• To anyone looking to acquire commercial radio programming software:

    Please do not make requests for copies of radio programming software which is sold (or was sold) by the manufacturer for any monetary value. All requests will be deleted and a forum infraction issued. Making a request such as this is attempting to engage in software piracy and this forum cannot be involved or associated with this activity. The same goes for any private transaction via Private Message. Even if you attempt to engage in this activity in PM's we will still enforce the forum rules. Your PM's are not private and the administration has the right to read them if there's a hint to criminal activity.

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    To obtain Motorola software see the Sticky in the Motorola forum.

    The various other vendors often permit their dealers to sell the software online (i.e., Kenwood). Please use Google or some other search engine to find a dealer that sells the software. Typically each series or individual radio requires its own software package. Often the Kenwood software is less than $100 so don't be a cheapskate; just purchase it.

    For M/A Com/Harris/GE, etc: there are two software packages that program all current and past radios. One package is for conventional programming and the other for trunked programming. The trunked package is in upwards of $2,500. The conventional package is more reasonable though is still several hundred dollars. The benefit is you do not need multiple versions for each radio (unlike Motorola).

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Newbe !!!!!!!!

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SPRINTERLIGHT

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Joined
Oct 16, 2014
Messages
28
Hello Everybody,
New to this forum and looking for info ! I recently acquired a Cobra cb radio 29 wxnwst. I also have two antennas with it. Both are Firestik fiberglass antennas one is 3 feet the other is four feet. The 3 footer is a ground plane antenna and the 4 footer is a no ground plane. I installed the 3 foot ground plane antenna in a motorhome and it works fine. Now that camping season is over I thought I would install the cb in my garage
with the 4 foot no ground antenna. I did and it does not work. The swr meter on the radio shows just over
1. I also have a separate swr meter that shows between 3-4 Not good from what I understand. What am I doing wrong !!!! I would also like to build my own antenna but do not know what kind I would need for just
average use. If anyone can steer me in the right direction I would be extremely grateful.
Thanks and hope to hear back soon.
 

SPRINTERLIGHT

Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2014
Messages
28
Hello everybody,
Me again- not much info coming my way. Maybe someone can answer this question. I have a 3' Firestik ground plane antenna and a 4' Firestik no ground plane antenna. Will one of these work with cb located in my garage. If yes which one
thanks
 

TheSpaceMann

Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2014
Messages
1,333
The 3 and 4 footers are mobile antennas. If you want to put an antenna on a garage, you will need a base station design. If you'd like to build one yourself, I suggest a simple ground plane antenna. You can make it with a 9 foot whip, and 3 or 4 9 foot wires to use as radials. If you slope them down at a 45 degree angle, your should get an acceptably low SWR reading.
 

oldcb

Member
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Jul 29, 2013
Messages
107
Location
mantua, ohio
i made a relatively cheap but effective quarter wave, pretty much the same as the one shown on you tube, works very well with nearly a flat 1 on my swr meter, not only does it receive well, from others i talk with they all say it hits them very well also, that's barefoot of coarse............
 

jackj

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Joined
Jul 19, 2007
Messages
1,548
Location
NW Ohio
Both the 3 and the 4 foot antennas require a ground plane to work against. The 3 foot one worked on your motor home because the body of the motor home acted as the ground plane. If you were to install the 4 foot one on your motor home then it would work also unless the antenna itself is damaged in some way. Provided that the coax and antenna are good, adding a ground plane to your garage installation should fix your problem.
 

SPRINTERLIGHT

Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2014
Messages
28
Not sure I follow , add a ground plane to the 4 foot no ground plane antenna. If this is correct where can I get one , or how do I make it.
Sorry about all the confusion as I do not have a clue how they work
 

SouthernRoller

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Feb 13, 2013
Messages
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Location
Crumpler,NC
Well most of the No Ground Plane antennas that Firestik offers only come with 17ft of coax. Will that be enough to get where you need it to go? Cause the antenna is specifically tuned for that length. Nothing more nothing less. Here is a couple links for you to look over..

a) Unlike standard antenna systems, the NGP mount does not require grounding. You may mount it to plastic, wood, fiberglass or any other non-conductive substance.

Wilson No Ground Plane CB Antenna Kit - YouTube

http://youtu.be/Mm1KOuLXhU4

http://www.firestik.com/Tech_Docs/NGP-ID.htm
 
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SPRINTERLIGHT

Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2014
Messages
28
Yes the 17' cable will reach my roof no problem.That is where I have it mounted. When I hook the swr meter to it I get 4 across all channels. When I use the meter on my Cobra I get lower readings 1 1/2. I am not able to reach or hear anyone. I just barely can make out the weather channel.
 

jackj

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Jul 19, 2007
Messages
1,548
Location
NW Ohio
A ground plane is the other half of the antenna, Sprinterlight. You can get it by mounting the antenna on a large piece of metal, like a motor home roof. You can also get it by attaching wire to the shield or ground side of the antenna. It needs to be 1/4 wave length in diameter in order to work properly but smaller ground planes will still work but not as well.

The 17 ft of coax acts like a transformer and matches the higher impedance of your "no ground plane" antenna to your radio's 50 ohm output.
 

RC286

Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2013
Messages
138
Location
Winnipeg MB
Those no ground plane antennas are terrible. They "replace" the ground plane with heavy loading at the base of the antenna, and this destroys its efficiency. All antennas need a groundplane or counterpoise to work against.

You can use a mobile antenna as a ground plane. My first rooftop antenna for my base was a 5/8 base loaded mobile whip. I mounded a standard mobile antenna stud on a weatherproof metal junction box and used a piece of conduit off the chimney as a mast. I added 3x 1/4 wavelength (109") radials made from copper wire that were tied off with insulators and rope to the eaves troughs. I had a 1.6 SWR and it worked fairly well for what it was.
 
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