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Beginner ham antenna questions

bhayles

bhayles

W9WDX Amateur Radio Club Member
Jul 2, 2014
181
25
38
mountains of N Georgia
juicymaters.com
cross posted from CB antenna forum:

After spending my teen years in the early 70's with a 23 channel CB radio I've been radio-less for the last 40+ years. A couple of months ago I decided that getting back into some sort of radio communications might be a good thing...just in case, don't ya know.

I picked up a Cobra 148 GTL off EBay and got an Antron 99. The setup works well...but is not sufficient for what I want to be able to do.

I've ordered 2 Baofeng 997 S's to cover 2M and 70 cm and will be ordering (Monday) a Yeticom Optima MKIII for 24.500 thru 29.990 (yes, I'm getting licensed).

Whart is my most economical way to set up base antenna(s) that will give me decent ability to reach out? I don't believe in cheap, but it must be frugal as I live on a small, fixed retirement income.

Ideas?
 

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Just pull your A99 down, trim 6 inchs off the top. You will be good for 10 and 11 meter without needing spend anymore money. Save your money for a real radio, that 10 meter cb will show it's shortcomings very quickly. You also will want to upgrade to general, ten meter is on the downslide of the sunspot cycle, and you will want the lower bands.
Rich
 
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n8fgb said:
Just pull your A99 down, trim 6 inchs off the top. You will be good for 10 and 11 meter without needing spend anymore money. Save your money for a real radio, that 10 meter cb will show it's shortcomings very quickly. You also will want to upgrade to general, ten meter is on the downslide of the sunspot cycle, and you will want the lower bands.
Rich
Click to expand...
100% agree here! Forget about getting a Yeticom, as good as they are they are not a real ham rig. There are some good deals on used ham gear out there.
 
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Congrats on going for a ticket. I just passed General a couple of months back. It's definitely worth studying for. 10 can be great when the propagation cooperates, but you'll find yourself wishing you could play more when it's dead... hence getting your General license. I would keep the A99 for 10 and 11 (maybe 12, too, but a stretch). Cut a dipole for what you can fit in your yard for the lowest band you will use.

And get an amateur rig instead of the export. Money well spent, and as others have mentioned, there are some very good used ham rigs out there in the 300-450 dollar range that will let you go every where your license lets you. Many more features that you will need, like IF Shift, narrow filters, the ability to work split, etc. I picked up an old Kenwood TS-520 from a trusted club member for 125 bucks, and she works great. Not many features, but it's a real fun rig to play on. Receive and transmit audio is nothing short of fantastic. Old tube rigs aren't for everybody, but look at some of the newer (but older) transistorized ones. The QTH links provided show a couple of good ones, and there are many more out there in this price range, and as stated will run rings around any export.

On edit, I forgot to mention... there are tons of links to solid antenna designs. You need to know what your parameters are, if you are in an HOA there are stealth antennas, if you live in the country and have trees, there's a lot you can do. Here's a simple, cheap and easy way to cover a lot of bands with a tuner:
http://www.hamuniverse.com/hfdoublet.html

73,
Brett
 
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The A99 also works fair on 15 and 17 meter. I have made olts of good contacts with one on those bands.
Rich
 
n8fgb said:
The A99 also works fair on 15 and 17 meter. I have made olts of good contacts with one on those bands.
Rich
Click to expand...


Nothing magical about it. A piece of wire the same length would do the same thing. I used to clip a random length of wire somewhere between ten and twenty-five feet long to the top of my 6m mobile 1/4 wave and work lots of DX from the campground while set up.
 
n8fgb said:
The A99 also works fair on 15 and 17 meter. I have made olts of good contacts with one on those bands.
Rich
Click to expand...


Nothing magical about it. A piece of wire the same length would do the same thing. I used to clip a random length of wire somewhere between ten and twenty-five feet long to the top of my 6m mobile 1/4 wave and work lots of DX from the campground while set up.

NEVER underestimate the simple piece of wire.
 
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n8fgb said:
QTH.COM Ham Radio Classified Ads: Ad# 1140168 - Swap amateur radio HF VHF equipment buy sell trade on line

QTH.COM Ham Radio Classified Ads: Ad# 1140248 - Swap amateur radio HF VHF equipment buy sell trade on line

QTH.COM Ham Radio Classified Ads: Ad# 1139958 - Swap amateur radio HF VHF equipment buy sell trade on line

Any one of these will work rings around any te meter cb. These are just what I found in a few minutes.
Rich
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It looks like the Ixom is a better radio and is priced lower as well...am I getting that right on it being a better radio? The Kenwood is $350.00 and eHam shows it being a $400.00 radio when new MSRP.
 
w9cll said:
If you can afford a bit more then look at the Icom 718 or the Alinco SR8T, both are in the $500-$600 range but are new.

Alinco SR8T
Click to expand...

m42Duster had his SR8T up for sale at $425. Not sure why he pulled it...maybe no nibbles?

I have an Icom IC-718 and really like it. Also have a TS-430, and really like it, too. I know the 430 is still serviceable if anything goes wrong. Don't know about the Icom (edit: referring to the Icom IC-740 listed in the QTH link). Sure has some fans on eHam, though!

If you have a local club to knock around with, see if they have a site with anything for sale. Lots of guys upgrade their rigs to newer ones, and have their old one as a back up, or would consider selling it to a new ham.

Another good link: http://www.ac6v.com/antprojects.htm

73,
Brett
 
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