CB Base antenna

[IdleMonitor]

Now right off the bat, I wanna say, I'm not looking for an actual Base antenna. As much as I'd like to have one, I don't have the means to put one up.

Now being crafty, in the past, I have used simply just a magnet antenna and with excellent results.

We have a small porch just off our bathroom and I'd like to mount a small base type antenna or simply put a K40 trunk mount or other type of trunk mount along the side of the porch. It's wood so it's easy to drill holes into. It's where the radio room shall be during the spring to fall seasons.

I'm also seeing some other ideas as well and wanted to have some input on them.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/170949452838?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

or maybe even something like this. http://www.ebay.ca/itm/200863611666?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

What do folks do that operate CB's out of there house with antenna restrictions or apartments use?

A big antenna will always best for a big radio, I get that. But a big radio doesn't necessarily always need a big antenna system to be heard.

I will probably only be looking at about 20 ft. or so off the ground.

 

[Rt169Radio]

Am not sure a trunk mount antenna would work good on wood, it needs metal to properly work. Now here's a idea, get a metal sheet or flat piece of metal (not to big and has to be thick enough), drill a hole in it to put in a NMO mount, then get a Larsen 27 MHz mobile NMO antenna and screw onto the mount.

Or you could get a small metal pole and attach it to the wood on the porch and get a RadioShack 102 inch antenna and the mount for it and put it on. Or any other small length antenna like the Firestick, etc.

 

[jay_camaro1]

dont rule out the simple 102" whip, i just used a L bracket i found at the hardware store and mounted it at the peak of my house(ranch house) and its only about 15-18' off the ground and works great for talking local and skip. talk locally to another base station 35+ miles away.

 

[kb2vxa]

What they're trying to say here is an antenna needs a counterpoise ground to operate. On a vehicle that's the body so when used as a base antenna one must be substituted but the question is how big should it be? Trouble is most come up with ideas way too short to be effective, it ideally is 1/4 wave (9 feet) 365 degrees around the radiating element. What is ideal seldom is practical so there's always a compromise keeping that 1/4 wave in mind. How you work that out is specific to the installation and since I'm not there to show you you'll have to work that out. Wires are the most practical and at leas one is needed but two aren't too much.Since you plan on mounting to a railing one on each side will work nicely and since you don't likely have the room to stretch them out horizontal the ends can hang down and off the ends of the railing. That should keep them clear of the balcony below if they even reach down that far.

A 102" whip? You seem to forget this is on a balcony and even mounted on the floor the standard ceiling is 8' and the whip is 9'. Mounted on the railing it's likely to protrude where it's clearly visible from the balcony above which is why his K-40 idea is much better. When you have restrictions stealth is paramount, if the neighbors don't know there's a CBer in the building there's no sense telling them.

 

[mike_gain]

Get a green drop cord from BigLots (Stealth/cammo), unzip it, cut to proper length, solder some coax to the plug barbs, a few turns to coil up the choke and you gots yourself a "Cheap and Dirty" dipole.

 

[TheSpaceMan]

You can easily build your own 11 Meter ground plane antenna for only a few bucks with just some wire! Just search on the internet for some dimensions and plans.

 

[LtDoc]

Keep in mind that any 'stealth' antenna, or indoor antenna is going to be less than 'normal' in performance, there's no getting around that. From there it's a matter of what you can do or get by with. I think almost anything would be better than no antenna at all, but don't expect much performance.
A typical mobile antenna can be made to work, but you gotta 'do' that making to make it work. Typically that means furnishing the 'other half' of that mobile antenna, something to take the place of a metal car body. That can be just a single wire counterpoise, or a number of them, whatever you have room for. The typical 'no ground' antenna uses the feed line for it's 'other half'. No terrible big problem with that if you have enough feed line to 'satisfy' the antenna, AND can arrange it in a sort of 'usable' manner. coiling the thing up into a ball isn't going work too well. Stringing it out works 'better'. Is that balcony railing metal? That might suffice, or add a drop wire to it. How about a window air conditioner? Lot's of possibilities, just have to make use of the ones you have.
The other side of that is that you should be prepared for some interference problems. If the antenna is near electrical appliances/devices, you can almost count on there being interference problems. Hopefully not, but don't count on there not being problems.
Have fun and good luck.
- 'Doc

 

[2009KVFD976]

Im kinda in this same situation... i have a 17' mast and am plannin on installing either the procomm pt99 or just a rs 102" whip with 2 sections of 9' copper wire as a ground plane attached to the eaves of the house with aluminum guy wire tensioners and a pc of nylon rope to finish it off on a 3" hook. I seen a vid on youtubeby crypticcricket and his came out with a flat swr reading... my question to yall is, which antenna is better? Pt99 or 102" whip...? Later i plan in extending the mast to 35' of not the full 50'. Hopefully with the extra length it will not affect my swr in a negative way and maybe improve the reception and skip of the signal. (im running a cobra 142GTL on this setup)

 

[LtDoc]

Which is better? Well, one is a 1/2 wave antenna the other is a 1/4 wave antenna. They have different radiation patterns to start with. One is longer than the other, which will 'fit' best in your situation? A lot of it boils down to your construction methods for that 1/4 wave, and how/where it's mounted. That 'how/where' thingy also includes the antenna's environment, as in what's around the thing, trees, buildings, hills, etc. There's no -sure- way of predicting that.
A very, very rough rule of thumb (called a 'ROT') is that the 1/2 wave would probably out perform the 1/4 wave, maybe. If you're looking for an 'absolute', definite answer, I won't/can't give you one. If you had both given to you, which would you try -first-? ...
- 'Doc

 

[IdleMonitor]

Your thoughts on the examples that I provided?

 

[Randalman]

Be patriotic, buy a 20ft fiberglass flagpole,mount it on a metal base, put the proper length wire in it [about 18ft] run some wire radials out from the base and bury them. Fly the flag and I doubt anyone will ask you to take the pole down.

 

[TheSpaceMan]

Be patriotic, buy a 20ft fiberglass flagpole,mount it on a metal base, put the proper length wire in it [about 18ft] run some wire radials out from the base and bury them. Fly the flag and I doubt anyone will ask you to take the pole down.

I knew a CBer who actually hid an A-99 antenna inside a PVC pipe, and flew a flag on it! He used it for years in his HOA restricted community, and no one ever had a clue.

 

[Randalman]

I read about it somewhere a while ago probably on a cb forum so it is not my idea, but it is a good one worth mentioning when someone has this problem. Maybe I was reading about the guy you knew.