Base Antenna

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davidvel

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Is there any reason I can not use a base antenna with a handheld (5 Watt)? My concern is that the design of a big base antenna would lose too much power?? If this makes no sense feel free to advise.
 

N0IU

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Where you are going to lose some power is in the feed line, not the antenna. Any time you use an antenna that is outdoors and as high as possible, you are going to do much better than the antenna on your HT.
 

kb2vxa

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If you use a rooftop antenna with sufficient gain and low loss cable your range over the HT's antenna will astound you. One thing to remember, low loss cable is large diameter, stiffer than the thin stuff and heavier so to avoid putting strain on the HT's antenna connector it's advisable to use a short RG58 jumper with the appropriate connectors instead of an adapter.
 

davidvel

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Thanks for the quick replys. Can you point me to any sites describing the cable (or a descriptor/type of what I am looking for?)
 

conve36

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Depends on what antenna connector your radio has, what frequency you use and other contributing factors. I could have a roof-top antenna connected to my Yaesu FT-60R in about 40 minutes by driving down to the local radio shack, buy the 20-176 groundplane scanner antenna (works great as a dual-band 2m/70cm tx/rx antenna) and either one 20-foot RG-8 coax (or buy two 20-foot cables and a uhf barrel connector making it 40-feet). Also pickup one of the jumper cables they sell (rather expensive) that goes from my SMA connector on my radio to UHF male, connecting right to the RG-8. Simple. But rather pricey compared to shopping around online. But again, I said 40-minutes...
 

meplat

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Is there any reason I can not use a base antenna with a handheld (5 Watt)? My concern is that the design of a big base antenna would lose too much power?? If this makes no sense feel free to advise.

There's no reason at all not to use a base antenna with your HT. Just use a 12" section of thinner coax as suggested by kb2vxa.
 

herb5420

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Sounds like you want to set up something very similar to what I have -- I'm running my FT-60 through about 50-feet of LMR-400 to a Diamond X-30 antenna. It works great on receive and transmit -- I've routinely hit repeaters on 2M that are 15-20 miles away. The trick on connecting the LMR-400 (which is really stiff and not designed to be moved around a lot) is to get a short jumper that runs from the LMR to the SMA connector on your HT. I bought all this stuff at Associated Radio, but I'm sure the other on-line places (Ham Radio Outlet, HamCity, etc.) have the same stuff for about the same price.

Herb, KD0JMD
FT-60 HT
FT-8800 Mobile
 

davidvel

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Thanks againt oall that helped with this project. I'm halfway there, but now have a diamond x-30 installed in the attic via 20' of LMR400, and a short rg58 jumper. I'm now able to hit a key repeater that was impossible before, which was my goal.

Next plan is to get my friend on the roof to install the antenna there.
 

kb2vxa

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Never send a friend up on the roof unless you want to lose a friendship or the friend. God made expendable kid brothers just for the purpose, they get around like monkeys and if he falls and breaks his neck you'll never miss him... until the antenna needs maintenance. Now if you buy a rugged antenna it won't need attention until you have a replacement kid brother, pretty smart eh?
 

ERICMYERS

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Thanks againt oall that helped with this project. I'm halfway there, but now have a diamond x-30 installed in the attic via 20' of LMR400, and a short rg58 jumper. I'm now able to hit a key repeater that was impossible before, which was my goal.

Next plan is to get my friend on the roof to install the antenna there.

If you hit your goal, why the roof? New goal?
 

N8IAA

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New goal: get a dualband transceiver and use more than 5 watts into the antenna. Then, you can work some simplex:)
Larry
 

davidvel

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Response to the above 3 posts:

Unfortunately, I am the younger brother. Fortunately, my friend spent our college years hanging off Half Dome in Yosemite dangling from to the rock by ropes, and sleeping in a little nylon bed. He'll be fine 35' above my grass!

I should have said my first goal was to hit the repeater that we use on a local net. I also want to hit few other repeaters and receive some other stations. Although RX and TX are exponentially better as suggested, the antenna is shieled by my concrete tile roof. So getting it outdoors will help all areas, including reception and . . .

Simplex. Still a few stations on our net (when we use simplex) that are practically inaudible. Getting antenna above roof will likely help this. Then to get a radio with more watts...
 
N

N_Jay

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Is this s ham radio?

A base antenna on a portable turns it into a base, and if it is a part-90 station, you need to make sure the license covers your new "base".
 

davidvel

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Is this s ham radio?

A base antenna on a portable turns it into a base, and if it is a part-90 station, you need to make sure the license covers your new "base".

Yes, this is in reference to: Amateur Radio > Amateur Radio Equipment > Base Antenna
 
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