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Best CB Radio DX Antenna?

jazzsinger said:
I've seen a similar type of ducting when there was no skywave propagation at all but at the seafront signals were coming in from other coastal stations well out of range of normal line of sight but usually a very steady signal strength on one day for hours on end which just suddenly disappears,I wasn't only one witnessing it either as a boat en route from Scotland heading to N.Ireland was getting it too,the station we were both getting was on Blackpool promenade,well into the North of England and far from the seafront of the town of Saltcoats on the clyde estuary but we couldn't get through as I didn't have amp with me and he was being bombarded by Rep of Ireland stations directly across the irish sea from him,but I had him S2 for over 4 hours.I call it sea ducting, not sure if anyone else has come across this phenomenom
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absolutely come across that phenomenom. FN30 here, home is less then 2000' from the atlantic ocean, & frequently mobile in a parking lot or on the beach literally on the edge of the atlantic ocean. it happens most often early morning, but can happen any time of day, any season, any weather. but you cannot plan on it. it just happens. sometimes for minutes, sometimes for hours, sometimes it slowly fades away, sometimes it just disappears. sometimes it's only directly across water yet other times it goes well inland, or across water then inland....VA, MD, DE, NJ, RI , and across long island sound then up to east coast of MA & even nova scotia has been contacted when ther is no other apparent propagation. sometimes just a few hundred feet is the difference in S9 or nothing. i've heard stuff from home, ran out in the mobile to find signals disappear as i drive down the street, non-existant at the waterfront, only to return home & find the statio still out there.
 
You hear a signal good or weak from a far distant source because his conditions are good for bouncing the waves from him to you, but the D layer and the ionosphere are all fluid and change in an instant or half a sentence or maybe stays stable for minutes or hours. His conditions may be good, to bounce his signal many times to you, while yours may not be good for the first bounce going out in his direction, while you can be good to go in another direction. The marvel of this is that we can get out at all. :)
 
Yankee said:
You hear a signal good or weak from a far distant source because his conditions are good for bouncing the waves from him to you, but the D layer and the ionosphere are all fluid and change in an instant or half a sentence or maybe stays stable for minutes or hours. His conditions may be good, to bounce his signal many times to you, while yours may not be good for the first bounce going out in his direction, while you can be good to go in another direction. The marvel of this is that we can get out at all. :)
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......& the arrl antenna handbook is 600 pages ;)
 
Go to home Depot, get some 14g stranded wire, order an 1:1 Balun (www.cheapham.com) and make a simple inverted V and hang it from a tree. You will work the world on this antenna. For 11 meters it will only be about 16 feet long. Your total cost will be around $30 and you will have a very good antenna. Get it up as high as you can.
 
Or, go on E-bay and buy an already made up Dr. Dipole for $20. Really nice, solid 12G. copper, 1.00:1 SWR around the dial. I like mine as a sloper or level in the air, and it doesn't need to be that high up, since it bounces off the D-layer. I ordered mine with the Balun, and I am very happy with it. Can't beat the price.
 
Yankee said:
Or, go on E-bay and buy an already made up Dr. Dipole for $20. Really nice, solid 12G. copper, 1.00:1 SWR around the dial. I like mine as a sloper or level in the air, and it doesn't need to be that high up, since it bounces off the D-layer. I ordered mine with the Balun, and I am very happy with it. Can't beat the price.
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Much more fun to build it yourself but yes you can buy them build and ready on Evilbay
 
SWR on dipoles. A horizontal (or vertical) dipole exhibits a 70 ohm impedance. 70 ohms is the natural Z of a half-wave dipole, so you will see a typical SWR of 1.5:1. An inverted-Vee exhibits an impedance of 50 ohms. so your SWR will be a flat 1:1.
 
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The only time I tried an inverted V, [and it should be called an inverted Y] the swr shot up to almost 5. That is because, I guess, it was reflecting off the coax. As soon as I straightened it out, it went to 1.00, on two different meters and the radio SWR set meter. So not sure where your getting all that.
 
Yankee said:
The only time I tried an inverted V, [and it should be called an inverted Y] the swr shot up to almost 5. That is because, I guess, it was reflecting off the coax. As soon as I straightened it out, it went to 1.00, on two different meters and the radio SWR set meter. So not sure where your getting all that.
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im talking about a V antenna with at least 2 elements on a beam that look like a V up to 8 elements . you understand now ? :sneaky2:
 
Yankee said:
The only time I tried an inverted V, [and it should be called an inverted Y] the swr shot up to almost 5. That is because, I guess, it was reflecting off the coax. As soon as I straightened it out, it went to 1.00, on two different meters and the radio SWR set meter. So not sure where your getting all that.
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I'm getting it from Fred Terman, John Kraus, Edmund A. Laport and 45 years of experience. Oh, and the ARRL antenna book.
 
I'm getting it from my SWR meter, the radio SWR meter and a borrowed meter, all tell me 1.00, time after time. The meters seem to show reality, the other stuff seems to be theory. Anyway, I go with the meters.
 
Yankee said:
I'm getting it from my SWR meter, the radio SWR meter and a borrowed meter, all tell me 1.00, time after time. The meters seem to show reality, the other stuff seems to be theory. Anyway, I go with the meters.
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This is the type of inverted-Vee antenna I'm talking about.
ham-radio-hf-antenna-inverted-v.gif


Your antenna, (whatever it is) has some peculiar characteristics that present a 1:1 match in your case.
 

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