im gettin a cobra 29 ltd pretty soon and cant decide if i should get dual whips or a single. just bored lookin for an opinion

 

Might as well go dual...

I have the Cobra 29 as well. The antenna thats hooked up now, is just a 3ft magnetic mount one that i just stick on the bedrail behind my cab.

Pics up a decent signal.

Waiting now, for two 3ft FireStick whips i ordered off of Clays Radio Shop's website.

 

IMHO; Any single antenna on the top most location of your vehicle, that is grounded and tuned IS far superior than a double whip set up.

BUT; the reason you see a lot of over the road truckers having a double antenna setup is due to the height of the vehicle, thus limiting the height of the antenna,and they have some serious power in thier radios.

Using the bed rail is a good signal but the top of your cab would be an even better signal.

If you drive open road, no fast food drive throughs with a low top, my $.02 would be a Wilson 1000 or 5000. But due to the height of them there is that trade off.

Two good quality whips will suit you well with the 29.

Look at this site and give 'em a call. They are extremely reputable but I have a local guy that deals with these and he is well known from Maine to FLA. You have to go to him.

http://www.walcottcb.com/index.php

Good Luck!

mopar74

 

sweet thanks for the opinions. i was thinkin bout one but i think ima go with the duals on my bed rails..ive been getting crap because "not alot of people have them" but i dont care..i want one

 

the cobra 29 is a good radio, you should take it to a good cb shop and get it tuned. If your not going to be running a linear amp, then even a Lil Wil should be more than enough. Just keep in mind when you go to mount your antenna, you shouldn't place it right behind the cab of the truck. It should have 3' of 360° area where it will not be obstructed. Putting it right next to the body of your truck will shoot your swr's sky high, in turn buring up your radio. You will probably also have extra coax cable, you shouldn't roll it up either, doing so only hurts you.

 

I use a single Wilson 1000 magnet mount with a 4-foot whip right in the center of my roof.I've heard that if you use dual antennas, they will interfere with each other ifthey're closer than about 8 feet from each other.I'm not an expert, but you might want to check into that beforeusing duals.

 

blah...that would not be good.hopefully that wont happen.talking about the tuning..can you do it yourself or is it better to have a shop do it?whats involved in the tuning?

 

Actually the main reason that over the road truckers use dual antennas is not due to the height of the vehicle, nor the power they run (in fact according to the FCC they are limited to 4 watts PEP on the CB, same as anyone else.) The real reason they run dual antennas is because of how the RF from their antenna interacts with the truck. If they only have a single antenna on the drivers side of the cab, they will transmit to and receive from that direct far better than they will the passenger side, this is due to the fact that the tractor cab is largely a Faraday cage, therefor in order to have good performance on both sides of the cab they need dual antenna's in order to fill that void.

Also keep in mind that CB radios want to "see" a 50ohm RF load at a given frequency, therefor you cannot just splice the coax and expect it to work, instead you need 75 ohm coax because when you run those in a parallel configuration the result will be a 50 ohm load.

Finally Tuning dual antenna's for a good match can be an absolute nightmare because they both need to be tuned the same in order to work the best.

My opinion, on the average pickup truck a good 1/2 wave antenna on the cab of the vehicle will give you the best performance.

The only legal tuning you can do to a CB is aligning the transmitter so that it is exactly on frequency and does not drift during transmit, anything that increases the power beyond 4 watts is ILLEGAL! You can do echo boards (I find them very annoying,) and roger beeps if you want but they can annoy a lot of people.

 

Pretty much what I've always heard. I also have a Wilson 1000 mag mount along with most of my friends having either that or the 5000. I really like it and would stick with either that or the Wilson 5000.


As for the Cobra 29 I had one and didn't like it at all. I couldn't understand anything really on the speaker and it didn't seem to reach far I just didn't like it at all. I started having people that recommended it tell me oh the speaker isn't very good after I bought it and that they recommended a external speaker. I didn't want a external speaker so ended up selling it and getting a Superstar 121 and I like it much much better. It also has hi and low bands which I wanted that the Cobra didn't have. Some like that Cobra 29 but I didn't like mine. Luckily I sold it for a good amount. I was glad to see that thing go. I didn't use it hardly as I couldn't hear or understand anyone.

 

Taken from: http://www.www.premiere-electronics....erstar121.html

"The SuperStar 121 Export Radio is nearly a living legend in this industry. If you want a good reliable radio for a reasonable price this is it. It gives you the most important features such 120 channels, AM & FM operation, two power levels and much more. These radios are very popular for hunting, fishing and anywhere else that communication is important. Features include; squelch, RF gain, Mic gain, volume control, signal strength/power/SWR meter, Noise Blanker, and Public Address function, with added features such as, High/Low power, Roger Beep (with On/Off) , and FM. NOTICE: 10-Meter Radios are intended for use by amateur radio operators only. A license from the FCC is required. All sales are made assuming the buyer will abide with the proper regulations. We assume no responsibility for any misuse by the buyer."

Just an FYI for you, if you use this radio over the legal 4 watts and outside of the Legal 40 CB channels you are operating that radio illegally and could receive a $10,000 fine if caught and trust me, there are Licensed operators who listen for that.