CB beats HAM where?
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- Опубліковано 4 лип 2024
- Remember back in the '80's when CB base station antennas were so plentiful Radio Shack carried them? Here are some of the favorites.
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Starduster antenna:
amzn.to/3QuPwrG
Marine Big Stick:
www.westmarine.com/shakespear...
Antron 99:
www.rightchannelradios.com/pr...
Hy Gain Super Penetrator:
amzn.to/3MCEFe2
Hy Gain Long John:
www.dxengineering.com/parts/h...
Hy Gain legacy antenna information:
www.cbtricks.org/ant_manuals/...
Wilson legacy antenna information:
www.worldradiohistory.com/Arc...
Avanti legacy antenna information:
www.worldradiohistory.com/Arc...
Viewer contributions:
Antenna Specialists Super Scanner:
home.ptd.net/~n3cvj/superscann...
Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links that I may gain a commission from if you use them for purchase. - Наука та технологія
While I encourage hams to comment, please realize the video is about the availability of CB antennas (especially during it's heyday), and not about the origin of CB antennas. There have been some comments that all CB antennas have their roots in amateur radio, which isn't entirely true. The Astroplane is a CB antenna designed to circumvent the specific height requirement of CB antennas, there was no ham equivalent.
i think that isnt totally true as a kid in the 60s my uncle who had the highest class ham license had tons of different ants he made and you look at all the ants now for ham bands
True @ricksshop in the UK 🇬🇧 we had regulations in antenna type and height maximum of 1.65m base loaded and not greater than 1/4 wave . Base antenna's like Thunderpe 1, 2 ,3 & modulator 2000 , starduster all 3 legs designed specifically for CB .de M0JFE
Agree, Hams took the time to learn and build most of there equipment and antenna's, CBers bought a station and preceded to tr**h 11m.. The Astroplane is what is called a top loader design, So was the antennas on the Titanic!!
@@mewrongway 11m is not trash, that's just your opinion. (which I think is trash)
Great video and thanks for sharing. CB is even more interesting these days, with FM now legal in the US and the increase in sunspot numbers resulting in worldwide DX. I was a CB'er in the 70's and remember all those antennas you showed in your video. I used a big stick from an apartment house. Back then we only had 23 channel radios. Channel 16 was for SSB, 9 for emergencies and 19 was the trucker's channel. Stores like Lafayette Radio and Radio Shack were the goto places for CB equipment.
Frankly the most exciting thing to me about CB band now is the fact that FM is finally allowed in the US. FM is so much better for local comms.
I have been using FM in the UK since 1981, it is useless on the UK max of 4 watt output, I can get further on a UK legal PMR band (446) using only 1/2 watt legal limit, AM RULES.
Wich narrows your signal andvchokes out your range. Ssb is most efficient plus hams aren't limied to i narrow even at 27 mhz. But its obvious fcc is stepping i9n violations just report's. There keeping every body corralled andcsame adjacent bands are going to be implemented down the road
2 other areas where CB also beats ham radio; Ease of operation for those not technically skilled, and the ability to communicate with other non-licensed family members and friends during a grid down scenario.
Channelized radios (CB, GMRS) definitely have their place...
been on 11 meters now for 50 year ham is ham cb is cb no comparison the subject at hand great choice of antennas back in the day ann still some great ones out there
My grandparents had a Superscanner. My grandmother could talk to my grandfather just about anywhere he went when he was trucking.
Thanks for sharing. Many great antennas.
Since the inception of the 27 MHz CB service in 1959, more money has been spent on the service than any other. Old CB magazines are available online and some of the antenna designs are jaw-dropping. The magazines tell you what you need and how to build them.
Had old CB mags from the 60's & 70's but when we moved in 2003 wife put them in an outside shed and they desintergrated!😭😭
@@wallychambe1587 Luckily, the World Radio History site has a good selection of CB Horizons, S9, and a few other vintage mags in PDF format. Easy to download and save.
Starduster was made by Antenna Specialists. Popular all over Italy for 49 meters also
About the time CB radio was created, there were hams using the 11m band as it was part of the 10m band for sake of simplicity. There weren’t many commercially made amateur antennas. When the CB craze began to really take off in the early 1960’s, Antenna Specialists saw the coming demand and began to produce antennas specifically for the CB band and market them to this new, growing segment of the population.
The Starduster was just a simple 1/4 wave ground plane, I went with the Hygain 5/8 wave CLR II😁😁
Looking back i think the hybrid technique of quad back door reflected f7ll wave refector and the 1/2 wave yagi drives element and directed elements likr the moon raker. But the out performer in base station w9rld 8s 4 element quad . 8ts fullbwave dead electrical short circuit. With (4) 9 foot sides. For moble 102 wipe
Now stacking two 3 element yagi,s is a fun set up it give you a mear bullet poor bsck door but those 2 stacked (3)s still wil not perform as well as A 4 element quad
quad
Remember yagl only 1/2 wave
Having received my first Walkie Talkie sometime around 1964 or so when I was but a wee las, (7 or 8) for Christmas, which was crystal controlled and on Channel 14, and now 68 and a licensed Amateur Radio Operator, it should show that when the radio bug bit, it never let go !
For the younger people that have not researched the History, the 11 meter Band, now known as Citizens Band, was initially allocated to Amateur Radio !
And that, for many was where the dislike came from the Ham Radio community !
I was an active participant on C.B. long before coming to the once seemingly ,
" Secret " society of Ham radio !
Laughable now, as a kid growing up, I had a deep respect for Ham radio, and its operators !
And to tune across them with either their weird sounding strings of dots and dashes, or their Donald Duck like voices, was magical for a youngster back then, just trying to imagine what secret messages they might be sending, only to learn years later, it was very likely just a friendly exchange, giving names locations, and how the weather was ?
Funny stuff !
Sorry, this kind of took a life of its own, as I'm a bit off topic !
But having read thru some of the comments, I decided not to further beat a dead horse !
Everything has, and is changing around us !
Amateur Radio included !
And to be honest, Technology, as much as it has catapulted radio design into the future, it has, at the same time, been a shot in the foot for Amateur Radio !
As many youngsters see no reason to study for a test, to talk to anyone, anywhere, when they have the World in the palms of their hands, with their Smart phones !
Forgive me if I over-stated the obvious !
But it is mind boggling to think where we've come to, in such a short time !
What a time to be alive !
My Mother recently passed at 101 years young !
And she could recall horse drawn ice wagons, as well as a fellow that brought ice cream cones to the neighborhood, again by horse drawn cart !
And later having to walk into Town, several miles, and seeing less than a handful of cars on the Highway !
To fast forward to all we give witness to today !
In closing, I must pay tribute to the person that started that fire in my belly, by purchasing that first Montgomery Wards walkie talkie, my beloved Mother !
GODSPEED to all !
@sleeve8651 - We are *Brothers!*
1966, 7yr old birthday, Fanon walkie talkies - 1971 sat in as a 6th grader with the 7th & 8th graders (whom I beat in a spellnig bee that year) learning 8wpm rx & 11wpm tx CW and getting 83% on the written Novice test, then moving, no elmer, back to CB with a Collins 32V-3 transmitter & National NC-303 receiver in 1975 as a 16yr old, testing every CB antenna made to best the simple 1/2 wave dipole I'd made using a 1/4 wave stainless steel whip and 4 downward 1/4 wave guy wires to insulators, each a few inches shorter than the longest to help broaden the swr bandwidth. Then SSB in 1976 and finally back to HAMateur in '89, now Extra class w/cw and still inventing fresh antenna designs - based on what's already been done, since there's really nothing new under the sun - but designing ways to couple several designs together as one.
Still love my *_Taiwan_* 148GTL and love DXing Australia on the Whisker-Quad, simultaneously vertically AND horizontally polarized!
🤓👍
@@JAFO.
Whoa.....!
Dude..... could it be ?
At long last !
My, " Ether " Brother, from another Mother !
Seems we did have similar life experiences !
Pretty crazy !
But I must relent, as from the sounds of things, you had access to much more than I !
After my Father passed, when I was 5, things got really tight in the finance department here, as it left my Mother to raise 3 kids,( Both older Siblings )
on her own !
I don't know how many people realize how different it was back a few decades ago !
Growing up, I met with a lot of broken wishes !
While other kids got Schwinn Stingrays, or Orange Crates, if you recall, I got a Larger 26 inch Sears & Roebuck version !
Not the Cool 20 incher !
Then came the Mini bike craze !
Again, I did without, while the kids literally ran circles around me !
But I will say, they were good enough friends that I could cop a ride occasionally !
But those catalogs showing those cool mini bikes, were Hell on me !
I believe the ink was gone in spots where my fingers visited enough to wear it off !
Lol !
Funny now, but then,
" Not so Much " !
How did you get me going down this road ?
To a fault, once I get going, I think I have to fill in the blanks, so people get where I'm coming from !
But as for you...... !
You sound as though your
Intellect was beyond your earthly years !
Good on you !
And congrats on your achievements, especially the ones early on !
I've had many conversations about how peculiar being bitten by the radio bug is !
As crazy as it is, I think my interest in everything Electric kept me outta trouble !
Not all.....but most !
Lol !
Sorry for the run on, but to think of our similar interests in Life, my some 55 years or more of it, then to run across you, perhaps is serendipitous ?
Pretty cool !
And thanks for sharing !
Good Luck !
And by the way....
Happy " ETHER " !
🐰.....?
(((o---------o o--------o)))
H
H
H 👍😉
Golden Penetrator and the Moonraker Six. Thank you so much for sharing this video. It's such a throwback in time when C.B. radio started to boom. But, it still is very much alive. I've been in it since 1982 up until now. Make more of this videos sir. All the best to you and your family.
I run an Antron 99 for local talk and a Sirio SY4 (Honz) for skip, works great. 73's 2DX189 Rubber City DX Radio
Excellent video, just subscribed. I grew up with these as well. All the best and 73, Walt K4OGO
Great vid, instructive accurate
i have a moonraker, bigstick and an antron99 (only using bigstick now but working my way to a beam again
subbed, love your common sense and practical approach
102" whip is my favorite CB antenna...for mobile operation, one will be going on my truck as soon as I can take delivery :)
REMEMBER - The 1/4 wavelength on CH 20 is 108.5 inches.... I used two 3.2 inch, (long), springs and a 3/8 x 24 nut to achieve this measurement. My SWR is basically flat with CH 1 = 1.1 and CH 40 = 1.2 However you achieve the 108.5 inch length, your SWR tuning efforts will be easy peasy....
I used an Astroplane in the 80s.
Me to. Like an upside down cone with a cross on top.
I remember a strange production antenna about 1978-1980 called OMEGA designed as a v mounted on a half wave dipole interconnected as single antenna utilizes both vertical horizontal at same time
The one aspect, in the US anyway, is that for CB one doesn't need to start off by giving the feds any personal information.
Many years ago (about 40) I suggested to the members of a local amateur radio club "for 10m you want to look at what CBers are doing". It was partly a troll but also a serious point, CBers stuck with a single band where it was very competitive tended to use what actually worked.
As a CBer way back I loved my Avanti Sigma 4, although being older and wiser the polar diagram is far from ideal. I suspect the gain figures for the Starduster are absolute lies (dB compared to what?). But they did work well. I do remember that there was an antenna called the "Big Mac" allegedly a 7/8 wave but I have never seen one. Better to get a low gain antenna (like a Starduster) and mount it as high as possible.
Today the vector 4000 is only production 7/8 wave I know 27' tall monster of a vertical
@@user-yc8hr2tm4u the Vector 4000 seems to be the same design as the Avanti Sigma 4. The Sirio manual for the Vector 4000 describes it as a 3/4 wave coaxial J-pole.
As affordable as they are I think I may do better with a different antenna for 10m.
Being in military housing presented a challenge. I ended up running the AS Super Scanner. It performed very well and the "Omni" mode was was useful for evening rag chewing.
I currently hold a tech license (since 2015) and while on the ham bands have only ever used 10m exclusively. I have used CB for several years (since 1993). My first base CB (because it was what I could afford) was a 23 channel Lafayette Telsat 2000. As part of the deal, I had one of the ORIGINAL Starduster antennas, and I currently own an A99. Generally speaking, I never had any problems with either of them. If I had to choose a favorite though, I would choose this way:
If it was going to be for a temporary mobile base unit scenario, I would take the A99 hands down, and never look back.
If it is a set & forget base unit scenario, I would take the Starduster hands down and never look back.
The reason for my choice is that I had a very nearby friend/neighbor as well as 4 other friends all in the same city area who all had the A99; 2 of the 4 had the attached ground plane kits (A99s were the hot ticket items then). Comparing (for the moment) my friend/neighbor I could talk to and receive every station that he could hear and talk to, and had only a negligible difference if any in either the transmit or receive. The difference became glaringly evident during the winter. That winter the temps dropped and we woke up to everything being absolutely covered in ice including antennas. When I turned the radio on to 4 (which at that time was what all the locals used as a meeting hub, it was unusually silent. Being in Virginia, that meant nobody was going to work that day, so the silence took me by surprise. Around 5 minutes later, my friend neighbor spoke out and barely wiggled my meter. I tried to ask him where he was, because I was afraid he may have gotten stranded somewhere. My landline rings, and it was his landline...he was still at home. He told me he could barely hear me. After the call, I took what I expected to be a fruitless band scan, and heard some folks talking on 38LSB. I spoke to them, and after a while found out that they were in BC Canada. After that conversation I went for another scan and on 15 found a guy in Jamaica to talk to. Until the ice was melted off of the antennas, no one with A99s talked or could be heard.
Breaker Breaker Wun Niner! Those base antenna are pretty awesome. I had a friend down the street that had a ground plane of some type until it got struck by lightening! After that, he had to take it down because mom said no more! Good Video, Thanks
The old saying was if you just got your license, you have to start on channel one and work your way up to channel 23.
Glad I found ur channel & really enjoyed the summary of CB antennas, uh, that is, 10m, LOL; I got started on CB when I was a kid in the early 70's, then not too long afterwards, stepped into ham radio; however, for many years now, I've enjoyed both, becuz as I've always said, "Radio is Radio," wherher it's chasing skip (or DX) on 11M SSB or on the higher amateur bands! 73 😃🇺🇸
Recently bought a Siri starduster here in the uk England , cost me 53 uk pounds , that’s about 68 dollars I would guess , cheers shane uk 🇬🇧
When I was a kid CB was awesome, now all I hear is auuuuuuudio. Needless to say they been on the shelf since.
One aspect of HAM radio I'll always be against is the hate against CB. I think we should all be one big happy radio family. I'm a technician licensed HAM currently studying for my General, because I LOVE HF. But I also like talking on CB. The people who treat others "less" than are not making a good impression of our hobby or community. CB is considered the "working class" band by a lot of older people, and your willingness to be against it comes across as "telling".
Mutual disrespect is abundant. CB'ers call hams "sad hams". Hams call it the Children's Band. It hardly matters that 99 percent (or whatever) of CBers are civilized when the 1 percent are using kilowatts of power to spew trash talk on all channels and some frequencies that aren't channels.
Same with ham, but fewer trash talkers and fewer multi-kilowatt amplifiers whose only purpose is to be an alligator: Big mouth, small ears! Talk and no listen.
As the Outback restaurant used to advertise, "No rules, just right!" but that would be like no rules on the highway; where were you planning on going? No traffic control signal; not even an agreement on which side of the road to drive on.
Way back I had aa astroplane, then a PDL II. Hy-Gain 5 23 channel radio with extra chrystals up to .555, minus 3s and 8s if I remember correctly. Lol! Thanks for the video.
Who remembers the ringo antenna 😂
Great video, a lot of great antennas mentioned. I personally run a hairpin match on my 4 element yagi. Way better SWR tuning and much better power handling capability then a gamma match, but I will be upgrading to a 5 element LFA from innov antennas. For my vertical ground plane I really like a Mr. Coily Excalibur. As far as a mobile goes I run a predator 10k.
Yes had one back in the day was a moonraker 6
I just bought a Sirio 827. Will install in spring.
"CB beats HAM where?"
All you need is that *sixteen pill* amplifier!
🤣🤣🤣
Great information -- thanks for the info.
Man, my 102" could cover 26.300-28.900 MHz under 1.7 to 1 SWR. love the antenna show. Subscription
i have a pdl2 what would need to be to use it more multi band
Another difference I've observed between CB and ham radio is that amateurs only talk about weather and doctor visits, and the typical CB conversation is a lot more colorful.
Try talking pota from cb luck of u get anyone.... I can make 50 contacts and talk across the atlantic ocean and not one mention dr offices.. or weather report.. get your ticket and use amps legally stop playing with dead cb world.
As a general class for over 20 years i still prefer CB radio. Bsing with the locals or talking distance. The people seem to be much more relaxed and fun. Ham radio is seemingly all contests just looking for a signal report and they move on. Not very fun.
While ur comparison between ham & CB is true, generally speaking, I wudn't, however say it's absolute; perhaps like urself, I've been doing both for many decades now & believe that there's good & bad on BOTH; sure, there's plenty of contests on ham, but that's not all of the time; besides, there's plenty of spectrum left to be used when contesting IS occasionally in full swing; yes, CB is different & often feels more relaxed, but I believe there's still lotsa' enjoyable ragchews to be found on the amateur bands, too, if we just seek them out! Best 73 to u & urs!😃🇺🇸
You should turn in your ham lisc...mmm wonder why you renew it?
My first antenna was a Shakespere big stick. Still have it and it works. I just upgraded to the Max 2000 about 10 years ago so I could use it for 10 and 12m. I have talked all over the world on the Max 2000.
I still have my big stick but it seems like the coating has come off, guess I need some fiberglass sealant!😲Can't believe the price of good coax cable now days!😲
FCC recently approved FM CB
As vertical there was also a Sigma II antenna. A very good one!
I have the antron 99,Imax 2000,Maco 103,Shakespeare big stick just sitting here
I have an old big stick in my shed but it needs to be re-coated, like the fiberglass is coming off, it is about 55 years old!😁😁
You can sell me a antenna 😂
Back in the 90s, I had twin MOONRAKERS with a ASTROPLANE inbetween them about 4 feet higher. Who needs a amp when you can talk to somewhere in Russia from Wisconsin perfectly. CQ CQ CQDX
Back before 1970 or so, the most popular omnidirectional antennas were the Antenna Specialists' Super Magnum and the Hy-Gain CLR2. They worked well for most people but the CLR was limited to 300 watts and the Super Magnum was limited to 350. If you wanted to run a D&A Phantom you had two choices: the Astro Plane and the Mosely Devant. The Mosely looks like a CLR2.
When CBers began using Henrys and Heathkit amps Hy-Gain introduced the Penetrator in 1972 and Avanti followed with the Sigma 5/8. Antenna Specialists' Starduster is able to handle the high power but is basically a fancy 1/4 wave ground plane.
I've had them all.
The Penetrator outperforms the Super Magnum.
The Super Magnum outperforms the Starduster.
Beams have always been the choice of serious operators. While Avanti's Moonraker was legendary, Hy-Gain made a four element quad called the Big Gun that rocked. Hy-Gain made a bunch of stacked beam arrays that you can see in the Henshaws catalogs.
Today, MaCo has the best selection of serious sntennas.
Maco's are okay, but I would not consider them serious.
@@neutralobservation9418 Of the original manufacturers only Hy-Gain and Cushcraft survived, and this is only because MFJ bought them for the amateur radio products.
The siro gain master is superb
The main limit to CB radio was the numbers of stations on the air at the same time, especially back when the "convoy fad" came around.
Not having a high budget, I used the bare bones 1/4 wave ground plane that radio shack put out with four sloping radiators. The gamma match was always a puzzle to me. But that and a bare foot 4 watt radio and a power mic easily made contacts from the central Carolina's to Vermont, and as far as San Diego on AM at night. And even talk to a community watch crowd in New York City with walkies.
Radios back then were sold as good, better, or best quality , with trucker radios and SSB as the best. And granny radios as, just good enough to talk with out great reception to keep the noise level down. My radios were good quality with better reception and the noise that came with it.
.
Any radiating element shorter than 103" was a compromise. And three lower radials was the bare minimum. Using 16 lower radials was a big improvement. And a power mic was always a requirement as the carrier signal always went much further that your voice did on a stock mic.
I once made a tee pee made of wire under a 103" radiator. Each of the 16 lower 103 " counter poise elements was grounded with a 45 degree slope to metal tent pegs, the mounting pole of EMT conduit was grounded so I basically had a Marconi on a tuned artificial hill made of wire. With a cover, I could camp out under that antenna.
With a horizontal di-pole you got a completely different crowd of folks, but often you could still talk with some one long ranged on vertical with your horizontal set up.
I stuck with QRP, what more do I need?.
Had a bigstick back in the 80s and was very impressed with the signal rang. Many years now not doing radio and about to get back to communications. If you had only one antenna for CB, what would it be? I am looking for what to use for grid down communications for family and friends, Not sure what to use, ;CB or GMRS. Still trying to wrap my head around the terms like 1/4 wave, 1/2 wave 5/8 wave and meter length and their meanings. Would be great to see a video on these terms and what they mean.
Both GMRS and CB will work, GMRS is the simplest to install and instruct, but requires a license. CB offers more modes like SSB, which although having a steeper learning curve would provide more range. For a single antenna choice, a Comet vertical for GMRS or a Solarcon 99 for CB would work well. Don't get caught up on 1/4 wl, 1/2 wl, etc. for the most part they perform the same.
Blessed love to all, Can you tell me where can I get a PDL-2 beam antenna brand new, or used, please an thanks watching from Jamaica west Indies !!
Hi I still have a PDL2 2 ELEMENT beam still from the 80 s
those radial do fall out a lot. Use locktite on them and you won't have an issue again. Learned that long ago.
No tests for licensing!
License? We don't need no stinking license!
I was running a Moonraker 6 the reasoning for buying it was for talking skip, and boy did I talk skip😀
The Antenna was a RM-10 10 meter standard Resonator 400 watt ssb used with MO-1 MO-2 MO-3 MO-4, I also Picked up a set of whip's
Back in the early 80’s I had a GP Full Wave if my old mind is correct and that was sooooooooo cheap. The cost now is so expensive it’s hard to except.
CB radio is still better suited for info on road conditions and detours for traveling ...
In the 80s, I made more DX contacts on 11 meters using an Antron-99 with a Galaxy Saturn base station then I made on ten meter ham. Do you consider the Galaxy exports cb radios?
I don't, just because they weren't around during the specific time period I'm referencing. But a few years later the Galaxy radios came on the scene and they were cool.
that was great. I still find the A 58 5/8 wave that uses loop to match. also gain master still has many 11 meter antenna's for sail in 2024. you still can ger the Ringo Ranger antenna. has the loop on bottom to match. I have the AR6 6 meter version. and Siro still has the 3/4 wave that is 27 ft long and has a loop part way up. I had one in 1980's . working portable now CB and HAM. end fed half wave cut for 10/11/12 meters works great. 49:1 UNUN. just fold the end to tune. I made a T2LT out of 8X and 65mm PVC pipe for coil. strap to DX commander pole and works great. tunes 1.3:1 SWR like my mono band end fed. I have seen MAG loop for CB even a HEX beam mono band. CB. you can still buy Cobra 29 CB in 2024. new version has FM . and weather band. Maco antenna's still made in 2024. Firestick is still made.
You can spend thousands on any amount of radio gear and time filling a room with it for nobody but you to see but there are two things I can guarantee anyone who does so will find.
The first is that after learning how to use it, asking details about where someone is, what their callsign and names are and what your mutual signal strengths are, not much else remains to be said. The second is, the internet.
I'm not aware of any CB antenna design that has not also been used in Ham radio. The reverse however is not the case. I'm not aware of any CB'rs using rhombics or four squares. or Beverage antennas or Doublets or 15-element beams, etc. Also, if an antenna is adjustable to work on 10m, then it is also a Ham antenna.
Or hex beams or cobwebs!!
You should checkout the new President George FCC CB radio which is fully legal and it has all four modes AM, FM (now legal), USB, and LSB. Plus the FCC also legalized PL tones such as CTCSS and DCS tones for the FM mode which was originally reserved only for Amateur Radio, GMRS, and Business Band Radios until now. It's only $280.
The Hub where the rods screw into is prone to damage and will have to be rebuilt every 3-4 years.
I still have tha antron 99 8 bought from a truck stop radio shop 20+ years ago was 37.50$ then now 169.$ huuuuh???? Same material only fault solar susceptable fiberglass breaks down, and splinters in time " handle with care" clear coat or paint before install!!!
I run Mosley antennas, more expensive but well made, their in Union Missouri if interested.
11 Meter freeband is much more active than 10 meters gone back to 11 Meters its cooking
Beware of some 1/2 wave antennas with a reverse thread for the vertical whip. This is a red flag for crackpot design. I kept my Avanti PDL2. The AVANTI 5/8 is mechanically solid. A favorite is a cordless phone bracket with 2 dissimilar short mobile antennas. The vertical one is adjustable. Beware of shoddy circuitry and FM in some modern CB's. An excellent choice, today, is the Uniden PRO 520, with excellent audio and RF gain.
The thing is, there wouldn't be all these antennas if hams hadn't designed and built them.
I built my 2 element yagi for CB scaled off the plans for a 10 meter beam from the AARL Antenna book I checked out from the library years ago.
Back then I lived out in the middle of nowhere and had a zero noise floor. It was great!
Unfortunately, in the HOA where I live now has a S9 noise floor and an antenna restriction.
So I'm reduced to mobile operation. Still, when I'm out and about, and the skip is rolling, I can talk to the US, Canada, UK, Europe, Caribbean, South America, Mexico, and sometimes South Africa.
True, Hams had the Antenna design game figured out 50 years before CB came about.
How about the imax2000 I have one and it did 17meter to 6meter and 20meter with a tuner
Great antenna, just a bit too new for this video.
@@ricksshop okay 👍
No disrespect, but companies like Hygain still make antennas for vertically all ham band. In addition to the Ham antennas, these you covered can Also be used on 10/12, respectively. This seems to make Ham the better of the two.
I had a hygain super penetrator back in the 70s for 11. It was the bomb. The Astro beam radiation pattern was like an Omni with a distinct dead spot on the back.
Because they're unlicensed, any estimates of how many CBers there are is just that, an estimate.
i have a new moonraker in its sealed box...have two used ones was going to put one up....but it gets very windy here ..so i just have a solar con up ,,,
the ADVANTI ANTENNAS still exist under the SIRIO name. So we can still get the STARDUSTER, ASTROPLANE and VECTOR 4. I use the HYGAIN SPT-500.
Starduster is not a ¼ wave ground plane, it's a center-fed ½-wave vertical dipole.
If someone was to install a true ¼-wave ground plane with horizontal radials, then grab the radials and bend them down past 45° then they took would have 3-4 ground radials now vertically radiating the negative ½ of the sine wave, adding approximately 3dB gain and resulting in then no longer having a ¼-wave GP, but having a center-fed ½-wave vertically polarized dipole exactly mimicking the performance of a Starduster.
This we used to do in the mid 1970s when the Starduster was $29.95 and the Radio Shack ¼-wave Ground Plane was $12.95, saving $18 incl tax, or roughly the equivalent of $115 today, but getting better performance than the Starduster because the R/S ¼-wave GP included a DC static shunt to ground, the Starduster did not.
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Starduster antennas have 3 sloping radials. They meet the definition of a ground plane. You must be thinking of another antenna.
@@ricksshop Each of the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, etc downward "radials" split the negative 1/2 of the sine wave current and radiate the negative half in phase with the upper vertical radiator because they are inverted from the upper element (out of phase + upside down = back IN-phase) but it is definitely a center-fed 1/2 wave dipole splitting the bottom 1/2 of the current evenly between 3 radials.
Only with horizontal radials 90° off the upper vertical radiator plane would you have a 1/4 wave GP (Ground Plane).
- The Big Stick is also a center-fed 1/2 wave dipole, similar to the coaxial vertical dipole often referred to as a T2LT (and virtually identical to the 1/2 wave Sirio GainMaster) but using the bottom 1/2 as part of the supporting structure, providing an additional 8-9 feet of height over the Starduster, but requiring an internal Pi-L network in order to bring the 1.5:1 SWR (74Ω impedance) down to 1:1 - whereas the somewhat outward angle of the Starduster "radials" gets it nearer to the perfect 52Ω impedance - usually rounded down to 50Ω.
In order to have a perfect 1:1 SWR with ZERO matching network- you'd have to have at least 1 downward radial at 120° off true vertical, or at a downward angle of 30°, then your feed point impedance would be right at 50Ω / 52Ω.
As I've been in the antenna building industry since 1971 - if you have any other questions I'd be happy to answer - to the best of my knowledge anyway. 😉
@@ricksshop If ever you come across an old 1/4 wave Radio Shack Ground Plane, test it on a mast to a number of people with good analog meters, then simply grab the radials and bend them down to an angle similar to a Starduster and recheck your signal strength. You should increase by 2-3 dB unless you have to bounce your signal up & over a nearby ridge, the the higher TOA of the 1/4 wave might help get your signal to use a more NVIS bounce off the D or E layer to someone on the opposite side of the ridge or hill.
Moonraker 6 ?
I’ll tell you another aspect where CB beats HAM radio: I can go on CB and start to READ POETRY. And I can do this in full right every day. This is a big thing, it allows to spread humanity, magic of art, allow expression. If a ham dies this there will be countless of offended souls and he may get “reported”.
I just Bought a Brand new still in package, Marine big stick made by Hustler, 10 Dollars at tag sale, But I think it said 10 meter.
Also, there are way more cb users period.
Do you remember the Antenna Specialist's Super Scanner?
Yes! Information link added in the comments above.
I agree that lower frequencies for Ham radio are fairly compromised antennas. But you're missing out on the characteristics of the lower freqs. The technical challenge. I have a lot of fun on 40M and 160M using the AM mode. Talking on the Grey-line to someone half way around the world. It's a very short QSO, but it's the fun of HF communications.
10M / 11M shine when there is unusual activity on the Sun. Sun Spots. I remember the cycle in 1987. I could talk to a Ham in Italy with a mobile screwdriver antenna on the back of my pickup with a "converted-to-ham-band CB radio" 4 Watts SSB to a guy in Italy. Ham radio has a lot more adventure to it than CB radio..no license...operators using building 5KW linears, etc etc. I'm sure there are also bad guys on the Ham bands using more than the Legal Limit 1.5KW.
There are CB-ers using 20/40KW from their car.. I'm not sure what you mean with HAM 5KW. LOL.
back in the day i had a tower antenna like this, i talking 80's and i am in the caribbean and i spoke with people all the way in russia.
Spend a little more money and get a radio with ssb.
Laser 400 are good beams so are Moonraker 400
you didnt mention a quad/ pdl2 a fanstanic antenna
Ah, but I did! And yes, quads are cool.
A vanti was the Best
I’m a ham . I wish I could unlock the cb band on my radio. Sometimes you just want to shoot the shit with out acting professional all the time and worrying about some bum reciting the rules to me. You could make much better antennas in a smaller space for 11meters then 20 40 or 80
Sorry but ham radio antennas have been around for many years, way before cb radios and antennas came out!
Sure they were. But as I have reiterated several times here, ham antennas were never as prolific as cb antennas were in the 80's.
Infamous? Hope not!
The lower frequency ham bands provide much more reliable long range communication than the CB band.
Hilarious thought process. Oh yea its cb. How bout it skip land. Always had to laugh about specs showing dbi and cber thinking they have this big gain value.
antennas didn't come from cb i have books from the 40 s that were my uncles growing up with tons of ham antennas the most common ant in the 60s and 70s wa ssuper mag
Sorry, there hasn't been a CB antenna built, used, sold, or conceptualized that wasn't first conceived/invented in the amateur radio ranks.
Sure, but you can’t argue that the CB radios have been multiple times better at bringing antennas to the market. You can go to any truck stop in American and get a pretty decent CB radio setup including the antenna. On the ham side you are lucky if there is a Radio Shack left in your area, 90% of us are limited to online stores.
Also I’m a ham, and love it
@@DutchmanRadio Sure CB antennas are available even in the sleazy truck stops. A large number of hams take the pride to build there antennas rather than rely on factory built often junk!
@@mewrongwaysleazy truck stops? Every single radio that you play with in your free time doing your little hobby was shipped by an 18 wheeler, and therefore a "sleazy" trucker. You sound like an overly privileged spoiled rich kid who never worked a day in their life.
Those star duster are not good antennas I had one a very long time ago it was junk the antenna I use now is antron 99 and I love it I've talked all over the USA on my antron 99
Nice overview. Of course Hy Gain would be out of business if no one picked them up. Mfj did. You didn't mention the very popular pdl2 with the odd match. Antenna specialist super scanner. Gizmotchey's. Which I think you can still buy.
It's a shame though it's not the same cb radio I grew up with in the 70's
I remember all of those and then some!
There was a Moonraker six. It had fiberglass guy wires with compression clamps that could be a real PIA when installing.
These huge beams also were frequently installed incorrectly with no regards to electrical antenna theory or physical requirements for wind loading, etc. Commonplace as engineers cost $$. ;-)
There were larger ground plane omnis over 5/8 wave too. Radio Shack made a 0.64 wave (called a point sixty four) that was enormous. Avanti had a Sigma IV omni with advertised 7 dBi gain and was 3/4 wave. It was really tall and the radiator would really whip in the storms.
The Big Sticks were popular alright. Every Starduster I saw always had messed up radiators. Antron 99s were a huge hit in the early 90s. They also had a ground plane kit, not sure if there was much benefit to adding it.
Wilson had an EIGHT element SUPER LASER 500. Boom was over 40 FEET long. If you didn't have a 45G tower and Tailtwister rotor (or better) you were in big trouble with this guy! But even barefoot on SSB you walked the dog if you were lucky enough to own one and properly install it!
The Astro Beam had AMAZING front to back (rejection) and the 40dB spec was believable. I could turn mine around and someone on the street could key up (about 200' away) and when turned around I could get the signal down under 9 pounds. VERY impressive. The Moonrakers seemed to have their rejection sweet spots in the corners not directly behind. It was also EXTREMELY important to stretch out that 14 gauge copper wire and mark it EXACTLY when installing on the reflector. The wire needed to be tight and in alignment but not bowing the fiberglass supports more than a degree. Often if assembled on a hot day when middle of winter rolled around the arms would have a noticeable bow but it never really seemed to detract from performance. Worst possible thing one could do is buy an alleged "rejection kit" and add wires to these. These never worked and always messed up your antenna!
Signal Engineering also made full quad 10/11 meter beams that were fully isolated, direct drive designs. I had the white lightning one which had four quad elements and was similar to the Moonraker 4 but imagine the Moonraker with four reflectors for size reference. These antennas were a bit dangerous as being isolated from ground the coax would carry a hefty static charge. As matter of fact when a storm approached, long before the lightning was close a popping sound could be heard from the coax (the end you would connect to your radio!) when it was unplugged. As the potential built up around 6kV it would arc over producing the snapping noise. I put a short arc Xenon lamp across my antenna switchbox to ground so I could park it there for safety. During close flashes that sucker would light up the room almost like a camera flash. Neat stuff.
Another one worth mentioning was called the Super Scanner. Antenna Specialists made this one. It was a rotator-less "beam" in such it had a switch box that allowed the operator to electrically alter the driven elements amongst the three vertical elements. Neat concept but no match for a real beam obviously. Gain a bit better than a large omni and provided a fair amount of rejection on crowded channels. If you didn't have room for a tower I suppose this would be a decent compromise. Switch box vulnerable to lightning.
It's funny (and sad too!) seeing those pricees from 50 years ago! I remember buying CB stuff from a supplier called Henshaw IIRC. Copper Electronics was another one in the late 70s and early 80s. Mid 80s we started seeing those dreaded LED bar graph S meters. HATED them!
I would think cbs are better for SHTF . Most ham repeaters will be down with no electricity.
Ham equipment operates the same as a CB. 12V DC or less, So batteries work with them too! Also they can legally transmit more power for more distance. Ham repeaters will also talk 3 times the distance of two legal CB's!
"Most ham repeaters will be down with no electricity."
The ones I use are solar powered. There was a problem last winter with heavy snow covering the solar panels and eventually the repeater went offline.
Most ham repeaters have serious battery backup systems simply because they are intended to be emergency backup communications! As they always have.
Antennas aren’t the advantage CB has over HAM, the fact that millions of CB radios are physically moving in transit everywhere in the country as I type this is the biggest advantage.
Consider radio as the distribution of information. It doesn’t matter if that information came over your HAM antenna from 500miles away or DROVE into your neighborhood from 3000mi away.
You can easily build any of these antennas from hard drawn copper pipe or wire much cheaper than buying them. Building them costs much less. Why would you buy them? You can get a swr meter or an antenna analyzer and build your antenna cheaper than buying it. The antennas with a guad element and yagi elements are called a quagi. I would never encourage anyone to operate out of band. It is illegal. There are these things called fines. Free banding is operating out of band on frequencies reserved for the US Military. Nor would I encourage anyone to use more than 5 watts on cb. That is illegal too. Cb can be a fun band for people who don't want to become hams. But I disagree that it is better. 2m/70cm outperforms cb everyday. The bands are quieter and you can legally use higher powers. When all you do is buy antennas, you can get substandard performance. Most people use magnet mounts on cb when 102" steel whips outperform them when installed right. The volume of easy to build antennas available for ham radio, that could be built for cb with slight modifications and higher gain, is staggering. Cb will never be better than ham radio. Its just avaliable to those who don't wish to become hams. Using cb ssb is much more superior to just AM. That's just a fact. Higher gain antennas you can cheaply build are better than buying them. See the CB Radio Operators FB page. There they talk about easy build techniques and antennas.
I agree, having built my first wire dipole 40 years ago, but that isn't the subject of this video. I'm skeptical that a 50 watt 2m/70cm radio would outperform an 11 watt SSB CB, and plan to do that test in the future.
@@ricksshop Being a Ham for 43 years, Two LEGAL SSB CBs wont come close to 2M or 70cm!! A friend and I in early 80's was lucky to talk 17 miles base to base with SSB CB, Maybe once out of every 10 try's. We could do it at any moment mobile to mobile day or night!!!! Both less than 30 watts each! First you don't deal with near the crap QRM on vhf or uhf that you have on 11m.
CBs are more useful because more people use them. I almost never use my sideband because most people only have 40 channels. I prefer talking to the guy in the next truck or next town, and don't really have the need or desire to talk to anyone in another state or country.
@@mewrongway Hmmm, I had better results. 30 miles during the day in the middle of a sunspot cycle, no problem. Did a 50 mile QSO base to my mobile during the day on more than one occasion. In the evening after the noise floor went down QSO's were easier. You make a good point though, if I ever do this test I'll need to do a daytime and a night time test. 2 meter obviously has a lower noise floor, but SSB much more efficient than FM.
In what logic way does cb beat ham,? No cb is quite dead. I loved cb back in the day. What good is an antenna can't talk to no one. 10 meters not cb .. 11 meters is limited to less than 5 watts..
U buy it ,put it up and talk on it. You want more then buy more. Run what u brung. Bigger IS badder. If you a mud duck sit down and be quiet. Watts is horsepower.
AVANTI RULED THE CB WORLD