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ABBREE CB 27 and 42 inch Blade type portable radio antennas

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rescuecomm

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We know that the OEM 10 inch antennas at CB frequencies really limit the range of CB walkie talkies. I noticed that their are now a couple of blade type military style antennas 27 and 42 inches available. Has anyone checked these out versus the original antennas? Maybe MILSIM users? Just for kicks and giggles, I have been thinking that hiding in plain sight using a couple of these for 1 mile communications might be a real trick. Especially with the sunspot cycle really tanking compared to the 1980's when I last used these things. My current setup is Icom UHF radios on GMRS.
 

alcahuete

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A 42 inch antenna is most definitely going to work better than a 10 inch OEM. That shouldn't even be in question. You should have no problems reaching a mile with either that setup or the GMRS, for that matter.
 

W9WSS

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Do you have a part # or vendor for these antennas? I have a new President Randy FCC AM walkie-talkie which actually has a dynamite receiver on a mobile or base omni antenna.
 

prcguy

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I bought one of these antennas off Ebay and it broke within 10 minutes of opening the package. The plastic tube that covers the matching coil stuff came off and in the process moved some of the coil and a matching capacitor around and it was made so cheap and crappy I just tossed it in the trash can.
 

mmckenna

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Periodically Harbor Freight gives away free tape measures.

Make your own.
12_FREE_1__x_25_FT._TAPE_MEASURE_1467848611.1992.png
 

mmckenna

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Hold on mmckenna. Are you saying that one could solder tape from a tape measure onto a BNC connector and will work as an antenna? If so how long is too long?

I've made cheap/easy Yagi's out of Harbor Freight tape measures. I had to DF some interference to one of our UHF repeaters and didn't have a UHF Yagi, so I built my own out of some PVC pipe for the boom and the old tape measure.

Worked well enough that I found the interference and got them to resolve it.

No reason why you couldn't make a vertical out of it. As for how long is too long, probably 2 or 3 feet and it'll flex over on it's own. Not going to work for a 1/4 wave CB antenna, but no reason you couldn't do a 1/4 wave VHF and that would resonate at 70cm also. Probably going to be as crappy as any of the others.

The 'tacti-cool' role players got in on it also: DIY "Tactical" Tape Measure Antenna - Vertical Half-Wave Dipole (not a Yagi) - AR15.COM
 

rescuecomm

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So how much does the long MBITER blade cost? I guess it has a TNC fitting so no go. I did find the SA-2 antenna which is 24 inches long with a BNC connector.
 

KD8DVR

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We know that the OEM 10 inch antennas at CB frequencies really limit the range of CB walkie talkies. I noticed that their are now a couple of blade type military style antennas 27 and 42 inches available. Has anyone checked these out versus the original antennas? Maybe MILSIM users? Just for kicks and giggles, I have been thinking that hiding in plain sight using a couple of these for 1 mile communications might be a real trick. Especially with the sunspot cycle really tanking compared to the 1980's when I last used these things. My current setup is Icom UHF radios on GMRS.

I got one off Amazon. Definitely makes an improvement on receive. I live right next to (traffic noise isn't as bad as you may think) I-71 and you'd think their'd be tons of CB traffic. Not so. So I couldn't really test transmit ability.
 
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