5 foot firestik on my rear bumper

 

Both K40's I have had were great. The magnetic mount one had good reception and transmitting range. The weather channels worked pretty good too. I just thought it looked funny on a reg cab truck. Right now I am running a 4' permanent mount K40 with a tunable tip on my headache rack. It recieves really good for its short length and the weather channels come in well too. I have not tuned it yet (cb does not have built in SWR, I use my dads old seperate SWR meter) so I do not know how well it transmits but I would bet it would be just fine.

My super long whip was definately the best even if it was annoying at times.

Not sure what you mean here. Not all K40's are the super long whips, actually I don't even know what brand my long whip was. My magnetic mount K40 was about 3' and my permanent mount on is 4'.

 

I've heard that the swr meters on most radios aren't very accurate, so you're probably better off setting your swr with an external one.

 

im runnign a 102" stainless whip from radioshack, (~$20.00USD) and a realistic CB that my neighbor gave to me, hes had it since the early 80s i think. and i was pickin up guys that i knew where roughly 15 miles away, i sure i could get better if i had the radio peaked and tuned, and it was nothing but open pasture between me and them.

also make sure you get mini 8, it made a huge difference in reception for me, also make sure you only buy coax in 18 foot lengths, as this too can drastically change cb reception(not sure why though, i just happend to read it on a cb tuning website)

 

CB frequencies are ~11meters (36 feet). 18 feet is 1/2 the wavelength of the CB signal, which is favorable for radio frequencies.

It is also best if you can mount the base of the antenna near a very large grounded metal plane. It makes the antenna much more effective. The center of the roof is the ideal placement, but not really practical. So a lot of people will mount their antenna off to the side of their hood. It's not centered on the ground plane, but at least you have a relatively good ground plane nearby.

Sorry to go all nerd on ya.


Cartman

 

I like my 102" on my bumper. Works well for me. Just my .02

 

This is where i want my cb antenna. And the kind of antenna I want.

 

dodgeram07....was that a pic of Viper's truck? sure looked like it

 

have your cb peaked and tuned by a good cb shop and sometimes they will set your swr for free if you really want to get out and touch some one get a Galaxy 20+ Mile range not uncommon with them if tuned right

 

yep...lol