CB cable type
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 14,670
Likes: 139
From: East of the Sun, West of the Moon
if you ohm it out from end to end it should show up as a typical 75ohm cable. What's more important than the ohms of the cable is the ground plane and the length of the antenna coil. If you're having issues, go to radio shack and get you a SWR meter to test with.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Radio-Shack-...item35c8f607a4
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Radio-Shack-...item35c8f607a4
Grand HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 3,514
Likes: 1,992
From: Vancouver BC
Coax cable that is typically used in mobile installations for cb or amateur radio is RG-58/U, it is a 50 ohm cable. In a perfect world if your antenna was a quarter wave in length (9 feet long at 27 mHz,) with a counter poise or 'ground plane' of the same length, then you would have a perfect 'match' or VSWR of 1.1:1. As we all know, the CB antennas that come with Harley's are not 9' tall, nor do the bikes represent a good 9' counter poise, so in this case we are trading off some efficiency in radiated power. Overall it's not bad, but a motorcycle platform will never be a good system to expect any kind of decent repeatable range with a cb radio. A VSWR meter will help you resonate the antenna so that more power is radiated into the ether rather than reflected back into the radio as heat, but don't expect to realize any great distances from your bike with the radio. A mile or two is a realistic assumption.
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