Vintage antenna sellers asking STUPID money

[russbrill]

Is there something about an old roof mount CB antenna from the 70s that I'm missing, because if it doesn't perform as well as a Tram 3500, Wilson 1000 or a Stryker, it's a waste of time and money.

Everything in the 70's had some kind of Magic that made everything work better than todays equipment

 

[russbrill]

There are CB fanbois just as there are amateur radio / scanner / railroad / etc fanbois. And when you find a diehard, they are willing to part with their next of kin for what equates to garbage. If somebody buys those items, I would not be surprised at all.

I remember the old Starduster M400. That was my antenna of choice around 1980-86 era.

Same here... I had a Starduster on a 50ft pushup mast roof mounted.. It worked very well.. I think I paid $59.95 for the antenna..

 

[FPR1981]

Same here... I had a Starduster on a 50ft pushup mast roof mounted.. It worked very well.. I think I paid $59.95 for the antenna..

For $79, you can have a brand new one today, or for $400 you can have an old one.

 

[KEWB-N1EXA]

Your are right, about everything made in the 70's had some kind of magic. Maybe because back
then everything seemed to be made here not like today where everything seems to made somewhere else.
I think everyone knows where that somewhere else is.

It called a Mid Life Crisis !

 

[timhir25]

It called a Mid Life Crisis !

First of all, I'm way pass a Mid Life Crisis, I never had one. Second of all it has nothing to do with a Mid Life Crisis.
Third of all, it's about America not a Mid Life Crisis

 

[KEWB-N1EXA]

First of all, I'm way pass a Mid Life Crisis, I never had one. Second of all it has nothing to do with a Mid Life Crisis.
Third of all, it's about America not a Mid Life Crisis

Tim
Your on a CB radio Forum On a Police scanner web site and were shootin the breeze about Star Duster Antenna's.

Look around...Its a a Joke...Were all old here and there are a few kids looking at us Dinosoaurs in awww !

Peter N1EXA KQX9298 and all the other FCC licenses for RC planes and Boat Radios that I can t even remember the call signs.

 

[FPR1981]

I'm 40. I played CB radio from 1993 to 1999, roughly -- through middle and high school. By my first year out of high school as an adult, I was out of radio. I learned a lot, and had a lot of fun. I have twin sons, age 17, and a stepson age 17. I'm getting them all into radio.

Eventually I'd like us all to become hams, but I confess that I've always had a soft spot for CB radio. With less people on the band now, you have less idiots. It's easy to have a decent conversation and the band isn't super crowded. It's fun again.

 

[KEWB-N1EXA]

I'm 40. I played CB radio from 1993 to 1999, roughly -- through middle and high school. By my first year out of high school as an adult, I was out of radio. I learned a lot, and had a lot of fun. I have twin sons, age 17, and a stepson age 17. I'm getting them all into radio.

Eventually I'd like us all to become hams, but I confess that I've always had a soft spot for CB radio. With less people on the band now, you have less idiots. It's easy to have a decent conversation and the band isn't super crowded. It's fun again.

I'm not one of those anti CB hams..I usually leave my Cobra 148 on 38 LSB Waiting for any Propagation action...If so fire up the 10 meter rig.

A ham ticket is a good thing to have and gets you more involved in the technical end and related people...Up to you how far you go with it.

CB is pretty quiet now...GRMS and FRS seem to be the new Playground.

Peter N1EXA

 

[KB4MSZ]

I skipped the midlife crisis and went straight to my second childhood. I'm having a ball.

 

[FPR1981]

I'm not one of those anti CB hams..I usually leave my Cobra 148 on 38 LSB Waiting for any Propagation action...If so fire up the 10 meter rig.


Peter N1EXA

That's awesome that YOU aren't. So many are, and their superiority complex is a huge turnoff.

I'm a decently intellectual guy. I spent years as a professional writer and reporter. I have ZERO SHAME in admitting I love my CB radio.

I've encountered so many hams that turn their nose up, make inappropriate remarks and can't help but to put in their negative two cents about CB. That's what's kept me from getting my license all these years. I actually intended to get it in 1997 and bailed.

 

[KEWB-N1EXA]

That's awesome that YOU aren't. So many are, and their superiority complex is a huge turnoff.

I'm a decently intellectual guy. I spent years as a professional writer and reporter. I have ZERO SHAME in admitting I love my CB radio.

I've encountered so many hams that turn their nose up, make inappropriate remarks and can't help but to put in their negative two cents about CB. That's what's kept me from getting my license all these years. I actually intended to get it in 1997 and bailed.

I was in TV and Radio 30 years ago ...Worked for WLNE Tv in Providence RI as A live truck operator and worked as a Part time Radio Engineer
at an AM FM station in SE Mass... Moved to Broadband and been there ever since.

Yah.. you will find allot of credit card hams nose up at CB radio but Hams way back when started on CB or had Something next to 10 meters
to use. Trust me I throw my call N1EXA and they would nose up at you because your a tech... No Im a Advanced Class Ham than didn't change His call to some vanity set to look or sound cool. Then you get the well you don't have an Extra Ticket !...Why so i get another 25Khz bandwidth on
20 meters ?
Ham is about learning and making stuff and experimenting...

Peter N1EXA

 

[KEWB-N1EXA]

I skipped the midlife crisis and went straight to my second childhood. I'm having a ball.

Same here...Why do you think i'm hanging around on this site...!

 

[FPR1981]

I was in TV and Radio 30 years ago ...Worked for WLNE Tv in Providence RI as A live truck operator and worked as a Part time Radio Engineer
at an AM FM station in SE Mass... Moved to Broadband and been there ever since.

Yah.. you will find allot of credit card hams nose up at CB radio but Hams way back when started on CB or had Something next to 10 meters
to use. Trust me I throw my call N1EXA and they would nose up at you because your a tech... No Im a Advanced Class Ham than didn't change His call to some vanity set to look or sound cool. Then you get the well you don't have an Extra Ticket !...Why so i get another 25Khz bandwidth on
20 meters ?
Ham is about learning and making stuff and experimenting...

Peter N1EXA

I worked in commercial radio as well. I was an AM radio talk show host, and news director for an AM and an FM station. I worked in radio for 7 years.

I have a friend who attempted to get me into ham in the 1990s. He was actually my dad's friend, but my dad died and he stayed in touch. He absolutely HATED the no-code technician licensing. He called them fake hams, or "no-good technicians."

He said that the work ethic element of obtaining an amateur radio license was taken away when they approved that level of licensure. Surprisingly, though, he started as a CBer and was such a huge help to me as a teen. He gave me tons of equipment, taught me how to build antennas and was a great friend.

He gave me his Ranger RCI 2970 that he still had when he switched from an Emporer (his step up from the Ranger) to an Icom 706. I almost fell over when he handed it to me and told me to install it in my car, along with a K40 he gave to me. He is such a great dude.

But, other than him, I've met so many of those "credit card" hams. More than I care to think about.

 

[WB9YBM]

I agree, the high prices are paid by collectors that will NEVER put the antenna together and use it...

Good point, although I'm not sure if they' go so far as to keep it in the box (can't see it that way!). I think it's only the Star Trek / Star Wars geeks that keep their toys in the original boxes so that it's "complete"--but at least there, the toys have a clear front on the package so you can see what's inside (maybe they should do the same thing with radio equipment; then we'd have an entirely new level of radio geeks out there!).

 

[WB9YBM]

I have a friend who attempted to get me into ham in the 1990s. He absolutely HATED the no-code technician licensing. He called them fake hams, or "no-good technicians."

That's why, when the whole no-code idea first got started, I felt that if they get rid of the code but maintained the same level of challenge to the licensing procedure by making the written portion of the test more challenging by equal measure things would "average out". I've not compared the difficulty level of the code vs no-code tests side by side so I don't know if my idea actually was put into practice, but I have met a few no-code hams and they've turned out to be nice people as well as technically competent. One such friend even told me that the reason he can't do code is because of dyslexia (yet he's a talented electrical engineer); I'm sure there are others out there like him.

 

[jop-436hp]

View attachment 98119

I put this bad boy up this weekend. Was talking on my barefoot Teaberry T Dispatch to someone 6 miles outside of the city and hitting them with a solid 9. The Antenna Specialists "Pole cat" ground plane the guy wants 500 bucks for on eBay is not gonna outperform my brand new 89 dollar antenna. Mind boggling.

That looks awesome! Wish I could do something similar.

 

[WB9YBM]

The Antenna Specialists "Pole cat" ground plane the guy wants 500 bucks for on eBay is not gonna outperform my brand new 89 dollar antenna. Mind boggling.

Mind boggling, yes, but not an isolated case. And not limited to the used market (e-bay, hamfests, etc.), either. Had the same situation with an autopatch: brand new prices (at least at the time I'm thinking of) was $100 at a respectable store; built one myself, added a few features the commercial models did not have, cost me $20 in parts.

 

[FPR1981]

Mind boggling, yes, but not an isolated case. And not limited to the used market (e-bay, hamfests, etc.), either. Had the same situation with an autopatch: brand new prices (at least at the time I'm thinking of) was $100 at a respectable store; built one myself, added a few features the commercial models did not have, cost me $20 in parts.

The question is, does someone actually end up paying $500 for a freaking ground plane?

 

[WB9YBM]

The question is, does someone actually end up paying $500 for a freaking ground plane?

I think it was P.T. Barnum that once said "There's a sucker born every minute" so probably yes.

 

[DaveC1964]

Everything in the 70's had some kind of Magic that made everything work better than todays equipment

I don't know about work better necessarily but the old stuff did have some "magic".

Take this WT for example. Five pounds of solid metal that doubles as a 5-watt chrome plated barbell. I have already added a couple of inches to my bicepts, try that with today's plastic junk!