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Cobra 29 LX needs a little help.

Grogan

Grogan

W9WDX Amateur Radio Club Member
Oct 1, 2011
1,139
363
93
Southern New Jersey
Need to put a little amp behind a stock cobra for a friend running a base radio. My friend is on a limited budget on his radio set-up he has a stock 29 lx and a Imax antenna and a 50 amp power-supply. I said any of the class AB-1 amps 150$ is the budget. RM Italy or Palomar mosfet small TNT what will work good with a stock radio. 3.5 to 4 watts I will assume. His swr is good on the internal radio meter ( the olny one he has) and will be checked with my meter when the amp is in-line . Just needs a kick for talking to the local people he can hear on the radio. Thanks
 

Height will benefit him more for local than power. 4 watts with an antenna high and clear will be good for several miles. Improving the antenna is reciprocal too so he'll hear more.

For local stuff even a 50W burner will be more than sufficient should he choose to go that path.
 
I was thinking the same, antenna is up about as high as he can get to above the second story.anybody have small amp ideas. kl-60 by rm kl-203p also has any body tried the Palomar Fet amps TNT I guess it should be AB1.
 
I agree. Antenna system first. An amp does nothing for the radios receiver. You can't talk to who you can't hear.
 
Local covers a good distance where I am at. The need for a little help can make a difference in being herd or not, plus many run power and use squelch to drown out noise.
 
Grogan said:
plus many run power and use squelch to drown out noise.
Click to expand...

Sounds like the town where my friend lives. Everyone just sits on Ch19 so they run more and more power so they can be heard over everyone else in order to have a conversation with whoever they are trying to.

End result is that in a town that is no more than two miles across they're all running 100W just to talk to each other instead of just moving to one of the other 79 channels they have available to them :headbang
 
antenna height

My brother and I had each our own base stations. He had his on a so- called ridge and used a 36' telescoping tower and used a 1/2 wave dipole with modest gain while I used a Radio Shack 1/2 wave(sucky gain) dipole 72' high but in a valley. Height,antenna and selection makes a BIG difference! My brother's setup was twice as effective in transmit and receive than mine. :thumbup1:
 
Last edited:
Lil'Yeshua said:
My brother and I had each our own base stations. He had his on a so- called ridge and used a 36' telescoping tower and used a 1/2 wave dipole with modest gain while I used a Radio Shack 1/2 wave(sucky gain) dipole 72' high but in a valley. Height,antenna and selection makes a BIG difference! My brother's setup was twice as effective in transmit and receive than mine. :thumbup1:
Click to expand...

Were you using this on a 60 foot tower?

Dipole FM Antenna : FM Antennas | RadioShack.com
 
what tower

I was in my early twenties when I set up my base antenna. The local electric utility gave me a 30 ft grade 8 telephone pole in which my dad wanted 8 ft of it. I set pole in a hand dug hole with a tractor,rope,a-frame and some friendly help. The rest of the homemade tower consisted of Radio Shack 10ft heavy duty mast pole with guy wires. Be very very careful. Lol! I now have a homemade 32ft tower I made by welding 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch rigid electrical conduit together with angle iron ends. That costs me $250.00 per section to make. It has been used for tv reception but can be used for... :pop:
 
Lil'Yeshua said:
I was in my early twenties when I set up my base antenna. The local electric utility gave me a 30 ft grade 8 telephone pole in which my dad wanted 8 ft of it. I set pole in a hand dug hole with a tractor,rope,a-frame and some friendly help. The rest of the homemade tower consisted of Radio Shack 10ft heavy duty mast pole with guy wires. Be very very careful. Lol! I now have a homemade 32ft tower I made by welding 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch rigid electrical conduit together with angle iron ends. That costs me $250.00 per section to make. It has been used for tv reception but can be used for... :pop:
Click to expand...

30'-8'=22'
22'-5' hole=17'
17'+10 mast=27'
27'+dipole= 72' ?
 

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