Compare CB radio and VHF radio?

Answer 1

Yes, but not very effectively. VHF and CB radios are on different frequencies and therefore for best efficiency require different length antennas. You might be able to receive with the CB antenna, but transmitting will result in a high SWR and possibly overheat, shutdown, or destroy your VHF radio.

Answer 2

Some of the ham (amature) radio frequencies are in the VHF range (2 Meters) and require short length antennas. There are other allocated ham radio frequencies called HF that use considerably different (longer) antennas. VHF antennas (in inches) are short and HF antennas are longer (several feet) because of the wave length or frequency. For the antenna to be effective it must be resonate at the operating frquency. The resonant theory can be compared to the short strings on a violin being higher audio frequency and strings being lower in audio frequency. Simply said one must have the proper resonant antenna for the frequency to operate properly. Listening to VHF the antenna theory still applies but not critical as transmitting. One can listen with any antenna length but it may not work as well because it is not "tuned" thus limiting its sensitivity or performance.

Answer 3

The reason you have the high SWR is because the antenna is designed for frequencies

that are very different from what the CB radio is putting out.

There are ways to add lumped components (coils, capacitors) to the antenna, to "tune"

it to frequencies that it's not cut for. But it's a complicated process, and when you're

done, the efficiency of the tuned antenna can be quite low. By far your best bet is to

start out with an antenna designed for CB frequencies.

Answer 4

VHF is the radio range of 30 to 300 MHz. CB radio falls into HF (High Frequency), with all frequencies used being under 30 MHz. Frequencies under 30 MHz will hit the ionosphere and bounce back to Earth - this is called skip or DX. Frequencies over 30 MHz typically penetrate through the ionosphere, causing a line-of-sight limitation.

Answer 5

So long as you have the right coax length and whip, and get your SWR tuning done properly, yes.