Why Choose a 38 Special Antenna?
The Driver Extreme 38 Special is different than most fiberglass CB whips. The 38 Special's radiating element is internally wound with TWO wire conductors in parallel. Dual conductors provide twice the metal surface area to receive or transmit a signal and allows the 38 Special to handle greater power than any other competing internally wound designs.
The 38 Specials' pre-tuned design allows it work on almost any vehicle in almost any mounting location. Select the proper height antenna and you will have 40+ channels of coverage with a SWR that is safe for the radio and low enough to offer good efficiency. Every Driver Extreme 38 Special antenna is NOAA Weather Band ready. The whistle free wrap reduces unwanted wind noise.
38 Specials are internally wound inside of a solid 3/8” diameter fiberglass rod in our U.S. facility. The bigger diameter of the 38 Special provides protection for the radiating elements and less potential for breakage . This increased strength and rigidity keeps the antenna standing up straight which gives you more consistent tuning and performance as you roll down the road. When competitor’s thinner pre-tuned designs are bending and lying over, they are also changing their SWR and altering how they receive and radiate signal.
38 Special antennas are linearly loaded which means the elements are wound consistently throughout the entire length of the antenna and radiates equally from top to bottom. This makes the antenna more forgiving of poor ground planes and near-field reflections when mounted close to an exhaust stack or other things that hinder most designs from performing optimally. It makes the 38 Special a nearly universal antenna.
I am using this on a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado with a fender mount with new coax and President Walker. SWR is 2.2 or higher across the board. It's not an especially tall antenna so I am not sure if it is reasonable to expect better. That said the reception I get couldn't be better in my mind. Not quite as good as the Astron A99 18 foot tall (23 feet off ground level) antenna I use with my base but pretty close. Impressive!
To follow up. I started out with a Driver Extreme DRX-5301 mounted passenger side fender mount. I was happy with the reception but wanted a lower SWR. So I ordered 3 additional antennas and compared them all on the same day one after another. Where I was parked I got 3.0 with with the Driver Extreme DRX-5301. I couldn't get the Skipshooter DB3-Black Double Barrel to tune below 4.0. Very disappointing. With the Firestik FS3B I could tune it to 1.6 but as soon as I put the cap on it jumped up. I could never get it that low with the cap on. With the Skipshooter S3 I could tune it to 1.6 so that is the one I am using. I will say against it the thread was so tight I had to muscle it on with a wrench. They say every installation is different. I just thought I would share the results I got. With that in mind I have lowered my rating to 4 stars.