CB antena

ALF enterprises sells an item called a "match maker" which allows you to use your CB antena for your AM/FM radio. My plan is to use one CB antena mounted in the location of the stock radio antena for both the radio and CB. I was planning to use the "FireFly" which is supposed to be thin like a stock radio antena.

My question is this: Since the stock antena is mounted over plastic, will I need a "no ground plane" antena?

No. Those are for boats or fiberglass bodied vehicles. However you will not be getting the best CB or radio reception. The match maker is a compromise. If you don't try to talk as far as possible on the CB and you don't need to pick up distant radio stations then this unit will work. You will need to ground the antenna mount however. The ideal location for any antenna is as high as possible and in the center of the vehicle. This gives the best radiation pattern for transmission and reception.

Originally posted by coolerman
However you will not be getting the best CB or radio reception. The match maker is a compromise.

Thanks for the reply. Maybe, I'll try something else then. I want good reception, but I was trying to avoid a huge antena on the roof to get caught in my garage, tree limbs, etc. When I started reading about all the different antenas they sell, I realized that choosing an antena is a little more complicated than I thought.

Probably not what you are looking for but I just installed a 4' Wilson on the ARB. I was able to tune it to 1.0:1.1. A friend installed the same antenna on his ARB the morning of the run and tuned his to 0.9:0.8, iirc. The Wilson was recommended to us by a fellow MAXC member and I have been very impressed with its performance.

So I guess that is a vote for Wilson Antennas.:D

I decided to go with the Firestik Venice. Here is a pic:

I hope the photo isn't to big. I'm just proud that I was able to post it.

I ended up using the match maker. For more info look here:

http://www.alfenterprises.com/cb_mounting_access.htm

I am pleasantly surprised with the performance. The CB seems works okay. Although, I haven't used anyone elses CB to compare it to. I have talked to a couple of truckers. I got an SWR reading of 1.4 without the matchmaker hooked up. Surprisingly, with the matchmaker I got a reading of 1.1. I expected performance to diminish, but is seems to have improved instead. AM radio perforance is better also. Stations that had static before are now clear. It has tuning adjustments for AM and CB. I can't tell any noticeable difference in FM performance.

Mounting the antenna wasn't to hard. I had to fabricate a mount similar to Aussie's. However, mine didn't turn out as pretty as his. ;) There are no holes to drill as you can use the stock antenna mounting bolts. I did have to waller out one side of the hole in the cowl to get the antenna through. The hole is big enough, but I came through to close to one side.

Overall, I think it is a pretty good choice if you just want one antenna.