Advice, how to build a base station or buy one and set it up in a apartment

[Akuriko]

ok I've been meaning to say this, so I live in a 2 bedroom apartment, and its a basement, you look out my bedroom or living room windows you see a wire fence where a neighbor has like 20 acres for deer to roam in and out, then you look past the neighbor's house and the house goes down a hill, my apartment is on a hill, my window looks at a guys land and home, if you leave my entrance door and go up the concrete stairs and wall you get to the parking lot, so the apartments are split, ground, basement for the main building, and main floor to the upper floor in building 2 as we are all on a hill. I call this the bunker where I live, however, because of it is not allowed to put any ham, or CB radios outside in the ground so I am limited so I currently am experimenting with antennas and small cookie sheets that I ordered from amazon, should be here soon with my new bedding I had to order. and yes you read correctly, lol had to order, I got a new bed coming after 18 years, so new bedding, pillows, sheets, comforter, blankets, and more as I moved up on my bed size, lol

 

[Akuriko]

Not sure what she wants to do, but a 2m ham radio would be a lot easier to set up and use if there was a repeater nearby.

Frank

I wanted to do ham too but I don't get a license unless I wanted to listen and the ham frequencies I have so far haven't made a peep on the radio where I am at all.

 

[prcguy]

A better idea.

30 in. x 24 in. 26-Gauge Zinc-Plated Sheet Metal

For a ground plane at CB frequencies think a steel cookie sheet 18ft X 18ft, that is the size it should be. Use a car roof that's 5ft X 6ft and you have quite a compromise and performance goes way down. Use a 30in X 24in cookie sheet and you might as well not bother, its not a ground plane for 27MHz.

 

[Dog]

For a ground plane at CB frequencies think a steel cookie sheet 18ft X 18ft, that is the size it should be. Use a car roof that's 5ft X 6ft and you have quite a compromise and performance goes way down. Use a 30in X 24in cookie sheet and you might as well not bother, its not a ground plane for 27MHz.

She is wanting to experiment it was a better option than the 7.1x5.1 Inch ones she was looking at.

 

[prcguy]

She is wanting to experiment it was a better option than the 7.1x5.1 Inch ones she was looking at.

I would hate to see a lot of effort put into a radio station that may only talk 3 blocks from a basement. What is the budling made of, concrete, brick, wood, etc? Does she have any large windows that could host an antenna? A rotatable loop antenna can be very small at CB frequencies and they are pretty efficient. Are there any rain gutter down spouts that could be tapped to use as a stealthy antenna? You have to think outside the box in cases like this without compromising antenna performance. The antenna and its location is way more important than the radio in this case.

 

[wtp]

i have listened outside,
how about when the weather gets better up there ?
the 'chair' is an old cell phone holder.

 

[285M]

Got a tree nearby? A wire dipole can be strung up from a tree and easily removed. I was playing around trying to get an antenna up high and I got a fishing rod attached a large sinker cast it up over the tree and attached some small line to it. Reeled it in and I tied the center point insulator to the line. I pulled the dipole up about 60 feet into the tree and ran the elements down in a V. I was experimenting to figure out if I could get away with a 40 ft tower. Unfortunately due to some 100 ft cliffs it wasn’t enough.

Sorry to get off topic but such an antenna is temporary and can simply be removed and coiled up when not in use. This might be your best bet as you can take it down in a few seconds and you won’t be installing anything. I’m certainly no expert but I don’t see an inside antenna working worth crap in a basement.

 

[Akuriko]

no just a neighbors wired fence about 10 to 12 feet from my window, if a base station wouldn't work what about a hand held?

 

[Akuriko]

I would hate to see a lot of effort put into a radio station that may only talk 3 blocks from a basement. What is the budling made of, concrete, brick, wood, etc? Does she have any large windows that could host an antenna? A rotatable loop antenna can be very small at CB frequencies and they are pretty efficient. Are there any rain gutter down spouts that could be tapped to use as a stealthy antenna? You have to think outside the box in cases like this without compromising antenna performance. The antenna and its location is way more important than the radio in this case.

concrete, wood and aluminum siding.

 

[285M]

no just a neighbors wired fence about 10 to 12 feet from my window, if a base station wouldn't work what about a hand held?

Well you might get out 1/4 mile with one. Maybe you should forget about the base station and just put a mobile rig in your car. A 102 whip center mounted will work halfway decent. They can’t stop you from putting an antenna on your car!

 

[prcguy]

concrete, wood and aluminum siding.

Concrete will have steel rebar inside further shielding things. I think an indoor antenna will be very disappointing and you might consider finding any way to get something outside.