High Power SSB CB Radios, Not Just For Truckers
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What are high power SSB CB Radios?
Why You Might Want A Long Range, SSB, High Power CB Radio
If you travel the interstates and the back roads frequently you may want to add a high power SSB CB radio to your vehicle for added safety. Many people believe CB radios are old fashioned and that a cell phone will work anywhere when you need to call for help. Nothing can be farther from the truth. There are thousands of square miles of the United States and Canada where cell phones do not work, even on interstate highways.
If you are stuck on the side of the road you can call for help with a high power SSB CB radio. Truckers monitor channel 19 on the AM frequency and other CB operators use the SSB channels above channel 34. You can talk up to thirty miles or more, even around the world on SSB if conditions are right. Note: The FCC considers it breaking the law if you talk to CB stations over 90 miles away.
If you have a high power SSB CB radio in your vehicle you can ask the eighteen wheeler coming your way how the road conditions are up ahead. When roads are icy or there is a wreck up ahead on the interstate you can find out exactly what is happening by listening in.
Most truckers, at least ninety percent of them, monitor channel 19 when they are driving. They listen for reports of speed traps ahead, road conditions and information about wrecks, etc. Many state troopers still monitor channel 19 and will reply to calls for help.
A high power CB radio with SSB or single sideband will reach out much farther. While channel 19 uses AM, the channels above 34 are often used for SSB. On upper or lower sideband, which gives you twice the channels, you can talk up to thirty miles under the right conditions and when "skip" happens, also known as DX, you may be able to talk around the world.
CB SSB Radio "Skip Call" Saves A Life
While talking long distances or "skip" classified as illegal by the FCC, it recently saved the life of a trucker who was stuck in the recent ice storm in Kentucky. The Covenant Truck Lines rig was twenty miles off the interstate on an isolated road and he had ran out of diesel and could no longer run the engine to keep warm. After four days stuck in his vehicle his call on single sideband was picked up in Arizona by another trucker and was relayed to the authorities who sent a helicopter to rescue him in Kentucky!
I don't advocate tuning up a ten meter ham radio for CB use, although many people do it. High power CB radios such as those made by Galaxy put out the legal 4 watts although many people tune them for more. These radios are considered high power not because of what the wattage is set at, but at the capacity of the final amplifiers. Some of the Galaxy series high power CB radios have final amplifiers capable of over 100 watts, so they can transmit on the legal wattage all day long and not burn out. Note: I do not condone tuning up any radio past the legal limits.
The title of this article "High Power SSB CB Radios" refers to the fact that SSB CB radios transmit using 12 watts of Peak Envelope Power, 3 times the power of standard AM modulated CB's and have heavy duty final amplifiers.
Antennas
A high power SSB CB radio needs a good antenna. Most truckers use firestick dual antennas on each mirror. For SUV's and trucks there is no more powerful antenna than the K-40 series.
Most high power CB radios, such as the Galaxy and Connex series have built in antenna matching meters, or SWR meters.
What is 11 Meter or 10 Meter?
Ten meters is a ham band very close to the CB band. Many export ten meter ham radios work on the CB bands but are illegal to operate in the U.S. A small jumper wire or solder connection prevents them from transmitting on the CB band. They put out much more than the legal CB power. I do not advocate tuning them to the CB band but having a ten meter radio, along with a ham radio license is also a very good safety item to have in your vehicle.
11 meters is the band that CB radios utilize. The Galaxy CB radios above are made for 11 meters but overseas are able to transmit on ten meters.
Never transmit on the 10 meter ham band without a license.
Having a high power CB radio in your vehicle is not old fashioned, it can be a real life saver.
For more about long range SSB CB radios and antennas see: Long Range SSB CB Radios
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CommentsLoading...
please come visit my hub on c b radios. i am gonna add more
i will join ur fan club if you wil join mine as well??
There is a CB called a Flame Thrower, it's a upgraded Galaxy DX 959 and it is GREAT! I bought mine on Craigs list and it works wonderful. LOUD & POWERFULL Audio. Tossed my Cobra 29 and Connex.
If you want a real performing CB (not a ham radio) that talks, you won't be disappointed with a Flame Thrower.I have also seen em on ebay too.
Nightcrawler
I bought a FlameThrower on ebay,it works FANTASTIC right out of the box, I talked 400 miles away.
I use a 102 inch radio shack antenna and nothing else.No amplifier no nothin.
We bought a "Flamethrower" tried it against our other units.
bought 14 more. LOUD & POWERFULL. Conclusion= They work.
Great Article! Ain't that the truth, when you need a radio for a life saving event, even your own, you need a rig that gets out.Im runnin a Galaxy 959 Flamethrower and twin co-phased firesticks on my diesel cab hauling on I-10.I totally agree with this article, having a high power CB radio in ANY vehicle not old fashioned, it can be a real life saver.
73
TEXAS 10 Ch 19AM 38LSB
If I had to pick only one CB radio in an emergency situation, as Doodlebug writes about, it would be a Flamethrower.
My brother is a Certified Radio Tech for Motorola here in Schaumburg. I loaned him my FlameThrower CB and told him to give it a real "going over" for his expert opinion. We now BOTH own a FlameThrower.
BLUEJACKET
You're overlooking the best part about the FlameThrower CB. The receiver is AWSOME! Power isn't everything.
I use a 8 pill amp and you need to hear the stations you are taklin to, otherwise extra power is useless, Thats where my FlameThrower makes the difference.
SWAMPRUNNER
Marion, SC
Yes CB can be fun when the band is open ! I wish the FCC would have created a CB hobby band above the regular 40 channels and allow up to 100 watts and side band only !The only things I did not like about CB in the past were some of the very rude and foul mouthed people who a person would once in awhile encounter and some very unprofessional operating behavior , like coving over your signal with a very strong carrier and the playing of music !
What I would like to see is a quality made CB handheld radio that has side band besides AM , side band does get out much further than AM and the best thing is that most CB side band operators are more professional in their operations , very little nonsense as heard on the AM side , foul lanuage , carriers and the general rude behavior found especially in the large urban areas ! One of the reasons why many who are CB side band operators also go into ham radio as the small 2 meter FM handhelds can operate into repeaters and give a person sometimes a range of hundreds of miles , with CB on a day without skip AM CB mobile to mobile running legal power the range is about 10-15 miles , side band can be over 20 miles depending on location . And if there is skip conditions , running legal power on AM a CB operator will be at a disadvantage he can't work dx and will unable to work anyone locally because of band conditions .
I own two Galaxy radios and they are in a class by themselves , a number of years ago when I first got into CB radio I experimentsd with different types of antennas for my base station CB radio and I had excellent results using a homebrew inverted V antenna , the wire was cut using the formula 27 divided into 468 which gave me the total lenght in feet and inches for my antenna , the wire was then divided in two cut and soldered to a balum , the apex of the antenna was up about 20 feet in the air , I made contacts from my home in Los Angeles all over the U.S.A. , Hawaii and Australia running about 10 watts pep , this was when the 11 meter band was wide open . Believe me you do not need to spend a fortune to get a decent CB antenna working !
One of the best CB radios that I ever owned was not a regular CB but an FT-101EX Yeasu "Ham" transciever , this radio had the 11 and ten and a half meter crystals , and did it get out ! 240 watts pep on side band ! Wonderful radio but ended up selling it as I moved to Hawaii and the weight of the radio was over 20 pounds , it used tubes in the finals which now are becoming difficult to find . Some other Ham transcievers can be used on the CB 11 meter band , the IC-706 , all that has to be done is the removal of a diode and transmission is possible (not legal)anywhere from the standard AM broadcast band right up to 2 meters including the 11 meter CB band ! I go to yard sales and swap meets and a person almost has to give away AM only CB radios as they are no longer in demand , side band there is more demand and out of band radios are in even more demand .
Just a question to anyone who owns the Yaesu FT-817ND qrp battery portable transciever , has anyone tryed to modify this radio to also operate on CB 11 meters ? The radio covers Ham bands 440 thru 160 meters 2 and a half watts out with pen light batteries or 5 watts out with a 12 volt power supply , probably the FT-817ND is the best survival radio on the market today .
The past few days , today is March 18,2010 , the 11 meter CB band is starting to open up for dx as around 4pm-to around 5:30 pm Arizona time I heard numerous stations coming in from Hawaii , mostly mobiles in Honolulu running alot more than the legal 5 watts AM . A number of years ago when I myself lived in Honolulu and being a licensed ham radio operator I could on occasion work "tropo" dx on 2 meters running just 2 or 3 watts I could work stations on the mainland over 2500 miles away , not bad for a 2 watt FM walkie talkie ! CB and ham radio are alot of fun in Hawaii , with a CB side band rigg and a decent antenna a person can regularly work the outer islands from Honolulu just with the legal 5 watts !
Thomas,
The FlameThrower is the most wanted CB radio around, but it is not cheap. My neighbor has a FlameThrower CB and last week I helped him install his antenna and set the SWR. I talked to Arizona from here in Stubenville OH on sideband with it. I am a licensed ham radio operator and I must admit,it was a lot of fun. For a CB, that radio rocks!
Anyway, here is a website for modifying your FT-817ND for the 11 meter CB band, also many more mods for it too.
http://www.kb2ljj.com/data/yaesu/ft-817.htm
73 --... ...--
Scotty
Scotty thank you for your info on modifying the Ft-817ND I was thinking of possibly buying that radio or the higher powered rig the Ft-857D as it would be nice to have 11 meters to operate in either rig , that CB rig the "Flame Thrower" sounds like a real first class rig all the way , as I mentioned in my earlier post I once owned the Yaesu Ft-101EX a number of years ago and that was a fantastic radio , but I learned the hard way never use a regular CB antenna for a radio like that as I destroyed my Radio Shack big stick by using too much power !I like SSB CB but not the regular AM CB as there is too much nonsense and unprofessional behavior on the regular AM 40 channels !
I have heard some really good quality AM CB stations some that sounded as good as commercial AM radio and on the same token I have heard a few stations that sounded terrible and could not even be understood what was being said plus massive bleed over to a half a dozen near by channels , the real hobbiests of CB radio operate on SSB and of course one of the biggest advantages Ham radio has over CB is the vast amount of radio spectrum , from just above the standard AM band at 1800 KHZ all the way up into UHF areas and beyond and of course Hams can use up 1000 watts of power while CBers are only allowed 5 watts maximum on AM and are not legally allowed to work over 150 miles , which is a big joke ! I would love to see the FCC create a new CB band one called the Hobby band , just above the regular 40 channels where only SSB is akkowed and a maximum of power would be 50 watts !
One of the things I like about the Yaesu FT-817ND is that it makes an excellent survival radio being very small and battery operated ,it operates on all the HF ham bands from 160 meters thru 6 meters , 2 meters and 440 but not 220 MHZ ! SSB , CW , AM as well as FM , the only other band it does not transmit on is the 11 meter CB band unless the radio is reworked ! Very interesting article on modifying the FT-817 for full transmit on 11 meters but I did note , do not try and increase the output power to 15 watts or above as it will ultimately destroy the finals !
Found this hub on google.Thought I would throw in my 2 cents. I have a Galaxy "FlameThrower" CB & I LOVE IT! I shoot skip with when the band is open, and it's been open quite alot this month.Hey Scotty, Tom,Doodlebugs or Nightcrawler is there a website or hub just for FlameThrower owners? If so, please turn me on to it.
Tom, don't get a Yaesu FT-817. Get a full high power ham rig like the FT-897 if you are going to spend that kind of cash.It may be just a few bucks more but you will not regret it.
Archie
Anchorman Archie : I have heard that the FT-897 is a very good radio same as the FT-857D , 100 watts sure does beat the 5 watts of the FT-817 , the thing I like best about the FT-817 is it's small size and it's using a built in battery or AA batteries ! Qrp can be fun but also very frustrating too , especially when so many other stations are running 400 watts and more ! But an FT-817 may be a good survival radio to have if there were an electrical blackout , I am still deciding on if I should buy one !
Two weeks ago I drove my car down to Phoenix and three fourths of the way my car broke down a bad transmission , going up a mountain in a rather remote area ! My cell phone did not work and I had little water ! And I forgot to bring my 2 meter amateur radio handheld , I did have a CB and called on CB channel 9 and channel 19 I got no response ! My advice to all of you get a ham license and have a 2 meter transciever in your car to call for help if there is ever a need ! Most of the time someone is always monitoring one of 2 meter repeaters and they can call for help ! CB unfortunately all I heard at that time was noise and distant skip from south of the border , Spanish speaking stations !As a side note I finally was able to flag a trucker and got to use his cell phone to call for help which arrived about two hours later !
well I did get an Ft-817ND and needless to say I am very impressed with the radio ! It's size is small about the size of a cigar box , but covers all the HF ham bands plus 6 , 2 meters and 440 MHZ , I like it as it can use pen light batteries , gell cell batteries or a small DC power supply !Since I got it the other day I have worked two stations on FM simplex about 5-6 miles away , I also worked a mobile station in San Diego that was calling CQ which was about 400 miles away not bad for 5 watts and a small portable antenna a Barker Williamson antenna , got an S5 signal report ! Shortwave radio coverage is excellent !
This past week I picked up a used Miracle whip antenna and got to try it out today in a local park with my FT-817ND , needless to say I was rather amazed with this little antenna that just screwed on to the back of the radio (no counter-poise) and 2 watts with AA pen light batteries I was able to work a station in Los Angeles over 450 miles away and another station in Louisiana over 1000 miles away on SSB 20 meters !I definately did not break anyone's signal strength meters , but I was heard ! A great little travel , backpack or survival radio and antenna ! Only wish that it also had CB and the weather band ! The next radio I hope to get one day will be the FT-857
I needed a CB for work,read this blog,bought a FlameThrower CB. It is an AMAZING CB RADIO, enough said. Thank you all for your comments, saved me a lot of time & possibly money.
Rob
Hopefully someday 11 meters(CB) will open up again with great DX as it was back in the late 70's , I go to our swap meet here in Northern Arizona and a person almost has to give CB's away no one seems to be interested in the hobby anymore or atleast very few are , the going price on a used 40 channel AM CB is $10 an older working 23 channel a person is lucky to get $5 SSB and the extras will go for more $50 and up ! A fellow walked up to me and asked me if I like CB radio ? I said yes ! And he gave me his CB radio for free ! A Cobra CB with the weather band ! Unfortunately I live in a community where CB or Ham antennas are not allowed so I once made a hidden dipole antenna for 11 meters , and I connected a 100 watt amp to the CB , needless to say the radio really got out , worked a mobile station in downtown Honolulu and numerous other stations across the U.S. this was when there was a skip opening ! 5 watts and a crappy antenna will just not cut it ! That Galaxy Flame thrower sounds like a great rig but not to easy to locate , Radio Shack seems to be one of the few places where a person can buy CB's now , unless a person buys mail order thru the internet or buys a rig at a truck stop where quality CB rigs are sold as the one here in Bellemont Arizona ! I like CB , but I like 2 meter FM(144MHZ-148MHZ) amateur radio better as it is more dependable and gives greater coverage thru the repeaters ,sometimes coverage of several hundred miles ! Just try getting out with 5 watts AM on CB mobile a person is lucky if they have coverage to 10 miles with all the noise !
CB has been terrible lately , here in Arizona all you hear is noise or once in awhile a distant trucker on channel 19 , definately a far cry from the good old days of the 1970's when 11 meters was wide open for DX , now a person almost has to give a CB away no one wants to buy them , remember years ago when I had a President Washington with the extras , worked all over the U.S. , Alaska , Hawaii and even Australia with a Radio Shack big stick up 20 feet and 20 watts ssb , now the band is mostly dead most of the time !
Just wanted to comment about skip conditions. I talked to CA,AZ,TX,SD,ND,FL,TN and others today from here in Portsmouth VA on my Cobra 148GTL CB today. And you say the conditions are dead????
Whatyatalkinbout Thomas?
Unit 20-21 I guess I had better get my antenna back up and start listening again !
Ever notice how many CB adds compare their's to a "FlameThrower"? My advise,stay away from any copycat wannabees.Get the real thang! A FLAMETHROWER!and you won't regret it.
Remember, If it's not a XEROX, It's NOT A XEROX.
BLUEJACKET
I go to the swap meets and yard sales and people are almost giving away CB radios , 40 channel Radio Shack AM CB's I've seen going for as cheap as $5 and rigs with SSB going for $20 , maybe when activity starts to pickup with the sun spots again more people will go into the hobby . Drove up to a high hill over looking Sedona the other day and took my CB with me , heard some stations far off , East Coast but since I was only running 5 watts AM thru a mobile mag mount couldn't reach any station , next time I go over to that hill again I will bring my Galaxy (not the Flame thrower) and a better mag mount antenna , in the past from that location I have worked the Hawaiian Islands !
Today (Jan.13,2011)I decided to take my Galaxy radio and my newly purchased Wilson CB antenna and see what I could work if there were any 11 meter band openings , heard mostly Mexican dx stations coming in mostly coming in from Baja California ! I can truely see why SSB has never been very popular with CB mobile operators , driving is a real challenge while trying to tune in on an SSB station , some are operating either upper or lower SSB ! Needless to say I did not attempt to work any Mexican dx as I do not speak Spanish ! I did get a good signal report on channel 19 from a trucker about 15 miles away ! As a side note , last weekend at one of our local swapmeets an individual had a Cobra model 148 40 channel AM/SBB with external speaker , mobile and mount , he was asking $5 for this radio , he sid it worked great ! Someone grabed up this radio as soon as it up for sale !I did get to buy his CB antenna the Wilson for $2 , which loads up from 26 MHZ thru 28.700 MHZ ! Good deals on CB's can be found , just know the right places to buy !
I have to admit the quality of the Galaxy CB radios is very good performance and basic physical appearance , paint job etc , I own two unfortunately I do not own the Galaxy Flame thower which sounds like the top of the line by some of the posters remarks ! The other month being an amateur radio operator I purchased a new Yaesu FT-817ND for over $600 , well the radio performs great ! But ,it has the absolute worst paint job I've ever seen on any amateur or CB radio , the cabinet paint peels off barely by touching it , I've owned this rig for around 6 months and it looks like I've owned it for over 6 years , seems any kid in a junior high school metal class knows the you must always prime bare metal first before it is painted , unfortunately the people at Yaesu do not know this ! Rather than shipping the rig back with shipping costs and maybe getting the rig returned in a month or two , I've decided to paint the rig myself , slowly with a "quality" durable paint ! So all of you out there buyer beware , you can buy an expensive rig and get a totally crappy paint job ! Like buying a $60,000 sports car with $19 paint job !
I am a professional truck driver and have owned and used my FlameThrower CB about every day now for about 4 months. I must say it is much better than my Peaked and Tweaked Cobra 29. I can talk about three times as far with my Flamethrower.I am not a ham radio man and probably never will be, but wanted to give my honest review of my Flamethrower radio too. I give you my permission to post this review on your hub.
Thank you for your time to read this.
Thomas L
well fellows get your CB's out and set up ! Today (March 7,2011)was a good day 10-11 meters has been wide open, being a license ham I worked the Big island of Hawaii today running 4 watts and an indoor antenna (the miracle whip) on 10 meters! Put up a beam or inverted V with the "Flame thrower" and you should be able to work anywhere with the band open ! You will find that CB is generally more laid back than ham radio , there are too many contests on ham radio and too many old farts that think they own the ham bands , enjoy CB as it is more fun !
Thomas, your blog about putting up a inverted V antenna. I have a Flamethrower CB and I read your interesting article and put up a regular V dipole antenna as noted on many amateur radio websites,it is not inverted but just like a V with coax fed from the bottom. Each leg is about 108' inches long. The results I am getting are absolutely unbelieveable. QSO's to Canada, Bahamas, West Coast USA, Alaska, and YES Australia! THOMAS, THANK YOU SIR!
Capt.KIRK 36LSB
Yes the inverted V is a good diapole antenna and very easy to make, first get a balum and good copper wire not too small in diameter, use the formula, the center frequency that you plan to use and divide by 468 and then by 2 , example CB 27MHZ divide into 468 = 17.33 feet, divide again by 2 = 8.6 feet for each leg of the diapole ! Another configuation that a person can use besides the inverted V, is the L configuation, this antenna I used from my apartment in Honolulu in Waikiki, place one leg of your diapole vertical, straight up and down, attach to a curtain rod at a window for best results, then lay the other end of your diapole flat on the floor, lay a heavy object on top so the wire does not curl up, a heavy book or piece of wood not metal as this will effect your SWR, I had excellent results with this antenna, from my 4th floor apartment running a Galaxy CB, 10-15 watts was able to work all of Honolulu on ground wave in the evening and during skip conditions worked Australia and the west coast of the mainland ! Always remember check your SWR while setting up your diapole, roll up alittle wire using small supermarket ties until you get a good SWR atleast 1.8 to 1 ! This is a great little travel antenna to take with your CB on vacation ! This antenna can also be made even cheaper by just cutting off one end of your coax, then cutting off about 8 inches of the black insulation, then cutting off the insulation around the center copper wire, using emory paper to get a clean point to solder on both the braid and copper to each leg of your diapole ! ust a word of advice do not try and use a mag mount CB antenna as a portable antenna, results are very poor as mag mount antennas only work well with an automobile as the body of the car acts as a ground plane !Check out AES on the web and ask for their free catalog, their quality of balums and coax are good !Also avoid buying used coax or mobile CB antennas from yardsales or swap meets
Avoid used coax especially from yard sales as most likely it is old and maybe laying in someones basement or garage for years, moisture can get inside an make the coax worthless giving high SWR readings on your radio ! Also avoid at all costs those cheap $19.95 crapy CB mobile mag-mount antennas that one finds at K-Mart, Walmart and auto supply houses, Pep Boys, Auto Zone etc,they are total worthless Chinese made junk that you can never get a decent SWR and they fall apart after very little usage, check ham radio supply stores, like HRO,AES for a good quality CB mobile antennas such as "Ham stick", Wilson,K-40 and similar atennas !
Thomas
I have a Flamethrower and need to know where I can buy one of those types of V antennas you guys are talking about.
Mark : the V antenna is a configuration of the wire antenna called the dipole(excuse the misspelling before not a diapole but a dipole)unfortunately you can not buy a ready made inverted V antenna for CB (11 meters)as the only CB or 11 meter antennas avaliable are beams, verticals or mobile antennas so to be able to use an inverted V antenna you must make your own ! To make your antenna correctly you must have a balum, this you can buy thru an amateur radio supply house(HRO,AES, Universal Radio, etc) at the ase of the balum you screw on your coax on each end of the balum are copper "pig" tails, this is where you solder your wire that is the heart of your dipole ! Cut the wire using the formula 27 divide into 468 which will give you aprox. 17feet 7 inches then divide again by 2 which will give you aprox. 8 feet 8 inches, this is the aprox. lenght for each of the two legs of your inverted V dipole cut each lenght of wire 8 feet 8 inches, solder one to each of the pig tails on your balum, attach your balum to as high a point above the ground away from metal objects, have your two wires at a V configuration, the ends of each wire attach to an insulator at one end and at the opposite end towards the ground attach a rope and tie to a stake in the ground, now comes the tricky part, check your SWR using low power if it is too high FIRST change your angle slightly if it is still to high cutoff a small piece of wire on each end of your dipole inverted V, not too much, the SWR should go down IF you do cut off too much wire, I just attach an aligator clip to each end of the wire ! Believe me I have had great luck with my home brew inverted V on CB 11 meters, with 10-15 watts all over the USA, even Hawaii when the band was open ! Regular ground wave (without skip) at night I could work Long Beach, the Valley, downtown Los Angeles from my home in west central Los Angeles !
Check out the HRO and AES web sites and request a free catalog there are lots of good worth while equipment that you can get the best use of your "Flame thrower" CB ! Always as important as your radio is to have a quality SWR watt meter, I once years ago knew a CBer who couldn't understand why he could hear stations but no one ever heard him !I asked him several questions, what type of antenna was he using ? What was his SWR ? Seems he knew next to nothing about antennas or high SWR, he was using a cheap mobile mag mount on his wooden roof, once he did get an SWR meter, he seen his SWR was over 6to1, he was barely putting out a quarter of a watt in power !!! He purchased a Radio Shack "big stick" antenna and got new coax, he then put out a great signal ! Remember your antenna and your location is 75% of your station ! A crapy antenna and poor location even with an expensive radio will give poor results !I got the idea for the inverted V antenna from a ham radio operator who told me it was the best antenna he had ever used !
Thomas, I decided to build a base antenna for my FlameThrower CB .It took about 2 hours total figuring how to build,where to install and adjusting SWR. I went to a local abandon construction site and found a 11 foot piece of 12 gauge electrical wire in a scrap pile. I cut the wire to 9 feet and split it. This gave me 3 inches to fold back to attach it to a nylon rope which I used to connect to my upstairs rooftop and to a tree in the back yard. I checked the SWR meter on the FlameThrower in AM position and it was slightly higher on channel 40 than channel 1 when wires were stretched straight out flat. I noticed I could adjust my SWR by increasing the antenna sag,the closer the tip ends of the V, the lower the SWR on channel 40 became until it was about 1.5 on both 1 and 40. Im using 22 feet of coax cable called RG8X it is very felxable.I did not use a balum you talked about> Do I need one?
The homebrew Dipole Antenna is working very well!Im spending a lot of time listening and talking to people here in Miami as well as all over the country. Thank you for your help. Thomas see if you can talk to me, I listen and talk on channels 36-38 Lower Sideband. My call is 210 Miami.
Mark 210 Miami, FL
Mark : That is great that you made your inverted V and got it working, sometimes it takes alittle while to get a good SWR match as there are a number of factors, the wire lenght of each leg of the inverted V, the ground conditions, also any metal or bushes or trees nearby ! You asked if a balum is necessary ? It merely makes it easy to attach your coax to your antenna as at the base of the balum there is a threaded adaptor to screw on the PL-259 connector that is on your coax cable, I used to buy them years ago(balums) at Henry Radio in Los Angeles or pick them up used at the Ham radio/CB swapmeet, it just saves alot of work by just soldering the wires for the inverted V on the "pig" tails of the balum rather than cutting off the coax and soldering the wires directly to the braided and center copper wire of the coax . I will listen for you Mark 210 Miami !
Mark : a further comment using a balum gives your antenna more strength and resistance to high wind damage.Check out some of your amateur radio supply stores in your area ! also for any of you who unfortunately like myself who live in antenna restricted communities or apartments and would like to operate your CB or ham radio, try the inverted V antenna except have one leg of the antenna straight up and down as a vertical as close to a window as possible, attach to a curtain rod, and lay the other leg of the antenna flat on the floor's surface, keeping the wire as straight as possible, lay a heavy book over the wire to keep it straight, check out your SWR if it is too high roll up a small portion of wire on both ends, this is a configuration of the wire dipole antenna not an inverted V but an "L" antenna ! From my 4th floor apartment in Honolulu running 10 watts with my Galaxy CB I worked state side as well as Australia when 10-11 meters was open ! This is also a great little antenna to take while on vacation can be used from your hotel/motel room while using an external power supply . This antenna does get out not as good as an outside inverted V antenna but you will work DX when the band is open, but the best part is that only you know you are operating your CB radio and not your neighbor !
Just another comment for what it is worth for each and everyone of you who do come to this web site who enjoy radio as much as I do both CB and amateur radio, get yourselves a techician class amateur radio license and believe me you will not regret it ! I use not only my CB radio in my car but also my amateur radio 2 meter FM rig, 2 meters is a great band for short range dependable communications especially while driving and an emergency occurs as there are repeaters everywhere, from my location in Sedona Arizona I can talk to stations on 2 meters(thru the repeaters) in Phoenix (150 miles away)at the Grand Canyon(60 miles away)or even Tucson(over 250 miles away)arm chair copy no fading away ! For short range dependable communication 2 meters FM is far superior to CB ! As band condition can and do change on 11 meters (CB) ! Just something for you to think about !
I agree with what Thomas said, to get the most out of radio as a hobby one should really get a ham license. Not only can you get access to the best DX bands, but can use so many great local repeaters with a handheld. Ham radio is not outdated as some may think. We used it aboard our sailboat to send email from islands in the Caribbean and South America using the Pactor protocol and Airmail.
Amaterur radio is great to have in an emergency, but there are too many old "stuffy" ultra conservative hams listening who immediately try to evaluate of a particular individual's moral qualities and judge your character and make personal judgements based soley on what they THINK you mean. I enjoy CB conversations which allow you to remain anonymous and say how you REALLY feel about issues and comment without someone on the other end knowing who you are,lableing, judging you or condemming you for your views on specific issues. I love my CB radio it allows me to speak my mind without fear of judgement,labling or retribution from the Amateur "radio police".
Ham/CB radio operator : Very true, just listen to 75 meters some evening, the average age must be about 80 years old, and God help the amateur operator who accidentally uses a frequency that a group of these old hams meet on ! Both Ham radio and CB radio have their advantages and disadvantages, AM CB sometimes is like the lawless old west where anything goes, the foul language, racial slurs, playing music and threats,while Ham radio "generally" is more regulated, as Hams use call signs that can easly be looked up to see where the idividual lives !CB no license and God only knows who is talking over the radio !
This is the first website that tells it like it is! You fellas are dead right about the way some arrogant amateur radio operators treat eachother,they aren't any better than some of the CB crowd.I found this by doing a search for a FlameThrower cb which you guys praised highly in your comments. I recently purchased one and I am extremely happy with it. Keep up the good work and don't let the attitude of others get in your way of tellin it like it is.Few people can do that nowdays.
Im going built a homebrew Dipole Antenna too this summer when the weather breaks.
Stan
Last weekend I was at the annual Williams Arizona Hamfest, seems like every year this hamfest is becoming smaller and smaller, most of the hams were mostly old men very few teenagers ! The radios for sale were what is called old boat anchors, transmitters and receivers from the the 1950's thru the 1960'a few newer radios, a couple of older Yaesu FT-101's with the 11 meter crystals but a rather poor selection of rigs, I did see an export CB/10 meter radio(100 watts) for sale for $100 and a couple of Galaxy base CB rigs for around $200, I picked up an Icom 2 meter handheld that runs on AA batteries for $60 nice rig with 5 watts out, but other than that the Hamfest was a big disappointment .
hello,
I found a cornell-dubilier mark 12 40 channel cb radio
dont know the watts, 12? is this a good find? i can get it for 5 bucks right now
Do You Remember When CB Was Popular?
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GALAXY DX959 AM SSB 40 CH.+ SIDEBANDS PEAKED & TUNED CB Radio 2 yr Warranty
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CONNEX 566SB SSB CB RADIO PEAKED, TUNED AND ALIGNED READY TO TALK!!!
Current Bid: $215.00
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parkerk393 3 years ago
Great hub! I'm a huge fan of CB radios. :)