What is the Best CB Radio Antenna That I Should Buy?

I have been driving a tractor trailer for about 10+ years. I am a member to many CB Radio Forums, also a lot of Truck Driver Forums.

I see and get this question all the time, so I thought I would try and answer it here.

You made it through truck driving school, now you need a CB Radio? OK, first off we need to do some research on CB Radios. DO you want a 10 meter radio? Or do you want a standard 11 meter CB Radio? Well it is going to have to be the latter of the two. Because unless you are a Ham Radio operator licensed through the FCC, then it is illegal to own a 10 meter radio.

CB Radio operators are only allowed to talk on the 11 meter band.

There are 40 channels in the 11 meter band, no CB Channels go below channel 1- 26.965 or above channel 40- 27.405. Anywhere in between you are allowed to operate as long as your CB Radio has not been "worked on", we will get into this later. There are several different kinds of CB Radio's to choose from that are legal in the US.

1. 
   Cobra 25 LTD, 29 LTD, 148 GTL, 19 DX, 25 NW, 25 WXNW, 29 NW, 29 WXNW


2. 
   Texas Ranger 696, 121,966


3. 
   Uniden PRO 538 with weather, 510 XL, PC 68 XL, PC 68 LTW, PC 78 XL, PC 78 LTW, PC 78 Elite


4. 
   Galaxy 949 and the Galaxy 959

These listed here are the basic legal radios allowed to be used in the USA today without having to have a Amature radio license. They are allowed to be used as long as no modifications have been made to them such as a "Peak and Tune" where the power has been turned up on the radio. From the factory these radio's are preset at 4 watts of power, which is legal. Tuned properly they will go up to about 35 watts, but again this is not allowed by the FCC.

But most truckers go to the nearest "cb shop" and pay $50.00 to $100.00 to have a "Connex Board" and a "peak and tune" done to their radios. The "Connex Board" is a echo feature added to the inside of the radio, so as to distort (echo) the voice it also adds a talk back feature so the operator can hear themselves through an external speaker.

Most drivers I know usually buy a decent radio ($150.00) then they buy a cheap antenna to go with it. Well this won't work, your antenna is 95% of your cb outfit. I recommend any Wilson antenna, especially a Wilson 2000 or Wilson 5000. These range in price from $50.00 to $100.00 and that is usually installed. Yes, have it installed by a tech so that they can set your SWR for your antenna. SWR- Standing Wave Ratio this is what makes your radio talk. If you have a SWR of above a 3 or more it will burn your radio up. The tech will use a SWR meter connected to your coax and antenna to check it's SWR reading. If it is to high they will cut some of the antenna whip off 1/8" increments, until a satisfactory SWR is reached. If you do not want to spend a lot on an antenna at least buy one that is tunable.

The coax is another big part of the radios performance. Which would be caught by a good tech when they were installing your "new" antenna. But if you are already using the radio and you notice it drops in performance, it will either usually be the SWR or the coax. Truck stops sell precut lengths of coax, usually you will need a 18' piece to replace what is bad runs about $25.00, I recommend the gray or clear coax. If you are just replacing the coax you can do this yourself, unless you want the SWR checked.

I hope maybe this has shed some light on what to buy.

Be safe out there.

I am 36 years old, and I have been driving trucks for 11 years. I have also worked on farms and been in the construction field for several years as well. I have driven for several different companies, and worked for several different construction companies.
What I write about in the trucking articles is what I have experienced.
Visit me at Truck Drivers and The Industry for more information.
Truck Drivers and The Industry

Antenna - Base Station CB Antennas

Continuing with our research into the CB craze of the mid 70s we'll take a look at what were considered the elite antennas when it came to having a CB setup. While the truckers may have ruled the roads and channel 19, it was the everyday hobbyist who ruled the airwaves from his home, and rule they did.

If you were on CB and really wanted to impress people with your booming voice over the airwaves you had no choice but to set up a base unit. Not only were the units themselves powerful but the antennas that people put up on their roof tops could have given some rival TV stations a run for their money.

Choosing a CB antenna for your base station was not easy. There were plenty to choose from and they all had their pluses and minuses.

One of the most powerful, yet most frustrating was the ever popular Moon Raker. This was a beam antenna that looked very similar to TV antennas, most having 3 elements mounted on an 11 meter base. These were called regular Moon Rakers. However, there were beam antennas that had up to six elements on them. They were referred to as a Moon Raker 6. These things were huge. The problem with them was that they were directional antennas. What this means is that depending on what direction your antenna was pointing that was where you got your best reception and transmission. So if you were speaking to somebody who was south of you and your antenna was pointing north you had to turn the antenna 180 degrees in order to get a decent reception. This got to be a pain after a while. The plus side was that these antennas were so powerful they could cut through anything once you had your target zeroed in.

Another popular base antenna was what was called the "Big Stick". This was really just a very long fiberglass antenna. They were usually about 10 to 15 feet long. They weren't as powerful as the Moon Raker but they transmitted and received equally well in all directions and therefore were great all purpose base antennas especially if you were in a centrally located area where you had a number of people you could speak to in all directions. Also, Big Sticks were relatively cheap next to a Moon Raker that sold for a couple of hundred dollars. A Big Stick was about $70.

For people who didn't have a very large budget, there were base station antennas made that quite honestly were not much more powerful than their mobile counterparts. When you take the lack of power of these antennas into account against their price tag of about $50, it made much more sense to go with a Big Stick.

The biggest problem with all of these antennas, especially in the old days, was that they were constantly interfering with TV receptions. Today with cable, things are not quite as bad.

Even though CB isn't as popular with homeowners as it was 30 years ago, you can still see these bad boys on roof tops if you look close enough. Just make sure you stop the car first before taking a look.

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Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Antennas
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