Base Antenna Basics...

[niceguy71]

According to my buddy 30 miles north of me, no noticeable change in received signal on his end. On LSB with the Sirio i was giving him 3-5 s-units, and i still give him the same with both mobile antennas. Radios used are a Radioddity QT40 (garage) and a Retevis HS4 (house). Both radios do about 40 watts.


Quite the opposite. The mobile antennas make my radio “un-deaf” due to their lower noise floor. I can hear weak (distant) local stations on the mobile antennas that i can't hear on the base antennas. Thus it means i can also talk to them since i know they are out there to talk to. Cant talk to people if you cant hear them to begin with right? Again, skip is NOT a problem. I’ve talked all over the world on mobile antennas used as base antennas. For the last 20 years i had been using a little wil mag mount on a metal garage roof. It finally gave up the ghost after 2 decades of abuse.

Again, in 35 years of using radios, this is MY personal experience. You guys don't have to agree. I know what works for ME, and base antennas aren’t it. Doesn’t matter my location, height, coax, ground, etc. I’ve tried it all and wasted loads of money trying to knock out the base antenna noise floor issues with no success.

Here is a video where a guy compares a 102 vs an A99. Notice the RX is damn near identical, but pay attention to the noise floor when he switches back and forth between key ups. The A99 has a S3 noise floor, the 102 has a S2 noise floor. For me that difference is huge since all my locals are 30+ miles away from me and get buried in a S3-S5 noise floor..

Interesting video... I enjoy watching a YouTuber named Mower Junkie.. he had a 102 whip on his garage for a long time and talked all over the country and he loved that set up... so I guess it really works

 

[niceguy71]

this is what I did... I may have everything wrong???? but I think it came out great and works fantastic..... been just over a year so I can give you prices for everything.

jcrmadden I think this post got a little high jacked....​

take a look at my install and I can give you some pricing.... and see if this is something you could make work at your house.

I love having a base... nice to do range tests .. talk local 20 to 30 miles away on AM.... and the height lets me do Skip on LSB all over the world... just the other day I had a guy over giving me an estimate and he said what's all this... I said just a Cb... he say's I had a CB in the 80's ... I said not like todays radios.... I walked over and said I can talk to other countries pretty easily I then turned it on cranked up the power ( I normally never go past 30 watts) and asked if anyone could hear me.... secretly hoping for a long distance contact... and I got a guy in Scotland..( I was jumping up and down inside but played it like it was nothing ) I thanked him for the reply and shut off the radio.... the guy that was over giving me an estimate stood there in amazement.

 

[WSAC829]

I think the Base Station antenna's are getting a lot of noise because they pick up more than the mobile antennas... if you turn your RF Gain down till you get a S1 it would work like your mobile antenna

More noise. Correct. Turning the RF gain down wont help hear the stations buried below the noise floor. All that will do is make your radio even more deaf and only receive strong transmissions. My problem was not hearing the guys out in the weeds because the base antennas noise floors were stronger than their signal. Example: If you have an S5 noise floor and the person who normally gives you an S3 signal is talking you’ll never hear them.

It sucks spending all that money thinking i’d hear those distant stations better with a BIGGER proper base antenna. Wrong. I heard less. Much less. While i could still hear my buddy 30 miles north of me, i lost 7 guys who are 40-60 miles west of me. Slapped the mag mount back on the roof and POOF they are back in my receive again.

Same thing happened in 1995 when i bought the 40 foot tower and A99. I lost 70% of my long distance locals. Put the 102 back on the chimney, and POOF they were back. Sold the tower and A99 the next day, and have used that 102 and various mag mounts since. Thinking maybe i got a dud A99 back in the day i decided to try again. I bought the Sirio recently. At first i liked it until i realized i couldn't hear my distant locals. So i went back to whats always worked, and we are chatting nightly like we always have.

 

[niceguy71]

More noise. Correct. Turning the RF gain down wont help hear the stations buried below the noise floor. All that will do is make your radio even more deaf and only receive strong transmissions. My problem was not hearing the guys out in the weeds because the base antennas noise floors were stronger than their signal. Example: If you have an S5 noise floor and the person who normally gives you an S3 signal is talking you’ll never hear them.

It sucks spending all that money thinking i’d hear those distant stations better with a BIGGER proper base antenna. Wrong. I heard less. Much less. While i could still hear my buddy 30 miles north of me, i lost 7 guys who are 40-60 miles west of me. Slapped the mag mount back on the roof and POOF they are back in my receive again.

Same thing happened in 1995 when i bought the 40 foot tower and A99. I lost 70% of my long distance locals. Put the 102 back on the chimney, and POOF they were back. Sold the tower and A99 the next day, and have used that 102 and various mag mounts since. Thinking maybe i got a dud A99 back in the day i decided to try again. I bought the Sirio recently. At first i liked it until i realized i couldn't hear my distant locals. So i went back to whats always worked, and we are chatting nightly like we always have.

if it works for you and your happy that's all that matters.... as I said mower junkie does fantastic with his..... he got rid of it for a real base antenna now.... but I can't say that it didn't work fantastic for him... and I guess for you too.

I have tried to get Firestick antennas to work for 35 years and have never gotten one to work or seen one working really good.... ... maybe 3.5 miles..... but I bump into someone all the time that tells me they are the best antenna ever made and can get 120 miles range and that's not skip.... I shrug my shoulders and say I guess they work for some people...

 

[WSAC829]

Yep. As i’ve said before in this thread, what works for some won't work for others. Everybody has different success stories, just like everybody has different failures. There is no “perfect” radio, or coax, or antenna, or height, or mounting location, etc. It’s all trial and error for each and every user, and each and every user will get different results. That’s just how radio is. Doesn't matter if it’s CB, GMRS, 2M, 70CM, etc. There are just too many variables.

 

[robertwbob]

i must think back. was told i could never get out or hear when i put up my 2 meter /70 cm gp9. i used 50 feet of 2 inch galvanized water pipe,all 3 sections welded to gether. but the guy wires i used 5/16 inch stainless steel cable. the first nit it was up i talked simplex 65 watts fm to a guy 75 miles away.was told signal was great,asked what i was using so i told em. silence then lots of HEY YOU WILL RUIN YOUR RADIO,WONT WORK,EXTREME NOISE. i said whatever. my setup is quiet and can talk to tulsa oklahoma 118 miles from my house simplex 65 watts
i got a relative thats installed buisness radios so i listened to him. been doing it since 78. said use stainless steel cable as it helps ground plane. thats where i get all the noise guys to chatter.
opps side tracked but hey if it works for you cool/ i got sirio 2008 at 32 ft to base of antenna that needs going up another 15 feet but it out did my a99 on cb but i tuned the a99 for 10 meters n it is king on that band