Peaking

[gewecke]

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Well right now i got just a standard radioshack attena but in few weeks geting the Wilson 1000 or lil will i not sure what one is the best to get for my Cobra 18 wx ST II. what y'all think

Larsen NMO-27B is cheaper and performs better. Do some research,and see how long wilson has been around the look how many years LARSEN has been here?

http://www.pulseelectronics.com/products/antennas

73,
n9zas

 

[WQFM513]

Do a lot of reasearch and build your own, that way you get exactaly what you want instead of what someone else says you want.

 

[gewecke]

Do a lot of reasearch and build your own, that way you get exactaly what you want instead of what someone else says you want.

Yep, he could do that too, as long he can do the theory related r&d.

73,
n9zas

 

[ka5lqj]

"Crossbar Hotel".....

so if i took it to cb shop to get peak what is the most they could peak it to from 4 watts to what..

Like others have said, you MIGHT get a few minor wattage gains, but if you get caught, you and the tech who did the upgrade would wind up Big Leroy's Date for the Dance in a federal prison and a $10,000.00 fine. Now is that worth the trouble?

Back in the days of tube CB radio's, you could jump out a resistor and get more power but your modualtions was no good. I used to parallel a .25 mfd at 1000wvdc across the screen resistor. I still had the 4 watts out but the modulation would go to 100%, making it SOUND louder, LOL!

If you want to talk to your friends, get one of those cell phones you pay for the time you use, that's not ilegal. To CB'er's an ileagle is a sick bird. :lol:

Been CBing now since 1962
Ham radio Operator for 30+ years

Buck

 

[JayMojave]

I would go wit the Wilson 1000 or 5000 the Lil Wil is a short antenna will poor performance as compared to the 1000 or 5000.

Jay

 

[nonperson]

I put a Little Wil on my father's truck. It's electrically long but has a short stinger or whip (it's a base loaded antenna). As such I had to trim it and it has a narrow band width. I haven't used the other two Wilson antennas.
But for a heads up, don't bother with the Wilson Gum Drop mounts. They tend to short out.

 

[ka5lqj]

Wilson 1000/Solarcon100

Hi!

I've been a "ham Operator" for over 30+ years and been a "CB'er" since 1962. Back then, you had to "build" your rig youself from a kit (KnightKit C-11). They were tube-type rigs and could be made to increase your rf output in several ways. Nowdays, they all are surface-mount(glued on)parts, except for the output stage, which is a transistor. It's almost impossible to raise the output of a rig greater than 4½ watts and even then, it's not noticeable.

The others are right, buy the best antenna you can afford. Depending where you want to mount the antenna would make a difference. For instance, Hustler antenna makes an solid aluminum mast about 5 feet long and you can screw on an 11 meter resonator. It has a 'stinger' that you can adjust up and down to help balance the S.W.R. You do want to get it as close to 1:1 as possible, without cutting the stinger. It can be mounted on the trailer hitch or a commercial, hevy-duty ball mount.

Another antenna for a vehicle, provided you don't have a lot of low-hanging tree limbs or over-passes. It's a 5/8ths wave, fiberglass antenna called a Solarcon 100 (I believe). It tunes from 21 mHz (15 meters to 30 mHz and is very reliable. I use one when talking 10 meter
FM. It has a low noise factor which is always good.

Now, depending on your finances and your friends finances, you all could get an AM/SSB rig and move to Channel 16 or 17 an talk all day. If you're using them to hunt or fish with, a hand-held CB handi-talkie (Motorola has the name "Walkie-Talkie" registered, so you can't use that term.

Where was I? Sorry, I digressed. As for the coax.... Since we're talking still in the High Frequency bands, you also need to buy the very best coaxial cable that will serve the purpose. I use Belden 9913. It's 50Ω and the same size as RG-8U, but the loss is lower in the 9913 than RG-8U. The Hustler takes soldering lugs on the coax to mount it. The Solarcon will take the standard PL-259 and hear again, by the best connector.

Now, I'm not "stuck-up" as some hams are about CB'er's. As I said, I've been one since 1962 and my call sign then was 8Q3224. The F.C.C. made a mistake in issueing those types of calls, so the went to KEA1192. I'm STILL on Channel 38/ssb mode and use it to contact my adult daughter and 18 year old grandson, :wink:.

As you might have figured out, I'm a people person and half Cajun French, LOL! I love talking to folks hearing their stories about what they've done for a living, their family and other interesting things. Spend 5 minutes with me and it will be like we've known each other, FOREVER!

GOD BLESS,
Regards (73)
Buck/KA5LQJ

 

[kb2vxa]

One point I disagree on, the FCC made no mistake when they issued calls that followed the Amateur call districts. Had you been licensed a bit earlier your call would have been an 8W but when they ran out they went to the Q series. When they ran out again they issued calls resembling commercial but with a fourth digit. They still followed the districts but it wasn't so obvious.

I was KMD7606 from 1965 until the licensing requirement was dropped and I still get a chuckle when some fool DEMANDED I give my callsign. Then I became KMA1004, not too hard to figure out if you put your mind to it.

As for that tweaking and peaking with a nonlinear linear adding a distortion all its own, maybe they should learn the old ham saying; 90% of your shack is on the roof.

 

[nonperson]

Like others have said, you MIGHT get a few minor wattage gains, but if you get caught, you and the tech who did the upgrade would wind up Big Leroy's Date for the Dance in a federal prison and a $10,000.00 fine. Now is that worth the trouble?


Buck

Seriously when was the last time some one was sent to jail or prison for altering a CB radio as such? Show me examples. The most I've seen was fines and and those were for much more serious violations than a "tune and peak."

 

[gewecke]

Seriously when was the last time some one was sent to jail or prison for altering a CB radio as such? Show me examples. The most I've seen was fines and and those were for much more serious violations than a "tune and peak."

Well, you asked for an example right??
Here's a recent one from 2012.
Now you know that it can and DOES happen!

http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2012/db0306/DA-12-340A1.txt

73,
n9zas

 

[sdeeter19555]

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I just want to push good signal so can talk to my friends they push good signal and they can't hear me i currently have cobra 18 WxII and had that peak to 12 watts and that's still not help what can i do should get a Wilson attena or what ?

What's saying that your friends' radios are tuned correctly...TX/RX is a two-way road. If their radios have not had the receive aligned and peaked, they may literally have deaf radios.

 

[bob-the-scanner-man]

Well, you asked for an example right??
Here's a recent one from 2012.
Now you know that it can and DOES happen!

http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2012/db0306/DA-12-340A1.txt

73,
n9zas

Indeed it does happen. I noticed that the FCC report mentions amplifiers. That's where a lot of these guys go wrong. I'm not going to bash the use of an amp but a lot of these guys aren't responsible or smart with it. They use a poorly built amp and a crappy antenna then bleed all over their neighbors.

I don't think the FCC cruises around looking for violators, but there's no denying that they are out there if you're doing something stupid and causing interference like that guy probably was.

I'm actually surprised that there have never been any FCC fines issued where I live. We have a few guys running upwards of a thousand watts just to talk across town and bleeding across the whole band in the process. I'd hate to think what they're interfering with in their neighbors' homes.

 

[nonperson]

Well, you asked for an example right??
Here's a recent one from 2012.
Now you know that it can and DOES happen!

http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2012/db0306/DA-12-340A1.txt

73,
n9zas

No that is not an example nor does it answer the question! That guy was only fined and that's was it. Yes it does state the FCC may turn the case over to the DOJ if he doesn't pay. So what! That doesn't mean the DOJ is going to do anything with it. They have the discretion to investigate or prosecute. Even if they did he wouldn't get any time behind bars. Furthermore the guy was using a non certified CB (sounds like an export radio) AND amp(s). It was apparently much more than just a peaked and tuned transceiver.

Again poster ka5lqj said, "Like others have said, you MIGHT get a few minor wattage gains, but if you get caught, you and the tech who did the upgrade would wind up Big Leroy's Date for the Dance in a federal prison and a $10,000.00 fine. Now is that worth the trouble?"


So when was the last time some one was sent to jail or prison for "peaking and tuning" a CB radio? I'm not doubting the fine nor the fact that "peaking and tuning" a CB for more power is a violation of the rules.

Not trying to troll or anything but stuff like that bugs me plus the shooting case in FL has had me worked up over ignorance of the law.

 

[gewecke]

Go ahead and "tweak" your cb. It's very unlikely that would get you jail time, but on the practicality side of things what do you hope to gain? The gain factor is nearly nothing, unless shortening the life cycle on your final transistor is of no consequence...


73,
n9zas

 

[K9WG]

Go ahead and "tweak" your cb. It's very unlikely that would get you jail time, but on the practicality side of things what do you hope to gain? The gain factor is nearly nothing, unless shortening the life cycle on your final transistor is of no consequence...


73,
n9zas

But, tweaking to over-modulation will gain you alot.... of splatter.... but then again that doesn't seem to be a concern on CB now does it? :twisted:

 

[jhooten]

OP,

Let all the legal arguments and other noise rest for a minute and let's address your direct question, the 520. These radios were built to a price point and to be a functional unit that took up little space. They were very popular in police service and are one of the very few cb radios Troy Products makes a console face plate to fit,

They were built with the lowest price, minimal capability components that would accomplish that goal. There is no overhead to allow the radio to be tuned to a substantially higher output and any gains that would be realized will severely shorten the service life of the unit. In factory form they are a good unit with a long service life. Try to beef them up and you will see the magic smoke start to leak out in short order.

 

[LtDoc]

The object is to have more -usable- radiation/signal. Which means that at least the PA transistor would have to be replaced, the manufacturer isn't giving you anything for free, things haven't been "turned down" to make it legally sell able. That means that the circuits 'feeding' that new PA would have to be 'adjusted'/changed also. See where that's going? And then you get to squeeze all that into an area never designed to hold it, which is probably the real 'trick' in all of this.
Could you double the output of a typical radio without some major redesigning? I very much doubt it. If you can't at least double the output then it's really just not worth the effort. The typical CB shop just doesn't have the required knowledge or equipment to do that redesigning and building. And putting legality aside, there are easier/cheaper ways of going about it.
It would be exactly the same thing if you were talking about beefing up a 4 cylinder S-10. Sure, it can be done, but to get any appreciable and usable gain in horsepower, figure on doing more than a simple tune up. GM doesn't give away stuff either...
- 'Doc

 

[KC4RAF]

There are those who just want to see if they CAN

adjust/tweak a radio to perform differently. Glad to have those onboard. But what seperates the men from the boys are those that do the tweaking and UNDERSTAND the consquencies. That being legal, any real gain, shorten the life of the radio or components, etc. The real challenge is those that want to get distance with QRP. Much cheaper, more thrilling, and you KNOW you used your basic electronic theory and fundamental equipment to do it. Dropping big dollars for an amp that splatters all over the RF spectrum, making enemies out of fellow CBers, ; Just not worth it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not attacking the CBer who uses an amp and the legal ramifications; that's already been posted. The statement goes to those wanting to adjust their radio for more output. It's also been posted else where that one S-unit can not be detected by the human ear. For the beginner in doing tweaking or having it done, study up on the db factor, electronic components, etc. All it takes is a few minutes per evening and you gain so much knowledge that will help you along your path in electronics

 

[gewecke]

OP,

Let all the legal arguments and other noise rest for a minute and let's address your direct question, the 520. These radios were built to a price point and to be a functional unit that took up little space. They were very popular in police service and are one of the very few cb radios Troy Products makes a console face plate to fit,

They were built with the lowest price, minimal capability components that would accomplish that goal. There is no overhead to allow the radio to be tuned to a substantially higher output and any gains that would be realized will severely shorten the service life of the unit. In factory form they are a good unit with a long service life. Try to beef them up and you will see the magic smoke start to leak out in short order.

Well said. :wink:


73,
n9zas