[pknowles]

I want to get a CB antenna for my trip to Nationals this year. Right now I have a hand held CB with a 6" antenna mounted on the CB. I'm going to keep the hand held because from what I have read there is little performance difference between a hand held and a professional radio, other then tunability. The performance is in the antenna. I'm thinking about getting a magnetic mounted antenna that I can put on the roof of the truck.

Questions:
1. What have you guys used and what to you recommend?
2. I know a longer antenna should perform better then a short one for CB freqancies, but how tall can I go? My truck roof is about 6 feet 2" high off the ground.

I'm willing to spend $50 if I can get something good. If it makes a big difference in performance I can go a little more.

[trackbird]

4 Watts on a proper antenna, on 29 mhz should get you an easy 4-5 miles. The problem beyond 4-5 miles is the curve of the earth. If you are fairly low to the ground, you start to get the plannet in the way of your signal. When I was at Summit Point, I was transmitting to a receiver that was on the side of a mountain. That helps a ton (and then some).

Of course CB's can "skip" when the atmospheric conditions are right and go a long way. Using a tower (40 feet) and a good directional antenna, Dad was talking to guys in Michigan from Martinsburg (20 miles from Summit Point). He was using 10 watts. This was on 6 meters (50 mhz), and again, lower frequencies can typically travel farther for the same wattage (but you'll not have the antenna he does on his home tower, or the height).

As with everything, there are lots of variables. I'd think 5 miles is a good minimum number, you may do better than that though.