Cool, light, short, and widebanded antenna. Great invention. The Realistic SSB is why I got up and went to the flea market for a few decades. Did not wanna pay online prices, when I found the AM only version, I considered it a draw. 👍
Your Dipole is "Horizontal polarized" when 99% of CB operators are verticle polarized, this is why you dont receive very well with it. Take your dipole down and string it up vertically and youll understand what iam talking about. Great video on the tram,i always wondered how those antennas worked.
Thanks for the comment, I have it horizonal for skip. We really don't have much local traffic where I live. I have a couple of local CB contacts I'm able to talk to. 73s from 595 Northern Nevada.
If he is interested in working skip (skywave) it doesn't matter what the polarization of the antenna is. Signals going through skip become non-polarized.
Its going to receive better simply because its vertically polarized, as for your dipoles are Horizontally polarized, most CB operators have their antenna in the verticle position.
The Tram 1499 (B-100) is a pretty good antenna for the price. From Hawaii I can pick up West coast and Australia, Philippines. However they have set lengths in coax use.
You were reading my mind! I was thinking of running a loop choke to see if the SWR would stay down when the temperature drops. 73s from 595 Northern Nevada.
I ran that same antenna myself for a short time and found that 100 feet of coax worked great for me and I got a flat match with my Cobra 148 and with the antenna at a height of about 30+ feet BUT unless you run power and/or put it much higher don't expect more than 3 or 4 miles of decent transmit. I still have mine for an emergency backup antenna. I don't live in a HOA nor would I ever, I did have one of my neighbors though frown upon my antenna at one point, so I said tough titties and put it higher, the dipshit got over it!! Cheers....2112
Greetings friends, I need your advice. I have a station Alinco DX-10 and an antenna Santiago 1200, I have it at home, and since I do not have a chance to make a large assembly I bought a small metal stand and a magnetic base, the metal bracket attach it near the window with some Plastic flanges so that it is well suited. My problem is that it is impossible to calibrate the antenna and make it go down Roe .. Just lower the Roe when I hold the magnetic base with your hand. So I think there should be a mass problem, any idea? Thank you and greetings from Andorra (Translated with Mr Google)
Hi Manuel, I don't have the knowledge to answer your question, I'm hoping someone else jumps in to help. You might also ask the question on Radio Reference. It's a great place on the Web to ask CB questions.
Hey my name is Nick and I had a question I live in the boston mountains here in northwest arkansas and I'm using the same antanna and I was wanting to keep it inside cause I'm not very good at running through the windows and walls so right now I've got 12ft of coax cable and I want wonder if it would bring the SWRs down if routed the cable through a metal tube or would that weakin the signal?
Hi Nick, you probably won’t get much range with the antenna inside. The coax is part of the antenna, and I believe I read you need close to 50 feet to keep the SWR down. Give it a try and see what happens. 73s from 595 Lake Tahoe Nevada.
Got mine on my front porch about 25' up.yes people are right it goes roughly 3 miles clear yet ive shot 2500 miles away skip. I love mine with 110'of coax.
Greetings. Install one equal to 15 meters from the ground, on a roof and I do not receive more than 1 mile, the range is very poor and also the reception, it gnaws it at 1.3. It seems that this antenna works better, if it is close to the I usually.
I've found that mine performed better when I used A shorter length of coax. I was able to get decent SWR with 36 feet of coax. I finally took mine down because the SWR would be fine one day and off the charts another day. When it did work, I was able to get out about 3 to 4 miles locally. It did perform fairly well when DX conditions were good. 73s from 595 Northern Nevada.
Saludos...He instalado una antena igual, con 50 pies de cable Tg58U, un un segundo piso y ha quedado a 40 pies del suelo. El SRW es de 3 en toda la banda, y no tengo idea de como bajarlo. He visto videos donde dicen que aumentar la distancia de cable baja el srw, pero ese cable donde queda, se arrolla en el piso?....Agradeceria una opinion.
Puede intentar enrollar el coaxial en 7 u 8 bucles de alrededor de 4 pulgadas de diámetro justo debajo del punto de alimentación de la antena para crear un simple balun de estrangulamiento. Su función es ayudar a eliminar las corrientes de RF que fluyen en el exterior del cable coaxial. Podría ayudar a reducir el SWR.
@@RidgeHikerAdventures Gracias por la respuesta. Ya lo intente y muy poco lo que baja la roe, casi no se nota..Antes de ponerla en el techo, la probe abajo y la roe era de 2, al subirla al techo, quedo en 3.
@@RidgeHikerAdventures I am about 10 miles out of Crawfordsville are used to run 38 after all the time and also when I lived in Lafayette we used to run on 26.685 pan sometimes I go on 28 but when I go on 38 upper side band I go by Shepfc1 I changed it before I went by shepfc14 A long time ago all the people were in the club and Lafayette they all died so I took Shep FC1 I was gonna start another one but it’s too much hassle sometimes but that’s what I go by upper side band not too many people talk on the CB radio in Crawfordsville just channel 19 I’m back in the days in Lafayette before we wet 26.685 are used around channel 20 back in the days so now I just listen to whoever’s talking I got some radios need to be worked on my favorite radio that I have I use it now as a base is my galaxy 95T good radio good radio I love it I made my own homemade antenna I use 102 stainless whip or two ground planes where I live at they don’t get out very well but I’m a build another antenna
For me Tram 1499 works great. Using brand new 100 ft of RG8 coax that also acts as counter pose. Coax is not coiled or overlapping, very gentle curves. Mounted on all PVC mast 25 feet high with wooden inserts for rigidity. On small hill in deep rural Mississippi far from all structures, lines, and trees. Get fantastic SSB skip (LSB chs. 36 to 40) from all over USA, Caribbean, Canada, Hawaii, even Australia and western Europe. That is receive only, Furthest I have been heard on SSB ch 38 is Beaufort, SC on the Atlantic coast. He said I was loud and clear. Of course this all depends on solar and earth weather, time of day, Ionospheric conditions, etc. Using a barefoot President McKinley radio ( built in dynamite SWR system) that was professionally aligned and tuned by distributor for extra fee. On AM, depending on conditions I can get good fifty miles without skip. Antenna is super quite from any unwanted noise. With AM skip who knows, still trying. He must have a defective antenna, or improper installation.
I had great skip with my TRAM, it even beat my dipole in some circumstances, probably because the dipole is directional. I had to take it down because I believe it has a short in it. I was getting reports of major feedback when working skip. I think I will crack it open and take a look.
I noticed you called it a 1/4 wave antenna, its not. About 5-6 years ago I did a series of experiments on mine trying to see what made it tick. When I took it apart, I was surprised to find its actually a 5/8ths wave antenna. The coil is very tightly wound, 21' worth of a thin gauge bare copper strand. To me, its utterly useless as its performance was significantly worse than a 1/4wave Firestick Dipole setup. There is no matching network or 2nd set of coils internally. It literally direct feeds into the coil with the shield being a dead end, thus the antenna is 100% reliant upon the shield of the coax for a ground plane & by extension the SWR. I tried adding a ground plane kit from a PT99 & the SWR shot upwards to the 9:1 ratio. With the length & tightness of the coil this antenna is ridiculously picky about anything being within a close proximity of itself (likely part of the reason yours wouldnt work in the tree).
What is inside of the aluminum tube at the bottom? Does the winding continue down inside of the aluminum portion at the bottom? If it does, then the windings will make a capacitor with the aluminum tube.
@@BryanTorok be it the bottom colored portion or top, antenna wise theres no difference. From the SO-239 to the tip its all a coiled radiating element. So in reality, the entire antenna is capactive. Essentially, the antenna itself is just a radiating element with nothing to help match. Its just the hot side of a bad dipole.....although I wonder if a long enough pigtail hanging off it would help
Those don’t have a ground to it I might come apart so I hooked the ground to the frame where you bought the polls and stuff to it I got my ass up you’re down
Segun lo que he leido esa antena funciona bien si esta cerca del suelo, en un techo no funciona bien.Son hechas para camiones y vehiculos...Talvez te funciona porque esta instalada en un un arbol. Yo instale una en un techo, a 30 pies del suelo y la roe es de 3, en toda la banda.
Las dos ubicaciones que he utilizado están a unos 15 pies por encima de la línea del techo. He usado 38 pies de coaxial y 100 pies. Tengo un corto en mi antena, ya que cada vez que se enfría, el SWR se eleva.
@@RidgeHikerAdventures Saludos..La que instale no tiene corto, solo que por la contruccion de antena, la tierra del coaxial esta en corto con el mástil, y este a su vez con el techo. El techo esta soportado por vigas de metal .Y las columnas enterradas en tierra..
I must have missed that in my video. The local contact was probably 4 or 5 miles away. The DX contact was around 1800 miles away but SKIP is not a good measure of antenna range performance. When I perform the range test, I will use my handheld GPS to measure out precise distance. This was just my initial thoughts of the antenna after hooking it up. 73s from 595 Northern Nevada.
Cool, light, short, and widebanded antenna. Great invention.
The Realistic SSB is why I got up and went to the flea market for a few decades. Did not wanna pay online prices, when I found the AM only version, I considered it a draw. 👍
I have this antenna`s in a Co-phase, works fine to me, its like i have a Antron 99
(mine called the Storm 27, looks the same as yours)
Your Dipole is "Horizontal polarized" when 99% of CB operators are verticle polarized, this is why you dont receive very well with it. Take your dipole down and string it up vertically and youll understand what iam talking about.
Great video on the tram,i always wondered how those antennas worked.
Thanks for the comment, I have it horizonal for skip. We really don't have much local traffic where I live. I have a couple of local CB contacts I'm able to talk to. 73s from 595 Northern Nevada.
If he is interested in working skip (skywave) it doesn't matter what the polarization of the antenna is. Signals going through skip become non-polarized.
I have the same antenna, never hooked her up yet ….. Ty for the info on that
Its going to receive better simply because its vertically polarized, as for your dipoles are Horizontally polarized, most CB operators have their antenna in the verticle position.
The Tram 1499 (B-100) is a pretty good antenna for the price. From Hawaii I can pick up West coast and Australia, Philippines. However they have set lengths in coax use.
good antenna i have the same one in my attic i can get out about 5 miles running about 8 watts on Am
This was my first base antenna in the 80s lol it was $100 back then and made by Midland but it's the exact same design length thickness everything
If you do a 6 inch loop with 5 turns at the antenna it will help a lot with the rf and matching.
You were reading my mind! I was thinking of running a loop choke to see if the SWR would stay down when the temperature drops.
73s from 595 Northern Nevada.
Great 😃
I ran that same antenna myself for a short time and found that 100 feet of coax worked great for me and I got a flat match with my Cobra 148 and with the antenna at a height of about 30+ feet BUT unless you run power and/or put it much higher don't expect more than 3 or 4 miles of decent transmit. I still have mine for an emergency backup antenna. I don't live in a HOA nor would I ever, I did have one of my neighbors though frown upon my antenna at one point, so I said tough titties and put it higher, the dipshit got over it!! Cheers....2112
Greetings friends, I need your advice.
I have a station Alinco DX-10 and an antenna Santiago 1200, I have it at home, and since I do not have a chance to make a large assembly I bought a small metal stand and a magnetic base, the metal bracket attach it near the window with some Plastic flanges so that it is well suited.
My problem is that it is impossible to calibrate the antenna and make it go down Roe .. Just lower the Roe when I hold the magnetic base with your hand. So I think there should be a mass problem, any idea?
Thank you and greetings from Andorra
(Translated with Mr Google)
Hi Manuel, I don't have the knowledge to answer your question, I'm hoping someone else jumps in to help. You might also ask the question on Radio Reference. It's a great place on the Web to ask CB questions.
The paper says it at least be 75 feet of cable or more to get to SWR down
I have the same cb radio too! Realistic
Great radio and very compact. I miss Radio Shack. Thanks for watching and 73s from 595 Northen Nevada!
Hey my name is Nick and I had a question I live in the boston mountains here in northwest arkansas and I'm using the same antanna and I was wanting to keep it inside cause I'm not very good at running through the windows and walls so right now I've got 12ft of coax cable and I want wonder if it would bring the SWRs down if routed the cable through a metal tube or would that weakin the signal?
Hi Nick, you probably won’t get much range with the antenna inside. The coax is part of the antenna, and I believe I read you need close to 50 feet to keep the SWR down. Give it a try and see what happens. 73s from 595 Lake Tahoe Nevada.
@@RidgeHikerAdventures ok that's cool thank you.
Got mine on my front porch about 25' up.yes people are right it goes roughly 3 miles clear yet ive shot 2500 miles away skip. I love mine with 110'of coax.
That’s great to hear! How is your SWR? Is it pretty consistent? Thanks for the comment and watching. 73s from 595 Northern Nevada.
Good swr with a 1 watt dk going into a TX star 250 with a good watt meter. Also taped the end of coax well at antenna.
1.1- 1.2 swr on all 11 meters.
Greetings. Install one equal to 15 meters from the ground, on a roof and I do not receive more than 1 mile, the range is very poor and also the reception, it gnaws it at 1.3. It seems that this antenna works better, if it is close to the I usually.
I've found that mine performed better when I used A shorter length of coax. I was able to get decent SWR with 36 feet of coax. I finally took mine down because the SWR would be fine one day and off the charts another day. When it did work, I was able to get out about 3 to 4 miles locally. It did perform fairly well when DX conditions were good. 73s from 595 Northern Nevada.
Saludos...He instalado una antena igual, con 50 pies de cable Tg58U, un un segundo piso y ha quedado a 40 pies del suelo. El SRW es de 3 en toda la banda, y no tengo idea de como bajarlo. He visto videos donde dicen que aumentar la distancia de cable baja el srw, pero ese cable donde queda, se arrolla en el piso?....Agradeceria una opinion.
Puede intentar enrollar el coaxial en 7 u 8 bucles de alrededor de 4 pulgadas de diámetro justo debajo del punto de alimentación de la antena para crear un simple balun de estrangulamiento. Su función es ayudar a eliminar las corrientes de RF que fluyen en el exterior del cable coaxial. Podría ayudar a reducir el SWR.
@@RidgeHikerAdventures Gracias por la respuesta. Ya lo intente y muy poco lo que baja la roe, casi no se nota..Antes de ponerla en el techo, la probe abajo y la roe era de 2, al subirla al techo, quedo en 3.
I have the same R2D2 figure from episode 2…
Nice , have the same antenna skip is rolling but can't make contact. Planning to make a gp
How is your SWR and how long is your coax? Skip has been pretty quiet in my neck of the woods the past few days.
1 ;1 1.2 40
1.2 on channel 1 .1.3 channel 40, 50ft rg8x coax. I going to make a gp
From Indiana what was the CB handle I’m from Indiana I go by shep on side band I go by Shepfc1
I go by 595 Northern Nevada and I'm usually on 38 LSB and sometimes channel 28.
@@RidgeHikerAdventures I am about 10 miles out of Crawfordsville are used to run 38 after all the time and also when I lived in Lafayette we used to run on 26.685 pan sometimes I go on 28 but when I go on 38 upper side band I go by Shepfc1 I changed it before I went by shepfc14 A long time ago all the people were in the club and Lafayette they all died so I took Shep FC1 I was gonna start another one but it’s too much hassle sometimes but that’s what I go by upper side band not too many people talk on the CB radio in Crawfordsville just channel 19 I’m back in the days in Lafayette before we wet 26.685 are used around channel 20 back in the days so now I just listen to whoever’s talking I got some radios need to be worked on my favorite radio that I have I use it now as a base is my galaxy 95T good radio good radio I love it I made my own homemade antenna I use 102 stainless whip or two ground planes where I live at they don’t get out very well but I’m a build another antenna
I need the same a no ground small low visible for my cb
I will only add a 5 foot pole by chimney. That way it is only about 8 feet above my top area and hoa will not bug me about it.
Nice dummy load
For me Tram 1499 works great. Using brand new 100 ft of RG8 coax that also acts as counter pose. Coax is not coiled or overlapping, very gentle curves. Mounted on all PVC mast 25 feet high with wooden inserts for rigidity. On small hill in deep rural Mississippi far from all structures, lines, and trees. Get fantastic SSB skip (LSB chs. 36 to 40) from all over USA, Caribbean, Canada, Hawaii, even Australia and western Europe. That is receive only, Furthest I have been heard on SSB ch 38 is Beaufort, SC on the Atlantic coast. He said I was loud and clear. Of course this all depends on solar and earth weather, time of day, Ionospheric conditions, etc. Using a barefoot President McKinley radio ( built in dynamite SWR system) that was professionally aligned and tuned by distributor for extra fee. On AM, depending on conditions I can get good fifty miles without skip. Antenna is super quite from any unwanted noise. With AM skip who knows, still trying. He must have a defective antenna, or improper installation.
I had great skip with my TRAM, it even beat my dipole in some circumstances, probably because the dipole is directional. I had to take it down because I believe it has a short in it. I was getting reports of major feedback when working skip. I think I will crack it open and take a look.
Eso no sirve.
I noticed you called it a 1/4 wave antenna, its not. About 5-6 years ago I did a series of experiments on mine trying to see what made it tick. When I took it apart, I was surprised to find its actually a 5/8ths wave antenna. The coil is very tightly wound, 21' worth of a thin gauge bare copper strand. To me, its utterly useless as its performance was significantly worse than a 1/4wave Firestick Dipole setup. There is no matching network or 2nd set of coils internally. It literally direct feeds into the coil with the shield being a dead end, thus the antenna is 100% reliant upon the shield of the coax for a ground plane & by extension the SWR. I tried adding a ground plane kit from a PT99 & the SWR shot upwards to the 9:1 ratio. With the length & tightness of the coil this antenna is ridiculously picky about anything being within a close proximity of itself (likely part of the reason yours wouldnt work in the tree).
I’d like to see a few pictures of the inside..
What is inside of the aluminum tube at the bottom? Does the winding continue down inside of the aluminum portion at the bottom? If it does, then the windings will make a capacitor with the aluminum tube.
@@BryanTorok be it the bottom colored portion or top, antenna wise theres no difference. From the SO-239 to the tip its all a coiled radiating element. So in reality, the entire antenna is capactive. Essentially, the antenna itself is just a radiating element with nothing to help match. Its just the hot side of a bad dipole.....although I wonder if a long enough pigtail hanging off it would help
Those don’t have a ground to it I might come apart so I hooked the ground to the frame where you bought the polls and stuff to it I got my ass up you’re down
Segun lo que he leido esa antena funciona bien si esta cerca del suelo, en un techo no funciona bien.Son hechas para camiones y vehiculos...Talvez te funciona porque esta instalada en un un arbol. Yo instale una en un techo, a 30 pies del suelo y la roe es de 3, en toda la banda.
Las dos ubicaciones que he utilizado están a unos 15 pies por encima de la línea del techo. He usado 38 pies de coaxial y 100 pies. Tengo un corto en mi antena, ya que cada vez que se enfría, el SWR se eleva.
@@RidgeHikerAdventures Saludos..La que instale no tiene corto, solo que por la contruccion de antena, la tierra del coaxial esta en corto con el mástil, y este a su vez con el techo. El techo esta soportado por vigas de metal .Y las columnas enterradas en tierra..
Listing the locations of your contacts is meaningless if you don't give a general idea of your home location.
I must have missed that in my video. The local contact was probably 4 or 5 miles away. The DX contact was around 1800 miles away but SKIP is not a good measure of antenna range performance. When I perform the range test, I will use my handheld GPS to measure out precise distance. This was just my initial thoughts of the antenna after hooking it up. 73s from 595 Northern Nevada.
@@RidgeHikerAdventures Thank you sir.
Vertical antennas radiate equally poor in all directions!