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Whips for Base Antenna?

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SB-Wi

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I have a few 102" whips to use for a base antenna on our scale shack in the picture below. I'm assuming the roof would not be a good ground plane due to the slope. Would a vertical half-wave dipole with the feed point mounted to the top of the wood light pole work? What is a recommended standoff distance?
 

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SB-Wi

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It is metal but I thought the slope would affect the ground plane. I think it's 4:12 which would be 14° from horizontal. I'd also need to come up with a mount and waterproof it.
 

SB-Wi

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I guess a bent piece of heavy aluminum or stainless sheet with a hole for the stud mount would work.
 

TheSpaceMann

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For a quick ground plane take one whip and mount it on top a 10 foot piece of 2x2 wood or a 10 foot PVC pipe, then use 2 or 3 nine foot wires as radials, sloping them downward at 45 degree angles!
 

KC4RAF

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SB-Wi, in your post #4

you hit the nail on the head!
And as I posted earlier, I don't think the sloop is that great to hurt your transmissions. Depending on what side (east,west,north,south), it'll kind of act like a directional antenna to a degree.
 

prcguy

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You don't need to slope ground radials at 45 deg or any angle, they work about the same perpendicular to the whip or at 45deg and the whip will match just fine and the radiation pattern will be just fine.

That roof should work great with a 1/4 wave whip mounted at the apex and try to keep the feedpoint close to the metal roof and not high above it.
prcguy
 

geartow

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For the distance a scale house needs to talk,a back of the set antenna will work. A mag mount on the soda machine will work. But having the telephone pole to use I would put up a commercial base antenna, it will be less expensive in the long run.
 

geartow

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Depends on how far you really need to talk but an antron 99 is about gold standard of cb base station antennas. I have seen a couple ot the 3 ft tram base antennas at local gaurd shacks that have truck traffic.
 

DJ11DLN

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Just FYI, my first CB setup back in the early '70s was a 9' whip mounted on the peak of a metal barn roof. Old Johnson Messenger 230. And I was often accused of running power behind it!:lol::lol::lol: It was a fair bit higher than your scale house roof but also a steeper pitch, and it got out great, even made the occasional skip contact with it. I suspect that a whip on that roof will likely work just fine for what you need.:wink:
 
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