Mobile Antenna: PRESIDENT Texas 1800

[slowmover]

Went out of production, a run from circa 2014 to maybe 2021. 10-year guarantee.

Might be some NOS or used come up for sale.

83.46” tall (6.95-feet).

Two versions were extant: EU used SO-239 base (second & last) and American version the standard 3/8-24 stud (first)

Whip is two-piece in stainless. Past a connector is a highly flexible portion able to take 90-MPH strikes without damage. (Test lab video by manufacturer). My take is that it’s the final two feet nearest tip (at/above 5’) and really it’s the last foot.

One will see mangled Wilson and SIRIO detachable whips if he’s diligent in spotting. Having 1-2 replacements is always a good initial order purchase for design type.

I saw good to very good reports online and grabbed one as production end was announced. (I’ll admit to a prejudice for all things President).

The single comparison video (side by side) used an adaptor to roof and it’s my feeling that may not have been ideal (although others done same).
(390 Wagonmaster).

The WILSON 5000 and SIRIO PERFORMER 5000 are the price/performance competition via base load/whip design.

Brand-new the AM range is likeliest quite similar. SSB is where it’ll start to differ. Total 10-12M coverage is another (how far into each one will reach given tuning center is 27.205 MHz). Wide vs Narrow Banded. Weather Channel also.

Over time is the real test. Assuming one hasn’t had significant whip damage, how good are any of them versus internal corrosion comes into play. With the mid-coil Wilson’s we learned to drill two small holes opposite each other on the underside.

There’s a very good initial purchase vid on the SIRIO to discuss and take TLC precautions past a coax-upgrade. (Fine Tune Radio)

The Texas I’d say is better than WILSON and probably par with SIRIO, generally, in this. (None of these as good as LAIRD/ANTENEX/LARSEN; by report).

High Performance is antenna height. Total length plus highest reach. 7’ defines a niche that works well. On my 6’ tall pickup it’s right at 13’. Flex stinger means it’s a more terrain-versatile choice than a top-load 7’ Skipshooter (that may otherwise out-perform it somewhat).

I have no room for error with the latter. The Texas I can probably get away with hitting 10’ at city speed and 11’ at highway without damage. This is the second appealing characteristic of base load: total height followed by flexible whip at tip.

IMO, this design type is permanent antenna, roof-center-mount best.

This brand and model a good choice should you come across one as 7’ is where a 9’ quarter-wave alternative exists.

The mid-coil or rare top hat design (then Fiberglas) are more prone to damage (meaning a stout mount is required), but may also be better performers.

My choice of thread subject antenna is that it’s to be the GP choice for my pickup. With a half-dozen other antennas I’ve collected over the years as more-specific choices per demand.

On my pickup:



This mount not required. Some of the other antennas have a much higher wind loading. I wanted to be able to use anything. Primary job for mine is getting above travel trailer, and 7’ does that with several feet.



My in-town only antenna is a PRO-COMM 4.5’.

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[slowmover]

Value of 7’.

SIRIO & WILSON





SIRIO is taller than WILSON (6.45’).

One may argue length this way:

On the big truck in changing from 6’ to 7’ Skipshooter (all else the same), the man on-air faintest to me I could yet hear (QT60) on the 6’; with the 7’ I could hear to whom he was speaking, if inaudibly.

The game on-road is Distant Early Warning. If the rest of the radio rig (plus installation) is best, then these things matter where CB use is heavy.

One monitors faint RX on AM-19 for key words and phrases.

Typically, 3-miles is about it for reception range where average “good” 4-whlr and above-average big truck radio rigs are concerned. But conditions and a bit of luck will work more for you with tallest possible antenna.

1). 1-2/miles notice of an ongoing 70-MPH pile-up means you won’t be able to avoid entanglement with the phenomenon occurring as driver reactions create a wave of behavioral actions which extends back towards you from the incident. Most will not know what’s going on or be able to read this pattern for what it is. (The Stoopid Dial gets turned up).

This compounds (restrains) your possible solutions (exit is best).

— This type of accident has increased over time to where it’s now common, and it has increased in severity (serious injury & death are on the increase).

2). 7’ antenna (closest to 14’ on Interstate) increases margins, first, and, second, is the aid wanted to help define what is the nature of the problem (what direction of travel; in median or on shoulder; what lane or lanes?) as now one needs to avoid the traffic flow to the best extent possible (follow-on wrecks).

3). On a major Interstate (traffic volume; national significance) there will be one or more others with xtra-good radio rigs. With those men are how definitions and solutions are made.

Distant Early Warning

Hear, and Get Heard

Work in tandem.

— A subset of the above is where a serious accident has occurred quite a few miles ahead of you (50-70, or under an hour) and now you’ve heard two passing drivers discuss details who themselves are 8-15/miles out ahead of you (I’ve had this occur several times).

Thus, if a Texas 1800 floats into view, it’s a worthy alternative to the increasingly popular SIRIO. (Wilson is least desirable of the three, but still well ahead of mag-mounts; or under 5’ TTL).

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[slowmover]

I’ve been driving The American Siberia (the Great Plains) where the drama of weather isn’t to be taken lightly.

Knowing how to read both of these images is part of the risk involved.

One can say he won’t be about in such. That’s foolish. He may not have a choice in it.

Best Radio Rig pays for itself.

Antenna System is what one looks to gold-plate.
The components plugged in can be changed.

Texas 1800 might be an Ace (or it’s siblings) you’ve picked up for highway-only travel.

This one’s funny. But the truck was totaled and the young man suffered significant injury. Dumb guy keeps on keeping on:

Radio keeps you abreast of what scared yahoos are reporting. Garbled and panicked. You need DSP (NRC-equipped) radio to pick out what’s actionable on your part.

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[slowmover]

The rest of the time that high-perf radio rig will have come across it that which can change your day for the best. Something funny or intuitive.

— A sense for the flow of things is a best summation.

Seven foot antennas have their place.

Don’t be lulled to sleep by the paid interference on AM-19 whose goal is to keep you from using it.

“I turned it OFF”.

Shot yourself in the foot, you mean.

7’ + NRC (and DRX-901 speaker) is
2024 Highway Best.

Internet devices are a follow-up, not primary, and may not work at all without a warning of that failure.

Don’t be part of the herd.
That’ll getcha kilt.

Citizen Band is today for The Few.

It’s an easy promise to make to you that detractors lack my 300-day/2,000-hour annual experience across the USA. Other savvy truck drivers are in my corner. This has been true since I started more than a quarter-century back.

Just because your metro bubble errand-running or base station quiet doesn’t seem to produce much . . isn’t a proof. Things change in our society that even the dim-witted notice is late in recognition.

Get what you can while you can. I can’t well relay the confidence of having a very good system a hands-reach away in a dynamic, changing, situation.

I also can’t well relay the pleasure of being class clown for a moment.

Or just complimenting a man on his vehicle, his hitch-rigging . . or the kids in the back seat tearing streamers of toilet paper.

Speak with the confidence and familiarity that all others are your brothers or cousins.

That’ll be returned to you.

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[slowmover]

The dedicated can step up from here in roof-mount performance. But the risk of antenna and roof damage increase thereby.

So:

It’s one thing to have great ears.

It’s another thing to be heard clearly.

It’s yet another thing to be competent and helpful.

Test against other mobiles, and ask base stations to use their better ears to get your RF Power, Mic Gain, etc, dialled-in.

A NANO-VNA antenna analyzer is a now-common recommendation.

Right gear and right tuning are the start point.

I saw yesterday some query where, “what do the shy and low self-esteem do”, as part of a different conversation.

Grow a pair of balls as cowardice has no place. As surely this is what’s at stake.

The lap around the race track is with gear & tuning already done. The race is to the ones willing to learn to develop a stride which keeps them in the race, first.


Matthew 18. Verse 20:

“For when two or more are gathered in my name, I am among them”.

Here’s the American CB’er prayer made prior to speaking. When done are the others awakened with whom you need speak, and they need speak with you.

— Gear quality and tuning competence have their spiritual analog.

“You” (whomever) may have a different way of stating this, but the effect is the same.

It’s not far-fetched that other powers past typical explanations in antenna theory have some sway.

I prefer to offer up the best tools and efforts, for my part.

Speak, then, as if prayer is answered and brothers await.

I can cite instances where I otherwise would have been near-blameless in a fatal accident I was part, and in avoiding same where my life would have been forfeit.

Am I my brothers keeper, is a genuine phenomenon in the use of Citizen Band.

Every regular highway participant will tell you the same.

A 3” antenna is trying to cheat what works.
As is contempt. As is cowardice.

A Texas 1800 is one of several very good choices
(as 5’ permanent atop the roof is a dead-minimum for highway long-range).

At any given location I may or may not be the best radio rig present. But I’m always put to the test to be among the best participants in defining the problem and exploring possible solutions.

Being a brother.

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[niceguy71]

View attachment 162131


View attachment 162132

I’ve been driving The American Siberia (the Great Plains) where the drama of weather isn’t to be taken lightly.

Knowing how to read both of these images is part of the risk involved.

One can say he won’t be about in such. That’s foolish. He may not have a choice in it.

Best Radio Rig pays for itself.

Antenna System is what one looks to gold-plate.
The components plugged in can be changed.

Texas 1800 might be an Ace (or it’s siblings) you’ve picked up for highway-only travel.

This one’s funny. But the truck was totaled and the young man suffered significant injury. Dumb guy keeps on keeping on:

Radio keeps you abreast of what scared yahoos are reporting. Garbled and panicked. You need DSP (NRC-equipped) radio to pick out what’s actionable on your part.

.

What bridge is that??? Nice looking if it wasn't for all that snow and ice

 

[slowmover]

What bridge is that??? Nice looking if it wasn't for all that snow and ice

Mackinac Straits

 

[jcrmadden]

Don’t be part of the herd.
That’ll getcha kilt.

And running with the herd demands compromise. Run long enough and who you are becomes compromised. Maybe that's worse than kilt.

 

[jcrmadden]

Being a brother.

Yesterday I had a mid morning run on that short stretch of highway 80 I was telling you about. In less than 30 miles I met over 100 trucks with cb antennas. That's a lot of kindred and a lot of relay potential. CB may be different, I wouldn't know. What I do know is that it ain't dead and it ain't gone.

 

[slowmover]

And running with the herd demands compromise. Run long enough and who you are becomes compromised. Maybe that's worse than kilt.

Meant to convey what following GMaps or WAZE produces. The off-highway jams and wrecks to get around a highway incident can be worse than the original.


Yesterday I had a mid morning run on that short stretch of highway 80 I was telling you about. In less than 30 miles I met over 100 trucks with cb antennas. That's a lot of kindred and a lot of relay potential. CB may be different, I wouldn't know. What I do know is that it ain't dead and it ain't gone.

Many/most come from factory with antennas. Maybe/maybe-not a radio installed. Maybe/maybe-not turned on.

The joke is about “back-up radios”. Only turned on when traffic comes to a stop. For the next largest group, it’s turned on low, but performance is so poor that RX is maybe a mile or so. The above is 80-90% of truck drivers.

The last 10% isn’t by luck, it’s by region and industry, first, and personal motivation, last.

Don’t be discouraged by lack of response with cross-country trucks. Things get hinky, you’ll hear more of them. And the ones you can just barely hear, reply, as typically poor radios rarely get a response. Ask mile marker and give yours to figure out loud how far they can reach. This’ll open a floodgate.

You’re operating in a high use region and have three (3) industries with higher proportion of users. Excellent conditions.

You’ll motivate others given a high performance rig that sounds good (clarity vs xtra-high power) given that you become one of the ones heard regularly. You’ll collect “friends” who’ll key up just to say hi! Others will hear that bell ding and look to getting same.

— When I come thru a region I remember who was on-air as a regular and am listening for them. Or call out for them.

Kinda like tootin’ the horn as I pass a friends shop (hope all is well!)

Or, knowing & reciting the location of road work, and where the slowdown starts. Whether there’s an alternate route worth using (can’t, always) to get around it.

I’m going past the other way I’ll ask the ones in front how long they’ve been delayed. Etc. Relay that farther on.

— My experience is that the better I am with a smile and extending a hand, the more often I receive both in return.

My opinion is that it only takes one man to change things for the better. There are places where this is operative, and it’s in all ways better than areas where it doesn’t.

This is why the 7’ antennas are loved.

.

 

[slowmover]

There’s a fellow across D/FW from me who’s well known (JesseJamesDallas). He runs a pickup similar to what’s seen with a Predator 10K as shown. Whether he’s at home or around town at work, he’s a reliable participant (also online).

I get thru SE Dallas County late on a weekday I know from where-to-where I can be heard by his base station while I’m on IH-20. I’ll key up to ask (general response) if traffic looks out-of-sort and it never surprises me he’s one of the ones repeating what he’s heard.

Same thing I’m in Houston. Or, Knoxville, TN. Or Columbus, OH. Reliable Men. In other cities or regions (Chicagoland, or Central PA) the sheer number of well-equipped trucks will respond. But many cities or regions it isn’t so.

The seven foot antenna (close to 14’ as possible) is the definition of “best attempt” for a highway vehicle when used with an export NRC radio. A good man has good equipment.

The resistance to installing such is emotional fear. Why the 5-ft plus NMO is best alternative for most. It’ll be good, but it won’t match of what the radio is capable.

7’ on roof of my pickup is 13’ plus a tad. Base load design plus highly flexible whip lessens damage potential.

The Seven Foot:

1). Best overcomes the deficiencies of the other men’s radio rigs; the ones nearby.

2). Or in being heard by a distant base station tuned into AM-19.

As goals, these can’t be beat, IMO.

Do the best of what can be done.



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[slowmover]

Did a temporary hookup in the truck today. 1.1:1 SWR on radio meter. Good enough to button up the headliner.

Antenna whip bottomed out. Otherwise as shown in first post towards end.

 

[slowmover]

Put permanent power and gear to it today. A little too much volt drop so have to move NEG DC Ground.

1.2:1 - 1.3:1 across all 40 per L2 radio. Changed components, connectors and coax jumpers to find best/worst.

Will put MFJ-945e tuner to it tomorrow as my 801 DAIWA took a crap.

Am in a genuinely bad spot for radio reports, but had a good one up the lake about (4) air miles. Came in strongly, and he said I was good.

No DSP (for now). Can hardly hear anything but the SuperBowl and the overdriven on 38-LSB.

Speaker under seat better than I thought. KES-5.

Have (2) other antennas to tune for now.

PRESIDENT Texas 1800 is good-to-go after tomorrow.

Surprised I haven’t had to trim whip end at all, but maybe I shouldn’t be as it’s in best spot on a fairly big roof.

Has been (25) years since I haven’t had to adjust an antenna: a 108” on a CB ball on my Chrysler. (Nothing like a welded unit-body!)

 

[jcrmadden]

Wouldn't that be considered marine radio 🚢 📻

 

[slowmover]

Wouldn't that be considered marine radio 🚢 📻

Yup. You should look up the 18’ SHAKESPEARE Big Stick.

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[JustinWHT]

Hey Farmers... Bet you haven't seen THIS!

New job, ride for teen driver who drove red truck in Texas tornado

Riley Leon, the 16-year-old that drove his red truck through a Texas tornado, got the job he was driving home from interviewing for and is being gifted a new Chevrolet Silverado.

www.fox4news.com

'I was speechless': 16-year-old who drove red truck through Texas tornado describes event

FOX 7 Austin spoke with the teen driver who drove his red truck through a Texas tornado on Monday. He described the shocking event.

www.fox7austin.com

In Texas, our fairy tales don’t begin with “once upon a time.” They begin with “y’all ain’t gonna believe this sh-t”

 

[riverradio68]

How are you mounting those? Is that NMO? I can't see a heavy 60 inch on NMO it would rip straight out. I drive a 2017 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk (Not Grand Cherokee) and cannot find a decent mounting option for a CB antenna. I LOVE my Tram 3700 but its too heavy to do a roof mount NMO. I stopped looking at President antennas when I bought this thing, if I could figure out the mounting options I'd buy me one.

 

[slowmover]

I have it on a BREEDLOVE puck mount. I’ve used it with a triple mag mount.

President sold it with a single mag mount, optionally (SO-239 base in EU).

It’s been discontinued

 

[slowmover]

How are you mounting those? Is that NMO? I can't see a heavy 60 inch on NMO it would rip straight out. I drive a 2017 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk (Not Grand Cherokee) and cannot find a decent mounting option for a CB antenna. I LOVE my Tram 3700 but its too heavy to do a roof mount NMO. I stopped looking at President antennas when I bought this thing, if I could figure out the mounting options I'd buy me one.

“An NMO34b base + WD640b whip + spring-b at roof-center, w/coax upgrade — and use of a NANO-VNA to check all components as the final piece — would mean performance superior to the day just passed that it wasn’t available without prohibitive expense.” (Quoting myself).

Tallest possible = best performance. Use of a coil base to reach 7’ (closest) to mimic what a 108” whip could do.

An NRC dual-final AM/FM/SSB radio + DX-901 speaker is the other part.

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KØBG.COM

A Web Site For Mobile Amateur Radio Operators

www.k0bg.com

This (and the thread topic antenna) give up some compared to mid-coil and top hat type, but not enough for 95% of users to justify the difficulties.

Follow Mr Applegate in best install practice and then the gear will put you into the top 2-3% of what you’ll ever run into on the road. Some will be louder, but they won’t have your ears.

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[slowmover]

Post in thread 'noise from house or street electricity.'
noise from house or street electricity.

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