cackalak han

I just ordered my CB radio this week, and it should be here today or tomorrow. Since I don't know too much about car electronics, which power source would be the best for the CB? Should I tap into the radio? If someone has a diagram/picture with which wires to tap into, that'd be great.

For the antenna, I think I'm going to get either a 4' whip or firestik and mount it on the front luggage rack. I'm going to try and not drill a hole through it, but rather rig up some sort of a clamp. I'll post pics when I get it done.

I've read good things about Firestik. The Wilson's are nice, but I'm not THAT into CB's to put any more money into it. I think the whip will suffice, though, and I do like the look better with the whip over the Firestik. But if it came down to it, I'd choose performance over aesthetics. Does a Firestik outperform say an antenna from Radio Shack?

Thanks for any input.

SLC97SR5

The variable that really changes performance is the area of the ground plane and how well the antenna is tuned to the CB. Any CB/Amateur Radio shop will do this for about 15 bucks and it makes a world of difference in TX/RX. I had a really nice 4' k40 but snapped it while wheeling so I now have a 4' FireStick. I tapped into constant power so I could power the CB w/o the ignition on. Pull off your driver side door sill(long 4 screw plastic piece) and then pull the kick panel and start probing for power. I also like constant power because it seems a little cleaner since voltage is being fed directly to the CB and not split off to anything else.