CB antenna cable length

black pearl

black pearl

Hooked
So I just got a basket to go above my spare. It looks like I'm going to need to relocate my CB antenna. I have a 18' cable with very little extra. How bad would it affect my send/receive Signal if I added a little bit to the cable?


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black pearl said:
So I just got a basket to go above my spare. It looks like I'm going to need to relocate my CB antenna. I have a 18' cable with very little extra. How bad would it affect my send/receive Signal if I added a little bit to the cable?


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How much cable do you think you'll need to add? If it's a small amount I think you'll be just fine as long as you use quality connectors and a quality barrel. You will definitely want to retune your antenna though to compensate for any changes in your swr readings.
 
Arrcherr said:
How much cable do you think you'll need to add? If it's a small amount I think you'll be just fine as long as you use quality connectors and a quality barrel. You will definitely want to retune your antenna though to compensate for any changes in your swr readings.
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It would only be about a foot.
I re-tune the antenna any time I do mods near it.

GraniteCrystal said:
18' is quite a bit. Not another way to route the line?
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If I take it off the tailgate and body mount it I would have more than enough. But I'm not sure I want to do that. I guess this rack will tell me where I need to put it 🤷*♂️


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Unless you are relocating it to a different vehicle, 18' should reach just about anywhere you need. Like you said, just retune when you move it, and make sure at least 1/3 of it's length is above the roofline, more critical on a hard top for sure.
 
Don’t know where you have the head unit mounted, but is there any other route you can take wire through the jeep to gain a foot? Or could you relocate the radio to gain the extra foot on the other end? No matter how well you do them, connections are points of failure and can reduce range.


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BobNH said:
Unless you are relocating it to a different vehicle, 18' should reach just about anywhere you need. Like you said, just retune when you move it, and make sure at least 1/3 of it's length is above the roofline, more critical on a hard top for sure.
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The way I have it run, on top of the frame rail going into tub under passenger tail light, then fallowing the tailgate stop into the tailgate burns the length easy in a 4 door. It's the shortest route without running it all inside the jeep.


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Recommended, are 3 ft. cable length increments. This is to match the radio's wavelengths. It's also why most common ready-made coax cable length for CBs in stores are 18'.

You can visit manufacturer's sites, like Firestik, as well as CB World, and learn more than you care to if you wish.
 
black pearl said:
The way I have it run, on top of the frame rail going into tub under passenger tail light, then fallowing the tailgate stop into the tailgate burns the length easy in a 4 door. It's the shortest route without running it all inside the jeep.


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Yeah, i keep forgetting about the JKU, was thinking of 2 door, sorry about that.
jtpedersen said:
Recommended, are 3 ft. cable length increments. This is to match the radio's wavelengths. It's also why most common ready-made coax cable length for CBs in stores are 18'.

You can visit manufacturer's sites, like Firestik, as well as CB World, and learn more than you care to if you wish.
Click to expand...

I found stu's site to be quite well done on the topic of cb's. And yes, whatever you want to know is out there, in abundance. Given all that, I have found using quality cable and quality antennas have helped the most.
 
Well I think I'm going to try and push my CB forward, about 4 inches and wriggle the cable back that much. I should be able to put it back where it was.
Thanks so much for your responses. And I'm going to check out that page that was suggested. I love expanding knowledge of things.


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