Thereโs no magic antenna that works better than another, itโs all about size.
They need to be a quarter wavelength (or half wave or full wave, but thatโs huge at 27 MHz).
A 1/4 wave CB antenna is 9 feet long. The way shorter antennas are able to tune and resonate like a full 9 foot 1/4 wave is by coiling up the length of it.
If you look at a short antenna like a Firestick, youโll see itโs a fiberglass pole with a wire spiral wrapped up itโs length.
Thatโs called continuous loading.
Other short CB antennas have a coil at the base or in the center about halfway up. It looks like a cylindrical lump, but thereโs a coil of wire making up the rest of the required length of the antenna inside it. Thatโs โbase loadedโ or โcenter loadedโ.
The coil just allows it to tune and resonate correctly for the frequency itโs being used for.
The shorter the antenna, even if itโs loaded correctly, the worse it works. The longer the better.
They also need a groundplane. The metal car body theyโre mounted on acts as the groundplane.
Electrically, it mirrors the antenna to make it behave as if it were a full half-wave antenna. Without it, the radiation pattern is upward toward the sky.
It needs the groundplane to lower the pattern so itโs stronger in a more line of sight pattern where itโs more useable.
Note, a groundplane isnโt a โgroundโ, totally different thing.
The radiation pattern becomes directional toward the mass of the groundplane.
If you mount the antenna at the front of the vehicle, it will be more directional and strong toward the rear of the vehicle, following where the groundplane is.
Ideally youโd use a 9 foot whip on the top and center of the vehicle, but obviously that has practical problems.
You want it as high as possible, as long as possible and as centrally located as possible, and you compromise down from there as needed.
You also need to tune it with an SWR meter.
Standing Wave Ratio. Thatโs the amount of power that just bounces back at the radio rather than efficiently resonating and radiating out from the antenna. Most CB antennas have a set screw and a fine height adjustment to allow this. You want the reading on the SWR meter as low as possible. 1.5 to 1 or less is great.
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