CB possible without external antenna? Or is somekind of concealed antenna available?

[LAC_STS]

I would like to have a CB in the car but do not want to have to put an antenna on my car.

Is there any CB's that work good that I dont have to put an antenna on the outside of the car?

I saw some hand held ones. Do they work?


What kind of connection does a CB antenna usually use? The roof mounted antenna on my car uses a coax connection. Would it be possible to tap into that?




Thanks

[The Chariot]

No, there is no CB antenna with will work well without an external antenna. You may be able to talk a few car lengths at best and the CB will be useless as a countermeasure. The handhelds still require an external antenna if you want to be able to use it for more than a few hundred feet.

CB uses coax but the connectors are different and will not connect to your current antenna. You will need a true CB antenna, using the proper cabling, there is no way around this due to the 11 meter wavelength. The best you can do is a stealth type of antenna that looks closer to an FM antenna (its still going to have a coil on the bottom but will be thin everywhere else and about the same length as an FM antenna). Read the CB faq... pretty much covered in there

[LAC_STS]

Darn!


So what your saying is that a CB antenna is completely different than a regular car antenna?

[LAC_STS]

Sorry what about the handheld ones? they wont get any kind of reception? Probably why thay all have places to connect an antenna.

[rocky2]

I agree with The Chariot, I have tried using a handheld CB Radio and actually got a better antenna for it but it still sucked. I got a a Lil Will antenna and the Uniden 520XL, I didn't like the antenna at first either. But since it's a magnet mount you can just throw it in the trunk if you want to so it's really not that big a deal. But a Lil Will is about the smallest antenna you can use and get decent results.

[The Chariot]

The car antenna is a receive only antenna. The CB antenna, since it transmits, has to be installed, and then "tuned" to get the SWR right (its a ratio of how much of the power is going out the antenna verses coming back into the transmitter). Length of the antenna comes into play for this. Additionally, its a very long wavelength radio wave and therefore requires a long antenna for any type of performance. The shorter antennas on the hand helds are good for walkie-talkie distances only.

What you can do is mount a Firestick Venice CB antenna where your stock FM antenna is. It looks darn close to a stock antenna. Then you can get one of those internal FM antenna kits for your AM/FM radio. It'll cut down a little on FM reception, but not much.

I understand your dilemma. I have a show vehicle and don't want a redneck looking CB antenna on it. There are ways to make it blend in and minimize the look, but one way or another you have to have a real antenna on it.

[The Chariot]

For a mag mount X2 about the Little Wil. It has some damn good reach both transmitting and receiving considering its size. Plenty of distance for countermeasures (saved my bacon more than once so far). I used it on my show vehicle and a Firestick on the F250. I'm in the process of installing a Firestick Venice on the show vehicle for a permanent stealth antenna.

[LAC_STS]

Thanks. I have a 08 Cadillac STS.

I dunno it was worth a shot. Im gonna check the Firestick Venice CB antenna out.

[srtga]

OH NOZ! Another Caddy Interceptor

Yea, like the other guys said, you need a goofy looking antenna to get any real use out of one.

A Maxrad (Laird, Antennex, etc.) Would be pretty stealthy and they outperform the Lil Wil.

You may want to look at trunk lip mounts.

[STiMULi]

OH NOZ! Another Caddy Interceptor

Yea, like the other guys said, you need a goofy looking antenna to get any real use out of one.

A Maxrad (Laird, Antennex, etc.) Would be pretty stealthy and they outperform the Lil Wil.

You may want to look at trunk lip mounts.

A few years ago you could buy a duplexer that would divide the CB from the AM/FM while using the existing AM/FM antenna. In the 80s Caddy even used this technology as stock factory option in the vehicle.

Check around they may still be out there (duplexers)

Of the 100% it takes to make a radio work good 90% of it is antenna. In the CB world the bigger the anttena the better it works.