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Auction whim

Blueliner

Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2023
Messages
61
Location
Michigan
For reasons I can't now recall, I bid on and won a Cobra 139 XLR base station CB radio. No mike or info included. Not sure what I will do with this thing or why it even interested me. So far it lights up and doesn't smoke. I suppose that's a good sign. Anyone have a suggestion for a base type antenna for this thing? Bear in mind I'm not rich and this whole thing might be temporary at best. I do have a tripod style mast outside currently holding up my MLA 30+ antenna for general receive use with the SDR.
Any other thoughts, comments or suggestions?
 

DeeEx

Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2018
Messages
193
Location
New England
Congratulations on the radio!

I’d say you can’t beat a center-fed dipole for a budget “best bang for your buck” antenna. Vertical or inverted V orientation. The feedline may cost you more than the antenna!

Or ask around to see if any locals have anything they’d give you.
 

Chris155

Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2024
Messages
10
Location
Southern Maryland
For reasons I can't now recall, I bid on and won a Cobra 139 XLR base station CB radio. No mike or info included. Not sure what I will do with this thing or why it even interested me. So far it lights up and doesn't smoke. I suppose that's a good sign. Anyone have a suggestion for a base type antenna for this thing? Bear in mind I'm not rich and this whole thing might be temporary at best. I do have a tripod style mast outside currently holding up my MLA 30+ antenna for general receive use with the SDR.
Any other thoughts, comments or suggestions?
Dipole hung vertically from a tree was cheap and easy for me. Around $200 including coax. Inverted v did not work well for local communication. I never tried horizontal.

Recently I built an end fed half wave. Some people smarter than me say it’s the same basic design as an a99. This antenna gives even better performance than my vertical dipole. Gained a few miles on am bare to mobile. It was also very cheap to build. The link below is where I got the information to build the antenna.

 

Blueliner

Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2023
Messages
61
Location
Michigan
I have an Endfedz wire strung out horiziontally that I use now and then for SWL. I wonder if anything can be had on CB frequencies using that. Maybe if it warms up a little (10F and 15mph wind currently) I'll go out and switch the leads and see what if any reception I can get.
 
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