I need to buy a new CB antenna. I was going to buy a firestick II. After looking on the firestik website I found this:
http://www.firestik.com/Catalog/NGP_3-Way.htm

I have my antenna mounted on the rear corner of my 4Runner and figured this would solve the problem of not having a proper ground plane.

Anybody have any experience or opinions?

<small>[ May 07, 2003, 09:36 AM: Message edited by: Kajo4x4toy ]</small>

I get a good ground and low SWR on my '85 4Runner:

CB Antenna Mount

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Originally posted by Kajo4x4toy:
<strong>I need to buy a new CB antenna. I was going to buy a firestick II. After looking on the firestik website I found this:
http://www.firestik.com/Catalog/NGP_3-Way.htm

Anybody have any experience or opinions?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">I just spoke with Bill's 2 Way about these and they are not a strong supporter of these ant. systems. Basically you will only get about 2 miles range. However, if it is only for trail rides it may work.

John,
This is just another version of the old marine CB antenna, where the groundplane is created by a single counterpoise in the coax feedline. Better than no groundplane, but not much. The marine version at least uses a full quarter-wave (9') whip for max range/least loss.
Firestick is using inefficient 4', 3', and even 2' loaded whips. I wouldn't use a 2' or 3' antenna on a good groundplane (maybe a high quality 4' on a good groundplane, depending on circumstances). Rember, the shorter it is, the more loaded it is to accomplish this, and therefore more loss and narrower bandwidth.
If range is your objective, I'd try a coathanger first.
Broderick

<small>[ May 07, 2003, 01:12 PM: Message edited by: fourwd1 ]</small>

One thing to consider with the longer antennas is that if you do organized trail rides, they often have max. length limitations on antennas to prevent injuring folks on the side fo the trail (like spotters). For example Cal4Wheel has a 54" limit on most of their sponsored trips. This is why I run a 4' FireStik-II on my 4Runner. Between the antenna and base spring, I'm just under that limit.

AJ3- Thanks for the update. My 4runner is my daily driver so I would like as long of a range as possible.

Roger- My mount currently is in the same position as yours, just mounted a little differently. I used to run a full quarter wave on it but that was dangerous. I was running a 54" antenna that got ripped off by my garage door.

Broderick- I think if I wasn't a tech everything you said would have been over my head. I gotcha though.

I will be ordering a firestick II on line since nobody in the DC area seems to carry them. I would put a quarter wave back on except I remember the extreme wipping action on Kephart.

Be sure to run a stiff base spring with the FS-II. The soft springs allow too much whipping and w/o a spring, the FS is too stiff and it will get damaged.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Originally posted by Kajo4x4toy:
<strong>Broderick- I think if I wasn't a tech everything you said would have been over my head. I gotcha though. </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">I thought it might cause you to recall some of the knowledge you gained studying for your license. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />