What length CB Antenna? CB Newbie

[criket]

well I pulled the trigger today on a 4' antenna and all the required goodies to set it up. I speant right at 100 bucks on everything (radio, mount etc.) so Im excited to have it all installed by the time im going wheeling in 2 weeks. I will have to tune it somehow, hoping some of the local wheelers around here have a meter to help me tune it.

Cool deal man! BTW, a 18 wheeler shop can tune it too. Not sure what would be easier or better but get that stuff installed and bad boy tuned!!!!

[BonesWK]

Cool deal man! BTW, a 18 wheeler shop can tune it too. Not sure what would be easier or better but get that stuff installed and bad boy tuned!!!!

good idea, I wonder if a truckstop tunes them as well. I have one of those near me. I may just have to swing by and see what they can do when i have it all installed.

[superacerc]

Tuning definitely is a must. (Here comes a radio lesson!) I've tuned peoples rigs for them and their ability to transmit went from 3/4 mile to 8 miles. (Thats one of the more extreme cases but nevertheless a true story).

Keeping in mind that a 27mhz AM radio (what a CB really is) at 10-12 watts (yep that's what you got to work with Limited by the FCC in 47 CFR 95.667 to 10 watts) doesnt get very far under normal conditions for a few reasons.
Reason # 1: 27 mhz is almost always under quite a bit of atmospheric noise caused mostly by the sun so a stronger signal is needed to overcome that.
Reason # 2: 12 watts AM actually is only 4 watts out because there is a carrier(the center signal that propigates the USB and LSB) that receives 4 watts, and the upper and lower sideband that make up the audio that get about 4 watts each. For you guys with an SWR meter you should have noticed that you have somewhere between 10-15 watts reading total power which is the sum of the three parts of the AM band.

Note: Some CB radio boxes are misleading people by saying that you get 7 powerful watts of audio with their radio. Some think that that means transmit power but actually only means that you have 7 superb watts powering the speaker on the radio nothing more than that.

Now if you don't tune it up really nice some of the power gets reflected back down the ground side to your radio and vehicle chassis cause it can't efficiently leave the antenna (at the right part of the SIN wave). Not only bad cause you lose part of those 4 watts but it can also cause Radiation burns if it gets back to your radio (usually coming from the metal mic mount button on the back of the mic thats also part of the ground system in the radio).

Good luck on the tuning!