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Antenna placement

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FPR1981

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If you have any guidance or suggestions as to how you'd like to see this experiment run, I'm game. The tower is an old industrial smokestack that has a winding staircase wrapped around the exterior that you can climb up to 188 feet before reaching an observation deck.

I have a Realistic TRC-216 handheld CB with a huge telescoping antenna on it. I also have a shoulder-slung, battery-operated Midland mobile unit with a built in telescoping antenna. Both units will be on site in case one fails.

Both units have a high and low output power switch.
 

jonwienke

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For evaluating RX signal strength, a SDR and laptop would be far better than the internal meters on either radio mentioned.
 

FPR1981

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For evaluating RX signal strength, a SDR and laptop would be far better than the internal meters on either radio mentioned.
Those radios I mentioned will be the transmitters. I have not yet settled on how to best evaluate RX signal.
 

MindenJoe

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Looking forward to seeing this test. I did a YouTube video with several vintage handhelds I had hooked up to my mobile antenna in my car to see the range using an external antenna. Most all had similar range, probably because they were all 4 watt output though not all put out 4 watts. I never got around to testing the range on the stock antennas. You should test a handheld with a rubber duck antenna as I'm sure it will not perform as well as the ones with the telescoping antennas.
 

FPR1981

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Looking forward to seeing this test. I did a YouTube video with several vintage handhelds I had hooked up to my mobile antenna in my car to see the range using an external antenna. Most all had similar range, probably because they were all 4 watt output though not all put out 4 watts. I never got around to testing the range on the stock antennas. You should test a handheld with a rubber duck antenna as I'm sure it will not perform as well as the ones with the telescoping antennas.

My TRC-216 is in my kids' Blazer, hooked up to a Tram 300 magnet mount with a near-perfect SWR. It works very effectively.

The TRC-216 has an external mic jack and takes the Realistic/Sears Roadtalker 5-pin DIN mic. I have the Cobra 4 pin to Realistic 5 pin DIN adapter, and I'll run it at home with my D-104 Silver Eagle running into it on my Sirio ground plane. People on 19 always wanna know who the guy with "the big radio" is, totally unaware that I'm often running either a mobile or my handheld.

I'll try to get my hands on a handheld with a rubber duck before I do this experiment.
 
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