dave@celerity.uucp (Dave Smith) (05/05/89)
I'm looking to put a CB in my Cherokee so when I get stuck out in the middle of nowhere I can talk to someone instead of just being bored :-) Does anyone have any recommendations on CB's? I'm looking for one with most of the controls on the handset so that I can stuff the radio itself under a seat (I have no place to mount a regular one where the controls would be handy). Recommendations on antennas? Thanks in advance, David L. Smith FPS Computing, San Diego ucsd!celerity!dave "Repent, Harlequin!," said the TickTock Man
myers@hpfcdj.HP.COM (Bob Myers) (05/10/89)
>I'm looking to put a CB in my Cherokee.... >Recommendations on antennas? Best: Get a center-loaded whip and mount it as close to the center of the roof as possible. (Actually, "best" would be a top-loaded whip in the same location, or, better yet, a FULL-LENGTH whip mounted here. These are likely impractical - the full-length whip for obvious reasons, and the top-loaded whip because they're next to impossible to find!) Next best: On a Cherokee, there is no next best! :-) On a "conventional" vehicle, the next-best location would be the trunk lip (though still on the centerline of the vehicle), then last choice would be a bumper-mount. If you can't go with a top-mounted whip on your Cherokee, you're probably going to wind up with a full-length whip mounted at either rear corner. Not exactly an optimum location. Absolutely avoid: Those "twin trucker-style" antenna pairs. Mounting two whips, with the proper phasing, a quarter-wave apart WILL result in a pattern with lobes to the front and rear; exactly what you want for highway use. Unfortunately, a quarter-wave at CB frequencies (27 MHz) is about nine feet, which means this type of installation is really workable ONLY on a truck! This type of installation on a car, pickup, or anything else of similar size makes no sense at all, as the pattern comes out much worse than with a simple centrally-located whip. Bob Myers KC0EW HP Graphics Tech. Div.| Opinions expressed here are not Ft. Collins, Colorado | those of my employer or any other {the known universe}!hplabs!hpfcla!myers | sentient life-form on this planet.