power meter and SWR meter.... it was about the same. so that makes me happy.
oh and the EL-Cheap-O Chinese SWR meter was right on the money!!! on my RigExpert channel 20 was SWR 1.24 and on Channel 19 on the Cheap Chinese meter it was SWR 1.2 see picture... the watts was just dead key to get the SWR to show up on the meter.... it's usually 11 watts dead key.
any ideas on how to better the SWR on the NMO27 ...and how to get the Lil Wil SWR to work better on the higher channels????
I think I am returning the Lil Will...... I knew I wasn't going to love it.... but I thought I could at least set the SWR
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niceguy71
Active Member
this is the NMO27 and the K40 stuck to the front of my bed.. I lay the antenna's down on the bed floor and stick the magnet to the bed wall behind the cab so it is laying down and stuck to the front of the bed wall this way it doesn't pick up metal shavings or dirt..... but after I set them down I was like wow they are almost the same height.
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niceguy71
Active Member
DeeEx
Member
^^^ That tells me everything I need to know about modern “K40” items!
A few days ago, I actually opened up the very last K40 item I had in my collection, a 15A cigarette lighter cord, for my plow truck. You made me just go dig the packaging out of the trash….sure enough, on the back way at the bottom is a teeny tiny Road Pro logo. Looks like this is manufactured no more recently than 2016….I thought it was older. Build quality feels excellent.
Hope the exchange is successful. Is the short right where the coax enters the antenna? It should be fine just for the purposes of the test, provided the coax does not move significantly. Perhaps once you receive the replacement, you can run a separate test just to see if the K40's results improve at all.
Yes, this is definitely not the old K-40
That Sirio should have you throw the Lil-Will into the dumpster
Get an AS BIG MAMA and do some talking.
Now there was an antenna !!!
AS seems to have been around forever and made a great variety of antennas for CB, scanners, etc. The brand still exists, but is it still the original company?
K6GBW
Member
According to the Inter-webs Antenna Specialists closed it's doors last month. Likely it was bought be someone and shuttered. Hopefully some of their designs will be made by others.
That NMO27 looks great on that mag mount. Here is the SWR on my NMO27. I still could cut a little more off but I haven't bother too yet. It's pretty exceptable to me where it is. I believe I cut my whip down to 45 1/2".
Call it a day - that is a fantastic match. Once you cut it off, you can't put it back.
Don't forget, the SWR will change when the vehicle is in motion and the antenna is moving around/bending back.
niceguy71
Active Member
to be honest,
I took my old K-40 from 1989 and was trying to see what was different and seeing if I could get my old 1989 K-40 to work... and honestly they both look exactly the same.. every single part. they both looks perfectly fine
in 89 after trying every CB antenna I could try and none of them worked worth a darn......I went to a professional radio installer / shop he really tried to hard sell me on the Larsen NMO27.... but I said I' ain't drilling my one month old Blazer's roof.... so he got a K-40 out of the shop... he sold K-40s and was an authorized K-40 dealer.... ( they used to make a big thing about that) he drilled a hole through the fiberglass cap on the back of the blazer and plunked down the magnetic K-40 6 inches in front of the fiberglass top on the metal roof and then put a little silicone around the hole and around the coax....... it sat there for 11 years......
when my beautiful 1989 Blazer rotted away to a pile of rust I cut the coax and figured someday I'll replace the coax
the 1989 magnet was glued in place onto a steel ring... the ring had rusted to an unrecognizable ball of rust and the glue no longer held it together... but everything else worked perfectly fine...... I honestly can't see any difference between the old and new K40's.
to put the K-40 trunk lip antenna on the magnetic mount you have to bend the coax to a tight 90 degree bend all inside of a one inch little dome.... while pulling it through a hole in the mount.... not a lot of coax would survive that.... not the best design... I really struggled with it when I was putting it together... so I may have broken the coax... but it's because of their stupid design... if I was to do it again I would try to be more gentle with it.
