arudlang
Member
Hello, brand new to the forum here and the world of radio (safe to say I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm already knee-deep in trying!)
My brother recently started to dabble a bit with CB radios just for fun, and he kinda got me into it. Most likely we will both end up going down the ham route eventually but for the moment old used CB stuff is so cheap and accessible thats where we are at for now. He has at least one other local buddy who plays around with it, might get my dad on board, etc.
For the most part my interest in CB is for camping, skiing, group hikes, multi-car road trips with family, etc. Situations where my cheap FRS radios have been constantly falling short in terms of range and performance. Having a "base station" for CB at home was not originally a big priority for me, but I am having a lot of fun with it and my brother happened to get a large aluminum antenna in a local lot sale that he graciously let me have.
I have no idea what brand or model this antenna is (pics below), or whether its even intended to be used with CB frequencies (it was sold with a handful of other CB stuff, but that doesn't mean much around here). Despite knowing virtually nothing about it or whether its even in operating condition, I scrambled the other night in the dark to get this thrown up on my roof before the first major snowfall of the year prevents me from getting on my roof again until spring (located in north central Minnesota).
I had a junk 11ish-foot steel pipe that's been laying in the brush since I bought this house years ago, I stood it up over my porch as a makeshift mast and then I used another piece of scrap pipe as a sleeve to install this aluminum antenna on the mast.
Currently nothing is "earth-grounded", mast or antenna, which is something I will obviously correct before spring and the possibility of thunderstorms but pointing that out up front in case it is related at all to antenna performance or SWR.
No markings or labels on this antenna, appears to be all aluminum, there is a main mast made up of 5 segments that seems to be able to go anywhere from 15 to 20+ feet with clamps to lock in the length, then there are three perpendicular counterpoise which have two segments each, again adjustable with clamps. Standard SO239 connector on the bottom.
Again, without hardly knowing anything about it or what I'm doing, I assembled this freebie antenna and adjusted the length to be about 17 feet and 3(ish) inches, measured from the tip to the SO239 connector. Then I adjusted the counterpoise/radials to be 8 feet 8 inches long and set the whole thing up on my mast. I used some duct tape to try to electrically separate the antenna from the mast, whether that actually worked or not I have not gone up there and tested. I tried to brush the ends of the aluminum segments with steel wool before assembling, and I brushed/cleaned up the SO239 connector as well. I put a random bolt into the threaded tip of the antenna, not knowing whether I should or not but figured it shouldn't be open for water and ice to go down into it.
Before putting it up I pulled out my multimeter and noted that the inner portion of the SO239 connector has continuity to the outer threads of the connector, and despite the plastic isolators both the inner and outer portions of the SO239 connector have continuity to the mast mount as well (again, tried to isolate that with tape...), I wasn't sure if that was a bad sign but I pressed on anyways with the installation.
I bought 49.5 feet of cheap RG58 coax for about $15 on amazon and dropped it down my un-used brick chimney into the basement, where I have a little shelf set up to hold my 12v 9ah battery I'm currently using as a clean power supply, my bargain bin Astatic 302-PDC2 meter, and of course my base station radio. I started with a cheap Uniden PRO505XL but that unit is actually slated to go into my car, tomorrow I am getting a Uniden 980SSB that is going to be my actual radio for this makeshift base station.
Currently on the PRO505XL I am showing just a fuzz over a 2:1 SWR pretty evenly across all channels. Whether or not this meter is accurate is of course anyone's guess, like other reviews noted mine came broken right out of the package I had to reassemble some loose bits of the 10w/100w switch that were rattling around inside of it... but its all I have to go on.
Anyways, despite the less ideal SWR I was happy to see that the meter shows a full 4 watt output from the PRO505XL on this antenna, I only get about 2 watts when that same radio is hooked to the cheap tram centerload on my car. Either a good sign or ....?
I was able to take a handheld CB unit and walk a couple hundred yards down the street to test, both the base station and the handheld unit where able to communicate crystal clear at that short range so it seems like... maybe I've got something usable? I hope...
We got 6 inches of snow this weekend so my ability to get up there to adjust or change anything is going to be pretty non-existent until spring... If I absolutely HAD to I might be able to get up there once, it *might* get warm enough later this week to melt my roof off but odds aren't great.
I have not tried to make contact with this setup yet other than the 30 second test between myself and the handheld unit a couple hundred yards away. I am hearing some skip on ch 6 and some occasional chatter from somebody in MN with probably a tremendous amplifier of some sort, I can hear that guy in my car unit too driving around sometimes.
At this point with the nice Bearcat 980SSB arriving tomorrow I am excited to hook it up but also nervous that something might be bad with this antenna and worst-case cause damage to the radio, hence reaching out there for any input or advice. I know the 980SSB has a couple rudimentary built-in antenna checks and I will try those. With the Astatic showing a little over 2:1 SWR not sure if the radio will pass or fail its antenna check...
I'm wondering about the three counterpoise on this antenna, they go straight out 90 degrees from the center mast, fixed angle, but most CB antennas I have seen put the counterpoise at more like a 45 degree angle. Most others seem to have four or more counterpoise vs just three as well.. for all I know this is a HAM antenna not intended at all for use at 27 Mhz. If anybody recognizes it and knows for sure let me know. I could bend those counterpoise poles down and maybe that would help my SWR (?) but once I bend them it will be awfully hard to ever get them straight again. Should I try attaching some angled wires to the base? Should I leave it be? (Is my SWR good enough considering the cheap radio, cheap RG58 coax, and the overall condition of this old antenna that was just laying out in someone's field for years?)
I'm not sure what to think. Posted here since this is mostly antenna-related but please move if it should be in the CB sub-forum. Hoping posting here is the greatest chance that someone will recognize this antenna and let me know if I'm way down the wrong path.
If I can get this working I can make all kinds of local contacts. My brother, parents, grandma, and some friends all live within 6 miles of me, I've made contact to my brother in his truck near my house while standing on my parent's roof with my handheld (trusty TRC-217), its worth it to me to get this at least mostly working (I know I say that but also cheaped out big time on the coax... my wife is keeping me on a tight budget for this stuff!)
Enough with my rambling, here are some pictures (OneDrive Album): CB Stuff
Sorry I couldn't attach them it said the files were too large. Thanks in-advance for anyone's help and advice.
My brother recently started to dabble a bit with CB radios just for fun, and he kinda got me into it. Most likely we will both end up going down the ham route eventually but for the moment old used CB stuff is so cheap and accessible thats where we are at for now. He has at least one other local buddy who plays around with it, might get my dad on board, etc.
For the most part my interest in CB is for camping, skiing, group hikes, multi-car road trips with family, etc. Situations where my cheap FRS radios have been constantly falling short in terms of range and performance. Having a "base station" for CB at home was not originally a big priority for me, but I am having a lot of fun with it and my brother happened to get a large aluminum antenna in a local lot sale that he graciously let me have.
I have no idea what brand or model this antenna is (pics below), or whether its even intended to be used with CB frequencies (it was sold with a handful of other CB stuff, but that doesn't mean much around here). Despite knowing virtually nothing about it or whether its even in operating condition, I scrambled the other night in the dark to get this thrown up on my roof before the first major snowfall of the year prevents me from getting on my roof again until spring (located in north central Minnesota).
I had a junk 11ish-foot steel pipe that's been laying in the brush since I bought this house years ago, I stood it up over my porch as a makeshift mast and then I used another piece of scrap pipe as a sleeve to install this aluminum antenna on the mast.
Currently nothing is "earth-grounded", mast or antenna, which is something I will obviously correct before spring and the possibility of thunderstorms but pointing that out up front in case it is related at all to antenna performance or SWR.
No markings or labels on this antenna, appears to be all aluminum, there is a main mast made up of 5 segments that seems to be able to go anywhere from 15 to 20+ feet with clamps to lock in the length, then there are three perpendicular counterpoise which have two segments each, again adjustable with clamps. Standard SO239 connector on the bottom.
Again, without hardly knowing anything about it or what I'm doing, I assembled this freebie antenna and adjusted the length to be about 17 feet and 3(ish) inches, measured from the tip to the SO239 connector. Then I adjusted the counterpoise/radials to be 8 feet 8 inches long and set the whole thing up on my mast. I used some duct tape to try to electrically separate the antenna from the mast, whether that actually worked or not I have not gone up there and tested. I tried to brush the ends of the aluminum segments with steel wool before assembling, and I brushed/cleaned up the SO239 connector as well. I put a random bolt into the threaded tip of the antenna, not knowing whether I should or not but figured it shouldn't be open for water and ice to go down into it.
Before putting it up I pulled out my multimeter and noted that the inner portion of the SO239 connector has continuity to the outer threads of the connector, and despite the plastic isolators both the inner and outer portions of the SO239 connector have continuity to the mast mount as well (again, tried to isolate that with tape...), I wasn't sure if that was a bad sign but I pressed on anyways with the installation.
I bought 49.5 feet of cheap RG58 coax for about $15 on amazon and dropped it down my un-used brick chimney into the basement, where I have a little shelf set up to hold my 12v 9ah battery I'm currently using as a clean power supply, my bargain bin Astatic 302-PDC2 meter, and of course my base station radio. I started with a cheap Uniden PRO505XL but that unit is actually slated to go into my car, tomorrow I am getting a Uniden 980SSB that is going to be my actual radio for this makeshift base station.
Currently on the PRO505XL I am showing just a fuzz over a 2:1 SWR pretty evenly across all channels. Whether or not this meter is accurate is of course anyone's guess, like other reviews noted mine came broken right out of the package I had to reassemble some loose bits of the 10w/100w switch that were rattling around inside of it... but its all I have to go on.
Anyways, despite the less ideal SWR I was happy to see that the meter shows a full 4 watt output from the PRO505XL on this antenna, I only get about 2 watts when that same radio is hooked to the cheap tram centerload on my car. Either a good sign or ....?
I was able to take a handheld CB unit and walk a couple hundred yards down the street to test, both the base station and the handheld unit where able to communicate crystal clear at that short range so it seems like... maybe I've got something usable? I hope...
We got 6 inches of snow this weekend so my ability to get up there to adjust or change anything is going to be pretty non-existent until spring... If I absolutely HAD to I might be able to get up there once, it *might* get warm enough later this week to melt my roof off but odds aren't great.
I have not tried to make contact with this setup yet other than the 30 second test between myself and the handheld unit a couple hundred yards away. I am hearing some skip on ch 6 and some occasional chatter from somebody in MN with probably a tremendous amplifier of some sort, I can hear that guy in my car unit too driving around sometimes.
At this point with the nice Bearcat 980SSB arriving tomorrow I am excited to hook it up but also nervous that something might be bad with this antenna and worst-case cause damage to the radio, hence reaching out there for any input or advice. I know the 980SSB has a couple rudimentary built-in antenna checks and I will try those. With the Astatic showing a little over 2:1 SWR not sure if the radio will pass or fail its antenna check...
I'm wondering about the three counterpoise on this antenna, they go straight out 90 degrees from the center mast, fixed angle, but most CB antennas I have seen put the counterpoise at more like a 45 degree angle. Most others seem to have four or more counterpoise vs just three as well.. for all I know this is a HAM antenna not intended at all for use at 27 Mhz. If anybody recognizes it and knows for sure let me know. I could bend those counterpoise poles down and maybe that would help my SWR (?) but once I bend them it will be awfully hard to ever get them straight again. Should I try attaching some angled wires to the base? Should I leave it be? (Is my SWR good enough considering the cheap radio, cheap RG58 coax, and the overall condition of this old antenna that was just laying out in someone's field for years?)
I'm not sure what to think. Posted here since this is mostly antenna-related but please move if it should be in the CB sub-forum. Hoping posting here is the greatest chance that someone will recognize this antenna and let me know if I'm way down the wrong path.
If I can get this working I can make all kinds of local contacts. My brother, parents, grandma, and some friends all live within 6 miles of me, I've made contact to my brother in his truck near my house while standing on my parent's roof with my handheld (trusty TRC-217), its worth it to me to get this at least mostly working (I know I say that but also cheaped out big time on the coax... my wife is keeping me on a tight budget for this stuff!)
Enough with my rambling, here are some pictures (OneDrive Album): CB Stuff
Sorry I couldn't attach them it said the files were too large. Thanks in-advance for anyone's help and advice.
