AZFX4

Soooo I got some questions...

I just bought the Cobra 19 Ultra III from Wal-mart for $35.. Now I need to get cb antennas, or AKA whips..

I've heard good things about this Cb radio, even though it's a cheapy. All I'm really looking for is some decent reception incase I'm offroading and need to call for help if another offroader is out with a cb radio. And my main use is going to be the PA... just for fun

Anyways... I've been browsing for antennas and I don't know much about them and how to start. I want to run 2, 6ft whips on my truck. I might even do 4ft whips because it will be setup on the front of my bed and only want them to stick up maybe 2ft or so.

Now, I've gone places and can't find any antennas ANYWHERE. I find the metal 1's that have the magnet. Or real small 1's.

I've heard good things about Firestiks? I was on their website and they range from 3-7ft and from $20-30. Now they all have different watts.. I can't seem to figure out what watt I need for my cb radio? Can it be more than what it needs and be ok? Or does that mess up the reception?

And when I was on Firestiks.com they had a section just for dual whip setups for trucks and bigrigs and tractors.. but they wanted like $108 for the dual setup with 2, 4fters... Is there something special you need to do to run 2 whips? I could just buy 2, 4ft firestiks for $20 each and it not cost $108!!

Any ideas?

Cokerford

I had the same radio with pa and dual antennas on mine I suggest upgrading the mic cause the one it comes with is junk but really it ain't a bad set up at all I even had legit sirens on mine and for duals you need the dual cable for it and maybe a short single cause I got the longest dual I could find and it came up 2 feet short not sure what your puttin it in but if you have questions just ask

haha

Just get one antenna. You dont need 2 antennas unless you want it for a look. The important thing is to tune the antenna's SWR. If you get a Firestick go to their web site for tuning of the SWR. Any antenna you get the SWR needs to be tuned to the radio. Sometimes you luck out and the SWR is OK. If the radio doesnt have a SWR setting you'll have to get a meter to properly check.
The radio you bought is a basic 4 watt radio. It's good for want you want it to do.

As far as PA, it's technically illegal to use to yell at people on the street.

In my truck I have a Galaxy 95T2 with a Wilson 500 on the roof. The antenna is temporary until I get time to install my Predator 10K on my ladder rack.

If you get antennas and have to install your own coax and connectors, you'll need to solder the connector to the coax and make sure it's soldered correctly or you'll short out the radio and be wondering why you cant hear anything.

Rick C

If your going to be out in the woods, Id suggest getting a ss whip and spring and mount it on the passenger side, you can use 18ft of mini 8 coax....
Your swr should be like a 1.5, and if you want it to be lower run you a ground wire from your antenna mount back to the frame....then your swr should run a 1.1...
Reason I say put it on the passenger side so if you use the drive thrus the whip wont bang the top....

Ive ran one of these ss whips on my trucks for 20 years or so....
But I know run a Predator 10k, its mounted on the back side of my tool box and I also run 18ft of 8x on it and it does a great job there also...

If you have a good antenna system, you can take any cheap radio with a nice peak and tune and it will talk about as good as a high dollar radio does...
A good antenna system is the key...

phenrichs

Wilson makes a great product. I never cared for the trucker antennae. Our vehicles are not wide enough to make good use of a dual antenna setup. A high quality single is the ticket.

My old setup was an amateur (ham) radio that had been locked down to cb frequency. Great unit. I highly recommend finding an amateur radio shop for top quality stuff and not a truck stop type of sale. Radio shack used to have good stuff but I think you have to order to get stuff from them now.

t.crawford714

I was actually going to buy two Firestik whips just for looks of course I'm in the middle of nowhere so if my buddy gets a cb I actually might throw a CB in my truck.

Can you throw a spring on anything?

BeasleyBoy08

I run a general lee radio with a linear on top....like phenrichs said find ya a good cb shop and they will help you out...truck stops will have your basic stuff you can get by on...but not the greatest....hang out at a truck stop and you might find a trucker wanting to wheel and deal...you can't beat a wilson or a firestik...but if your actually trying to talk on the thing...radioshack sales a 102" steel whip antenna for 20$...best bang for your buck in my opinion....as far as adding a spring...most antennas will work with one...just add it to the base....

t.crawford714

Ok, so you need the antenna mount, the spring, and the whip. Got it! If I put a firestik (fiberglass) with a spring it should almost be invincible right?

BeasleyBoy08

Yes a spring added to a fiberglas antenna will be pretty tough...you can get a decent firestik from a truck stop for about 20-30$....and they work ok...

paintgiant

I run a k40 magnet mount but it sits higher than what you want. As previously mentioned make sure to test that swr. You can pick up a meter from Radioshack and will need to pick up an extra coax cable most likely with a male adaptor on both ends and a 3.5 mm jack for the pa speaker and extra speaker wire. I just put my cb in and a pa I'll take a picture of where I put my speaker today for ya post it if it helps. It's definitely a lot of fun to have one campus