[firecapt]

Shopping for a CB antenna. What are they referring to when the say 5/8 wave or double 1/4. Are the referring to the coupling? I thought they were fairly standard 3/8.

 

[michiganadam]

Theyre talking about the length of the antenna. A wave is 11 meters. Youre probably looking at fiberglass antennas, the antenna is a wire wound on the fiberglass rod and covered with a plastic. The longer atenna will work better.

 

[Mr Mac]

As stated, the fraction you see is the fraction of the length of the wave, so, 1/4 wave length is 1/4th of the wave length (39.34' / 4 = 9.8'). Firestik makes an antenna that works well for Jeep Wranglers. Since the ideal antenna mounting position is the metal top of the vehicle (the top acts as the ground plane for the antenna) and Wranglers have either a fiberglass or soft top, there is no ground plane.

Mounting an antenna to the side also affects the transmission so they have made a 'no ground plane' version that will allow you to better tune it to decrease the standing wave ratio (SWR) to a level that allows for the best TX/RX from your radio.

 

[sparky]

Shopping for a CB antenna. What are they referring to when the say 5/8 wave or double 1/4. Are the referring to the coupling? I thought they were fairly standard 3/8.

As above for the antenna length. And yes the mounting stud (thread on the bottom) is 3/8-24, that is standard.