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My First CB Base Station: Bucks County, PA 19047

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davidrfeeney

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Jan 18, 2018
Messages
52
Location
Bucks County, PA
BIG BUX Bucks County, PA 19047
  • UNIDEN 980SSB Radio & Mic;
  • MegaWatt S-400-12 36 Amp Power Supply;
  • Driver's Product DPSWR2 External SWR Meter;
  • Midland 21-406 External Speaker;
  • RADIOWAVZ CB Double Bazooka Dipole Antenna;
  • Homemade PVC Pipe Antenna Mount; Outdoors outside 3rd Floor Window; Vertical Orientation
Photos: https://imgur.com/a/fgp1M
 

KC4RAF

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Joined
Sep 30, 2006
Messages
1,579
Location
Davenport,Fl.- home to me and the gators and the s
Didn't have a chance to check the rest of your photos; but where you have the antenna in the kitchen!!!! lol
What does the XYL say about it?!?!
The one thing to always remember is:
SAFETY.
If you have a question about something, ASK. Most of us will try to help you get it right and safe.
 

prcguy

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Jun 30, 2006
Messages
15,224
Location
So Cal - Richardson, TX - Tewksbury, MA
My first CB base station in around 1972 was a 1.5W Radio Shack TRC-35C walki talki running off an external power supply boosting the voltage for more power and a Shure 545 mic attached. I forget what antenna at the time but it was probably a home made 1/4 wave ground plane.
prcguy
 

davidrfeeney

Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2018
Messages
52
Location
Bucks County, PA
Didn't have a chance to check the rest of your photos; but where you have the antenna in the kitchen!!!! lol
What does the XYL say about it?!?!
The one thing to always remember is:
SAFETY.
If you have a question about something, ASK. Most of us will try to help you get it right and safe.
LOL I built the mount in my living room... wife is a patient woman!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

davidrfeeney

Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2018
Messages
52
Location
Bucks County, PA
My first CB base station in around 1972 was a 1.5W Radio Shack TRC-35C walki talki running off an external power supply boosting the voltage for more power and a Shure 545 mic attached. I forget what antenna at the time but it was probably a home made 1/4 wave ground plane.
prcguy
Cool. My mom and dad had police scanner and cb base station in the 70s... I remember keying up as a kid. And SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT was my mom's favorite movie LOL

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

rbomba

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Oct 10, 2010
Messages
34
BIG BUX Bucks County, PA 19047
  • UNIDEN 980SSB Radio & Mic;
  • MegaWatt S-400-12 36 Amp Power Supply;
  • Driver's Product DPSWR2 External SWR Meter;
  • Midland 21-406 External Speaker;
  • RADIOWAVZ CB Double Bazooka Dipole Antenna;
  • Homemade PVC Pipe Antenna Mount; Outdoors outside 3rd Floor Window; Vertical Orientation
Photos: https://imgur.com/a/fgp1M


Nice set up. How's that antenna working for you? Any issues?
 

rbomba

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Oct 10, 2010
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Cool. I know a guy in PA that works on the 980's, he and another guy have engineered boards that expand the radio, if u want his email address, PM me.

I just got one back and it's great
 
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TheSpaceMann

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Joined
Apr 3, 2014
Messages
1,333
Cool. I know a guy in PA that works on the 980's, he and another guy have engineered boards that expand the radio, if u want his email address, PM me.

I just got one back and it's great
Is that the new channels expansion board?
 

davidrfeeney

Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2018
Messages
52
Location
Bucks County, PA
BIG BUX Bucks County, PA 19047
  • UNIDEN 980SSB Radio & Mic;
  • MegaWatt S-400-12 36 Amp Power Supply;
  • Driver's Product DPSWR2 External SWR Meter;
  • Midland 21-406 External Speaker;
  • RADIOWAVZ CB Double Bazooka Dipole Antenna;
  • Homemade PVC Pipe Antenna Mount; Outdoors outside 3rd Floor Window; Vertical Orientation
Photos: https://imgur.com/a/fgp1M
Had a 2 hour conversation with a local 12 miles out, with my dipole antenna mounted indoors. WD40 in Holland, PA said I had strong signal and good voice quality.

Also heard some skip from Maryland. Hooray!

Sent from my SM-T713 using Tapatalk
 

FiveFilter

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Jan 1, 2016
Messages
308
Well Dave, holding a 2 hour conversation with a guy 12 miles away with a dipole mounted indoors using 4 watts AM and getting reports of a strong signal and good voice, I'd say you got yourself a great set-up! Congratulations to you!
 

davidrfeeney

Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2018
Messages
52
Location
Bucks County, PA
Well Dave, holding a 2 hour conversation with a guy 12 miles away with a dipole mounted indoors using 4 watts AM and getting reports of a strong signal and good voice, I'd say you got yourself a great set-up! Congratulations to you!

Thanks, that's super helpful to a newbie. :)

It might be 5 watts? Anyway, it is dead stock with no amplification.

I am hoping the PVC pipe mount through my 3rd floor window will increase performance. If the mount/window setup works like I want it to, I should be able to rotate the entire dipole antenna from vertical to horizontal from inside. I read that horizonal orientation is better for long range TX? aka SKIP?

Anyway, thanks a lot. David
 

prcguy

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Joined
Jun 30, 2006
Messages
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Location
So Cal - Richardson, TX - Tewksbury, MA
Rotating your dipole from vertical to horizontal may or may not make a change in level from skip signals, they get randomly polarized bouncing off the ionosphere. What it will do is reduce interference from locals who are mostly running vertical and allow you to hear the skip signals a little better.

You can also rotate the horizontal antenna in azimuth and null out interfering signals and peak up on the skip stations. If you can find the guy 12mi away that you had the conversation with he could let you know how much things change going from inside the house to outside, going vertical to horizontal, etc.
prcguy


Thanks, that's super helpful to a newbie. :)

It might be 5 watts? Anyway, it is dead stock with no amplification.

I am hoping the PVC pipe mount through my 3rd floor window will increase performance. If the mount/window setup works like I want it to, I should be able to rotate the entire dipole antenna from vertical to horizontal from inside. I read that horizonal orientation is better for long range TX? aka SKIP?

Anyway, thanks a lot. David
 
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