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hi all,
Im putting a cb antenna about 75' up on a 500' tower. Whats a good antenna now days?
Im putting a cb antenna about 75' up on a 500' tower. Whats a good antenna now days?
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What is a good base antenna
- Thread starter 70cutlass442
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prcguy
Member
Side mounting a CB antenna to the side of a tower is going to be a problem since its probably not practical to get it far enough away from the tower.
If you can get the antenna 10ft out you basically have a two element beam pointing in one general direction. Getting the antenna 18ft out from the tower will give you a clover leaf pattern with four lobes and four deep nulls. If you want anything close to an omni pattern the antenna would have to be much farther out from the tower and that is not an easy task.
Depending on the type and width of tower you could take advantage of that and make a very large 4-bay dipole array with the dipoles mounted about 5-6ft out from the tower legs and separated vertically something like 27 to 30ft center to center and then you would have an omni antenna that would outperform any commercially made CB antenna on the planet.
The total antenna would be around 100ft tall and all the dipoles would be fed with a simple to make harness made of 75 ohm TV coax. It would be a giant version of this project posted a few years back: http://forums.radioreference.com/build-your-own-antenna/109144-4-bay-vhf-dipole-array-project.html
prcguy
If you can get the antenna 10ft out you basically have a two element beam pointing in one general direction. Getting the antenna 18ft out from the tower will give you a clover leaf pattern with four lobes and four deep nulls. If you want anything close to an omni pattern the antenna would have to be much farther out from the tower and that is not an easy task.
Depending on the type and width of tower you could take advantage of that and make a very large 4-bay dipole array with the dipoles mounted about 5-6ft out from the tower legs and separated vertically something like 27 to 30ft center to center and then you would have an omni antenna that would outperform any commercially made CB antenna on the planet.
The total antenna would be around 100ft tall and all the dipoles would be fed with a simple to make harness made of 75 ohm TV coax. It would be a giant version of this project posted a few years back: http://forums.radioreference.com/build-your-own-antenna/109144-4-bay-vhf-dipole-array-project.html
prcguy
Per § 95.408, you're not allowed to put it 75' above the ground (except, I think, when mounting to certain buildings or trees). Furthermore, § 95.408 defines the antenna as:
Wouldn't that mean you're not allowed to put your CB antenna on a 500' tower? No matter how high you put it on the tower, your "antenna" as defined by the rule would still be at least 500' high.
Last edited:
prcguy
Member
True if he wants to operate within the rules the antenna has to be no higher than 60ft above ground to the tip of the antenna. It can be mounted to the side of a 500ft tower if the actual antenna is within the 60ft rule.
prcguy
prcguy
I know the op said he wanted to mount the antenna on the tower, but if he got a Hy-Gain SPT-500 or an IMax 2000 would it be okay on the ground? I know higher is better, but I dont see putting one of those antennas on the side of a tower. The Antron99 (I would think) would be a good side tower antenna. Just my inexperienced 2 cents.
Hello 70Cutless442: Yeah the Hy-Gain SPT-500 will work well. I would NOT go thru all the effort to put up a A99 on a tower.
Yea it will probably have a slight pattern distortion mounted on a tower, but only a slight one. I have assisted in installing a couple of these antennas side mounted on a towers at hundreds of feet, and they work great.
Hy-Gain
I wouldn't loose any sleep over the 98.408 none sense.
Using the Heliax Coax for a two to three hundred feet run is also a good call. But I have used LMR400 for a 350 Ft run once, it had approx. 2 to 3 dB insertion loss, but the incredible height made up for it all.
Good luck, please let us now how you made out there....
Jay in the Mojave
Yea it will probably have a slight pattern distortion mounted on a tower, but only a slight one. I have assisted in installing a couple of these antennas side mounted on a towers at hundreds of feet, and they work great.
Hy-Gain
I wouldn't loose any sleep over the 98.408 none sense.
Using the Heliax Coax for a two to three hundred feet run is also a good call. But I have used LMR400 for a 350 Ft run once, it had approx. 2 to 3 dB insertion loss, but the incredible height made up for it all.
Good luck, please let us now how you made out there....
Jay in the Mojave
Last edited:
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eastsidertim
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SPT=500 Great bang for your buck
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