CB RADIO BASE ANTENNAS

What are truly the best CB Radio Base Antennas you can buy?

 

 

AAH, There are a zillion of them! Lots of manufacturers and even more misinformation about them. How could you possibly choose? Well lets break it down to what CB radio really is. CB Radio is the 11 meter band. It is only a very small slice of frequency mostly in the lower 27 mhz area. So why are there so many antenna choices? Well this is of course to make you spend money on XYZ's new antenna. They promise its different then the new super antenna they came out with last year!

 

Does the above paragraph look familiar? It should its the same paragraph that stated the page about mobile antennas. The same rules apply. CB Radio base antennas can be broken down into two segments...Omni-Directionals and Beams. Period. Like I said CB Radio is a tiny piece of the radio spectrum.

 

Let's talk about Omni-Directional Antennas

Lets look at these most popular CB Antennas, used by CB'ers on the 11 meter band and former CB'ers on the 10 meter band.

 

 

The ever popular Antron 99 : This is the cheapest of all of them, and therefore the most popular. This antenna is 18 feet tall and is like a end fed vertical half wave antenna made out of wire (well sort of). In fact if you take one apart you will see that most of the inside is made up of just that WIRE. In fact thin 16 gauge wire! The remaining two feet is RG58U coax with a coil wrapped around another coil at the top which is the feed point interface. Then starts the wire section of the antenna. So whats up with this? This is to match the wire Ohms which would probably be north of 800 ohms to about 50 ohms ( ie: your coax connection to the bottom of the antenna). So what is the Gain of this antenna? About 1.8 db gain. Sounds good until you realize a 1/2 wave standard dipole antenna made out of wire fed in the center has 2.1 db gain ! And that a standard 1/2 center fed dipole is the starting point which all other higher gain antennas are measured against. In other words This antenna has NO GAIN. This is a very beginners antenna, my suggestion is to buy something else, you'll be alot happy then this "no ears" "no talking" fiberglass stick. Yes its not too big and not too visible and its cheap. There isn't a better example of you get what you pay for then this antenna. Can you talk to Florida with it from NY? Sure why-not? If you are a CB'er and you think thats a big deal......its not, infact its almost embarrisingly easy on any amateur band. My suggestion is if you ever get your ham ticket or license, NEVER mention that contact from NY to Florida as an impressive statement, your liable to get laughed off the air.

 

The almost as popular Imax 2000: These have increased in price but relatively speaking they are also cheap, although not as cheap as the Antron 99. So what do you get for your extra buck? Well you get a antenna that is 6 feet longer at 24 feet. That counts for something doesn't it? Again the bottom 2 feet is the matching section, so the antenna is actually 22 feet. This is a 5/8 wave antenna matched at the bottom to give your coax an easy time trying to send all those watts your planning to send through it. The Imax 2000 is also a 3 piece antenna, just one more screw together section then the antenna listed above. Trust me you can handle it. So what is the gain of this antenna? drumroll........ 2.86 dbi. Underwelmed? Well whats the real db gain at a height of 30 feet above the ground? lets say..... 4.46 dbi ! AHA you say Not so fast, unfortunately thats at 44 degrees above the earth! Unless you have cb next door neighbor 100 feet higher then you...this isn't good. BUT the upside is it is also why you can get some "Short skip" from Florida, North Carolina and other nearby states from the northeastern US. And if your anyplace else this is why you can get "skip" from all of the closer states from your location on 11 meters. or 10 meters. So whats the gain at a ground level, or close to ground level, for those distant local stations 30+ miles away from you? Yep about 2.7 db. at 30 feet. Better then a end fed antenna but certainly not alot better. So what is all the hype about 5/8 wave antennas? Its just that mostly hype. Is an Imax 2000 better then an Antron 99 ...yes it is. And if you must buy one of these fiberglass wonder sticks, I suggest this one. Beware... Lots of dual citizenship cb'ers 10 & 11 meter guys, will tell you this antenna works great on 10, 11, 12, 15 and even 17 meters! It doesn't. This is simply because they don't have any real amateur radio antennas to compare against it. And they just don't know what their talking about. They think because they can match the antenna closely to 50 ohms with a tuner, then the antenna must be working great. This is nonsense, and when you get your ham ticket if you ever do, you will find that out when the amateur radio guys can all hear and talk with stations on 12,15,17 meters that you can neither hear nor talk to with an Imax 2000.

 

The Hygain Penetrator 500: Finally a real aluminum honest to goodness 5/8 wave antenna. This should be good right? Well mostly yes. This is a real 5/8 wave antenna that back in the day (like 1960's and 1970's) this was considered one of the top Omni directionals around. And it still is. This requires more work on your part then twisting two or three screw-together sections. Your going to need a screwdriver and your going to have to be able to read directions. If this is too much for you to handle, go buy an Imax 2000. Ok, so how much better is this antenna then the Imax 2000? Well for one thing the SWR will be very good after you tune it, and always stable. It also won't give you RF inside the shack.Unlike the two Fiberglass sticks mentioned above. They use the coax instead of radials as the other half of the antenna. Yes, RF is running down the coax! You could try to buy a "ground plane kit" But they really don't work very well and you will have to readjust the SWR. If you wanna try that, after the ground-plane kit on your Imax or Antron place a 1-1 choke on the coax after the feedpoint. See the ham radio links below.....The Hygain Penetrator will also hear better then the two above antennas. It will also put out a better signal along the horizon, and don't worry you'll be able to hear that precious short skip when it comes in. even better then the Imax2000. Ok so whats the Gain already. Well as mentioned it is still just a 5/8 wave antenna, but it angle of radiation is lower then the above two antennas. 3.5 dbi at 30 feet with a take-off angle of only 9 degrees! There are even a couple of competing knock-off antennas, that look very much like the Penetrator but have a much higher power handling, the db gain of those is the same. ( no matter what the manufacturer says). There is or was another similar antenna called the Wolf .64 this was kind of like Hygain Penetrator, but just a smidgeon longer. Does it make a difference. NO. Same Performance no difference in gain.

 

Maco 5/8 wave Vertical : Same performance as the Hygain Penetrator. As are most 5/8 wave aluminum ground planes you can find.

 

Sirio Vector 4000 : Talk about an antenna that creates lots of arguments, this is it. Myself and a few others have experimented with this antenna as far as changing the overall height of the radiator as well as the up swept radial basket. If you buy it and do not modify it, the performance is near a 5/8 wave antenna. Is it a J-pole? Is it a 3/4 wave antenna? Is it a Avanti Sigma IV re-invented? One thing is true its BIG, like 27-29 feet tall. Okay stock with no mods the gain is 2.84 dbi at radiation angle of 10 degrees. How about 30 feet in the air: 3.2 dbi at 30 feet at 9 degrees. All antennas benefit from height above the ground, this one in particular works best the higher you put it. at 40 feet to the base the gain jumps to 3.7dbi at 7 degrees of radiation... Thats very good for an omni-directional antenna. If you shorten this antenna to 27.5 feet at 40 feet the gain then becomes 4.46 at 7 degrees Impressive for an omni. So in summary this is a good antenna it has to be high and away from any other metallic objects obviously and should be mounted as far as possible from your house. And you'll be happy with it. Until you have a wind storm, because the antenna whip on the vertical radiator is very flimsy. It will bend or break at some point.

 

Is that a 1/4 wave ground plane?: Why yes it is. What the h*ll is that doing on the list, isn't it inferior to all of the rest of the antennas? Yes. So what is it doing here? Well its here to tell you a little about db gain. (alot more detail can be found at the antenna gain button below) But for now lets compare. What does the gain of a 1/4 wave ground plane with 1/4 wave radials have? about 1.38 dbi. at 30 feet 2.16dbi. Yes so what I am saying there is not alot of performance difference between most of these antennas, all of them in fact. 1 decibel difference is about the slightest difference you can hear with your human ears, thats why Alexander Graham Bell started with ONE decibel when he invented it. Can you see a difference between one decibel on a CB radio " S " meter. Sometimes, depending on the individual antenna installation and the CB radio's " S " meter calibration. Does it matter all that much, not really as much as you might think. Aren't 5/8's wave antennas better then just a 1/4 wave ground plane. Yes they are, they will hear better and put a signal lower to the ground where it counts the most. But again this isn't a worldbeating difference. Don't get me wrong the 3 db difference you might get between a properly set up 5/8 wave metal antenna and a 1/4 wave ground plane or even an Antron99 will be well worth it. You will sound almost twice as loud as the guy on the ground plane. (3 decibels equals double your power) However: What kind of coax you use, how high your antenna is above the ground, where it is placed on your property...all of these have a much greater effect on whether you get out a good signal or more importantly can hear weak signals above the noise.

 

One small item of note: Do not listen to any claims like this, " this antenna is a 1/2 wave over a 1/4 wave antenna there fore it has 9 db gain" This antenna is a 3/4 wave over half wave" This antenna has 2 or 3 element beam 12db gain" "this antenna as 6 elements on a shorter boom length, so it works better for long distance ground wave" "only 39" tall, 500 watts and no ground plane" All manufacturers LIE, about claims and gain, ESPECIALLY in regards to CB Radio. Why because they can get away with it. None of those claims are real or based on any of the unbreakable rules of physics or electricity.

 

So why should you believe me? Well thats totally up to you. All of my experience is based on real world testing. All of the above antennas I have tested. I have built and tested over 70 different amateur radio antennas, some for myself and some for other manufacturers of antennas. And more importantly I have an accomplice. This accomplice is called EZnec PRO version 6.05. Not only is this software excellent at predicting antenna patterns and gain, its the standard by which many antennas are developed even by the US military. The version I have is not the 35 year old version, that 99% of all amateur radio guys who have it use. They use the old version because its cheap and can even be found free. I equate this to trying to play the latest version of "Call of Duty" or "Mortal Kombat" video games on a Nintendo game console. The original Nintendo! Developed 35 years ago. It just cannot be done and is very inaccurate. Would you use 35 year old software for anything? Is your TV, Cell Phone, or any other electronics you own 35 years old? The EZnec PRO versions are updated regularly and yes you have to be vetted to use it. Yes that kind of government security vetting. You have to promise to not send any of the information overseas to any foreign goverments and it cost about $1300.00 when you get past all of the documents you have to sign and get approved. Needless to say its alot better then 35 year old technology almost everyone else uses. There are a few others using this software as well, I am certainly not the only one. Every antenna mentioned on these pages as well as on the amateur radio page links below I personally have built, tested and used in the real world. So make no argument about that.

 

Okay enough of that. Do you wanna be a big gun on CB or amateur radio? Do you want to be able to hear and respond to signals no one else can? Do you want to rule the sideband superbowl? or channel 6? How does 10 or 15 db gain sound to you? Then you have to stop playing around with omni-directional antennas and get a beam PERIOD. It doesn't matter how many watts your illegally running through your omni, you will never come close to the performance of a decent size beam EVER.

So lets learn about beams and the good ones you can buy: