Brand NEW: Help setting up base station

[badbanterer]

Hello,

I tried to configure a home CB set up but I clearly do not know enough to have ordered everything I need and I don't know what I don't know.

I got a CB Bearcat 9800SSB for backup communications. This is meant to be primarily for home (base) but I did not get it to set up some kind of elaborate set up. I purchased a power supply, a mount and 3 different antennas to try:

Little Will

WILSON 305-495 3500-Watt Trucker Antenna (Black)

FireStik FL3-B Three Foot FireFly Antenna With Tuneable Tip (Black)

I have a 60 V PS set to 13.8 V and 4.5 amps. Connected them using a Wilson Antenna 305-830 18' Belden Coax Cable with PL-259/FME Connectors to a Workman Double Groove CB Radio Antenna Mount W/ SO239 Stud BRV1. I used a thin solid wire to ground the Firestick and the Wilson Truckers antenna to the ground of the power supply, the Little Will has its own cable.

Ok, I think those are the basics. I get SWRs greater than 3 on 1, 20, 40. Depending on the antenna, 1 might be lower than the other two channels but still over 3.

From what I see, it could be grounding and I checked everything I could without a multimeter but I think that I am missing something very basic that any one of you could spot right away from my description. Either wrong type of antenna or perhaps I need some kind of ground plane?

Any pertinent advice appreciated.

Thanks,
Jorge

 

[W9WSS]

You are attempting to set up a base station with a good radio, power supply, but inferior antennas. The antennas you selected are for mobile applications. You need a good base station antenna purchased from a reputable dealer such as Walcott Radio, Bell's CB, and a myriad of other dealers that will ship to you at a reasonable price.

If you are in an HOA and are not permitted to install outside antennas on your home. you are in an extremely compromised situation. You will have to settle for a covert install, i.e., something that cannot be seen by anyone walking by your home or condo. Sometimes antennas can be mounted in an attic, which is an extreme compromise, but many have had satisfactory results with a mobile antenna on a pie pan or metallic cookie sheet placed away from metallic objects. If you have aluminum siding or a metal roof, you will not get any signals out (or in) your station.

Then you have to figure out how to channel the coaxial cable from your home setup (spare bedroom, office, kitchen, or basement. The longer the cable runs, the more power you lose to your antenna. That's why indoor antenna installations of base stations are minimally good to listen to what's going on, but the chances of getting anything past your neighbors a block or two away are going to be disappointed.

As a Ham/CB operator of 54 years (March 18 was my "anniversary of being a licensed ham), the furthest thing in my mind would be to live in an HOA building or complex. No one's going to tell me how or where I'm going to erect my antennas. Running a decent station interference to your neighbors (or your own home) should be negligible to minimal if at all.

 

[badbanterer]

Hi Will,

Thanks for info and the response. Please forgive my ignorance, having been in this so long, many of questions and assumptions might sound very stupid, obvious or naive.

I am willing to 'make' my own, if I can make something that I can use indoors. I am at my sister's house and I don't know how and even if I did, I don't think she wants me routing coax cable through her house to get it up on the roof (unless it is fairly easy and not visible but even then, I would now need to have a separate antenna for a vehicle, though it sounds like I will be needing that anyway).

In essence, I am looking for a quick and dirty way to do this in case i need to hear/know what is going on outside in the event of some kind of meltdown.

My sister told me that I can disconnect her TV antenna to use the coax that she has already connected but I imagine I need to change the connector/fittings?

Jorge

 

[W9WSS]

Hi Will,

Thanks for info and the response. Please forgive my ignorance, having been in this so long, many of questions and assumptions might sound very stupid, obvious or naive.

I am willing to 'make' my own, if I can make something that I can use indoors. I am at my sister's house and I don't know how and even if I did, I don't think she wants me routing coax cable through her house to get it up on the roof (unless it is fairly easy and not visible but even then, I would now need to have a separate antenna for a vehicle, though it sounds like I will be needing that anyway).

In essence, I am looking for a quick and dirty way to do this in case i need to hear/know what is going on outside in the event of some kind of meltdown.

My sister told me that I can disconnect her TV antenna to use the coax that she has already connected but I imagine I need to change the connector/fittings?

Jorge

Jorge,

No, you are far from an idiot, and not naive. You are a newby seeking answers. Remember the old saying? "Any question that is not asked is a stupid question." I learned through trial and error, many, many times.

I need to tell you that the ONLY thing about the tower at your sister's home is the tower itself. And proper grounding. The coax is NOT designed for transmitting (usually 72-75 ohm) RG-59. You must use 50-ohm coaxial cable, preferably Times Microwave (brand) LMR-400. Very low loss. It's thick like RG-8, but a better performer for long distances. And, stay away from skinny coax (usually RG-58U). Have the connectors pre-installed, or have a local "expert" install them for you, until you learn the technique (measuring, cutting, soldering), and don't short out the coax at the connector ends.

I have numerous antennas on my roof, mostly connected to my Glen Martin Quad Pod, which, unfortunately, no longer manufactures Quad Pods. I'll attach a photo of my quadpod with several sidearms. There is a strange antenna on a mast by itself attached to a soil stack. That is a (no longer manufactured) Scan Tenna ST-2. Best scanner antenna ever made! I do a lot of scanner monitoring, however, all our law enforcement talk groups are going encrypted sometime during 2022. I'll be able to monitor the fire department, public works, and state police. All other police agencies will become encrypted. It will be a sad day for me, but there's nothing that can be done about it. That's what the police chiefs of DuPage County requested, so it's being activated once all the new radios are deployed.

 

[badbanterer]

Will I am looking to explore MX to leave all the social engineering "agendas" and just do not have time to do this extensive rework of her antenna and house. I am currently in the middle of building a chicken coop for my sister and I need to look at just setting this thing up as rapidly as I can. It was suggested that I look at a mobile antenna perhaps on top of a refrigerator.

I am not lazy, I simply want to do what I can for my sister to help her be as resilient as possible before I go explore MX.

 

[alcahuete]

I used a thin solid wire to ground the Firestick and the Wilson Truckers antenna to the ground of the power supply, the Little Will has its own cable.

Ok, I think those are the basics. I get SWRs greater than 3 on 1, 20, 40. Depending on the antenna, 1 might be lower than the other two channels but still over 3.

Grounding and ground plane are two different things. Those antennas need a ground plane (metal) underneath them to work, and on CB frequencies, it needs to be fairly large (~9'). When you use them in your car, for example, the metal roof of the car is the ground plane. That's why you're seeing the SWR you are seeing. They will never work without a ground plane.

As was already mentioned, even with a ground plane, running those antennas inside the house is going to be quite bad as far as performance is concerned.

 

[badbanterer]

I understand Alcahuete. Much appreciated. So I do not have to electrically ground the mount as well as long as it has the ground plane or do I need both?

 

[alcahuete]

I would do both. But the biggest problem here is going to be the groundplane. Those antennas will simply not tune up or perform well without one. You either need a ground plane, or look into no ground plane antennas.

 

[slowmover]

 

[badbanterer]

Ok, I understand how to make an antenna using a 102" rod and mount it on wood but I do not see the ground plane. Isn't that only showing the antenna mast/stick?

 

[alcahuete]

Ok, I understand how to make an antenna using a 102" rod and mount it on wood but I do not see the ground plane. Isn't that only showing the antenna mast/stick?

The ground plane is on the left side of the pic....the four wires 102" long each.

 

[slowmover]

Also need to ground antenna (lightning, not RF).

 

[WA0CBW]

Specifically the NEC requires the antenna metal mast to be grounded (connected) to a ground rod at the base of the mast. That ground rod must be bonded to the main electrical panel ground rod. If there is no mast then the antenna metal mounting bracket should be connected to a ground rod using #6 wire in the most direct route practicable.
BB

 

[chief21]

Be aware that any inside antenna on CB AM frequencies is likely to have lots of interference from noisy electrical devices, house wiring, etc.

 

[arudlang]

I am really new to CB/radio also (in the last year anyways), so I am not necessarily one to give advice, but I have a thought about your sister's TV antenna:

Would there happen to be TWO standard TV coax cables going out of the house and up to that antenna? The reason I ask is because your radio will want a 50 ohm cable and the coax used for TV is usually 75 ohms, it can work but it's not great and may put your equipment at risk (mainly for transmitting, not sure you would have any notable issues with that 75 ohm cable for just receiving).

However, if there are two cables present to that antenna... and I'll say again I really don't know what I am talking about here but I'm thinking of doing something similar at my parent's house where they have an old/defunct pair of TV coax to the roof for a long-gone satellite/DISH install...
two 75 ohm resistors in parallel yield about 40(ish) ohms of resistance as a set...
*maybe* you (and I, for my parent's install) could bond the two runs of TV coax together and while it's still not the ideal 50 ohms of resistance it would be awfully close it seems..

I don't know if that actually works in practice though. Just something I'm thinking about trying for a similar situation/problem.

Again, I suspect for listening you could use that TV coax all day and barely tell much issue/difference for listening/receiving (provided you get some ground plane wires ran as shown above). Not sure what would happen on transmit though, might burn something out in your radio...

Another thing that maybe could help.. You could also consider picking up the wireless mic that uniden sells for that radio, that would give you some flexibility that you could mount the radio somewhere less convenient to sit by but you could still be anywhere in/around the house with that wireless mic and be listening/talking on the radio. It's limited in that you can't change channels or anything like that on the wireless mic but it's still pretty great, using mine with my 980SSB at home right now.

 

[slowmover]

Wireless mic (speaker + mic) is pretty cool. I bought (4) of them last year in anticipation of some future projects (at least one to be a gift).

Even shelled out the shekels to get the EU-spec (different frequency) wireless for PRESIDENT radios.

Get a Randy to go with it and you can talk to yourself (a common on-air affliction; generally one-sided) via THE BIG BASE STATION radio upstairs in the house out a SIRIO 2016 with the BC-906 while you’re chugging a few in the backyard while tending the BBQ and replying from the portable with a simple dipole.

Shoot, think of all the arguments you’ll win against that old so-and-so.

.

 

[slowmover]

Specifically the NEC requires the antenna metal mast to be grounded (connected) to a ground rod at the base of the mast. That ground rod must be bonded to the main electrical panel ground rod. If there is no mast then the antenna metal mounting bracket should be connected to a ground rod using #6 wire in the most direct route practicable.
BB

 

[slowmover]