CB Radio/etc

[Guest]

According to the shop manual, the OEM AM/FM antenna is 31.25" and the OEM AM/FM/CB antenna is 36" - so it's not much taller. if i decide to go the cb route, i definitely don't want to do anything to permanently alter the coach.

I wonder if maybe i should just get a cheap hand-held model and cruise around with it in my daily driver to see how much CB traffic there is on the interstates around here. i would hate to go to a bunch of trouble to just listen to dead air.

or if i can find a cheap one at a flea market - i can put a coaxial splitter on the original antenna cable easily enough. running power to it might be more of a challenge, though.

[sgath92]

If all else fails, you can make a shorter vertical pole antenna perform more closely to a longer one by adding a load-coil, but you'd have to use Campbell's equation to figure out how the loading coil should be constructed. The next time you're in a parking lot if you see a car antenna with what looks like a curly-que at the bottom of the antenna, that's a loading coil. They're used a lot on modern external phone antennas and stuff like that.

Edit: if you add a loading coil to the stock antenna you'd want it switched in & out of the circuit so your AM/FM radio doesn't use it when using the antenna.