/diy/ - Do It Yourself

[╔╩╩╦╦ No.33766]

CB thread. How do I build a home station. I need a dinner bell.

[Anonymous No.33775]

OH CANDY KANE

[Anonymous No.33774]

> Good CB (Go SSB)
> Power supply
> Base station antenna + mounting pole
> Coax cable + plugs
> SWR meter if antenna tuning required

Solar cycle is slowly picking up.

[Anonymous No.33783]

BTW what country are you in?

[Anonymous No.33785]

why is there a cb in a corolla

[╔╩╩╦╦ No.33885]

>>33785

Ask Google Image


>>33783


Washington State


>>33774


Obviously. There is a HAM antenna down the road at a electronics shop, but the guy there is a complete idiot with this antiquated technology and doesn't know if that will blow my radio.

[Anonymous No.33888]

get certified first before even thinking about getting a HAM.

[Anonymous No.33944]

>>33766
Why does it say Uniden? That's obviously a President Harry?

[Radiofag No.34008]

Oh lawdy, dem CB radiyas.

This thread is a go.

What does everyone want to know?

[╔╩╩╦╦ No.34019]

>>34008

Home base. I wanna get a dinnerbell going. Was thinking about getting a HAM radio antenna and using that.

[Radiofag No.34050]

>>34019
First, there really isn't a difference between a "ham" antenna and a "cb" antenna.

They're both the same thing. Tuned pieces of metal.

HOWEVER. CB in the United States is limited to 40 channels on 26.9 through 27.4 mhz... AM / SSB only. 4w AM / 12w SSB.

The most basic antenna is a dipole. 468 / mhz = total length. Split that in half, and you've got your two legs of the dipole. The signal and the ground.

Pic related, it is the middle of a dipole. This one is fed with 450 ohm twinlead ladder line, as opposed to 50 ohm coaxial cable. Older feedline technology than 50 ohm coaxial cable, but it works better in some situations.

A dipole, horizontally, transmits a horizontal polarity signal.

Most mobile stations use vertical antennas.

However, the ground wire is not needed. So you end up with about a 102" whip, with your car's body as the ground plane. The 102" whip is the most ideal vertical antenna for CB. It's a perfect 1/4 wavelength. It receives excellently, there are no coils to short out, it's mechanically simple, and it produces a minimal gain as opposed to a loss of signal.

[Radiofag No.34057]

This is a 102" whip, mounted on a chrome ball mount.

[truckerfag !!xXmBuWkIT3n No.34097]

>>34057
>102" whip
That doesn't fit on my western mirrors at all.

I'm dicking around with a 400w 36" firestick and a shitty 18' shielded coax. SWR is about .5 on a cobra 29 peaked and tuned to 40 watts barefoot.

Any idea of how I can cut down on picking up skip signals beyond turning down the RF gain? I'm sick of hearing advertisements on 19 all day for a truck wash in california, and a brothel in georgia when I'm in wisconsin.

[Radiofag No.34102]

Now, for a base antenna, you obviously have some space to work with.

You can build a simple dipole out of lamp cord. It won't cost you much.

Or.

You can buy or build a more complex antenna.

>Tip 1
A vertical polarity signal talking to someone who is receiving on a horizontal polarity, will receive at 1/2 the signal strength.

There are mainly two types of antennas.

Omnidirectional, transmits in all directions
Directional, transmits in one direction.

A dipole is directional. If you make it out of rigid material, like 1/2" conduit, and put it on a TV rotator, you can dial in a signal. So rather than wasting RF power and transmitting in a 360 degree direction, you can throw your signal JUST to the west-east. The downside with a dipole is that it always transmits and receives two directions.

The most popular antenna that transmits and receives in ONE direction at a time is called a Yagi. It looks a bit like a TV antenna.

This is a CB yagi. It is a 4-element yagi. Generally, the more elements your yagi antenna has, the more directional the antenna...the finer the beam that comes out. Finer beam = more concentrated signal. Think of it like a flood light versus a laser. The flood light blasts out a lot of light, but only to a short range. The laser is a concentrated beam of energy for miiillleees.

[Radiofag No.34122]

>>34097
The smaller your antenna is from 102", the more LOSS your antenna exhibits, due to RF energy being consumed as heat in the loading coil.

In short, ~40w goes in, ~9w gets radiated.

My first tip would be to change to get an SSB capable radio. You will find most skip stations on 38 LSB. People who ACTUALLY want to have a conversation over hundreds of miles. The Cobra 148 GTL is a great little SSB rig, and accepts the same mods as your 29 LTD.

Always upgrade your equipment this way:

1.) Bigger, better antenna
2.) More wattage, (better coax, amp?)
3.) Better radio

You can't talk to what you can't hear. Not only does a shorter antenna reduce your output power, but due to having less surface area, it can't pick out weak signals as easily.

[Anonymous No.34130]

Hey OP!

My girl and I have a 2000 Dodge Neon. Compact. Very little space up front. I was wondering what kind of CB Radio you would recommend. We live in a small town and it's about a 30-40 min commute one way to the nearest city for our shopping. I want to get a CB Radio for an emergency since my phone gets horrible service.

[Radiofag No.34136]

>>34097
Oh, I almost forgot. Probably the best antenna I can suggest for most truckers is the Wilson W-2000. The Wilson W-5000 is NOT worth the money, the 1000/2000 and the 5000 are exactly the same. The 5000 just has a thicker loading coil, so it won't melt if you're running in excess of 1 kw. To be honest, 400w is the maximum I advise for an amplifier. Any more than that draws a lot of amps, and provides very little extra signal. Every time you double your watts, you gain +1 dB. +3 dB = 1 s-unit.. So you'd have to go from 400w to 1600w to gain 1 more s-unit...400w to 1600w = about +$1500.

The Wilson W-2000 is the trucker shaft version of the Wilson W-1000.

[Anonymous No.34140]

>>34130
ur boned.

[Anonymous No.34146]

>>34140

[Radiofag No.34151]

>>34130
Range depends on terrain more than anything. Height is might, so you're at a disadvantage with a car, no matter what. Heavy foliage with hills will limit your range to about 10 miles, that assumes a mediocre antenna and an FCC legal radio (4w AM).

AM is all you need for simple point-to-point comms. The radios are cheaper, and smaller.

Check craigslist.

The Cobra 25 LTD is a smaller version of the 29 LTD. It works great. The Uniden PC68 is pretty much the same thing. Stick to Cobra or Uniden products and you'll have no problems. Try to avoid older 23-ch radios, they're great for collectors, but they usually need some tinkering.

Excellent space-limited car antennas:
K30 magnet mount
Wilson W-500 magnet mount
K40 magnet mount
Wilson W-1000 magnet mount

Base radios, you either need a DC power supply of at least about 10 amps, or you need a base radio.

Most base radios you'll find are made by President, although there are some classic base radios that are neat collectors items.

Such as the pictured Knight Safari.

[Anonymous No.34152]

>>34151
Thanks for your time OP.

[Anonymous No.34157]

Shouldn't your antenna impedence be as close to ~120*pi =~ 377 ohm in order to maximize the coupling to air (vacuum impedence)

[Radiofag No.34161]

>>34152
No problem.

This is my stack.

Old Uniden 23ch AM/SSB. Palomar 400w amp that I sold. An old homebrew receiver for shortwave, a variable DC volt / ampere power supply, and a President Dwight D base.

I picked up the President Dwight D for $37 at a garage sale. It was tinkered with and has some quirks, but it swings to about 25w or so.

[Radiofag No.34166]

>>34157
There's a story involved that I don't know all the details, but it was decided long ago that all antennas will be a 50 ohm load.

So the output at your radio will be _ _ _ watts @ 50 ohm load.

Now, most manufacturers back in the day of tube amps integrated a matching network which could match anywhere from 100 ohm to 1000 ohm load through the pi network.

But, 50 ohm is still the standard for transmission.

[╔╩╩╦╦ No.34169]

>>34130

http://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/ele/2672777024.html

[Radiofag No.34171]

>Astatic D104 mic
>Galaxy base radio

[Radiofag No.34181]

>>34169
The Pro 520 is an excellent little radio. It's someone limited, but that comes with the territory of space savings.

I'd take it over a Cobra 19 any day. The new Cobra 19 DX IV are junk.

[Anonymous No.34182]

>>34166
50ohm was chosen because for coaxial cables ...

3something ohm is lowest loss
7something ohm is highest power handleing

(i dont remember which is which)

50ohm is between the geometric mean and the algebraic mean of the two impedences and a nice round number so we settled on it

however coax Z0 has no affect on what you make your antenna impedence, you can just throw a balun or some other impedence converter at the end of the feed point before the antenna.

[Anonymous No.34183]

>>34182
>>34166
also iirc rabbit ear antennas are 300ohm which i think is the characteristic impedence of twisted pair something.

75 ohm coax is typically used with TV's and you can easily convert from 75ohm to 300ohm with a 4:1 balun

but everything that isn't a TV uses 50ohm

[╔╩╩╦╦ No.34186]

>>34181

It is what I am talking with right now.

[Anonymous No.34192]

>>34183
>>34166
>>34182

http://www.microwaves101.com/encyclopedia/antennas.cfm

this site's pretty cool, i haven't found a better one for RF/uWave stuff

they're basically saying the antenna matches to 377 ohm

[Anonymous No.34197]

Should i get a HAM radio setup or a CB radio setup?

Or can i just get a receiver capable of wide band operation and adjust / change my antennas as desired?

Or use a plasma antenna.. yeah that'd be cool

[Radiofag No.34198]

>>34182
To be honest, I'm more a fan of balanced line than I am of coax.

It's a truly balanced electrical connection, it's dirt cheap to make, and any ladder line fed dipole, I can match to damn near any band (frequency) I please.

Granted, my antenna tuner has a fairly impressive matching network with plenty of capacitance and inductance to choose from.

But, being the poorfag radio operator I am, I wouldn't trade it for 7/8 Heliax.

Although I might trade it all for a Bauer AM broadcast transmitter.

[Anonymous No.34207]

>>34198
What advantage do balanced lines have for matching over coax?

also, do balanced lines propogate in TEM like they do in coax?

[Anonymous No.34208]

>>34169
That would do for short range use.

I use one of these old boys at home with a end fed half wave vertical.

[Anonymous No.34214]

What's ideal antenna length for a given frequency? Quarter, Half, full wavelength?

Whatever has the lowest SWR?

[Radiofag No.34216]

>>34197
>ham radio setup
You truly have no idea what you're getting into...no offense.

Amateur radio operators in the United States have privileges on frequencies from 1.8 mhz all the way upto 25+ ghz.

There is no "one-size-fits-all" transceiver.

Although most transceivers built these days are HF/VHF/UHF, 100w/50w/35w all-mode.

You get:

160m (~1.8 mhz)
80m (~3.8 mhz)
60m (Most radios don't have this, ~5 mhz)
40m
30m (~10 mhz)
20m (~14 mhz)
17m (~18 mhz)
15m (~21 mhz)
12m (~24 mhz)
10m (~28 mhz)
6m (~50 mhz)
2m (~144 mhz)
1.25m (Most radios don't have this, ~220 mhz)
70cm (~420 mhz)

That is HF thru UHF.

1/4 wavelength on 160m is 136 ft.
1/4 wavelength on 70cm is 7 inches.

In other words, a dipole for 160m is about ~260 ft long

A dipole for 70cm is about 14 inches long.

This should give you an idea of the breadth of frequencies that MOST people experiment with.

You can go above 70cm...we have privileges on 900 mhz, 1.2 ghz, 2.4 ghz, 5 ghz...the sky is the limit honestly.

There's guys making contacts in the terahertz range.

On 10m, 28 mhz alone, I have logged contacts with almost every state in the United States, almost every country in South America, and several other places around the world such as South Africa, Algeria, countries in Micronesia...

I have a good friend in Rostov-on-Don, Russia who is a professor. The man is old enough to be my grandfather. He tried to hook me up with his niece. lol.

"MY NIECE, SHE ALWAYS WANT TO GO TO AMERICA, YES? I GIVE HER YOUR CONTACT EMAIL OKAY, YES?" - loud stereotypical russian voice over the radio

[╔╩╩╦╦ No.34217]

Radiofag, so I am 4 days away from going and getting a SWR, 18' of CB cable, and that HAM antenna. What is the point of coiling the extra cable in a 1' circle, other than keeping it tucked away?

[Radiofag No.34226]

>>34207
Balanced line produces almost zero loss. Each line radiates RF energy, but the signal and ground cancel each other out. And it's about $0.15/ft. You can make it yourself out of anything. The high impedance can actually be beneficial when tuning up an antenna on a band that the antenna is not actually resonant on.

The downside is that you can't bring it close to metal without causing weird RFI problems. It also changes impedance when icy or wet.

>>34217
Are you looking for a base or a new mobile setup? I can help point you in the right direction. "ham antenna" is very non-descriptive... It could be any antenna from my point of view.

[Anonymous No.34246]

>>34226
if the two lines both radiate but they cancel each other out via destructive interference, don't they still lose energy, it just happens to be largely perfectly out of phase?

>>34216
yeah i'm not so up on RF, i didn't think it would be that hard to get an amp with wideband gain across say ~1-100MHz and have either an adjustable antenna and/or loading coil and/or switch between a few antennas

[Anonymous No.34254]

I use something like this antenna:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-PT99-Procomm-Proton-CB-10-Meter-Base-Radio-Antenna-/120701056490?pt=LH_D
efaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1a57f5ea

Can talk 30 - 40 miles locally when its quiet.

[Radiofag No.34277]

>>34246
Tube amps are preferred for HF, 1.8 thru 30 mhz. Then, most guys use solid state for 50 mhz on up.

With ladder line, lets put it this way.

100 ft
100w
1.5 SWR
28 mhz

Times Microwave LMR-400...high quality coaxial cable, about $1/ft.
0.644 db loss, 85w to the antenna.

$0.15/ft 600-ohm ladder line? Same length?
0.103 dB loss, 97w to the antenna

>>34254
Yeah, that's basically a copy of the Antron A-99 vertical. Very basic antenna. Cheap too, performs well. Most beginning or low budget CBers, I advise to get one. They're inexpensive antennas, and you can sometimes get them for free or almost free on craigslist.

[Anonymous No.34307]

>>34277
>Calling clocks time recievers

[truckerfag !!xXmBuWkIT3n No.34319]

>>34122
Thanks, bro.

I can already get up to about a 3 mile conversational range, and I can receive weak signals from up to 8 miles away, so I'm pretty much set on power.

>1.) Bigger, better antenna
36" puts me at about 8" below 13'6". Would a 48" fiberglass stick be worth the risk of busting it, or is there a different type of antenna I should be looking into?
>2.) More wattage, (better coax, amp?)
I've got a decent 18' coax at home. What's the smallest linear amp I should be looking at?
> 3.) Better radio
I've considered the 148 GTL, even though its a bit more radio than I need. I stay in gary, indiana a lot, and everyone with over 100 watts is an absolute asshat, and most of them are in love with their own voice. The background noise within 30 miles is horrible, and channel bleed accounts for a lot of noise on its own.

[Radiofag No.34320]

>>34307
They look older.

So they're probably sync'ed off of WWV, an HF signal.

Meaning, yes, there is a shortwave receiver inside them to receive this: http://youtube/b-GPck4x8Xw

[╔╩╩╦╦ No.34334]

>>34226
Uh, a 8ft thing that has spines poking out in all directions. It is at Radioshack right now.

[Radiofag No.34342]

>>34319
100w is the largest gain...the best bang for the buck.

Overall height doesn't matter with mobile installs, so much as how efficient the antenna is. I highly advise the Wilson W-2000. It has a thin 49" stainless steel stinger, on top of a loading coil. Wilson's antennas are quite efficient...durable too. Replacement stingers are like $4, so if you bend one, big whoop.

Also, co-phased antennas really don't work for mobile applications, and in my opinion, aren't really worth the hassle of trying to get a match between them.

[Radiofag No.34358]

>>34334
That would be a discone. They're designed for receiving and/or transmitting on multiple frequencies. They are primarily designed for VHF/UHF use, not HF.

For a base antenna at home, get yourself one of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ANTRON-A99-CB-BASE-ANTENNA-SOLARCON-99-NEW-/120798621063?pt=US_CB_Radios&amp
;hash=item1c2028ad87#ht_1668wt_1143

And enough coax to run it to your radio. RG8U, NOT RG8X. RG8U is thick stuff, about as thick as your thumb. It is very low loss. Don't worry about an air choke, it is unlikely you'll need one. It's easier to just clamp on some ferrite beads if you're having RF feedback problems anyways.

Get an antenna tripod from Lowes for about $25. 3-ft is fine.

Throw a 10 ft piece of 1.25" rigid conduit in it as a mast, and put your Antron A99 antenna on top. Run your RG8U into your house. The most ideal height for antenna is 30 ft, but trying to get it at least 20 ft off the ground for best results.

[╔╩╩╦╦ No.34359]

>>34334

I am looking to make a homebase so I don't have to go out to my car to talk to my friends. Where I live a CB is still practical since I have no cell coverage.

[╔╩╩╦╦ No.34372]

>>34358

That is what they have. I would also like to use this for airsoft, now that you mentioned a tripod.

[Anonymous No.34395]

>>34057
where can I get one of those for my truck I have looked all over but to no avail.

[Radiofag No.34398]

>>34372
If that's the case, I would advise a dipole. You can hang them from trees quite easily.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/11-Meter-CB-Dipole-Antenna-Handles-2000-Watts-PEP-/260773961374?pt=LH_Defaul
tDomain_0&hash=item3cb756de9e#ht_1786wt_1400

Pre-tuned, ready to rock. Just tie some rope around the the eyebolt, tie the other end of the rope around a rock or something, throw the rock over a branch, then pull the dipole off the ground. The ends can slant down at a 35 degree angle or so without affecting anthing...you've just made what is called an "inverted-v" dipole antenna.

Add 50 to 100 ft of RG8U, and you're ready to rock.

RG8X or RG58A/U is fine too if you need the weight savings, or you're on a budget.

[Radiofag No.34403]

>>34395
They're special order from Radioshack.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102428

[╔╩╩╦╦ No.34414]

>>34403

That is pretty much it, but it is 15 bucks and has all these antennas sticking off of at the top...

[Anonymous No.34418]

>>34358
Actually, the Antron 99 isn't that great and kind of sucks, actually. There's an article out there on the shit build quality, taking it apart to find out what's inside (and it's basically got nothing in it).

There's a better one... same mfg though. Can't fucking remember the name.

[Anonymous No.34427]

I remember now, Solarcon's Imax 2000. Slightly better than the Antron 99.

But beware, Solarcon has unpredictable build quality. Consider both of these:

The Solarcon Antron 99 exposed:
www.g0vqy.co.uk/pdf/a99.pdf

The Solarcon IMAX 2000 exposed:
http://www.video-observer.com/imax/imax2000.htm

So if you buy base, consider the Imax 2000 instead of the Antron 99 ... but also consider checking the guts of the fucking thing before you put it up on the roof, to make sure it's not shit.

[Radiofag No.34438]

>>34418
For the price, there isn't much better.

I have a Maco V58 I retuned for 10m, but that was about $125.

[Anonymous No.34444]

>>34277
why the (directional of course) yagi antennas?

[Anonymous No.34450]

>my face when trying to comprehend electromagnetic radiation
Has anyone else thought about how strange it is that you can just send waves of energy through space?

[Radiofag No.34451]

>>34444
They concentrate your RF energy in one direction, like a laser beam. This act is called "gain". It can make 100w "sound" like 2000w output in terms of signal strength.

Also, it helps you null out everything, except the direction you want to receive from. Handy when the neighbor's house has a lot of pesky shitty chinese non-FCC accepted electronics that produce bunches of noise on the HF bands.

[Anonymous No.34457]

>>34451
.. i know, and if you want to be accurate the directivity of a laser is probably 100dB higher then the best antenna.. fuck, maybe higher

i mean, how do you know where to point the damn thing? or are the main/side lobes big enough you have some wiggle room

[Radiofag No.34458]

>>34450
Not even scientists understand it completely, why radio propagation is the way it is.

It's like 550 khz band (special experimental licenses only right now, though supposedly we'll be getting amateur privies on it too!). Some days you're lucky to be heard 20 miles away. Some days, you're full-scale 1000 miles away, solid copy.

[Anonymous No.34461]

>>34458
shooting skip is basically the best thing ever

[Anonymous No.34464]

>>34458
What a strange and fascinating world we live in.

[Radiofag No.34465]

>>34457
Yagi beam angles are typically somewhere between 5 to 20 degrees.

For a contact 500 to 2500 miles, that is more than enough wiggle room.

Oh, by the way.

The moon is reflective of RF energy.

If you take a directive array, and blast say...1 kw of RF energy at the moon, you can bounce it straight back to earth. This is done on VHF/UHF/SHF.

Pic related, it's an array for doing that.

You can do the same thing with meteorites too. It's weird to hear the tail of your transmission due to the delay.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EME_(communications)

There's a recording in there too.

[Anonymous No.34476]

>>34465
A guy near here used to do eme on a big dish. I'm talking 25 feet across.

[Radiofag No.34505]

>>34476
Men like him are some of the greatest in the hobby, unafraid to try new things and take on new horizons.

They're usually a wealth of knowledge and talent as well. I have yet to meet a guy that won't share that knowledge and experience with his fellow hams.

[Anonymous No.34508]

>>34136
>To be honest, 400w is the maximum I advise for an amplifier.

>>34342
100w is the largest gain...the best bang for the buck.

>>34319
>everyone with over 100 watts is an absolute asshat

The inverse square law states that for a signal to double in strength at the receiving end, its current wattage -- whatever that is -- must be multiplied by 4. Considering that 4 watts is the starting point (legal limit) and that the S-unit scale follows this inverse square law in most radios, and you can pretty much sum the situation up thusly:

4x1 = 4 watts = 1 s-units
4x4 = 16 watts = 2 s-units
16x4 = 64 watts = 3 s-units
64x4 = 256 watts = 4 s-units
256x4 = 1024 watts = 5 s-units
1024x4 = 4096 watts = 6 s-units
4096x4 = 16384 watts = 7 s-units
16384x4 = 65536 watts = 8 s-units
65536x4 = 262144 watts = 9 s-units

So imagine you're running 4 watts and your friend several miles away is seeing 1 S-unit of signal strength from you on his radio. In that case the scale above shows the wattages you would need to bump yourself up by x more s-units on his receiver (again, how much wattage you would need to become x times stronger in signal strength).

Which also means it shows literally where to stop paying for wattage. After about 250 watts, you can't double your signal strength again without going all the way to 1K, and for that you'll definitely need to to redesign your car's electrical system.

So in truth any amp around 250 watts is probably the best tradeoff between economics and power. If you want, you could go for a 600 watt amplifier and add 1/2x more power to your signal, but you'd just be paying a lot of money for very little practical improvement.

[Anonymous No.34510]

>>34136
>To be honest, 400w is the maximum I advise for an amplifier.

>>34342
>100w is the largest gain...the best bang for the buck.

>>34319
>everyone with over 100 watts is an absolute asshat

The inverse square law states that for a signal to double in strength at the receiving end, its current wattage -- whatever that is -- must be multiplied by 4. Considering that 4 watts is the starting point (legal limit) and that the S-unit scale follows this inverse square law in most radios, and you can pretty much sum the situation up thusly:

4x1 = 4 watts = 1 s-units
4x4 = 16 watts = 2 s-units
16x4 = 64 watts = 3 s-units
64x4 = 256 watts = 4 s-units
256x4 = 1024 watts = 5 s-units
1024x4 = 4096 watts = 6 s-units
4096x4 = 16384 watts = 7 s-units
16384x4 = 65536 watts = 8 s-units
65536x4 = 262144 watts = 9 s-units

So imagine you're running 4 watts and your friend several miles away is seeing 1 S-unit of signal strength from you on his radio. In that case the scale above shows the wattages you would need to bump yourself up by x more s-units on his receiver (again, how much wattage you would need to become x times stronger in signal strength).

Which also means it shows literally where to stop paying for wattage. After about 250 watts, you can't double your signal strength again without going all the way to 1K, and for that you'll definitely need to to redesign your car's electrical system.

So in truth any amp around 250 watts is probably the best tradeoff between economics and power. If you want, you could go for a 600 watt amplifier and add 1/2x more power to your signal, but you'd just be paying a lot of money for very little practical improvement.

[Radiofag No.34523]

>>34510
In a perfect world, yes.

In reality, we round a lot. S-meters are never accurate, not by a longshot.

Amps are typically sold at the values of 100w, 200w, 400w, 1000w, 1200w, and 1500w

100w, 400w, or 1500w are really the only ones worth getting.

I can't wait to pick up an FL2100B. 1200w of grounded grid class B delight. The downside is it doesn't have 160m. Oh well.

[Anonymous No.35426]

bamping

[truckerfag !!xXmBuWkIT3n No.35822]

>>34342
>W-2000 wilson base loaded whip
>100w inline amp
I was pretty happy with the wilson stick I had on my peterbilt 387 until I went under a 13'8" bridge and tore the fuck out of the tip. Had to revert to the shit they install at the paccar factory that i'd left disconnected on the other side of the truck.

I don't suppose there is a huge issue with this old coax sitting next to my temporary coax? Last driver ripped the connectors off with his antennas. I was just leaving it in until I could get into a decent shop with broad spool shielded coax so the old coax could be used to fish the new line into the truck. I could pull it back some if its likely causing issues.

>>34510
Just to make sure I've got this right, the squares in the left column are amplifier ratings, and the 4 value represents the barefoot wattage of the radio? So my 40 watt radio through a 100 watt amplifier would yield roughly 6 s-units on that hypothetical scale? I'm only using that scale since my radio was 4 watts from the factory, and I'm assuming bumps in wattage between internal and amplification are held equal.

[truckerfag !!xXmBuWkIT3n No.35827]

>>35822
Forgot my picture.

[Radiofag No.36115]

>>35822
I'm surprised you don't clip the top of your truck on bridges? Damn...

However, amps do not work like that. What the amp is rated for is what you get out. 4w to 100w, you would see about a 2 s-unit gain, about 5.5+ dB gain.

Most CB designed amps are low drive...designed to be driven with LESS THAN 4W. Most guys turn their radio down to about 1W deadkey, so they swing to 4W PEP.

A 40w PEP radio is about 10w DK, swinging to 40W PEP. That's what it should be anyways. If your deadkey is less than 10w, and you're swinging to 40W PEP, it is likely that the extra wattage is harmonics or distortion in the outputted signal.

[Radiofag No.36120]

>>35822
Also, the coax is not a problem

[Radiofag No.36475]

[Radiofag No.36487]

[Radiofag No.36492]

[Radiofag No.36496]

[Radiofag No.36500]

[Radiofag No.36507]

[Radiofag No.36509]

[truckerfag !!xXmBuWkIT3n No.36510]

>>36115
>lolchicago
My truck is a hair under 13'6". Ended up going under a railway system that was 14"6' on one end, and woked down to about 13'0" over half a mile. I got out in time to save the truck, but the antenna was trash.

I see what you mean about the wattage. I got lost in hypotheticals asking my question.

I'll go ahead and get my DK and PEP checked, and make sure I'm not mixing the two up before I go any farther than a new antenna. I'm pretty sure that when I got it turned up it was just shy of 40w DK. It might have been 40w PEP, though. It was all alphabet soup to me back then.

If it turns out to be over 40w PEP at 10w DK, should I ask to have it trimmed back a bit? I'm not entirely sure of what goes into a peak and tune, other than modifying federal restrictions.

[Radiofag No.36552]

>>36510
It depends on what was done during your peak and tune.

If your output is truly 40W PEP, then in which case, your finals have been changed out, likely to a MOSFET type amplifier such as the IRF520. It would be hard to reduce the drive of this final, because underdriving an RF amplifier can produce unwanted harmonics and distortion.

In short, you'd be better off with a radio with a stock final to drive an amplifier.

My $0.02, amplifer > high power radio.

Heat is the #1 killer of electronics. Heat shortens lifespans, and causes component failure. The amplification stages of a radio produce the most heat. Having an external amplifier removes that heat from inside the radio, which has a very small heat sink on it...to a box, which is essentially one big heatsink. Plus, radios are generally put in areas where they cannot dissipate heat easily, such as the radio compartment above your head, or in a glovebox, or center console or something. An amplifier can be placed in the trunk, or another open area where there's plenty of space to dissipate heat.

Plus, if the amp breaks, you can run your radio without an amp. As opposed to having no radio at all.

[Radiofag No.36558]

[Radiofag No.36563]

[truckerfag !!xXmBuWkIT3n No.36739]

>>36552
I haven't had any problems with heat in this radio, but I do have an old 23 channel turned up to 18w that gets hotter than a motherfucker. The paint is peeling and everything.

So what you're saying is when I get my PEP and DK checked out, I should see if an aftermarket final was put in? Assuming I can find a 400w linear amp, should I ask to have stock finals put back in? The peak and tune was only $20, so I won't get buttfrustrated having it undone.

[Radiofag No.36745]

>>36739
Tell them you're looking to run an amplifier or "afterburner" if you're looking to be all CB-like, and you would like the output wattage dropped to about 1W DK.

You should be able to ask them to do it with a knob, so you can vary your DK from there, rather than having to yank apart the radio every time you want to change the radio's output wattage.

[truckerfag !!xXmBuWkIT3n No.36800]

>>36745
Is a DK knob pretty common? I'll probably just get a new antenna and coax for now, but if I could get a knob installed to turn it down when I come across an amplifier and the desire for one, that'd be great.

Just want to make sure I'm not going to herp until I derp on this. This is my radio model:
http://www.rightchannelradios.com/cobra-cb-radios-66/cobra-29-wx-nw-st-classic-cb-radio-186.html

What exactly does the "dynamike" knob do?

[╔╩╩╦╦ No.37632]

Bumping

[Anonymous No.37658]

cool i was wondering when a CB thread would pop up

i have two questions, i have a Cobra 38WXST handheld (pic), when i use the rubber whip antenna that came with it, my power meter shows that i'm getting out at full power, but when i attach one of those loaded in the middle telescopic antennas, the power meter shows i'm putting out less power, but on the receiving end the signal is stronger than the antenna that came with it, what does this mean?

next question, my base station is just a whip that is mounted to the side of my house with no ground plane, only a ground wire that is attached at the antenna. I thought this wasn't going to work at all, but I can shoot skip and my signal gets everywhere i want it to locally, is it possible that i lucked out and just by mistake got myself a tuned antenna? is that possible? did i create some kind of a vertical dipole by attaching the ground wire at the antenna?

if my antenna really is crap, could the design as it is be improved by an auto-tuner at the antenna without changing anything else? (like adding a ground plane)?

[Anonymous No.37669]

>>37658

bump, and forgot to mention, a handheld + base station CB kicks the pants off of those bubble pack GMRS radios any day. I'm in Canada, so we don't get GRMS repeaters. I had been using GMRS for a few years and it was so annoying because any time i get behind a hill or anything like thick metal the signal drops completely. On CB i can be completely out of line of sight over a hill and my signal will still get back home. The radio is bulkier, but for the use it gets, i only have to recharge the batteries ever 2 months or so.

[Anonymous No.37680]

>>37669

bump

must have shown up too late

[truckerfag !!xXmBuWkIT3n No.37796]

>>37680
Bump.

Guess so. Still wondering what specifically my dynamike knob does. Threads a few days old though. He'll probably be back tomorrow if he isn't lurking that HAM thread that popped up last night.

[Anonymous No.37811]

>>37796

>>37658 still here

dynamike is just a gain adjustment knob for your microphone, set it too high and you might over-modulate and distort your signal.

I have an old power mic on my base station, i usually have it set at half, i adjusted it by getting a friend to transmit and i monitored on the handheld and found where it sounded decent

[truckerfag !!xXmBuWkIT3n No.37855]

>>37811
Ok. I knew the function, I just wasn't clear on the means to the ends.

I usually keep mine at about 1/4, but I guess I could try turning it up a bit if I can get someone on the other end to make sure I don't over modulate.

Thanks, bro.

[╔╩╩╦╦ No.38644]

Keep faith in Radiofag

[Anonymous No.38954]

>>37855

i can imagine it may enhance the audio somehow as well as control gain? everything i can find online seems to sound like it's just another gain control like any other.

bump for answers about my handheld/antenna