I’d rather have the $175 radio and $75 worth of 14 awg THHN.
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need help on cb radio setup
- Thread starter poboy
- Start date
I'm looking at antenna's and I am having a hard time finding a full wavelength 36' antenna. What about a half wavelength 18 footer? Are you saying the antenna itself should be 36' long, or that the antenna should be mounted 36' high to the top of the antenna?
Also what's the deal with the legalities on amplifying the cb? I read the FCC rules on that but is there a loophole or something? Is the amp for the base station only because of the signal loss through the coax, whereas in your vehicle you don't have so much loss because of the short cable length?
Also what's the deal with the legalities on amplifying the cb? I read the FCC rules on that but is there a loophole or something? Is the amp for the base station only because of the signal loss through the coax, whereas in your vehicle you don't have so much loss because of the short cable length?
I am not familiar with CB, but I do have experience with line resistance or ohms and how to calculate signal loss. I've designed some yagi's for picking up 4G LTE signal for my repeaters. I live in the middle of nowhere and I have to do this to get cell signal. Been doing it for over a decade now. Also build me a solar energy setup, and know a thing or two about power loss. Depends on voltage and distance and I can calculate it. I have a lot of 10 AWG
I also do long range wi-fi. Antenna's do more for your range than increasing power and noise.... I imagine it is the same with CB
Show me a $50 SSB, out of the box. A good base antenna can be built from scraps. Or like 2NC955 said about the wire. I think ole' poboy can manage the antenna build from what I read. Maybe he can show us some tricks with LTE yagi's.
@poboy
Here is antenna book fer ya!
Check out the pdf files I sent you.......Antenna height for 11m. Reflections is a good book. Many builds in The Hall book. Coax should not be overlooked. I use Buryflex, but that Jefatech 400 is good. Wish I had ordered that to try. Yes, a well built antenna with good coax, and good radio will perform. But once the bug hits, you go to want'n that kicker or a lieyenier to git that dx. Welcome.
As far as coax is concerned, I have LMR-400, RG11, RG6 and RG58 at home on hand
Also have 2/0 AWG, 2 AWG, 10 AWG and 12 AWG. So if I take the time to learn more about CB I can design something I'm sure, out of scraps at home. I have plenty of metal scraps also.
You can always buy a CB radio used for about $50.
But few considers the antenna as the most important element, which it is.
You can't get GAIN out of a mobile antenna; no matter if it is a 1/4w steel whip.
That is only unity gain. Mobile antennas shorter than that become more and more inefficient as they get shorter.
A base antenna can have real positive gain. Which is effective radiated power, so that a greater output is realized. And it is legal to do. A gain of 5.3db from a 5/8w antenna is better than being slapped in the face with a 3 day old fish. A beam antenna can have between 9db to 13db of gain, depending on the number of elements.
Used a $20 SSB radio last solar cycle and a four element Yagi, and I talked the world with that arrangement. Wasn't that stock radio that can get the credit for that, but the antenna gets all of the credit for making it effective power.
But few considers the antenna as the most important element, which it is.
You can't get GAIN out of a mobile antenna; no matter if it is a 1/4w steel whip.
That is only unity gain. Mobile antennas shorter than that become more and more inefficient as they get shorter.
A base antenna can have real positive gain. Which is effective radiated power, so that a greater output is realized. And it is legal to do. A gain of 5.3db from a 5/8w antenna is better than being slapped in the face with a 3 day old fish. A beam antenna can have between 9db to 13db of gain, depending on the number of elements.
Used a $20 SSB radio last solar cycle and a four element Yagi, and I talked the world with that arrangement. Wasn't that stock radio that can get the credit for that, but the antenna gets all of the credit for making it effective power.
I have access to a CNC router that we use for particle board/mdf/acrylic/corian at work (but it can also do thin aluminum). I am an engineer/programmer where I work, so I have thought to design yagi's and program them and let the machines cut them out. I wish I would have done that on my previous yagi builds, but I took the hard road and made it by hand.
It's just a hassle to do stuff like that at work because we're always too busy.
It's just a hassle to do stuff like that at work because we're always too busy.
http://www.vk5dj.com/yagi.html
Yagi calculator I have used in the past.... Maybe I'll just make another one for the cb frequencies I want to operate on.
Yagi calculator I have used in the past.... Maybe I'll just make another one for the cb frequencies I want to operate on.
I work other countries on a daily basis using a piece of pipe found in the corner of my garage. No need to wait for the solar cycle.
Not to say a yagi wouldn’t do me better, but it might be a little tricky on my pickup truck.
Going back to the original question...I think the radio advice the OP got was spot on. $50 radios are quite a gamble, and who really wants to start off like that?