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amp? or big radio?
- Thread starter joeboo
- Start date
Used to be a shop in Lincoln called Spark Gap. Gary was the tech. Super good dude and knew his stuff. Unfortunately he died a couple years ago. Don't know if the shop is still up and running or not?
my name is nobody 
i learn what lil i have learned from here and others..
ive learned 3-50 watts and a BIG antenna is all nya eed to talk anywhere you want to when the times are right.
i had 500 watts,then went down to 8 ,then i built a quad from scrap stuff and WOW,theres many other countrys out there i never heard of..austrailia every morning and night,..i dont think theres anywhere else past 17,000 miles that ive talked too tho so i could have missed something lol..
i learn what lil i have learned from here and others..ive learned 3-50 watts and a BIG antenna is all nya eed to talk anywhere you want to when the times are right.
i had 500 watts,then went down to 8 ,then i built a quad from scrap stuff and WOW,theres many other countrys out there i never heard of..austrailia every morning and night,..i dont think theres anywhere else past 17,000 miles that ive talked too
tho so i could have missed something lol..Yeah i herd of the place in Lincoln. But i haven't herd about how the techs and service are. If i find someone i will relay it to you.
I like to mount antennas on the back of the cab. Especially on the cross bar that holds the spring and air lines. It provides a ground and is up and out of the way. I have real good luck with a 6' Frainis antennas. 5' up there is just as good I M O. Run enough RG 8X down the back & right side through the passenger door to your radio. You will not notice the difference if you have to splice the coax with a barrel. Ebay is the cheapest place to shop for this stuff. Good luck.
I would agree behind the cab can be a good place for an antenna mainly because you can center it on the vehichle for a omni-directional ground plane effect.
However, it's only ideal if your pulling a low profile trailer like a tanker, flatbed, etc. and if you have a flat top cab.
Any van or reefer wouldn't be ideal since you are surrounding the antenna with too much metal.
Your antenna should be up in the air as far away from metal as possible.
Keep in mind with mobile setups, it's not the metal around the antenna, but the metal underneath it that matters for good performance.
However, it's only ideal if your pulling a low profile trailer like a tanker, flatbed, etc. and if you have a flat top cab.
Any van or reefer wouldn't be ideal since you are surrounding the antenna with too much metal.
Your antenna should be up in the air as far away from metal as possible.
Keep in mind with mobile setups, it's not the metal around the antenna, but the metal underneath it that matters for good performance.
According to one of the old timers here in town, spark gap was still going. Though he takes his radios down around St Louis somewhere. I could try to catch him on the air but he's rarely on anymore.
The better approach may be to choose an amplifier that has drive requirements matching your radio rather than having a tech try to make the radio match the amp. The radio would only need adjustment if it were putting too many watts into the amplifier causing an overdrive condition. Get one large enough so your radio would have a difficult time overdriving it and it might even run "linear".
You'll also get the benefits of a cleaner signal, improved reliability, increased headroom and reduced operating temperature. If you have an option, avoid so called MOSFET amps. I call them "MISFIT amps" because they have tried to misfit a power supply transistor into a high frequency RF application. Even an 80 watt counterfeit DEI 2879 is better.
before i done enough research on the subject of getting an amp. I had sent my radio off to a guy who did what i have since learned is a No No.... He clipped D-11 and R-55 and maxed vr4. Far as i can see that was it. Now that i have decided to go the amp route i will need those clips fixed from what i understand? ..
I was considering an xforce x80 or 200hd as 9C1driver suggested In case i decide on a ssb setup later.
those are all mosfets right?
for now its just a semi install and mostly ch19.
Tractor is a flat top and i do pull a tanker so mounting antenna on back of cab is an option. However i just bought a meter yesterday to double check swr and my current antenna on the stock mount and location on the cascadia i am reading 1.4 on 1. 1.2 on 20. And 1.1 on 40. I am still looking for an antenna to run with the amp. I was thinking of trying a predator 10k.
thanks alot for all the great info and suggestions.
I was also suggested to have my deadkey set to 2. And that being how it is all stock the swing should be fine for an amp like i am considering. does this sound about right to yall? Or do i need the swing set to?
Thanks again.
I was considering an xforce x80 or 200hd as 9C1driver suggested In case i decide on a ssb setup later.
those are all mosfets right?
for now its just a semi install and mostly ch19.
Tractor is a flat top and i do pull a tanker so mounting antenna on back of cab is an option. However i just bought a meter yesterday to double check swr and my current antenna on the stock mount and location on the cascadia i am reading 1.4 on 1. 1.2 on 20. And 1.1 on 40. I am still looking for an antenna to run with the amp. I was thinking of trying a predator 10k.
thanks alot for all the great info and suggestions.
I was also suggested to have my deadkey set to 2. And that being how it is all stock the swing should be fine for an amp like i am considering. does this sound about right to yall? Or do i need the swing set to?
Thanks again.
No the x80 and the 200hd both have 2879 transistors, the x80 may have a 2290. Made by DEI or toshiba, most likely the 1st unless you order them with the toshibas. You need to get the vswr down before adding an amp IMO. Get the radio issues resolved too unless you like bleeding over channels. JMO. Good day.
Had 2 radios done there(29,148GTL). 29 is going good but the 148 is a mess. The sideband is all messed up and understandable. I think he turned a few to many pots. This was done about 7 months ago and I'm in AL and don't get back to my home town that often.
Just a friendly word of caution on the Predator 10K and that aluminum Cascadia mirror bracket: KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON THEM! I had that same setup on my Cascadia, and both the antenna and the bracket gave up the ghost due to metal fatigue within a few months. I do most of my driving in South and West Texas, right in the heart of oilfield country....so the roads suck! The top ear on the bracket was the first casualty, and the base of the antenna tube was the second. If you do decide to go that route, I would definitely find something nonconductive to safety tie the antenna to the door.
that's to bad on the 148. Garys been gone for a couple years now. He was a heck of a nice dude and had a degree from university of IL in electrical engineering so he pretty much new what to do on the cb's and exports. I did some work for a friend years ago and ended up w an old 2970 as payment. This thing was a mess and someone jacked it up w the golden screwdriver. I took it to Gary and he went through it and I still have it. I talks great now. I dropped it off at the shop about 70 miles north of me and didn't hear anything for a month or two. I called the shop and they told me Gary died a couple days ago. They checked on my rig and told me he finished it the night before he died. He just hadn't got around to calling me. Crazy! probably the last rci he ever worked on. Anyways I think he was the only real "tech" they had and was the owner. Don't know who doing the work now but don't know if I would trust em....