Base station setup

[God1234]

Howdy,

I am looking to set up a base station as I have finally purchased my own place. I would like to disassemble my mobile for the moment and move things inside. I have a few questions though.

I currently have a 1x2 box in the truck that I would like to use as a driver for a much lager box(e.g. dx1600) Is this feasible?
How many amps am I looking to draw with this setup?
Is there a 1600 model that can be run on 110v?
Any power supply recs?

 

[DainBramage]

...I currently have a 1x2 box in the truck that I would like to use as a driver for a much lager box(e.g. dx1600) ...

I can see you are going to meet your neighbors soon

 

[n8fgb]

All kinds of amplifiers, but no mention of antenna. Probably magmount on refrigerator.

 

[unit_399]

I have never seen a 1 x 2 amp before. got a pic???

- 399

 

[space cowboy]

if you look up the texas star specs - Approx. Power Output with 20 watts input/ Approx. Max Current, a 667 will do approx 650W using 58A.
I certainly wouldn't run a driver on a 667. there's already one in there.

 

[God1234]

I have never seen a 1 x 2 amp before. got a pic???

- 399

Looks something like this..

Crazy I know.

All kinds of amplifiers, but no mention of antenna. Probably magmount on refrigerator.

I already have an Imax2000 in a box that I was planing on using.

 

[Stellasstillarat]

If you haven't purchesed an amp already why fuss with a mobile one that's gonna need a power supply, and imo 1600 watts is over kill and the difference on the other end will be negligible from a 500 through 700 watt amp.
Get yourself a Palomar 300a or the like.
Granted the tubes are more expensive then the worth of the amp itself.
You can find one one on eBay that has the rated (factory spec output) and if driven with 1 1/2 watts will last a long time.
Both my Palomar 300a's have their original 6kd6's / 6lf6's and both do about 450 with 1 1/2 on AM and close to 600 on ssb with 15 watts drive (on mfj 828).
R n R electronics in Delaware has one for sale.
$350 and it has four new tubes.
I've purchesed two small items from them and both were as advertised. I was actually concidering purchesing it myself but already have enough amps to past two life times.
Their great cb amps and no better or worse then most 11 meter amps of that time period.
A friend of mine was interested so I had them send me some pictures of it as he doesn't have internet access. Here's the photos. Good luck.

Looks something like this..

Crazy I know.



I already have an Imax2000 in a box that I was planing on using.

 

[tba02]

I currently have a 1x2 box in the truck that I would like to use as a driver for a much lager box(e.g. dx1600) Is this feasible?

Possibly, but without knowing the specs on the 1x2 it's hard to say for sure.

How many amps am I looking to draw with this setup?

Just the DX1600 alone will draw ~100 amps.
You will need to consider the draw of the 1x2 and mobile too if running from the same P/S.

Is there a 1600 model that can be run on 110v?

XForce has an eight pill base model, but it is not cheap!

Any power supply recs?

MegaWatt S-700-12: 50 amps continuous, daisy chain as needed.

 

[tba02]

That being said, a Megawatt 50a P/S and a DX500 would most likely cover your needs, losing only half an s-unit, and a heck of a lot less $$ and headaches.

 

[BigKahuna]

What antenna do you plan to use? You can't just run a A-99 if you plan on going big.

A 3 element beam with a small amp can often do a lot better than a omni and big amp for talking dx.

I agree with the suggestion tube amp in the 500 watt range rather than having to get a bunch of power supplies and drivers etc. Also driving a texas star 16 with a dirty 1 x 2 isn't best idea either unless you live on an acre.

 

[God1234]

What antenna do you plan to use? You can't just run a A-99 if you plan on going big.

A 3 element beam with a small amp can often do a lot better than a omni and big amp for talking dx.

I agree with the suggestion tube amp in the 500 watt range rather than having to get a bunch of power supplies and drivers etc. Also driving a texas star 16 with a dirty 1 x 2 isn't best idea either unless you live on an acre.

How about a beam antenna and going big?

I am assuming i should live on an acre due to interference I may cause my neighbors?? Dirty in dirty out kinda deal?

 

[M0GVZ]

Dirty in dirty out kinda deal?

Nope. With those amps you can put clean in and they'll still chuck out dirty but it'll be on frequencies you'd not even considered way away from the 11m band at places where the FCC take great interest.

100W into a decent beam is all you need. 100W into a Moxon 32ft up would give you an effective radiated power equivalent of putting 700/800W into a typical vertical antenna. Not only that, you'd gain on RX as well which is something increasing the output power won't give you. No point being able to get to them if you can't hear them.

Here's how pointless the levels of power you're talking about is. This video I did was using a stock President Lincoln running a stock 21W into a Hexbeam (2 ele beam) to a station in India, 4155 miles away who had a pile up on the go.



The thing about running that level of power you're talking about is it isn't just the power supply that's going to need beefing up. All your RF grounding, RF choking, everything needs to be absolutely top notch because if it isn't then your house wiring is going to become part of your antenna system with all the problems that come with it. A few clip on ferrites from the local hamfest won't cut it. You're talking a lot of money and a lot of time to install it - the PSU is the least of your problems.

 

[BigKahuna]

M0GVZ nailed it. Running big power takes a lot of commitment and youll still likely piss of your neighbors. A good beam and just a couple of hundred watts will make you sound like a big boy on the band. You wont be as big as the 10KW channel 6 boys but no one really needs to be that big anyway.

 

[BBB]

Nothing wrong with wanting some big AM class C power to talk to the locals in a Tri-County area. That's where a vertical antenna shines. That 1x2 comp amp would make a nice baby driver for a competition style 6 pill or 8 pill amp if driven by a 20 watt max radio.

Realistically you'd be looking at needing a dedicated 120 VAC 20-30 amp power feed line from your breaker panel, 200 amp 12-15 volt DC power supply(s) and some beefy power cables to feed that whole amp combo properly. If there is not enough current available, it will fuzz out. Don't skimp on the coax and get some LMR 400. Then throw a YA-1 low pass filter inline after the last amp just in case you have some close neighbors.

You will still probably need a couple of clip-on ferrites on the mic cable right before it plugs into the radio to help prevent audio feedback. Roll up neatly about 8-10 turns of the coax around some 8" PVC pipe right at the base of the antenna to help keep RF intrusion into the house to a minimum. Your basic Ugly Balun.

The amps, if properly matched, will sound just fine and will not create spurs if not over-driven. That's the clincher, it's not rocket science but most folks apparently don't have a clue as to what that means or entails for that matter. There it is in a nutshell. Big CB base station.

 

[loosecannon]

get rid of that 1x2 box as fast as you can!

they are a terrible design, and there is no way you are going to get clean output from it.
these amps are designed and built for one purpose and that is to make a wattmeter go crazy.
1 2SC2879 puts out way too much power for the input of a pair of them.
to make it work right you would have to swamp the input of those two pills so much that it would make the driver pill useless.
these amps are designed knowing that the pair of 2879's will be driven way into saturation which will cause a bunch of harmonics which will all be added together by the wattmeter in order to show a level of power output not really possible with two pills being driven properly.

this is the same with 2X4 amps but to a lesser degree.

put your IMAX up in the air and use the groundplane kit. get the base of your antenna up above 40 feet. obviously higher is better, but if you want to be the king of the band you have to put your antenna way up in the air.

this will also help with the interference to your neighbors.
TVI by harmonics used to be the main cause of interference to neighbors, and low pass filters were the standard answer.
nowadays with pretty much no one getting their TV signals through the air by antennas, the main cause of interference is plain old overload.
meaning that you have your TX stuff too close to your neighbors' RX stuff.
couple this with the fact that no manufacturers put RF filtration on their products, and you can see how using an amp with your antenna 20-30 feet from your neighbors house will cause many headaches.

get the antenna up and above all this, and use the groundplane kit to keep the signal from radiating downwards, and you might have a chance at being able to run an amp without pissing off your neighbors.

as for an amp, get one that can be driven by just your radio and you dont need any more than four pills.

four pills driven by your radio will probably get you about 400-500 watts out.
couple this with an antenna that is way up in the air and you put yourself in the top 10% of CB operators out there.
dont bother with the top 1%, they are absolutely crazy. (and also a lot of fun to talk to!)

if this setup gets you a signal that hits a local 50 miles away with an S-3, then you would have to put out 2000 watts in order to hit him with an S-4.

spend your money time and effort on your antenna and you will enjoy your radio hobby a lot more.
LC