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Apartment CB

D

deadgoon42

Member
Nov 28, 2006
18
0
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I just got a Uniden Pro538W radio and Wilson Little Wil antenna for Christmas. I plan on installing these in my car, but I went ahead and hooked them up for a little test in my apartment. Everything seems to be in working order, but I'm not picking up much traffic. I got a little bit of one conversation, but beyond that I got nothing.

I live within a quarter mile a busy interstate, so I figured I'd be able to get more. I was mostly listening on channel 19. I had the antenna sitting in a window facing the interstate.

I'm thinking the reason I'm not hearing much is that I'm not getting reception on my antenna which is inside the apartment. Does anyone have any suggestions for getting better reception while keeping in mind that I can' erect any outdoor structures?
 

Two issues. In your appartment you probably don't have a proper ground plane and have you adjusted the SWR?

Bigfish
 
Try sticking the LiL Will to a metal cooky sheet for a ground plane. I WOULD NOT TRANSMIT on the radio until you check the SWRs but it might recieve better. :roll:
 
I had one of those pro 538w and IMO opinion it didn't receive very well, I sent mine back and went with a peaked 520 and power mic. Now I can receive and be heard miles away.
 
if by the window , a nice healthy sized cookie sheet will work ,as long as you can get a decent match (SWR) you will be able to talk fairly well line of sight, I've talked 10 miles miles on a simlar situation , even if the match is poor , you should and will receive better all the same, to even pick up the weather channels better should give you a pretty good sign. if you could sneak the antenna on the roof , for say ,on top of a air conditioning unit , you could do very well in a situation like that.Many years ago I did the same thing on a Wilson 1000 magmount in a apartment type situation , I talked for miles and I talked and received very close as if I had a base station antenna , the one thing I did have going for me at the time was line of sight and Clearance around me about 25 feet from the ground on top of the air conditining unit . Hight and clearance is always a plus in situations like these.(my radio had also been tuned at the time) back in the days , I knew guys that started off using gutter mounts off there roofs gutters and also did fairly well for what they had. Have fun and stay out of trouble. :)
 
Just for receiving, you don't need to worry about SWR. I'd bet that even near the window there's a lot of metal (metal window frame, piping/wiring/vent ductwork nearby). Maybe even aluminum siding on the building exterior. All of this is going to affect reception. The window has to be in the neighborhood of 1/4 wavelength high or wide to allow signals to pass through efficiently also; for CB, that's around nine feet.

Time to get creative. Try opening the window a bit and drop a length of wire outside. Any kind of insulated wire, maybe with a pound or so of weight to help it hang straight down. Strip an inch or so of insulation off the wire at the inside end, and "fold" the bare copper so that it fits snugly inside the center of the antenna connector on the back of the radio. That should get you something to listen to. Just don't transmit with it!
 
Besides my antenna farm on the roof..
i do also keep a simple mag mount (that i rarly use) inside

it is near the window and does quit well
reason being...i have it on the refrigerator (for the metal)
 
Forgive me for being ignorant. Why do I need a cookie sheet or refrigerator for better reception? And why should I not transmit when the antenna is attached to them? And why should I not transmit if I use a wire out the window?
 
for listening use all the wire you want.

but without a propper antenna and coax you will blow the tranmsitting portion of your radio up.

they sugested a cookie sheet because you need a proper ground plane for your antenna. with is the other 1/2 of a complete antenna system.

it would be like only hooking up the red side or + side of a battery without hooking up the - or black wire.
 
deadgoon42 said:
Forgive me for being ignorant. Why do I need a cookie sheet or refrigerator for better reception? And why should I not transmit when the antenna is attached to them? And why should I not transmit if I use a wire out the window?
Click to expand...

the cookie sheet or refrig becomes your ground plane ,which you need for both RX/TX , as long as you have a match (SWR) on either one ? sure you can talk !! the question would be how far and to whom ?(in your case it would be line of site from where your antenna is placed) If you have no match , there's a very good chance of you burning up the finals in the radio . Look at it this way , with a match of at least 2.1 , this will allow the signal to leave your antenna , the lower the SWR like 1.1 the better the signal and power is released . Anything over that 2.1 your asking for trouble , this is when the signal/power has nowhere to go and simply backs up into the radio beating up on the power transistor (final) So you need a half decent match to talk , but as long as your not talking and you have no match at all , you can listen all you want.
 
A fridge or freezer works great. In my garage with a mag mount stuck to the side I can get an SWR of 1.5 and talk for miles with the garage door closed even.
 
with mag mount antenna on my fridge
i speak as much as 35/40 miles

not as good as my antenna farm top side
but not bad either
 
Deadgoon: The cookie sheet (or refrigerator :D ) will provide a bigger ground plane which may or may not improve receiving.

Since your first post specifically addressed listening (as opposed to transmitting), I tailored my answer in that direction. You should not transmit with any antenna until you've checked it out completely and determined that it would be safe to do so. The antenna I described would likely do well for LISTENING. For transmitting, you'll have to come up with something a little more suitable.

VikingJunior: IF all the metallic pieces on the fire escape are bonded together securely to form one continuous metallic structure, it should work great. Be aware of RF hot spots that might occur at unpredictable points and times, however.
 

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