ssb antenna

[SPRINTERLIGHT]

Hello,
I am about to purchase a cobra 148gtl. I have been told this is a good radio for ssb which I know nothing about. I am looking for a detailed plan to build an antenna. I have been searching for such a critter and have come to the realization that I don't even know what I am asking for. Is it a 10 meter , 40 meter , hf, dx , am , fm , vhf , uhf. Someone please put me out of my misery. Call it whatever you may. I need a set of detailed plans not the chicken scratch ones I have seen on the net. I'm sure someone out there has such a plan that doesn't omit crucial measurements that the experts take for granted. I would like to be able to talk as far as possible , if that's possible. As for fabricating skills I excel. I just need someone to lay it out for me, fabricating is the easy part. All advice is greatly appreciated
Thank you!!!!!!!

 

[prcguy]

The Cobra 148 is a CB, so you need to provide it with a CB antenna. SSB is just a mode that the radio operates in like AM, so the antenna is not specific to SSB.

For general use and good performance talking to locals and distant stations a 1/4 wave ground plane made from wire is easy to make or a 1/2 wave dipole hanging vertical is also good. If your just interested in very distant stations a 1/2 wave dipole mounted horizontally will work fine. You can assemble either type from simple instructions and it will probably work without any tuning.

You can Google a "ground plane calculator" or "dipole calculator", enter 27MHz for the frequency and they will tell you how long to make the wires. Anything more elaborate would require some basic antenna knowledge and an antenna analyzer or at least an SWR meter to tune the antenna.
prcguy

Hello,
I am about to purchase a cobra 148gtl. I have been told this is a good radio for ssb which I know nothing about. I am looking for a detailed plan to build an antenna. I have been searching for such a critter and have come to the realization that I don't even know what I am asking for. Is it a 10 meter , 40 meter , hf, dx , am , fm , vhf , uhf. Someone please put me out of my misery. Call it whatever you may. I need a set of detailed plans not the chicken scratch ones I have seen on the net. I'm sure someone out there has such a plan that doesn't omit crucial measurements that the experts take for granted. I would like to be able to talk as far as possible , if that's possible. As for fabricating skills I excel. I just need someone to lay it out for me, fabricating is the easy part. All advice is greatly appreciated
Thank you!!!!!!!

 

[Voyager]

The Cobra 148 is a CB, so you need to provide it with a CB antenna.

AKA 11 Meters, but most retailers simply call it a CB antenna. No different than any other CB antenna, as prc said.

 

[SPRINTERLIGHT]

I have heard about using a 102" whip, which I have. I can put a pole next to my garage and go up from there. How high should the top of the whip be from the ground up. I have 6 gage wire for my ground and assorted wire for the ground plane or radials i think you call them.

 

[RC286]

I have heard about using a 102" whip, which I have. I can put a pole next to my garage and go up from there. How high should the top of the whip be from the ground up. I have 6 gage wire for my ground and assorted wire for the ground plane or radials i think you call them.

Should work quite well. I had an old 5/8 4' fiberglass antenna set up on the roof as my first base antenna. I used 12AWG copper to make 3 108" radials and was able to bring the antenna down to a 1.6:1 SWR.
The ground wire should help as well, on my first set up I was also using a 6AWG ground from the antenna to a ground rod.

I talk 3000km + skip with my 102 on my truck with a barefoot DX959 when conditions are right, so if you set it up and tune it right, you should have lots of fun. Just make sure to seal and weather proof the connections.

 

[SPRINTERLIGHT]

Does it matter what gauge wire you use for the radials. I was going to use # 16 stranded and insulated

 

[krokus]

Does it matter what gauge wire you use for the radials. I was going to use # 16 stranded and insulated

The diameter relates to the bandwidth of the antenna. Thicker wire = more frequency range.

That said, considering the limited range of frequencies for CB, I think the AWG 16 wire should work for your application.

Sent via Tapatalk

 

[SPRINTERLIGHT]

Does the same apply for ssb

 

[prcguy]

Antennas don't know the difference between modes like AM, FM, SSB, etc, they are tuned to a specific frequency and in your case its around 27MHz for CB. You can make the ground radials from just about any wire you have and more radials are better. Four are better than two, 12 are better than four but the improvement diminishes as you add more.
prcguy

Does the same apply for ssb

 

[ChetsJug]

Cobra is all hype anymore. It's a legal "knock off", the company has been sold and sold and sold. You'll be happier with the Galaxy DX-979 and the external Freq counter. It's a 40 channel CB not an illegal export so don't worry about the HAM Legal Beagles who come to the CB section and spout silly things.. And the 979 fits into most car dashes as it's the same dimensions as a car radio. I took out the plastic map hole in my Nissan Frontier and mounted it in the radio rack. The CD is on top of it. Looks pretty nice in the compact dash.

 

[SPRINTERLIGHT]

Talking legal
What is involved in getting a basic license. Sounds like a pain in the ***! Do you have yours and if so where do you start to study for it. I figured there would be a manual out there to study from. Everywhere I have looked they want your money. As much as I would like to have one I just don't have the time or the energy to study. Anyone out there have an opinion on getting your license feel free to jump in. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

[ChetsJug]

Not for CB. If you're looking for a cool website to study HAM from, try https://hamstudy.org/. Register so you can track your progress. It's a pretty intensive site and it has all the stuff you'd buy in a book. And it's Sponsored by iCOM radios.

 

[K7MEM]

Talking legal
What is involved in getting a basic license. Sounds like a pain in the ***! Do you have yours and if so where do you start to study for it. I figured there would be a manual out there to study from. Everywhere I have looked they want your money. As much as I would like to have one I just don't have the time or the energy to study. Anyone out there have an opinion on getting your license feel free to jump in. I look forward to hearing from you.

There are several web sites where you can take practice exams. Although it has been 15 years since I used them, I found Practice Amateur Radio Exams by QRZ.COM to be good for practice. If you are registered with them, it will keep track of your exam scores, so you can see if your making progress. When you get to consistently scoring 90%, it's time to take an exam.

Another test exam site is eHam.net Ham Radio Practice Exams. They both use the same pool of questions so either site will work.

You might want to first take a few practice exams and see how you score. These days it's common for prospective hams to pass all three tests in a single session. It was doable 15 or more years ago, but there were a few more tests involved. If there are only a few questions that you don't know, you can easily look up supporting information.

For study material, try No-Nonsense Study Guides - KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog. They have free downloadable study guides plus the usual links to Amazon and Barns&Nobel. I can't really vouch for their usefulness, as it's been 50 years since I had a study guide and things were very different then. The site that "ChetsJug" linked to should also be good.

Life always gets in the way. And that's how it should be. After all, amateur radio is just a hobby. But don't start out by making excuses. That will only make things harder than they really are.

 

[SCPD]

Width

The diameter relates to the bandwidth of the antenna. Thicker wire = more frequency range.

That said, considering the limited range of frequencies for CB, I think the AWG 16 wire should work for your application.

So the gauge of the radials affects the bandwidth?

 

[K7MEM]

So the gauge of the radials affects the bandwidth?

When your dealing with a vertical radiator, if you don't have any radials, you only have half an antenna. Bandwidth v.s. radiator/radial thickness is usually only discussed with the main radiator in mind, but it does apply to the whole antenna.

Most people would be hard pressed to actually measure the extra bandwidth afforded by thicker radiator/radials. Especially on a band like 11 meters. But, if you go down to 80/75 Meters, bandwidth gains, due to the thickness of an antenna, are readily noticeable.