Cb users?

[Camoprough]

I decided to sale both cb radios, found a guy that was searching for one of the 2 I had, going to look into ham ????

 

[LASCHRIS]

I just don't understand the CB with a linear amp idea, spend a helluva lot more money on a radio and a linear Amp for CB than you would on a decent Ham rig and the license to go with it, and end up with a rig that still doesn't have the range and voice/signal clarity of a good Ham Radio.

The10 and 11 meter bands in AM or SSB mode are not a long range proposition, even with a huge amp, unless you are running a large directional beam type antenna, and you just can't mount a Yagi with an approximately 32 foot wide set of elements on your Jeep or 4x4 pickup.

Most CB antennas for a vehicle are only rated for 100 to 150 watts, especially the mag mount type, the 102" whips will handle a little more, but the tiny RG58 coax that feeds them is being taxed with anything more than 100 or so watts input, and so you really are not punching out as much signal as you think, most of it is being converted to heat energy in the coax and the antenna itself even if you manage to get it tuned for a low SWR.

And then there is the legality of it, get caught, and the FCC can issue you a huge fine, they will confiscate the equipment, and can confiscate the vehicle it is mounted in too.

Cheaper to get the Ham license ($15 and the test) and acquire a good all mode radio like a good used Yaesu FT100 (VHF/UHF/HF, works in AM, SSB, FM and CW) and puts out 100 watts as is. If you are going to four wheel it so far back in the wilds you need long distance comms, 11 meters isn't going to get it, hardly anyone listening to it , and if they could hear your booming signal because you are running that 500 or 1,000 or 1,500 watt linear amp (and the dual batteries and 200+ Amp alternator it would require , along with the 2 gauge wire to power it), you wouldn't be able to hear their reply unless they were also running that much power, for while they might hear you from a 100 or 1,000 miles away on their 4 Watt AM 12 Watt SSB CB radio, their signal is never going to reach you.

Put that 100 watt all band rig in the truck, add a good screwdriver HF antenna and a good high gain VHF/
UHF antenna for that side of the radio, and be out the door for hundreds of dollars less than your CB rig with the linear and antenna that are far less efficient. And you have a lot more bands to holler for help on, instead of just 40 channels of AM , 40 channels of USB and 40 of USB , you have literally thousands of frequencies to choose from, and generally speaking, if someone can hear you on one, you can hear them as well.

Yup, just don't understand it, but then I am a dinosaur, and technology corn fuse tuh kates me.

Totally agree, but lot lizzards don't use ham radio

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

Totally agree, but lot lizzards don't use ham radio

View attachment 65329

But you don't need a linear amp to work the lot lizards on CB, running bare foot will do it.

 

[Harley]

But you don't need a linear amp to work the lot lizards on CB, running bare foot will do it.

The amps were simply to compete with the a$$hole power wars. Thats all it was about between the mobiles and the bases, who could talk over who.

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

Base stations weren't allowed to use a linear either, but with the ability to put up a higher gain antenna, they would have an advantage over a mobile rig running even a 102" whip. Posted this just for those who might not know much about Radio and are interested in learning.

A CB base station with a high gain omni directional vertical (vertically polarized) , or a very high gain directional "Yagi" style beam (usually run horizontally polarized, but can be run vertically polarized if you can get the antenna up high enough off the ground) , even if staying within the legal limit of 4 watts AM, 12 Watts Single Side Band (SSB) on CB, would radiate a signal much further (but still not all that far compared to a Ham rig of equal power output but on the Ham bands) than a same power mobile rig with a mag mount or whip antenna could, so the power wars are understandable.

With such a base station/ antenna set up , you might get reliable 4 watt AM or 12 watt SSB CB range to 20 or more miles, and even further with a bit of luck due to "skip".

A good antenna with a good ground plane is a poor man's linear amplifier as any Ham will tell you. But what carries the day for distance in addition to the good antenna and ground plane, is the right frequency.

The lower the frequency in MHz generally speaking the greater the range the signal will often skip off the ionosphere, and that's what gives you the great range. Higher frequencies , those above 27 or so MHz don't tend to skip off the ionosphere most of the time, the tend to penetrate through it and head out into space. Most of the time, not all the time, as you can get "skip" when atmospheric conditions are correct in nearly any frequency range, and you can also encounter a condition known as "atmospheric ducting" where clouds and inversion layers, etc. can create kind of a pipeline that channels what would otherwise be a short distance traveling frequency into a long range signal.

We frequently have that happen here in Pahrump in the winter, atmospheric ducting lets us communicate with a repeater in Barstow on a UHF frequency, and via a 2 meter VHF repeater to up near Salt Lake City , where in the rest of the year, those repeaters would be way out of reach of a 50 watt signal.

My oldest brother builds single frequency HF (High Frequency) Ham rigs into Altoids tins, powered by a 9 Volt Transistor battery, putting out 1/10th of one watt ,usually in the 160, 75/80 or 40 meter bands, uses a long wire antenna cut to the perfect resonant length for the frequency he has chosen, and a counterpoise (ground plane ) wire cut to the appropriate length, goes up on mountain tops, tosses the long wire over a tree limb, the ground wire lays on the ground, and using a key and CW, works the world, on 1/10th of one watt. Sure , you are allowed up to 1,500 Watts on most Ham bands, but many Hams get a kick out of working the world in QRP (Ham speak for low power) mode on CW or Voice.

The HF frequencies allowed to Hams can work around the world without tons of power if you are willing to work at it a bit. And you can always flip the switch and hit the ionosphere with up to 1,500 watts if you need to, assuming you are using bands that will carry a long way even at lower power, and those bands are within the privileges of your class of license.

 

[Harley]

Steve, I always knew the rules regarding the power limits and the use of boots (I had many illegal setups over the years) but do ya think they enforce that all that much anymore?

Back when I was deeply involved in all that (bout 20 yrs ago) it was pretty much a free for all. Nobody ever got busted for anything. Now 10-20 yrs prior to that, I knew several people who got caught and everything confiscated.

 

[varminter22]

So the question(s) remain:

Would a Wilson 1000 antenna (tuned to the middle of the 10 and 11 meter freqs) work ok on all 10/11 meter freqs??

Other suitable antenna(s) for both 10 and 11 meter freqs?

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

So the question(s) remain:

Would a Wilson 1000 antenna (tuned to the middle of the 10 and 11 meter freqs) work ok on all 10/11 meter freqs??

Other suitable antenna(s) for both 10 and 11 meter freqs?

In a word. NO.
Not in a mag mount or mobile rig antenna anyway.

The Wilson 1000 is a good CB antenna, but it doesn't have enough range of tuning adjustment to be able to tune to the middle of the 10 meter band (10 meter band runs from 28.300 MHz for voice, up to 29.700 MHz) .

The Wilson comes tuned for the middle of the 11 meter CB band (26.965 MHz to 27.405 MHz ) so it's set for about 27.185 MHZ and has enough tuning range (by extending or shortening the stinger tip) to get it almost down to the bottom of that range, or almost to the top of the range, but not completely down or up, as you want to keep the SWR under 2.0:1 throughout the range of the band.

So it would fall short of being able to make it to the middle of the 10 meter voice band at 29.0 MHz. You could put a longer stinger on it, and get it to tune into the 10 meter band, but then it would not work worth a dang in the 11 meter band.

And while the manufacturer rates it as being able to handle "3,000 watts", I really doubt that it would, the RG58 coax cable on it would melt long before you pumped that much wattage into it.

RG58, if feeding a perfect 1:1 SWR, is good to about 1KW at frequencies below 30 MHz, but as the length goes up,, or the SWR mismatch does, or the frequency does, that power handling capability goes down, and pretty fast.

If you want to run a 10 meter mobile rig, buy a 10 meter mobile mag mount antenna, but to run a rig that will do both 10 and 11 meters (which would be an illegal rig) with just one antenna, you would need either a manual or automatic antenna tuner to make the antenna work with both bands.

Same situation if you ran just one antenna and two radios, a CB and a 10 Meter FM ham rig, you would then need a coax switch and an antenna tuner, the switch to split the antenna's feed between the two radios, and the tuner hooked to whichever radio the antenna was NOT built for.

Best bet there would be tune the antenna manually (by adjusting its physical length) to the middle of the 11 meter CB band, then use the manual or automatic tuner to get it to work on the Ham 10 meter band.

Now for a base station, you could run a SolarCon A99 antenna , $99, plus $60 if you want the optional ground plane kit, which I highly recommend, and of course you will need some coax to get to it as it doesn't come with coax attached.

It is easily tunable between 10 and 11 meters ( you only get to pick one at a time, if you mount it on the roof, you would have to go up there to switch between 10 and 11 meters) but it will handle 2,000 watts, and with a wide range tuner, like a MFJ 993B or SGC 230, it will tune from 6 meters through 160 meters. Great antenna, very sturdy, I have used one for years. Hooked through a coax switch, one side sets it to the CB radio (antenna is tuned for the middle of the CB band) other side puts it to a wide range tuner and on to a Ham HF rig, and the tuner lets it work on bands from 6 meters through 160, we use this very set up in our Nye County Emergency Operations Center Communications Radio Room.

 

[varminter22]

In a word. NO.
Not in a mag mount or mobile rig antenna anyway.

The Wilson 1000 is a good CB antenna, but it doesn't have enough range of tuning adjustment to be able to tune to the middle of the 10 meter band (10 meter band runs from 28.300 MHz for voice, up to 29.700 MHz) .

The Wilson comes tuned for the middle of the 11 meter CB band (26.965 MHz to 27.405 MHz ) so it's set for about 27.185 MHZ and has enough tuning range (by extending or shortening the stinger tip) to get it almost down to the bottom of that range, or almost to the top of the range, but not completely down or up, as you want to keep the SWR under 2.0:1 throughout the range of the band.

So it would fall short of being able to make it to the middle of the 10 meter voice band at 29.0 MHz. You could put a longer stinger on it, and get it to tune into the 10 meter band, but then it would not work worth a dang in the 11 meter band.

And while the manufacturer rates it as being able to handle "3,000 watts", I really doubt that it would, the RG58 coax cable on it would melt long before you pumped that much wattage into it.

RG58, if feeding a perfect 1:1 SWR, is good to about 1KW at frequencies below 30 MHz, but as the length goes up,, or the SWR mismatch does, or the frequency does, that power handling capability goes down, and pretty fast.

If you want to run a 10 meter mobile rig, buy a 10 meter mobile mag mount antenna, but to run a rig that will do both 10 and 11 meters (which would be an illegal rig) with just one antenna, you would need either a manual or automatic antenna tuner to make the antenna work with both bands.

Same situation if you ran just one antenna and two radios, a CB and a 10 Meter FM ham rig, you would then need a coax switch and an antenna tuner, the switch to split the antenna's feed between the two radios, and the tuner hooked to whichever radio the antenna was NOT built for.

Best bet there would be tune the antenna manually (by adjusting its physical length) to the middle of the 11 meter CB band, then use the manual or automatic tuner to get it to work on the Ham 10 meter band.

Now for a base station, you could run a SolarCon A99 antenna , $99, plus $60 if you want the optional ground plane kit, which I highly recommend, and of course you will need some coax to get to it as it doesn't come with coax attached.

It is easily tunable between 10 and 11 meters ( you only get to pick one at a time, if you mount it on the roof, you would have to go up there to switch between 10 and 11 meters) but it will handle 2,000 watts, and with a wide range tuner, like a MFJ 993B or SGC 230, it will tune from 6 meters through 160 meters. Great antenna, very sturdy, I have used one for years. Hooked through a coax switch, one side sets it to the CB radio (antenna is tuned for the middle of the CB band) other side puts it to a wide range tuner and on to a Ham HF rig, and the tuner lets it work on bands from 6 meters through 160, we use this very set up in our Nye County Emergency Operations Center Communications Radio Room.

Thanks.

I do kind of like the idea of "... buy a 10 meter mobile, ... that will do both 10 and 11 meters with just one antenna, you would need either a manual or automatic antenna tuner to make the antenna work with both bands." Just not sure how feasible that would be in a mobile rig.

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

Not very feasible, you would have to buy a Ham HF radio that will do 10 meters in all modes (AM, USB, LSB, FM) and then have it modified so that it would also transmit and receive in the 11 meter band. The rig would be illegal, and expensive to build.
Easier and cheaper to buy the 11 meter mag mount CB antenna, a 10 Meter Ham FM rig and a CB rig, plus a two position Coax switch and a small manual tuner.

Hook the antenna up to the input port on the coax switch, hook one output port from it to output port of your SWR meter (unless your radio has a SWR meter built in, you will need one in line with the antenna and tuner to adjust the resonance of the antenna) hook the input port of the SWR meter to the output of the antenna tuner, and the input port of the antenna tuner to the output of the 10 meter ham rig. With the coax switch set to that path, all you would have to do is tune the antenna tuner while watching the SWR meter to bring the CB antenna into resonance on any 10 meter frequency and then be able to transmit.

The other output of the coax switch would go straight to the output of your CB radio, and with that path selected on the coax switch all you would have to do is power up the CB and go to ratchet jawin.

A strictly 10 meter rig will set you back about $75 if you are willing to go with cheap chinese manufacture, like this one:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Anytone-...=sem&msclkid=6e31be1fe6051128d737e1158dfef83f

It puts out 20 watts. :


Here's a good, low priced tuner that will handle up to 100 watts:
https://mfjenterprises.com/collections/tuners/products/mfj-9201#product-manuals

Here's the SWR meter :
https://mfjenterprises.com/products/mfj-9213?_pos=15&_sid=75f722660&_ss=r

 

[LASCHRIS]

In a word. NO.
Not in a mag mount or mobile rig antenna anyway.

The Wilson 1000 is a good CB antenna, but it doesn't have enough range of tuning adjustment to be able to tune to the middle of the 10 meter band (10 meter band runs from 28.300 MHz for voice, up to 29.700 MHz) .

The Wilson comes tuned for the middle of the 11 meter CB band (26.965 MHz to 27.405 MHz ) so it's set for about 27.185 MHZ and has enough tuning range (by extending or shortening the stinger tip) to get it almost down to the bottom of that range, or almost to the top of the range, but not completely down or up, as you want to keep the SWR under 2.0:1 throughout the range of the band.

So it would fall short of being able to make it to the middle of the 10 meter voice band at 29.0 MHz. You could put a longer stinger on it, and get it to tune into the 10 meter band, but then it would not work worth a dang in the 11 meter band.

And while the manufacturer rates it as being able to handle "3,000 watts", I really doubt that it would, the RG58 coax cable on it would melt long before you pumped that much wattage into it.

RG58, if feeding a perfect 1:1 SWR, is good to about 1KW at frequencies below 30 MHz, but as the length goes up,, or the SWR mismatch does, or the frequency does, that power handling capability goes down, and pretty fast.

If you want to run a 10 meter mobile rig, buy a 10 meter mobile mag mount antenna, but to run a rig that will do both 10 and 11 meters (which would be an illegal rig) with just one antenna, you would need either a manual or automatic antenna tuner to make the antenna work with both bands.

Same situation if you ran just one antenna and two radios, a CB and a 10 Meter FM ham rig, you would then need a coax switch and an antenna tuner, the switch to split the antenna's feed between the two radios, and the tuner hooked to whichever radio the antenna was NOT built for.

Best bet there would be tune the antenna manually (by adjusting its physical length) to the middle of the 11 meter CB band, then use the manual or automatic tuner to get it to work on the Ham 10 meter band.

Now for a base station, you could run a SolarCon A99 antenna , $99, plus $60 if you want the optional ground plane kit, which I highly recommend, and of course you will need some coax to get to it as it doesn't come with coax attached.

It is easily tunable between 10 and 11 meters ( you only get to pick one at a time, if you mount it on the roof, you would have to go up there to switch between 10 and 11 meters) but it will handle 2,000 watts, and with a wide range tuner, like a MFJ 993B or SGC 230, it will tune from 6 meters through 160 meters. Great antenna, very sturdy, I have used one for years. Hooked through a coax switch, one side sets it to the CB radio (antenna is tuned for the middle of the CB band) other side puts it to a wide range tuner and on to a Ham HF rig, and the tuner lets it work on bands from 6 meters through 160, we use this very set up in our Nye County Emergency Operations Center Communications Radio Room.

That radio (s**t) sounds complicated. It may be something to get into during the next few weeks and months. For now though, I will just read on in amazement.

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

Actually pretty simple, just new terms to learn is all. I teach it all the time to a wide range of folks who go on to pass the Technician class license exam, which is where everyone has to start, and get their license.
Couple of years ago we had 5 generations of men in one family study, take the class, and all passed the exam on the first try. Their ages ran from 8 to 92.

 

[7.62]

I’ve got one in the truck now, upgraded the super cheapie to just a cheapie. The super cheapie is now in my office working as a base unit.

Honestly I’m having too much fun with this ! At least here in North Las Vegas we’ve got some pretty cool old cats that are a hoot to listen too. And I’m close to the truck stops so I can hear quite a bit. So far I really haven’t really talked a bunch but there’s a lot more traffic than on any Ham I listen on.

A good friend called me yesterday, he’s a truck driver from way back and we got to talking about CB, he’s got all these points from buying fuel So we’re going out to Loves and I may get one of these nice Roadkings, or Cobra radios for free then he’s coming over and we’re going to tune everything so I know I’m good and it’s talk time baby !

I‘m pretty excited ! Also a Jerry if you read this I wanted to Thank you again I still have those dual 8’ foot whips and the splitter so that 70’s gear just may be rocking again in the 2020’s. HA !

 

[iweb]

Cool,, glad you can use that stuff! Post a pic of the new radio when you get it.

 

[7.62]

Will do , I should post a pic of my base antenna setup now, I bet even nyeco would be impressed with my handyness haha. Everything is from that box of stuff. And I did donate that one setup.

This is some redneck engineering here...LOL but it works. I dare anyone to show me better. I used one of those RV setups from the box, mounted on my trailer and grounded it to a steel pipe near my sprinkler system then have one of those 8 foot whips into the mount. Neat thing is you could drive by and never notice this. The RV setup had enough wire to reach into the house. And the super cheapie radio mounted on a camera tripod....high tech !

I’m going to order some of the nicer RX antenna cable, like 75 foot and weld some steel 10 foot poles together and move this to the roof in the next week or two after we get the new radio. They way it is though I can pickup folks up at the mountain !

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

Nothing wrong with that mount! Good ground plane provided by the trailer and the buried steel pipe.

Should work like gangbusters.

And the same sort of thing will work just fine for your HAM gear as well.

 

[7.62]

That’s good to know nyeco, the plan is to knock out the mast, with the Ham line at the highest point and the Cb on the same pole but mounted lower, so the Ham will be at like 20’ and the Cb @15’. I’m guessing but that should be enough separation to keep them from interfering with one another.

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

As they are both vertically polarized antennas, 5 feet of separation between the top of one antenna and the bottom of the next one should be OK, if you start getting inductive coupling from one to the other there are a few things you can do to mitigate it.

 

[turborich]

We still use CB radios. I've got 1500 watts and enjoy talking on mine. Other guys are generally running similar or more power in my area.

 

[7.62]

I think just about everyone here is using at least a one pill. It definitely makes things better than straight barefoot IMHO for the cb. I appreciate my preamp when it’s hard to hear distant people.

1500.....nice turborich. I’d like to ask what your running. Maybe pm me If your cool with that.

 

[Dr. Marneaus]

I’ve always had a CB in my Jeep until the one we got last year. May add one may not.

My old trucks have CB’s in them. Mostly for nostalgia.

My 69 has a ball mount for an 8’ whip, but the chicken is gone. Been planning to get a new whip and vintage CB just to complete the theme.

 

[7.62]

Beautiful 4X4 !

Dr Marneaus, are you in Las Vegas. I have one extra 102” Fiberglas whip that would look great on that 4X4. It was gifted to me so you can have it free if you‘d like. Might even be the same year too !

 

[turborich]

Here's a few pics of mine...

 

[turborich]

My mobile...

 

[turborich]

I’ve always had a CB in my Jeep until the one we got last year. May add one may not.

My old trucks have CB’s in them. Mostly for nostalgia.

My 69 has a ball mount for an 8’ whip, but the chicken is gone. Been planning to get a new whip and vintage CB just to complete the theme.
View attachment 81469View attachment 81470View attachment 81471

She's a beauty for sure!

 

[turborich]

I'll be putting a CB setup in this one soon. Going to build a custom center console that will accommodate my radio, meter and a few other things. I'll probably use my Superior 2x8 mosfet amp along with either a galaxy 959 or possibly a Stryker 955. I'll just have to detune the Stryker, but it will work. I'm gonna use a through roof mount Wilson 1000 on this one. I've never been a fan of mag mounts and in my experience one antenna on the center of the roof outperforms everything else.

 

[Dr. Marneaus]

Beautiful 4X4 !

Dr Marneaus, are you in Las Vegas. I have one extra 102” Fiberglas whip that would look great on that 4X4. It was gifted to me so you can have it free if you‘d like. Might even be the same year too !

I appreciate the offer, but I'm up in Reno now. I havent been down to Vegas in almost 2 years at this point :-( I used to make it down at least once a year for frontsight and to see family, but nobody lives there anymore.

 

[7.62]

NOW THAT ! Is a fricking setup. Holy cow Rich I can truly appreciate what you’ve done there. Attention to detail and your components is amazing. Not much impresses me these days, that certainly does.

 

[Aswild]

I love me some galaxy and Texas star

 

[turborich]

NOW THAT ! Is a fricking setup. Holy cow Rich I can truly appreciate what you’ve done there. Attention to detail and your components is amazing. Not much impresses me these days, that certainly does.

Thank you sir, that means a lot! Yeah, I can't stand having a bunch of wires all over the place, my OCD kicks in, lol. The 2x8 amp is capable of over 2kw, but I had it full time biased so it's clean power and doesn't bleed on my neighbors. I run it easy at 14.6 volts and with 1 watt in the amp from the radio, it achieves a 200 watt dead key which is exactly what the transistor manufacturer recommends. It very easily modulates to 800 RMS / 1500 PEP on a bird 43 meter. I could get more, but like this it never even warms up so it should run for a long time. When mother nature cooperates I can get out there on the skip channels, even made quite a few contacts on channel 6, although it's tough as some of those guys are running 50 to 100kw!

I'm hoping the Ham operators on here will respect the fact that it's properly biased and clean.