Question:
Long vs. short antenna.
Is there a difference in reception?
I have to go to a lot of job sites. Ultimately, the long antennas get whacked on tree limbs, etc. and more often than not, the end caps come off. I was thinking of buying shorter ones.

Answer:

Well the best answer is the full wave antenna but the length is prohibitive. 1/2 an 1/4 wave IE: mirror and roof mounts work mathmaticaly but not as well. Best I ever saw was a full wave attached to the front bumper and it had a rubber insulator until it cleared the hood.

Answer:

If were talking about top-loaded antennas the long ones are easier to tune than the short ones. The bumper mounted full-wave that Big Eric mentioned was probably a non-loaded 1/4wave whip,these antennas are about 9ft. long. A full-wave non-loaded antenna would be almost 36ft. long. How well youre antenna receives and transmits is determined by the resonant frequency that youre antenna is tuned to.The resonant frequency is the one that youre SWR is lowest at,this is also the center of your bandwidth.Speaking of long antennas Firestik makes a 3/4wave top-loader that is 7ft. long,i havent tried this antenna yet but its got my curiosity stirred...
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