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Troops, I'm wondering what folks in Maine that have CB radios in their homes are using for their antenna? I'm currently using an Antron 99, but have lost two previously to weather. Any input is appreciated, thank you!
Many lakes in Maine have lake channels. The many lakes in Lakeville use Chanel 10. There is a sign coming in to Lakeville that says, "Lake Chat, channel 10". Most camps use full wave whips bought at truck stops. I don't know the brands.
At my house I have been using the same scanner antenna for over 30 years. I tossed the box when I bought it.
My Antron99 came down in a storm last year. It was 60-some feet up in a pine tree...and more than 20 years old. For 6 or 7 years at my other house, it laid on the ground under a pile of leaves while my Imax 2000 was in use. I think I got my money's worth out of the Antron, it survived a number of moves and installations and re-installations.
I have the Imax with the ground plane kit in the garage. The Imax is a slightly better antenna than the Antron, being closer to a true 5/8 wave, and the ground plane kit flattens the angle of radiation on transmit for longer range both local and DX. Ideally, you want to mount the antenna somewhere near a multiple of the wavelength- either around 30-36 feet high, or 60-72 feet high, the closer you can get to the wavelenth you will be using most the better, although if you use a wide range of frequencies like I do you just want to get it somewhere in the general area.
More important than being exact on the height, is the quality of your coax- RG-213 is about the best with very low loss and a velocity factor of .86. If you need thinner coax, then LMR-400 is a good substitute, it performs almost as well. Wavelength is important here too, cut for a multiple based on your most often used frequency with consideration for the velocity factor- I'm not going to hunt for it right now, but the google will probably find you an example of the calculations.
RG-213 or LMR-400 will cost a bit of money, maybe more than your anenna or radio (unless you have something expensive) but it's worth it if you want the performance. With the Imax and ground plane kit at 36 feet, RG-213 cut at 72 feet and running a RCI-6900 Turbo (50 watts AM/FM, 150 watts SSB) I had people wanting to know what I was using for a linear amplifier...and they didn't believe me when I told them it was a stock Ranger with no extra heat. (I did the tune-up on it myself and it was perfect- I got it used from a guy who had got in there with his 'golden screwdriver' and messed it all up. He was seriously ticked off when I got it up and running and he heard it, he thought he had screwd me by selling me a piece of junk but the joke was on him- he actually sold me a very good radio at a fraction of what it was worth.
If you want to go for a slightly better antenna with better performance, a Maco 5/8 wave ground plane built of aluminum is hard to beat and it will handle up to 1200 watts of power. Get that up in the air a decent height and even with 12 watts SSB you should be able to talk 60 miles if you have an area with little interference noise and there is no 'skip' running...if you have a good location.
Again, don't skimp on the coax, unless you're just running a crappy little $35 4watt Uniden to talk a couple of miles...then it doesn't really matter if you use the worst coax on the planet (Radio Shack RG-58).
Now I just wish I could figure out how to get that Imax with the ground plane up in the tree...I guess I'll have to settle for a 36' mast if I want the ground plane on it...I'll have to test it and see how it works that way. If it's not good enough at 36' I'll have to do without the ground plane and put it in the tree...until somebody gives me a tower .
Many lakes in Maine have lake channels. The many lakes in Lakeville use Chanel 10. There is a sign coming in to Lakeville that says, "Lake Chat, channel 10".
You sure those are CB channels? Most boaters use VHF radios for 2-way communications. Channel 10 would be appropriate for commercial use.
My Antron99 came down in a storm last year. It was 60-some feet up in a pine tree...and more than 20 years old. For 6 or 7 years at my other house, it laid on the ground under a pile of leaves while my Imax 2000 was in use. I think I got my money's worth out of the Antron, it survived a number of moves and installations and re-installations.
I have the Imax with the ground plane kit in the garage. The Imax is a slightly better antenna than the Antron, being closer to a true 5/8 wave, and the ground plane kit flattens the angle of radiation on transmit for longer range both local and DX. Ideally, you want to mount the antenna somewhere near a multiple of the wavelength- either around 30-36 feet high, or 60-72 feet high, the closer you can get to the wavelenth you will be using most the better, although if you use a wide range of frequencies like I do you just want to get it somewhere in the general area.
More important than being exact on the height, is the quality of your coax- RG-213 is about the best with very low loss and a velocity factor of .86. If you need thinner coax, then LMR-400 is a good substitute, it performs almost as well. Wavelength is important here too, cut for a multiple based on your most often used frequency with consideration for the velocity factor- I'm not going to hunt for it right now, but the google will probably find you an example of the calculations.
RG-213 or LMR-400 will cost a bit of money, maybe more than your anenna or radio (unless you have something expensive) but it's worth it if you want the performance. With the Imax and ground plane kit at 36 feet, RG-213 cut at 72 feet and running a RCI-6900 Turbo (50 watts AM/FM, 150 watts SSB) I had people wanting to know what I was using for a linear amplifier...and they didn't believe me when I told them it was a stock Ranger with no extra heat. (I did the tune-up on it myself and it was perfect- I got it used from a guy who had got in there with his 'golden screwdriver' and messed it all up. He was seriously ticked off when I got it up and running and he heard it, he thought he had screwd me by selling me a piece of junk but the joke was on him- he actually sold me a very good radio at a fraction of what it was worth.
If you want to go for a slightly better antenna with better performance, a Maco 5/8 wave ground plane built of aluminum is hard to beat and it will handle up to 1200 watts of power. Get that up in the air a decent height and even with 12 watts SSB you should be able to talk 60 miles if you have an area with little interference noise and there is no 'skip' running...if you have a good location.
Again, don't skimp on the coax, unless you're just running a crappy little $35 4watt Uniden to talk a couple of miles...then it doesn't really matter if you use the worst coax on the planet (Radio Shack RG-58).
Now I just wish I could figure out how to get that Imax with the ground plane up in the tree...I guess I'll have to settle for a 36' mast if I want the ground plane on it...I'll have to test it and see how it works that way. If it's not good enough at 36' I'll have to do without the ground plane and put it in the tree...until somebody gives me a tower .
Marine radio is legal only for vessels on salt water or communicating with same from land. It is illegal for use by logging trucks and on inland fresh water lakes.
They can be used on navigable waterways that connect with salt water such as the Great Lakes and those rivers that have commercial shipping. If there is US Coast Guard patrolling the water body you are good to go with a marine radio.
Marine radio is legal only for vessels on salt water or communicating with same from land. It is illegal for use by logging trucks and on inland fresh water lakes.
They can be used on navigable waterways that connect with salt water such as the Great Lakes and those rivers that have commercial shipping. If there is US Coast Guard patrolling the water body you are good to go with a marine radio.
Marine radio is not restricted to salt water operation.
So, we'll use 27.185 MHz as the center frequency of the normal CB band (close enough) and .86 as the Velocity Factor...which gives us 9.49meters or 31.14 feet for a whole wavelength.
If you were mounting your antenna close to the radio (if you couldn't get it up high, or in a vehicle), for short distances you can use 1/4, 1/2 or 3/4 wavelength. But, anything over one wavelength, always go to the next *whole* multiple. So, for my 36' mast I cut my cable at 72' (I use a different center frequency). (Do not ever coil excess cable in a loop, this creates an air-core balun that affects the impedance of the cable and throws your match off.)
You don't need to be exact right down to the inch, as you know the Antron and Imax have the tuning rings, and the Maco should have a Gamma Match adjustment to get your match where it should be.
The reason that this is important is because if your match is not correct, instead of being transmitted, some of your power will be reflected back to the radio. This is why you check the VSWR and match the radio, coax and antenna. In an ideal situation you want to see your VSWR match at 1:1. At 1.5:1 4% of your power is being reflected instead of transmitted, at 2:1 11% of your power never makes it out the antenna and at 3:1 you lose 50%. At 4:1, of course you are getting ticked off and frustrated because you call and call and call and nobody ever answers you back...because they can't hear you- nothing is getting out. (Well, the kid next door playing with his daddy's radio might hear you, but he'd hear you the same if you had no antenna connected at all.)
Additionally, that power being reflected back due to a poor match is is causing the final amplifier section of the radio to heat up- the more power coming back and the hotter the finals get, the closer they are to 'burning out'. The final amplifier section of a radio (or linear amp) consists of one or more MOSFET transistors which are designed to operate within a specific voltage and temperature range, exceeding those specs will shorten the life of the transistors, or even burn them out completely in short order if your match is too high. With low-power applications (normal max CB power of 4 watts output) you can get away with running a match as bad as 2:1, but it will cut your range significantly. You should never run anything worse than that, at 3:1 your range will be very short and if you transmit much the life of your radio may be significantly shortened...at 4:1 your radio will be junk in short order.
In my previous post I kind of indicated that the quality of coax is less important for low-power radios, but that isn't quite true except for very short lengths of cable, such as in a car. If you are mounting a base antenna and getting it up to at least 30-36', you will need about 70' of cable, and if you are running crappy cable like Rack Shack RG-58, about 1/4 or more of your power never even makes it to the antenna, it is just 'lost'. Combine this with a poor match and half or more of your power never gets out. RF power functions on an inverse-square ratio. At any given distance, if you cut the power by half, your signal strength drops by a factor of four. With a 4watt radio, you don't really have a lot to play with and your range would be cut down to only a few miles even on a good day. On a bad day, lots of skip or locals running more power, you could call all day and no one would hear you. If you are on top of a mountain you might have some luck, but in a poor terrain situation with hills around, or worse, down in a valley like me....
(I'm in a valley, which means that my antenna has to be as high as I can get it, my match has to be as close to perfect as I can get it, and I need all the power I can afford...4watts won't get my signal into the village, never mind anywhere useful.)
OK, that's probably more than you ever wanted to know about radio...but the closer you can get to this, the better off you'll be.
Marine radio is legal only for vessels on salt water or communicating with same from land. It is illegal for use by logging trucks and on inland fresh water lakes.
They can be used on navigable waterways that connect with salt water such as the Great Lakes and those rivers that have commercial shipping. If there is US Coast Guard patrolling the water body you are good to go with a marine radio.
I guess half the people along the coast are gonna get into trouble for having on in their car many others for having them in their homes and most everybody I know for having on in their bass boat..
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