Hi all been trolling here for a bit, lots of useful information. I'm just getting back into the cb world, & amazed at how much has changed. I'm currently running a bearcat 980, the galaxy echo desk mic, & (don't laugh) a workman b100 antenna which works better than I thought it would giving it's limitations. I,m looking for a better antenna, leaning towards a imax 2000 but concerned about bleed over & it seems wispy. I can't do any type of beam so it has to be omni directional. I'm sure this subject has been touched on before if so directions to a previous thread or any advice would be cool. Thank you for reading, camelgoat (Dale).
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I need a better antenna
- Thread starter camelgoat
- Start date
Everyone will have a different opinion when it comes to antennas, so just read a ton of reviews and buy what works best for you. The IMAX is a great antenna and is hard to beat for the price. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one.
Also look into Sirio antennas. They have quite a few that might fit the bill and are affordable.
http://www.dnjradio.com/product_info.php?products_id=224
Or my personal favorite, the Sirio 2016. This one is out of stock, but if you can find one for around $150 you can't go wrong.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sirio-2016-26-4-28-2-Mhz-Tunable-CB-10M-Base-Antenna/156753350
Also look into Sirio antennas. They have quite a few that might fit the bill and are affordable.
http://www.dnjradio.com/product_info.php?products_id=224
Or my personal favorite, the Sirio 2016. This one is out of stock, but if you can find one for around $150 you can't go wrong.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sirio-2016-26-4-28-2-Mhz-Tunable-CB-10M-Base-Antenna/156753350
The Sirio 2016 is in stock at Amazon but it's up at $175. The Sirio Tornada is another good one for about $100. The Sirio GPS 27 1/2 wave is only $70. I have had one of those for about 8 years. Been through 3 hurricanes and still working.
DNJ radio has these antennas. I have one that has been in the air for more than ten years and the only thing I have had to do is change the coax. It's a good skip shooter, I keyed up my Uniden 2510 and talked to the Azores barefoot.
http://www.dnjradio.com//product_info.php?products_id=200
http://www.dnjradio.com//product_info.php?products_id=200
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Thanks guys guess I'll give the 2000 a shot. The other antennas look inviting but radials would get in the way of my mounting position. I wish Shakespeare would bring back the super big stick, loved that thing. I had a Starduster back in the day elements kept coming off after a storm,became a pain in the arse to climbing up to re-install but a great antenna. Again many thanks, Camelgoat (Dale)
I never had that problem. I wrap every junction of tubing with electrical tape and never had an element fall off.
I have a zerofive colossal 5kw antenna, quality antenna , and tom at zerofive is a pleasure to do business with.. If you need any help with tuning or have any questions regarding the antenna, tom has no problem talking you through any issues you may until you get it right..
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Went from 11 meter dipole (inverted v) to the a99 then the IMAX 2000. My antenna placement/installation is very limited. My IMAX 2000 gave me a full s-unit in transmit and recive over the a99 (at the same 7' height). That's right. My 2000 is only 7' off the ground. Only problem for me is a 1.3:1 swr with 500 watts from my amp running through it. This isn't really an issue for me. No doubt the higher swr is caused by the lack of proper wavelength (height) my 2000 is at. Not to mention it's about 15' from my home (in the yard.) Never the less zero complaints from the Neighbors because of rfi. After 20 months @ 7' the antenna has provided me with 100's of contacts local and world-wide. Quieter than my a99 was. Easy to install. No radial kit required. For me it's operated excellently and installed a 7' I would imagine the closer you get to the recommended hight for this antenna the happier you'll be. Great antenna and you will be happy you've made the choice. PS you can't imagine how many stations I've spoken with that are in the same situation as myself when it comes to the 2000 and lack of proper height. All have had the same experience as myself and reported excellent results. You will not regret the purchase and price point operation goodness of the IMAX 2000. 73
Camelgoat, from the tone of this statement i get the impression that your mounting location is less than ideal and that you are hoping to compensate for a low, obstructed mounting location by using a larger antenna.
let me be the first to tell you that this rarely works, and if you are having interference issues, be they RF related or actual physical interferences, having a bigger, more powerful antenna will only make your problems worse.
Before you lay out the dough for a new antenna; it might be wise to tell us your ideas for mounting the antenna, and what compromises you see in your future.
a couple of pictures of the location also helps a lot.
you may get more advice than you bargained for, but at least you won't put forth a lot of time, expense, and effort only to have poor results.
LC
Camelgoat -
LOOSECANNON'S REPLY IS THE BEST ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION !!!
Before spending the $$$ for a new antenna, let us know where you intend to mount it, how high, etc. Like LC said, a couple of pics are worth 1000 words. Welcome back to the world of CB. 73s
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Thanks loosecannon I started having second thoughts on it my-self. I have taken pics but pc's being stubborn won't let me load them. My problem is the only place I have to mount an antenna without being in the front yard is on my back porch which of course has wires running not too far from it ( electrical, cable phone not really sure but don't want to have the antenna above them) so I was going to mount a bigger one lower but remember from years ago that didn't work well. The workman b100 works pretty well for what I wanted, ( it reaches between my base & work which is about 10 miles) but I really miss dxing not sure the antenna is up to the task.My new brainstorm was thinking along the line of perhaps a maco ba1 mounting it horizontal & keeping the b100 as a vertical. I know without pics it's hard to get a visual but I have a 15 ft mast mounted 3 ft off the ground if I mount the ba1 under the b100 it will keep me under the wires. I do plan on running a tvi filter. Any thoughts on this?
When I wanted to go from the dipole to a vertical, I explained my situation to wwdx members and that was, not wanting to put an antenna on my roof. The reasons were several. The roof was new so putting any holes in it was definitely out of the question., And I didn't want to have it looking so obtrusive with the use of guy wires. So my choices were kind of limited. I Came Upon this item on eBay. It's called a non-penetrating roof mount. It's normally used for a flat roof where one would not want to have to drill or screw holes into it. I don't have a flat roof and my only other choice was to put the the antenna it in my backyard. I could have easily put the antenna in my backyard and up as high as 30 ft. But that would require guy wires. It just wasn't an option. I have lots of young nieces and nephews who run around my yard when visiting and didn't want to see one of them get yoked by Guy wires. These non-penetrating roof mounts are not really made for CB or HF antenna use. They're meant to support a small dish or the like. When I asked the members of this site what they thought some said if it's all you got go for it and others said forget about it it'll never work. I bought the most expensive non-penetrating roof mount I could find on eBay. It was easily put together and up in about an hour. The bottom frame supports 8 standard cinder blocks. I don't recall the total weight of the eight cinder blocks (240 lbs?) but in the year-and-a-half this has been up it has never come down or even moved. 60 mile an hour winds blowing for over 2 hours did nothing but what would be expected and that was having my IMAX bend over farther and faster than a cheap hooker. The non-penetrating roof mount comes with a five foot mast included which as you can see is supported by three tripod type bracing bars. I did add another five foot mast to the top of the one that was supplied bringing my antenna to approximately 7 ft off the ground. The first antenna I put on this non-penetrating roof mount was an Antron 99. It worked fine. I thought the lack of height might be seriously affecting my receive so I replaced the A99 with an IMAX 2000 hoping to improve my recive. And I actually gained 1s unit on receive and the same on transmit. I know the photos a bit blurry but your looking at exactly what I described. I added another five foot mast on top of the one supplied with the non-penetrating roof mount. The extra few feet actually helped a bit but it worked with the supplied 5' mast. With the overlapping of the u-bolts from the top mast to the antenna and the the same for the bottom mast to the top one I figure I'm about 7' off the ground. The antenna is located about 15 ft from my house. My SWR it is about 1.2::1. In all honesty I run 500 watts. With the amplifier in standby and turning up the rigs variable to 15 Watts. But have slowly turned down the variable to about 1 watt and still continued many qso's whilst turning the variable down to 1 watt or less. I get out locally about 25 miles. With the amplifier on I can speak consistently 70 miles. Skip is another thing all together. Although it's rare the amplifier is ever off when skip conditions are open, I have on several occasions put the amplifier in standby after makin an initial contact across the Atlantic, or Pacific with the variable on my rig turned up to 5 - 15 (SSB) Watts and continued the qso with a drop-in carrier on the other end of course but still continued my initial contacts. IF you do not have an amp or are making a conscious decision not to use one I would suggest at least having your transceiver modified so that you can transceive on the freebandz. Making contacts when conditions are good on single Side Band and trying to hold a qso below channel 40 with a 12-watt radio is very difficult to say the least. Not because you won't get out or here with the same or similar antenna setup as I've got but everyone is running at least a hundred Watts or more and all talking at the same time. . Being able to be heard with 12 watts is going to be difficult to say the least. Above channel 40 and I'd bet you'll enjoy holding down qso's without issue. There will no doubt be members saying that sonar is out of his mind and that I should not be believed but you can easily check out my YouTube channel which only has a few Clips on it but still see that I have absolutely no problems making contacts on am or single Side Band local or skip with the exact antenna setup you see in the photo I posted (amp on Below 40 amp off ⅝ - 15 Watts above 40 SSB). I will say it again for the one that might have missed it. 500 watts does help tremendously but with that same antenna setup I have held long qso's with stations on the east coast to the West Coast of the US and others across the Atlantic with just a single watt on ssb. No matter what you do when a friend good luck and enjoy the hobby. 73
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Antennas don't bleed over, only rigs that have had golden screwdriver muppets inside them do.