Mississippi
Starkville, MS, USA
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I need a new CB antenna to install on the top of my motorhome. Newmar factory no longer offers one since their supplier went out of business. It needs to be a ground plane with a flat base to mount on the fiberglas roof. I have done a "Bing" search with no good results.
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MountainAir05
New Mexico
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Firestik makes many. I also would do a search since you stated that you have a fiberglass roof then a NGP antenna would work best. You did not say if this is a replacement or a new installation. Here is a article that will explain the difference.
http://www.firestik.com/Tech_Docs/GP-or-NGP.htm
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robsouth
Near Atlanta, GA
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Google never fails
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WyoTraveler
Northwest, Wyoming
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I wouldn't be concerned about buying any particular brand of 11 meter CB mobile antenna. Check out some of the truck stops as you are traveling. I'm sure you will be able to find a pretty good selection of CB mobile antennas. I would also purchase an SWR meter and make sure you get your SWR down as close to 1:1 as possible and all will be OK. If you get the SWR ratio down to 1:1.2 or 1:1.3 across the CB channels you will be pretty happy.
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rk911
Wheaton IL
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Mississippi wrote:I need a new CB antenna to install on the top of my motorhome. Newmar factory no longer offers one since their supplier went out of business. It needs to be a ground plane with a flat base to mount on the fiberglas roof. I have done a "Bing" search with no good results.
CB antennas are plentiful and unless Newmar used some sort of proprietary mounting system you will have no problem finding a replacement.
but your description of the original antenna is a bit puzzling. in really general terms there are antennas that require a ground plane and those which do not, the latter being, mostly, nautical antennas. some antennas are designed to use radials as a ground plane...horizontal rods mounted beneath a vertical rod at a 45-90 degree angle. but you don't usually find that type of antenna for mobile CB use.
most CB antennas are designed to use the metal body of the vehicle, usually the roof, as the ground plane. the challenge for RVers are the fiberglass and rubber roofs...neither make a decent ground plane. under those circunstances you might want to consider a no-ground plane antenna (NGP)...those are designed for use on fiberglass (usually boats). they do cost a bit more. but in reality you can expect an effective range of maybe 3-5 miles in all directions, sometimes a lot less, sometimes a bit more depending on factors such as terrain, the efficiency of the antenna, the number of other stations on the air, etc. personally, id go with a NGP antenna only if it was no more than a couple of dollar more.
mobile CB antennas are usually fiberglass sticks 3'-5' in length, some might have an adjustable metal whip or stinger used to 'tune' the antenna for optimum efficiency. there are other varieties but these are most common.
what type of mount does your antenna use, a screw-in base? that's also very common. virtually all CB antennas with a threaded base will fit that mount (size will be 3/8x24 threads).
how long was your old antenna? was there a spring between the mount and the antenna? if your old antenna snapped off after being attacked by a tree branch or a low underpass consider adding a lightweight spring. the spring screws into the antenna mount and the antenna screws into the spring. that will help the antenna survive on your MH's roof. there are various sizes of springs...you want one that is relatively light and will easily give way when an obstruction is encountered.
you can find replacement antennas at just about any truckstop CB shop as well as numerous online retailers. try a google search.
good luck.
* This post was
edited 04/07/12 09:57am by rk911 *
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YC 1
Yuba City Calif.
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If you can post a picture of the mount I should be able to help you.
Go to Tessco.com and search for antennas in the 27 MHZ band.
* This post was
edited 04/08/12 11:34am by YC 1 *
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the silverback
SW Mich
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X2 on firestik. Mine works great.
the silverback
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bigred1cav
ohio
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Call Fleetwood they have them about $30 best I recall.
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wny_pat
Western NYS
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MountainAir05 wrote:Firestik makes many. I also would do a search since you stated that you have a fiberglass roof then a NGP antenna would work best. You did not say if this is a replacement or a new installation. Here is a article that will explain the difference.
http://www.firestik.com/Tech_Docs/GP-or-NGP.htm X-2. With a fiberglass roof, you need a antenna designed for use without a ground plane, hence a NPG antenna.
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Mississippi
Starkville, MS, USA
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Thanks for the response. It is a new install. Think I have found an CB Shack in Alabama that can fix me up.
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