Ask questions and find info on popular CB Radio Antennas from Yagi, Verticals, and ground planes, any cb antenna you can think of, you can find topics related to popular brands here.  Let's face it, without antennas, no matter how much output power you have, your radio simply isn't going to be heard at any discernable distance.  It is simply the number one component for both receiving and transmitting over extended distances.  There is so many size variations between various cb antennas, ranging from less than 1 foot in overall length for handhelds, to over 24 feet for permanent base stations and setups.

The Imax 2000 by Solarcon is winning the hearts of many citizen band operators, but are aluminum antennas gone for sure?  Fiberglass antennas can get out just as well as aluminum designs, but they'll always have one major advantage!  Fiberglass is non conductive, therefore is by far safer when getting near powerlines and a little extra resistance in nearby lightning strikes (although nearly any material and substain a direct hit).  Some important concepts that come into play in regards to radio range and antennas are efficiency and gain.  Efficiency is improved by reducing any design losses, whereas gain is created by focusing the pattern to some degree.  With that being said, when using a high gain antenna, there is almost always loss of signal from other areas on the RF pattern.  The trick is focusing this energy into a desired path, and only taking away from the undesired (or not needed) portion of the pattern.