DIY CB Base Antenna Using a 102 Inch Stainless Steel Whip
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- Опубліковано 13 січ 2015
- This Was going to Be My New Years Resolution Video Originally. But I'am way late on That. No Problem. My Resolution was to get This Old CB Raido out of Moth Balls and get it set up here at Home and Later in The Truck. And Finnally make a Decision if I want to keep this around or put it up for Sale this year.. Unfortunately I have Lost interest in Playing around with This Radio and it all just sits stored away in a closet. So I decided I would Try building my own Ground Plane Antenna out of a Existing Moble antenna. I allready Have a 102 inch Stainless Steel Whip. Normally that would be Mounted on a Car or Truck. I discovered Via UA-cam and other sites that it is somewhat a Popular Thing to Use these as Base antennas. So Here is My attempt at it. I Put it up a few days ago and discovered I can not get it Tuned up correctly to Match The Radio. That is super Important. Cause it just wont work Right if The antenna is not matching The Radio. I havent been able to get My SWR Reading correct. So This Morning I'am going to Run out to The Local Lowes and Pic up some Parts that I Hope will Make this Antenna Match up to My Cobra 148f GTL..
I started out with CB radio. Now i have my Technician license and i plan on getting my General license when i have free time. To all the fellow hams who seem to dislike CB radio, look at it this way: It is free to use, requires no license, and is pretty cheap and easy to get into. Had i been able to afford a CB radio back in high school, i would have gotten into ham radio much sooner (like 10 years sooner). Who knows? My life could have been different now because ham radio has made me interested in electrical engineering. When my nephews and nieces are old enough, i may buy them CB and GMRS/FRS radios just to get them interested in radio as a practical and fun means of communication. Then i'll guide them into ham radio. Ultimately, i hope that it will make them interested in electrical engineering, satellite communications, or other technically-related and lucrative careers.
For the financially strapped radio hobbyists, citizen's band and PMR446 are all we can afford.
Citizen's Band transceiver - £50 to £150
HF amateur radio transceiver -£500 to £5000
I know VHF and UHF equipment from other radio services is plentiful and easy to convert to VHF and UHF amateur radio bands. Even buying VHF and UHF amateur radio equipment is quite affordable. But HF surplus equipment that can be converted to HF amateur radio bands is near impossible to find since businesses abandoned the HF bands in the 1940s and early 1950s. Thus, we are stuck with very expensive amateur radio equipment for HF amateur radio bands. That is not something all of us can do. The foundation license is very easy to get, almost laughably easy to get. But the equipment is very expensive.
Yes Dan...you got the right idea. Ground Plane. Every antenna needs one. Some like the Antron 99 are specifically made to operate without a ground plane, but they help to add one...I did. The 102 inch steel whip is made for mobile use, which uses the vehicle body as the ground plane...all mobile antennas do. So you were spot on to add the ground plane to it, it helps receive better, ground better, cuts out a lot of noise and also drastically improves the output range of your transmitter. Good job, bro. I may do this myself as a backup antenna or a test antenna...good idea.
Gun Slinger mobile antennas do not need a radial ground plane
Lovely old radio
Thanks Dan. Useful video mate. Greetings from UK.
Glad You liked it. thanks for watching
Nice job. Ground plane makes all the difference
That's cool! I mounted a 102" on the roof ridge of my wood frame house with asphalt shingles, so I just connected four 102" wires to the grounded mount and laid them out 90 degrees apart down the roof and connected each end with a rubber grommet through the roof and SWR was 1.1 or less on all channels... The slant of the roof provided the "droop" to the ground plane wires. I now have a steel roof, so I may try just grounding the grounded base of the mount to the peak and see how well it works
Thank for Watching Bob. Good Luck out there.
OK Dan, I found answers to my questions, on your other videos. John
Awesome video. Thanks.
Great video I just got back into CB after a while I have a rci 2950 and an antron 99 its about 18 foot antenna and a 2 transistor box the furthest I talk on upper side band is Italy and some other places antenna is about 35 feet up with a 10 foot pipe so about 45 feet pretty good 73"s
Tony Garigel That is Great Tony. I sure Wish I could get My self interested in My Radio again. Mabe I'am just to busy with other things in My life. Good Luck out there. Thanks for Watching.
Great cb (don't get rid of it!) and can't go wrong with the 102" whip! I wish cb would make a come back, it's a fun hobby!
Nice. That radio is a keeper and kinda rare. I say rare not because they're hard to find but because I've never seen a 148 GTL that hasn't been molested.
Thats a 148 gtl dx isnt it?
The only thing a 148 gtl dx needs is a power mic and an amp. They have everything you need from the factory. Am, fm, lsb, usb, cw and a freq counter plus channel select.
I have always loved those radios
I have one.
I plan to setup a base station using exactly this approach, a 102 steel whip as the antenna. I have a metal roof on my shed, so I will experiment with using that as the ground plane, but if that doesn't work, I will go with radials such as you have
your ground-plane radials should be at 8ft 6" for 27mhz
stinger at 27.5 8ft 5" should help you have a good match throughout the 27.0 to 28.0
wanna have some 26mhz make the stinger 8ft. 6" same as the radials
also gotta remember ground-plane does come into play on hf. so a mast of at least 10ft or so.
and use rg8x cable. and to add to the subject. on hf height is your friend and get the antenna up in free space,
away from obstructions that interfere with the antenna giving you false readings on the meters
just something to help you 11meters(cb) guys out...
73's from K7sce southern arizona.
Scott Edick I
I made a vertical dipole for someone a few years back. The element pointing up was a 102 inch antenna. The element pointing down was the black wire inside an extension cable. The last I heard he was still using it successfully.
I want that radio its awesome😎👍
Love that fast forward deal lol
I'm on ch17 sometimes and going fos a similar set up like yours using a Cobra 29 lt classic.
I am in Clackamas Oregon. Channel 17 Is a base station channel. Don't expect anytruck drivers to be there. The channel get blocked by bad cb operators. Go to channel 19.
I have a cobra 🐍 138 xlr ❤the modulation is fenominal 😅
Of course it will work without a ground wire. I must also say that it's pretty damn hard to build a quarter wave droopy with a high SWR.
good looking radio Dan
Gra 7961 Thanks. Yeah I got a good Deal on it. Paid $50 for it at a Garage Sale early one Morning. It was Still in The Box. I had No Idea if it was any good or Not untill I got it Home and Played around with it. I dont know if I had ever Been Tuned or Tweaked or Peaked. I cant tell. But I know a good Tech good really make something out of it. Thanks For Watching.
+Dan Jarrett Hi Dan, I have a part 15 Am transmitter that use a 102 whip antenna. Is it important for it to straight?...right now it is at a height of 50 feet with the antenna mostly leaning!
It's a highly sought after model since it is not juts 148 GTL which does not have the frequency display but just a regular channel 1-40 readout for channels.
SWR is the reflected ratio of radio power coming back down into the radio. So defiantly less is best.
I had an Antron 99 way up over the top of an 80 foot or so tall tree. It lasted a few years and a storm blew it down and busted it. I bought another one and put it up there and it lasted about four years. Well worth it. If you don't want to be a mud duck, get your antenna up high. It makes a world of a distance.
+Bob Kerbs Years ago I did Have a Base Station set up at another House in this area. My Tower was 56 feet to The top. I had a Old 17 Foot Ground Plane on top of that. Like You said. You can get out when it is that high. I Cant Build anything like that Here. Putting the 102 Inch whip up was just to see if I could make a Base Station out if it. It worked good. Now I'am consentrating on Putting the Old 148 in My Truck. allmost done with it Now. Thanks For Watching Bob.
No problem. I had a Cobra 148gtl and they're a great radio. It's basically a Cobra 2000 base station without the cabinet and power supply. Great for side band and it has a dual conversion receiver. They don't put out like a 29, but if you have it tuned and modged out and smack an amplifier it'll blow smoke.One of my favorite radios. I just this weekend put my old Galaxy 33HML in my car. It's from the nineties and it's peaked and modged and I smack a Texas Star 667v amplifier through a Wilson 1000 antenna. I run the amp on low and I key up 5 watts and swing over 400. It's pretty loud!! When I switch it to high I can key up 20 and swing around 600. It gets out. Stock mike and there's absolutely no squealing or feedback through the built in talk back.
+Bob Kerbs
These amps are illegal however and ham people along with tv watchers, and any other radio equipment is subject to interference from the dirty amps that are not really linear on the output of the scope.
+Robert Fraley by the way if you want to compare what the 700 w amp will do i will compete for what your amp will do and what my system will do without an amp. see who talks further.
they are now undocumented amps nothing is illegal ...just ask a democrate
Awesome build👍🏼!! My question is what type of material is the ground plane? Is aluminum rods or stainless steel rods you're using for the ground planes.
Waving a hand👋🏼👋🏼 from sity of sin Las Vegas
It's had mods done...you can tell by the swing on the radio lol great swing lol
It's NOT a PEP reading meter so it's not a true reading of the swing just FYI.
You need a step by step video of that antenna build and a microphone booster 😆 volume is up and it's quite low only for the outside shots inside is fine.
nice vid. :) i plan on putting a cb in my house & maybe useing the 102" whip..
+MRJOHNDEERE3720. :) Yes the The 102 will work good. And You can play around with The Plane to see How it changes. Thanks for Watching.
Dan Jarrett
ur welcome. :) i just hope it will look good on top of my house..lol
+MRJOHNDEERE3720. :) the thing about the 102" steel whip when its on a house is that you'll hardly notice it. about the only time you'll easily see it is if the sun is shining off it.
madmax2069
& it will be. theres not much 4 trees. but thats ok if i dont notice it. lol
+dan jarrett i 4got 2 ask u what is that music at the beginning? or did u make it ur self? i like it. :)
Dan, your antenna looks like what I'm looking for. I live in a HOA and want to set up a base antenna. Could you give me all the dimensions , so I could build one. Thank you in advance. John
Hi! Dan - just a quick 'hi' from this side of the pond (I'm a Brit) - Your SWR sometimes works BETTER at a slightly higher level. I ran a York 863 into a thunderpole II at about 1.3 to 1.7 to 1 SWR & got about 6 miles or so from my house. This was UK FM at the legal 4 watts. Just got back on the air after fifteen years or so out of CB. Like the channel a LOT! - very concise, cheerful & informative. High Numbers To You from me, stay safe & good luck on your farm. 10-10 til we do it again. 'TJ.....
hope the lightning doesn't strike the 102 inch whip because that part of the antenna is not grounded. good luck
How many feet of coax did u use and how did u adjust the swr's
I installed a 102 whip and my Lincoln was only showing 2 Db of Tx when I keyed up. 1.5 swr tho
I'm thinking about buying a quad magnet and putting a 102 whip on roof of my metal barn. Should act as a ground plane just like on roof of a truck?
I had the same idea for my 30x40 metal shop building.
Any metal would work even a pizza pan
I'm not familiar with this radio, but You might think on picking up a power mic since the radio's carrier signal often goes much further than your voice modulation will
Radio is Long gone Now. Thanks for watching.
Channel 19 is trucker channel for North America! and your ground radials on a 102 should be 9 feet!
California uses 17. In some areas 16 is known as a regional channel.
19 is for interstates.
Most don’t know these older ways.
They just stick to 19.
@@JustAnumbr some people in California uses 17 cause some newbies were told 19 is used by ships in the port.... NOW YOU KNOW!
Hi Mr Jarrett. Do you have schematical info on your antenna you made?
No I sure don't I just slapped it all together and it worked.
Thousand different opinions. 9ft radials for 11 meters
What did you use for the ground plane wires?
jd I Just used some old Threaded Stock that I had laying around in The shop. The Best Way to have done this Antenna would have been to Have it Mounted on The Very Peak Of The Roof and Then Just run some simple Copper Wiring down The Roof line. But I didnt have that Option with this. Thanks for Watching.
Hello. I am having a similar problem with very high swr readings. I added four ground radials and nothing has changed. How long are your radials? If it is not my ground plane I am thinking it might be a bad coaxil cable.
Hi NM Patriot Thanks for Your comment. Well when I put These Radials on it the other day I didnt think it would work worth a Didally. My Understanding is That The Radials should be 108 inches each. The same length as The Antenna. I dont have that option of doing that in the place I have it mounted. so I whent with The Treaded Rods I picked up a Lowes. Only cost a couple $ and they are each 3 Ft long. And they seem to working out good. As far as My coax. I'am using 2- 20 Ft Long pieces of 50 Ohm. I put them togather My self and tested them with a Ohm Meter to make sure I have No short anywhere.. I hope that Helps You Out. Thanks for Watching.
Thank you so much for your reply. I am going to try to work on the antenna again this weekend. I really want to get my base station up and running. Take care.
Optimum length for 11 meter ground radial is 108"
ua-cam.com/video/93OQrgKGh2E/v-deo.html
The 102 inch whip is added on top of a six inch coil spring. This brings the length to 108 inches. I believe the stainless steel whips are intentionally cut short so one may add a coil at the base to protect the antenna from breaking.
So a spring is your only option ?
@@Fox250R : No. Length is length (she said)
Dan I wish you would have gone given a little more detail on your radials.
!enth of the radials would be good to no.
108 inches at.45 degrees hanging down should put you in tall cotton as far as swr, should make it do it's thing.73s-Kc0rom
sorry for my ignorance,but what does the ground wire do to the antenna?
It provides something for the feed system or radio to "push against" as a second terminal. Without it, there is no way to force current into the antenna.(w8ji)
It helps to protect the structure in the event of a lightning strike.
How long are the planes you made
Cool video . How high is the SWR
I don't Remember what it was. I know it was in the Acceptable Range. I will have to go back and watch My Video again. I no Longer have this Radio or Set up. Thanks for watching.
when you guys are considering a 1/4 wave whip a good antenna and a cobra cb a good radio, really this is relative to equipment to which you have been exposed. It is not really a good system. I can talk with 20 watts to another radio many states away. The uniden or cobra radio really has no great performance, no good filtering, and no clean transmit nor receive. Compare any ham radio to the cb stuff. It is really worth a look. I can talk on 80 meters from NC to Va almost any given night. I have made contacts to UK, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Aruba, Venezuella, Antarctica even. Around the world. That might get your interest. It also has very important, helpful real world applications in an emergency.
Why do anything with a cb radio when a Ham radio license is so easy to obtain today. Doesn't make any sense to me.
Robert Fraley The idea around CB is for every Hamm radio operator there are 200 CBers my guess. No License. Talk to local friends and just talk. Hamm radio does require a license that is easy to get. But communications on Hamm radio are more formal in nature. The CB's can be purchased for less than 50 bucks. The Hamms are much more expensive. Good CB radio for 25 bucks. So you pay your money and do what ever you can afford. My Hamm costs a little over 2k. My CB cost less 125.
KC3BBI
Not true on the price of a Ham radio.Many hand held models are $25 or less even for a dual band HT & they work very well.Also mobile models can be purchased for around $100 or less.I use both Ham Radio & CB Radio & many of my Ham Radios cost much less than many of my CB Radios.I enjoy both hobbies but I think that it's better that we spread the correct or factual information so others are not mislead & are discouraged from the hobby because of the price of radio gear.The prices I stated above are for New gear not Used also just FYI.
Well while we are being so truthful you should also mention that 20 watts is far above the Legal Limit of what a CB Radio is suppose to do by Federal Law.Of course I would not expect someone who makes a living from making radios far exceed the legal limits permitted by law. It's no secret that you have made a living from violating Federal Law & you love illegal CB's & amplifiers & you care nothing about the Laws of the Land.It's all about profit to you.I own lots of CB's from DAK,Cobra, Browning,Tram,& just about any other company that ever made one but I also own a lot of Ham Radios & I'll take the ICOM over any of them.I have been playing radio since 1965 so I also know quiet a bit about radios both Ham & CB & I do NOT promote the use of Illegal CB's & amplifiers on the CB Band.You only push CB because it feeds your greedy bank account & the truth does not do that for you so you don't share it.
How do you determine how long to make the radials?
They have calculators online but essentially they are supposed to be the same length as your driven element which in this case is 108 inches. His are too short but work well enough.
😎👍🇦🇺
No video how you did it all looking to see how to do it so I can make a base station in the house
I made a makeshift base station for someone with minimal parts. I used a computer ATX power supply for a very clean 12 volts and 30 amperes. I then connected the yellow cable from the power supply to the red cable of the radio. Then I connected the black cable from the power supply to the black cable of the radio. I then ran an antenna to the roof and fed the antenna with a long length of coaxial cable. It is very easy to do and the results are good.
Where did u attach your ground wire..on antenna base?
Just to the Mast of the Antenna. That is the Ground
Dan Jarrett thank you...I know the answer is simple ....But i am doing same setup and swr will not drop below 1:5 and my power output is lower then suppose to be...my deadkey has dropped ...different radio same problem... gotta be a poor ground somewhere im thinking
1.5 is a good reading on the SWR. I think I would leave it there. Maybe try adding a Second Ground connection and see if that will help.
@@tunnelrat1439 My radios were doing the same thing until I put an amp on it. I have an Antron 35feet up and grounded in two places. My Bearcat sits around 1 and 1:2 but the others jump to 1:8 at times. Needless to say I use the Bear and an mobile amp and play around with these cornbread base stations around here bragin on their 5 pill or what have you. I just walk on them when they start smack talkin and they can't figure it out.
i was just going to say...... a 10 to 20 ft section of pipe.... added to this
Once you install a external SWR meter you do not need to bother with the radio meter. its off anyway .
NEVER TRUST A SWR METER ON A RADIO UNLESS ITS HF rig. and even then get a 2nd opinion on a EXT meter
Not true, the older cobra radios are very acurate on the internal swr bridge it is the newer radios that mostly are not accurate so your statement is not 100% accurate!
if your running about 30 or 40 feet of mast and run the ground plane do you need to insulate the antenna from the mast pipe I have bad swr its reading like the antenna is way to long
No. The Mast should be Grounded and the Antenna Should be Grounded to The Mast as Well if that Makes any Sence.
@@danjarrett it makes all the sence in the world Im running on pole no radials right now well I tried swr was lously and surprisingly while 3 to 1 in the 40 when I went as low as 26 mghz the swr was only 2 27.9 mghz 3 indicationg long no spring tried 3 other antennas and swapping coax so adding radials should fix my swr or am I gonna still have a problem because its on 40 feet of pipe
@@Vinnie305 I don't know. If the Antenna is working ok it should not matter about the hight of the Mast. Could be the Length of the coax ?
@@danjarrett it works fine swr is the issue I have 75 feet of lmr400 also my radio does around 150 watts
Not quite sure why anybody likes a.m.? Single sideband is far superior in tone quality & range imho
So the ground plane helps a bit? Did you try raising the whip itself in the mount or maybe lowering it a bit to see if that may help also, or just leave it like that?
I love your voice. You remind me of Arlo Guthrie :)
After watching your video I; have to take an od of Dramamine pills.
19 is the trucker channel NOT 17
Use a Antron 99 and 102 in still whip on top of it 4 a bass antenna
Bull i always give checks and so does all the other drivers i know
your audio seems kind of low
Music is super annoying would rather watch a longer video with explanation
That watt meter is too cool
Music is great sounds like radio signals
Cant hear ya man
Waste of time and money. Get a Super Penetrator and be done with it.
Oh Sure. I will get right on that. Thanks for watching.