How do I make my radio sound clear and clean

[RickyRicardo]

Originally Posted by easttnhillbilly

ive seen the guys with the antennas straight forward it looks stuipid to me i even had a cb shop recomend it when i ran a wilson 2000 he tried to claim by running it straight up and down that the exhaust would interfear with it i knew better i gues thats why i81 exit 4 cb shop went out of buisness

I remember when it was considered cool to set them at a 45 degree angle. It was a large car thing. Theory was when you hit high speeds they would be standing straight up.LOL

[CHAVEZ007]

Remember in the world of antennas "height is might" The only reason I could think of tilting it forward is to keep the whip UNDER 13'6" as to not set off height alarms at the scales!
Otherwise it should be straight and the load above the roof ideally.

[aggressor]

Originally Posted by RickyRicardo

I remember when it was considered cool to set them at a 45 degree angle. It was a large car thing. Theory was when you hit high speeds they would be standing straight up.LOL

I remember being told that they do that to create skip.

[AE Iceman]

I have also been told that a good grounded 4.5' Francis mounted on the back of the tractor at a slight angle will force the trailer to be used as a ground plane. My local CB shop quit selling 5' Francis claiming they produce bad SWR readings. I tried this for myself and bought a 4.5 and tried both the 5' and the 4.5', same bracket, same angle, the 4.5' produced flat SWR's.

[Rat1]

I run two Wilson 5 ft fgt series antennas. I have them canted forward (bullhorned) less then 10 degrees. When I had them striaght up they would flex back toward the stacks and cause the swrs to go up slightly. I bullhorned them just enough so that they are now straight up and down when rolling down the road in a slight head wind.

Cool looking is not what I go for.

As far as the Mic gain. Well I have my Connex 4300 HP turned down to about the 12:00 to 1:00 position. I only turn it up if I am talking longer distances (30+ miles) and the guy on the other side is having a hard time hearing me. But then it is usually not much. Just enough so they can hear me clearly. After the convo then it gets turned back down a bit.

I have a Stealth Cobra 29 and I run the gain up a little higher (about 3:00 or so). That is with the Skythumper mic. If I run the 636 then people say I sound better with the gain turned down to about 1:00.