Specific Question New Setup

[niceguy71]

put your indoor antenna on the balcony / deck and see how it does..... if you need to buy a longer CB coax it will not be expensive at all... just get a longer coax and a barrel connector..... they say that antenna gets a 3 miles range sitting outside...

the SWR meter... this is My opinion... the guys here hate cheap crap.... but I have two of these digital SWR and power meter I have one with the on /off switch in the front... that one I need my glasses to see the display ( I'm in my 60's ).... my other one has the button in the back and I can easily see the larger display.
it's nice to see the power output and the SWR.... I keep one on my truck CB as it also has a warning that buzzes if the SWR gets too high.. my old CB doesn't have a warning.
I have a very expensive SWR meter ( over $300) and these two cheap Chinese meters are always pretty close to being the same SWR.

I mentioned all of this before so not to keep hounding you... sorry.

also what I would do, honestly....
buy the best magnetic antenna you can buy.... the Sirio Performer 5000 with magnetic base sirio at Amazon and buy a roll of 100 feet of coax 100 feet of coax and a barrel connector barrel connector when you want to use the base station... just go put the Sirio on the roof of your truck out in the driveway as far from the house as you can
... place the antenna right in the middle of the roof... it is 77 inches tall and it will transmit and receive signals fantastic with all the metal of the truck directly under it as a ground plane....
your firestick on the truck is really only good for a few miles... the Sirio on the roof should go over 10 miles... I just did a range test of a Stryker SAR-10 on the hood of my friends Jeep and we got 14.90 miles... I'm sure the Sirio may go even further.... but just uncoil the coax and run it out to the truck and let that be your base station antenna... play with it for a few months and see if having a base station CB is something you really want.... some people spend big money installing one and learn there is no one to talk to and find they wasted their money and time..... AM CB is not very popular and you may not find anyone in your area using it... Side Band you can talk all over the country.... but you only have a AM CB so... play with what you have for now.

my area has a lot of people still using AM CB,s in fact on our range test we had people breaking in asking for a radio check.

if you have another vehicle that is a Uni-Body... and a larger roof.... use that..... a Uni Body has the everything connected better than a pick up with a full frame... and a lot of mini vans have a huge roof and they work fantastic for CB antenna's

by the way... I say to use the Sirio 5000.... as in the future you may want to make it a preeminently installed antenna on the truck.... as it has a little handle on the side... you just turn the handle and fold the antenna down and drive it into the garage... when you back out of the garage ... you stand on the sill plate of the truck and stand the antenna up straight again.... doing this lets you play with it as a base station CB antenna and down the road you can use it for having the best mobile antenna.

also on that little digital SWR / Power meter .. all you have to do is turn your CB onto the channel you want to see the SWR and key the mic.... that's it! no calibrating.... just key the mic and read the SWR.... nothing simpler

 

[rocknbil]

this is My opinion... the guys here hate cheap crap...

OK so in every other post here someone mentions "just get a cheap external SWR meter" so you're saying this one is inaccurate? That is the question. This (and others) were two reference threads I used before buying it, although the original poster in this thread didn't like it, all of the users following said it was worthy.

Just getting back from setting up the antenna in the middle of the yard. Put the Cobra on a 12 RV battery. Had to lengthen the antenna about an inch or so, channels 40/1 I get close to 1.5 SWR. As suspected, the environment was the problem. I plan to use this antenna for camping so it has it's place. I will set up the home station with the Sirio on hand once I get past the physical limitations (grounding.)

Discussions in a private message have showed me the way to test the meters myself, I guess I'll just do that but now both the internal meter and Workman differ by only a few notches.

 

[niceguy71]

OK so in every other post here someone mentions "just get a cheap external SWR meter" so you're saying this one is inaccurate? That is the question. This (and others) were two reference threads I used before buying it, although the original poster in this thread didn't like it, all of the users following said it was worthy.

Just getting back from setting up the antenna in the middle of the yard. Put the Cobra on a 12 RV battery. Had to lengthen the antenna about an inch or so, channels 40/1 I get close to 1.5 SWR. As suspected, the environment was the problem. I plan to use this antenna for camping so it has it's place. I will set up the home station with the Sirio on hand once I get past the physical limitations (grounding.)

Discussions in a private message have showed me the way to test the meters myself, I guess I'll just do that but now both the internal meter and Workman differ by only a few notches.

what I was saying... is the one I recommended is a "cheap Chinese meter"... I was not saying anything about your meter..... I thought you were looking for another meter to make sure everything was correct.
most SWR meters work fine... cheap or expensive.... most will work fine.. the guys like really good ones here.... but they all work.. they may be a few points off.. but they will be close enough

 

[slowmover]

my area has a lot of people still using AM CB,s in fact on our range test we had people breaking in asking for a radio check.

Everyone can tell “the sound” of quality gear.

.

 

[slowmover]

The $35 truck stop meters are okay for setting SWR versus sole reliance on an internal meter.

 

[robertwbob]

put your indoor antenna on the balcony / deck and see how it does..... if you need to buy a longer CB coax it will not be expensive at all... just get a longer coax and a barrel connector..... they say that antenna gets a 3 miles range sitting outside...

the SWR meter... this is My opinion... the guys here hate cheap crap.... but I have two of these digital SWR and power meter I have one with the on /off switch in the front... that one I need my glasses to see the display ( I'm in my 60's ).... my other one has the button in the back and I can easily see the larger display.
it's nice to see the power output and the SWR.... I keep one on my truck CB as it also has a warning that buzzes if the SWR gets too high.. my old CB doesn't have a warning.
I have a very expensive SWR meter ( over $300) and these two cheap Chinese meters are always pretty close to being the same SWR.

I mentioned all of this before so not to keep hounding you... sorry.

also what I would do, honestly....
buy the best magnetic antenna you can buy.... the Sirio Performer 5000 with magnetic base sirio at Amazon and buy a roll of 100 feet of coax 100 feet of coax and a barrel connector barrel connector when you want to use the base station... just go put the Sirio on the roof of your truck out in the driveway as far from the house as you can
... place the antenna right in the middle of the roof... it is 77 inches tall and it will transmit and receive signals fantastic with all the metal of the truck directly under it as a ground plane....
your firestick on the truck is really only good for a few miles... the Sirio on the roof should go over 10 miles... I just did a range test of a Stryker SAR-10 on the hood of my friends Jeep and we got 14.90 miles... I'm sure the Sirio may go even further.... but just uncoil the coax and run it out to the truck and let that be your base station antenna... play with it for a few months and see if having a base station CB is something you really want.... some people spend big money installing one and learn there is no one to talk to and find they wasted their money and time..... AM CB is not very popular and you may not find anyone in your area using it... Side Band you can talk all over the country.... but you only have a AM CB so... play with what you have for now.

my area has a lot of people still using AM CB,s in fact on our range test we had people breaking in asking for a radio check.

if you have another vehicle that is a Uni-Body... and a larger roof.... use that..... a Uni Body has the everything connected better than a pick up with a full frame... and a lot of mini vans have a huge roof and they work fantastic for CB antenna's

i see my old president grant. i bought very first 2 sold in the long gone big cb store in cincinatti (spelling not right). i had it rebuilt same time i had my galaxy 99v rebuilt. the other 1 i gave da,wanted em to stay together but i know he died n stepmom burned rubber to sell at a pawn shop.
got it et up same as other,flip switch n upper channels.
every nite at a set time id park big truck n see if we could connect and back then we connected many many nites. i got him a 500 watt box and i had a 750 in my truck hooked to a long gone brand antenna ,a grey big maggie mounted to top of the frigiking ac top o the cab

 

[niceguy71]

i see my old president grant. i bought very first 2 sold in the long gone big cb store in cincinatti (spelling not right). i had it rebuilt same time i had my galaxy 99v rebuilt. the other 1 i gave da,wanted em to stay together but i know he died n stepmom burned rubber to sell at a pawn shop.
got it et up same as other,flip switch n upper channels.
every nite at a set time id park big truck n see if we could connect and back then we connected many many nites. i got him a 500 watt box and i had a 750 in my truck hooked to a long gone brand antenna ,a grey big maggie mounted to top of the frigiking ac top o the cab

that was my first "good" CB I bought it in 1989... back then getting an illegal Export radio was very difficult....I had to talk to a few people after meeting them in parking lots.. and finally meeting a guy in an alley with .... I can't remember the price.... maybe $250 bucks to buy a $150 radio!!! but I was happy to get an export radio... 10 watts on AM FM and 25 watts Sideband.... they peaked and tuned it... so it did 12 watts AM/FM and 27 watts Sideband.... they also clipped the Clarifier.

I bought another 60 watt Anytone 5555 N II to replace it with.... two years ago!!!... but the old Grant works so nice and I do all my tests with it.... but once I test all my antenna's with it... I'm going to let it go to its next caretaker.... I'm kind of looking forward to getting the 5555 N II in the truck... I don't "think" I'll miss it

 

[rocknbil]

on our range test we had people breaking in asking for a radio check.

Guilty as charged. :-\ It's from the manual. Outside of the below, what would you suggest? (Club meetings only once a month here.)

 

[Davidbt]

Guilty as charged. :-\ It's from the manual. Outside of the below, what would you suggest? (Club meetings only once a month here.)

View attachment 180188

That's funny right there 🤣

 

[slowmover]

Guilty as charged. :-\ It's from the manual. Outside of the below, what would you suggest? (Club meetings only once a month here.)

View attachment 180188

The hardest part is avoiding passivity. One might say, Universe needs to know this is important to you (RX & TX). Stay at it.

Avoidance of passivity for many is to try to sound like the others — good ol’boy deep-fried — but it’s an extension of one’s conversational norm (except @sempai, where’d that boy get off to? 😉) as being genuine is what works.

I often time get started on 19 asking for a radio check. Get, “it’s okay”, and then I extend that by asking if there’s anything weird as I just put it back in the truck (usually true).

You’ll think of openers. Some will work. Some won’t. Definitely easier than asking a pretty girl for a date.

Note how others do it (not the paid agitators on Skip. They don’t deserve a radio check if on 19).

I sometimes just join in. If it’s been a few miles I’m listening and they’re not fading or much increasing in volume we are likely at same speed. I note mile marker beforehand and ask if I’m coming in okay (be sure to complement their rigs).

Think of this as your formal range test if its better than 3-miles. Given an NRC rig you may be hearing both of them far better than either — or just one — can hear you.

Some loud & proud type probably has a good antenna system where the 5-7/mile and farther game can be played.

Just be consistent on a daily basis. Speak up. In time it won’t be at all unusual to be a regular.

.