Is 102" worth it

[Akosikojak]

I have heard that using a 102" whip CB antenna is 5 fold better than say using say a coil/5' type antenna. I like the look and the possibilities from what I have read/heard about these 102" antennas concerning Xmit/receive range. I would also like to run a bileniar 300 watt on a mobile setup.


Thoughts?

[Stealth Stalker]

While the 102 is the ideal radiator, much depends upon your mounting. A 102 in the center of your roof beats a Wilson in the center of your roof. But a Wilson in the center of your roof beats a 102 on your bumper. You have to consider the totality of your set-up.

[thx1138]

Unless you are trying to talk Dx, the 300W 102" whip seems overkill.
With that much power you will undoubtedly essentially be broadcasting, and be reaching CBers that have no realistic way to talk back to you. You'll step on local transmissions.

[Motor On]

Soze matters! But if you don't know how to use it you're still not gonna get the job done.

99.9% of the time a peak and tuned radio w/ a half wave and decent ground plane is sufficent for good Rx and Tx. A full wave will see a markable Rx increase, all other things equal; however you also need to consider how much of that will be useable, I've got a half wave on right now and am aways dialing back the RF gain because I pull in too many signals and get a lot of doubling.

Mobile as a countermeasure its overkill, if it where a base a full wave would be worth it so you could ragchew with a driver for a while, DXing it'd be worth it. But I think in most cases anything over 100watts on CB and you just end up annoying people spilling over beyond where they can reasonably talk to you

[supercowpowers]

You don't need it to avoid the police or to run 300 watts.

[Akosikojak]

You don't need it to avoid the police or to run 300 watts.

Yea, I agree, Dad told me the same thing (a 40+ yr trucker), but I like the look & the possibilities.

[voyager7]

Firestick has good antennas in this power range.

CATALOG Main Page (Frame Setup)

[Duke]

While the 102 is the ideal radiator, much depends upon your mounting. A 102 in the center of your roof beats a Wilson in the center of your roof. But a Wilson in the center of your roof beats a 102 on your bumper. You have to consider the totality of your set-up.

Sorry, but I'll have to disagree with you. A properly mounted full size 102" 1/4 wave antenna on your bumper should perform better than a base loaded Wilson 1000 in the center of your roof. It simply cannot be beat for performance, cost, and simplicity.

And before you ask the question, yes, I have compared the two antennas myself. I was told the same thing before and I said the same thing. The person, a friend, told me to run his Wilson 1000 for a few weeks so I installed it on the center of my roof. It did not work as well as my full 1/4 wave whip nor should it because a loading coil introduces losses, it has a physically smaller radiator, and not to mention it is capacitively coupled to the car and not grounded.

[fire65]

I can tell you from when I ran one 20 years ago. They hit everything, break out lights, you can't drive under anything and the carwash will rip the top off of a fiberglass 102 as you walk around your car. Plus it will look terrible on most vehicles.

[Stealth Stalker]

Sorry, but I'll have to disagree with you.

Again, it depends upon the totality of the set-up. I was speaking theoretical generalities. You were speaking anecdotal subtleties. There are too many variables from one set-up to the next to speak in blanket terms. You don't define what better performance means to you. The radiation pattern will be very different, so performance differences will vary at different directions and distances from the vehicle. You also don't say whether you mounted the Wilson in a hole, or with a mag mount. A quality bumper mount will bet a shoddy roof mount, that's a given. But it matters not which is longer. It only matters which stands physically taller when mounted.