Have you looked at the Firestik products? Very popular. I have a 3” Firefly.

 

I definitely looked into fire stik. Didn’t know if there was a particular model people used.

 

I run a 4' firefly.. use the rugged ridge CB/Radio kit that lets me mount the CB antenna in place of the radio antenna. Works great.

 

With any CB setup the taller the antenna the better, so get the tallest that will fit with your situation
ie parking in a garage at home or work etc

 

I mean, the 3' Firestik is only like $15 so its not that expensive overall
Thats the one I have and I have it mounted on the rear spare bracket. I think its a bit too short for that application. It only sticks above the roof by maybe 8-12 inches
I have it tuned pretty good, almost an even 1:1, but the overall SWR is around 2.3-2.4 or so. Havent tried adding a ground strap yet. Honestly, I dont use it all that much, so havent tracked down the issue. Really only use it for WX when out in the bush

 

I run a 3" firefly because it fit in my old garage and it was tunable. Would rather be running a 4' but I really haven't noticed a big difference between the 3' and the 4' for what I use a CB for.

 

When I did my CB setup a few years back I went with this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D0DRFHY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It has been perfect and no tuning was needed. Range has been great. I might add either a quick disconnect or a spring as I can't leave it on when parking in the garage. I normally only put it on now when I need it.

Ken~

 

http://www.rfcafe.com/references/po...ces/popular-electronics/antenna-placement-popular-electronics-november-1966.htm

 

Antenna Placement Does Make a Difference!, November 1966 Popular Electronics - RF Cafe

That's a good graphic for emphasis but the "amoeba" varies a whole bunch depending on how you grounded/bonded, the antenna itself, mods you've made.
A Wrangler is a uniquely quirky groundplane.

 

I looked into the Firefly. What about you the firestik FL-3 and FL-4. What’s the difference between these and the firefly?

 

I looked into the Firefly. What about you the firestik FL-3 and FL-4. What’s the difference between these and the firefly? Do you recommend the spring?

 

Firestik is their original antenna
Firestik II includes the tunable tip
Firefly is the lightweight version

-3 and -4 is the lenght in feet

 

Love the Wilson Silver Load series antennas. Silver plated wire supposed to help with resistive loss, and for coax I use rg8x cable for increased shielding to also help tx and rx.

Sent from my SM-T380 using Tapatalk

 

What’s the difference between these two?

 

One looks to be a Firefly and the other an FS II.
https://www.wranglerforum.com/f274/which-cb-antenna-2376803.html#post34516529
FireFly "FL Series" Antennas
Firestik II "FS Series" CB Antennas

 

Also consider what terrain you will be in, when you consider the gain of the antenna.

Higher gain gives greater horizontal range, but if you are facing down a steep incline, that's where your signal is going too.

https://www.radiospecialists.com.au/mobile%20antennas.htm


Although, this also depends on the frequency range the radio uses. More important when dealing with UHF CB that we use now, than the 27MHz that used to be common.

 

Although, this also depends on the frequency range the radio uses. More important when dealing with UHF CB that we use now, than the 27MHz that used to be common.

You had me right up to this point
CB Frequencies have NEVER changed and NEVER will its still 26-27mhz that is the Citizens Band
If you have a radio that works on a different freq then thats NOT a CB


Radio can be a very confusing topic so we need to stop misinformation here as much as we can

 

Nemo is in Oz, (Australia) they have different radio regulations than us, including UHF CB.

 

That would explain it, thx mate!!! :drinks:

I see a ton of locations and realize only maybe 1/2 of them are actually real
Tons of people trying to be "incognito" in a digital world
It takes a bit more than just a funny screen name or fake address to hide for real

 

Out of these two which one should I choose?

 

With mounting it on the fender I'd go FireFly, I had one for years, they are great antennas.
The less expensive one in your photos.

Go for the 4' if it will fit in your garage if you have one, you won't be sorry.

 

Fire stik

I’ve been running the fire stik 2 tunable one for years with no issues and great results.

 

Better yet, get a detachable mount and not worry about clearances and only have it installed when you need it

 

I'll admit I quickly scanned through the responses, but the best fiberglass CB antenna I ever used was a 3' Wilson Silver Load. It tuned MUCH easier than a Firestik -- tuning for the lowest SWR across channels 1-40. AND it also performed MUCH better than any 3' Firestik I tried using. I was successful getting several club members struggling with high SWR's or poor performance to switch to the Wilson Silver Load and they all confirmed it performed better.

Having said that.... I've since modernized and ditched CBs altogether and now run GMRS. Night and day difference.

 

Firestick looks good withe the red tip, and works good. If you use a spring it will wip around and bang on the jeep.

 

No love for 102" whip?

 

for a CB antenna, correct? :angel:

 

I've got a 4' firestik mounted on my Teraflex rear hinge setup.

 

love my 4 foot wilson flex. almost always the best send and receive in our jeep runs. the center mounted xj's can do better.

 

Wilson antennas are definitely far superior to Firestik. Most folks complaining about poor CB performance seem to run Firestiks.

 

as opposed to a fake swr meter?

 

There are a lot of junk uncalibrated meters out there.
Think of it like a broken watch, its right twice a day.
(A watch with hands for the youngins)

 

For those using CBs on the trail and off, Firestik has a great reference library online that provides a wealth of information regarding radios, antennae, installation, tuning and so much more. It's worth a visit as it will answer lots of questions the folks have and help demystify the world of two-way communication. Check out Firestik website and click on the link for Tech Help

An added plus is Firestik is made here in the USA. I'm not so sure about Wilson stuff.

 

I've installed FireStik's on each of the JK's I've installed CB's on. No complaints yet and cheap enough to replace when damaged from trail use.

 

I'm running a Firestik FL-4 and rather like it. It's taken some hits from heavy brush and survived to tell the tale and continue working.

If you're interested in a more temporary/removal set-up the K30 Magnet Mount CB Antenna isn't bad. Ran that for a while before moving to the FL-4.