How to select antenna for CB?

Sounds like you have the stuff! How many watts you running? Yes you must have a proper ground always.

 

350 watts. haha. works like a charm for long range communication

 

WOW thats just a hair more than the legal FOUR WATTS...anyways, I havent operated in decades but I ran a nice base and mobile back in MY '70s show'

 

hahahahahah i kno. It's really alot of power and unless you use it alot like I do you dont need all that much. u cant talk 100 yards on 4 watts so F*** that. Might as well go out and get you a Texas Star 250 like I did to add some more power. The difference is unbelievable. and to top it all off, a POLICE OFFICER helped me install it because he knows everything about everything with CB's and Radios. Shows ya how much the law cares about it anymore.

 

I ran total legal power on base and mobile. However, my base antenna had 6db gain and combined with a D-104 modulated mic, I talked up to 30 miles, because my carrier may have been weak, but my voice would punch through the noise. On my car I ran TWO 102" steel whips off the rear bumper. They themselves had about 3db gain apiece =6db like the base You, with your power basically OWN the airwaves. Edit here: Ill bet when you key up that mic at 350 watts you gotta turn off evrything else in the truck cause of system overload? Or do you run an extra battery for it?

 

"Because the equation is way over kill... 99% of people are not going to know what they are looking at."

If it were me i would want as much info as possible





http://www.eham.net/forums/Elmers/158965 <<<-- please read

You really must not know what you are talking about.
The potential for shocks and burns are related to the frequency and how well grounded you are in a way similar to the concept of SAR. If you are very well grounded, you have a much higher chance of receiving a shock or burn. If the frequency is close to where you make an ideal, quarter-wave antenna, then the potential is much higher. This occurs at about 40 MHz for well grounded adults.

"The danger starts when you start climbing to the high frequency range because the higher the freq is the the more directional"


This is Not true. In this particular situation the dipole antenna can be mounted either vertically or horizontally. The doublet shown in figure 4-14 is mounted vertically, and the radiated energy spreads out about the antenna in every direction in the horizontal plane.


Higher frequencies do not necessarily mean a more directional pattern
The directionality comes into play with the type of antenna and orientation to the ground plan NOT frequency.




"Give it a rest, a low frequency like 27mhz is not going to doing anything with power pumping through it."



are you serious? It can and will do a lot of damage like i said the potential is there to harm yourself others and your equipment.Not to mention it is ILLEGAL! So i will not "give it a rest" You made a very ignorant statement to the original poster telling him to consider getting a linear amplifier and man "you can talk a 1,000 miles"
and BTW tropospheric ducting or as you call "skip" is due to climate change and upper/lower atmospheric conditions. NOT how much power you can put out. And yes with the proper equipment it is very fun.

 

And i hope you get caught and fined. Maybe after the FCC comes to your house and removes your equipment and fines the $hit out of you you'll learn those laws aren't there just for fun

 

yeah police officers dont enforce that law.The FCC does and maybe this will educate you on how much they care;
the article <<<<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/10/29/100/?nc=1>>>
and this is just one example ne thousands just lkike him who thought no harm would ever come I dont know about you but $7,000 is a little bit of coin!


The FCC no longer licenses CB stations but authorizes CB operation "by rule"--essentially a blanket authorization.

The Commission said Spiry did not dispute the facts as the FCC presented them when he responded to the December 2002 NAL. But, Spiry told the FCC that he had ceased CB radio transmissions, removed his CB antenna and obtained an Amateur Radio license. Spiry's ham ticket was granted December 2, 2002.

Spiry also said he didn't realize that the fine for such violations could be so high and that he is unable to pay it. The Commission says Spiry presented no evidence to back up his claim of inability to pay.

Concluding that Spiry "willfully and repeatedly" violated the Communications Act of 1934, the FCC said it was not persuaded that Spiry's "remedial efforts" warranted any reduction in the fine, which Spiry has 30 days to pay.

In an unrelated case, the Commission issued an NOF October 21, fining Paladen Communications Inc, of North Jackson, Ohio, $7000 for "willfully and repeatedly" selling illegal CB external RF power amplifiers.

During a July 2003 visit to Paladen, agents from the FCC's Detroit office reported observing a Palomar Deluxe Modulator DX-55V CB linear on sale for $250. The agents informed Arthur L. Dundorf, now apparently KC8ZQI, and Preston L. Dundorf, now apparently KC8ZKE, of Paladen, that CB linears could not be legally sold and, in October 2003, issued a Citation informing Paladen of the violations and penalties that could result. Both men obtained Technician class Amateur Radio licenses in April of this year.

In a response, Paladen proprietor Preston Dundorf told the FCC that Paladen was unaware it was violating marketing rules and would not violate them in the future. But last January, the Detroit Office received a complaint that Paladen was continuing to sell CB linears. An agent who followed up on the report was offered a Palomar 100 W linear amplifier for $124.

The FCC says Paladen did not respond to a May 2004 NAL alleging willful and repeated violation of the Communications Act and §2.815 of its rules, and the Commission affirmed the forfeiture based on the information it has before it.

Paladen Communications also has 30 days to pay the fine.

 

WOW lots of radiocomm wisdom here!!!! Nice to see c0b2a-thank you for the compliment and rep haven't operated in many years so it's all off distant memory...I actually was surprised when I came to this forum to find so many guys still use these radios! I have a question about linear amplification I've asked for years: isn't it a cancer risk of sorts to be in such close proximity to an aereal when it's radiating hundreds of watts?? If you think about it, the only antennas pumping that kind of power are repeater antennas up on hills and mountains, at a safe distance from people. With a linear in your trunk and the antenna within a few feet of you, essentially you are standing right next to a high-powered radio transmitter....and if you.ve ever been to professional radio transmitter sites you will see a fence around the antenna usually with a warning sign stating the risks of being too close! What say you guys? Thanks-and this doesn't derail the thread as all this info goes to what NOT to do.

 

Andytacoma, do you EVER speed, or roll through a stop sign? Personally I don't see any difference between infractions like those and a CB operator running a linear amplifier. I bet you have a LOT more chance of getting fined for traffic violations then for running an amp.

" And i hope you get caught and fined." So next time you do 41 in a 40 zone remember Karma.

 

The answer to the first part of your question is no I don't. I have a flawless driving record and i dont speed i've responded(volunteer firefighter) to too many accidents where speed has killed.
To answer your second part, I have always wondered how people feel that breaking the rules is ok as long as you dont get caught, maybe its just me but i dont think its ok to break the law.However insignificant that may be to you. In this case just remember that my local amateur radio club we have guys who spend there whole weekend and spare time hunting down these violators and this is the norm at other clubs as well. I personally think that people who have disregarded these laws have given fellow cb'ers a bad name

 

Anybody got any links to some articles about basic electronic stuff (grounding, ect).

I'll return to this thread and read some of the responses later tonight when I'm not working on school stuff.

 

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/tech.html

 

Link

Would that Firestick work? It comes with the side mount which I figure I could just drill two holes into the toolbox and mount it there. Its a 4FT long no ground antenna.

As much as I try to understand a lot of this, it still sounds like gibberish. I understand I'll need a tuner to tune it which I gather I could grab from Radioshack.

So all I need would be that Firestick (comes with mount and Coax) and the Cobra 75 I mentioned earlier and I'm good to go?

 

Never had a Firestik but they've been around a looooong time! They are doing something right. As said, get yourself an SWR meter and a patch cord (2ft coax with connectors at each end) Once you install everything, we can walk ya thru the tuning hell we can walk you thru the install too! Just buy your stuff!!

 

Ask around too about borrowing an SWR meter. The place you buy the antenna and radio, if a B&M store. Friends. Several options other then buying one.

 

any pictures of c.b.'s mounted in the cab?? ideas??

 

Talking 'Skip' 'Barefoot' (No Amp) is highly unlikely and I'm sorry to burst your buble. Skip is caused by positivly charged ions in the ionopshere and is made possible due to the non directional freq a CB transmitter puts out.. Talking skip or 'tropospheric ducting' as you chose to call it happens very rearly the higher the frequency goes due to the nature of the signal, do you know why? (you know why) IE, FM radio staions on your FM dial do not reach nearly as far as the signal of an AM staion because stuff gets in the way and blocks the signal... Though FM frequencys carrie much more modulation an a AM signal will travel a much further distance over an urban landscape, thats just the nature of the frequencys and these characteristics can be defined / tunned through a certain antena but not created...

A good ground causes RF burn??? RF burn is cause by radio signls that fry you like a microwave cooks food, not sure what your talking about but I can say you have things twisted before I go more indepthed on the matter.

Just because your a prude and scared to use an AMP dosen't mean everyone else has to follow what you think, Mr. Flawless driver, LMFAO!!!! and BTW an AMP causing 'Damage' to your equipment is caused by not calibrationg the RF between your antenna and radio, so when you transmit, power is kicked back in to your radio and the finals are eventually fired...

 

When you adjust the SWR to its optimal level, you are "matching" the antenna to the vehicle and how and where it is mounted on the vehicle. You are not matching the antenna to the transmitter (radio).