Considering a base...

[The Jerk]

I'm considering setting up a crude base using a small power supply and a Uniden Grant (barefoot, I live in town). All I want to do is to talk with the locals that are typically less than 5 miles from me, as the crow flies.

My biggest hangup, other than I don't want to disturb the neighbors, is the antenna. I still need to check with local zoning, but I know there are several towers in town, one is a moonraker (B-I-G) I believe. So assuming there aren't zoning laws against installing an antenna, what would be a good entry-level? I have a two-story house, and could fairly easily mount an antenna to the end of the peak.

I was looking at something like the Workman Bandit II ( Worldwide Radio Forum Store ) sold by the forum store. Or something similar...

Another option I have been reading about, although I don't know where I would mount it, would be a dipole...but I'm not sure I'm ready to get into that kind of construction.

 

[Highlander_821]

I'd go with the Solarcon A99. Cheap, easy to install, good bandwidth, decent performance, looks nice, and should last a long time. Just a good starter base antenna.

 

[W5LZ]

I think that 'Bandit' or the 'A99' are comparable and would probably suit your aims pretty good. I don't think I'd get too ambitious until I found out about that zoning, CCR's, etc. Higher is better as far as any antenna is concerned, so get what you can with no super big effort. If things work out as you want, you can always make stuff 'better', you know?
Have fun.
- 'Doc

 

[W9WD]

You could just get a couple Radio Shack Stainless Steel 102" whip antennas and make a dipole. Mount it vertical for cars or horizontal for DX
$50 cheap and pretty invisible.

 

[Moleculo]

That Bandit and A99 are the same antenana. I wouldn't be surprised if they were even made by the same company. If you like the 102" whip dipole idea, all you need is a mirror mount dipole bracket, the whips, some coax and of course a small mast to clamp it to. Radio shack has the masts.

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

you could make a wire starduster copy . thats what i did .
heres a cut and paste from a pm that i was asking someone about it .....

".......if i take two 10 ft peices of 3/4 or 1 inch pvc and a 4 way . cut the 2 10's into four 5 foot sections and attach them to the 4-way making a big X , attach one end of four 9 ft ground wires to each end of the X and the other end to the ground side of the coax . the X will hang down spreading the 4 grounds at about a 33 degree angle (depending on where you measure from degree wise . use a hose clamp/tape/strap whatever to hold the cender of the X stable against the mast . the radiator and ground will be isolated from the mast and no ground wire . ugly bauln at the feed point of the radiator and another just below the bottom of the X to hold the ground radials in shape/place . itll be about 27-28 feet high , on a lil hill on the side of the house , roof peak about 14 ft high .
p.s. no coil or tophat . lol"

seems to be working better than i thought it would . even talks skip .

 

[The Jerk]

OK, now I'm looking at a dipole...not really anywhere to mount a wire one, so I'd be either making a vertical one out of copper tubing or buying/making a mount to use two 102-whips.

If I use whips, how does a 102" whip work? Shouldn't it be 108" (thinking of a 102" and 6" spring in a mobile)??

If I use copper tubing, can fittings be sweat onto the tubing and not affect the intended purpose? And the overall length of one leg should be 234/27.125=8.63 feet? Or 8 feet, 7.5 inches roughly, as a starting point? When you tune the dipole, do you trim both ends or just the one connected to the center conductor?

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

if you use copper tubing get a 10 foot peice of 3/4 and 1/2 inch along with a pair of 3/4 to 1/2 inch reducers and the end caps for the 1/2 inch tubing . cut each peice in half and solder the reducer to the 3/4 x 5 foot tubing and the cap to 1/2 inch by 5 foot peices . oh yea , use a round file to remove the sholder inside the 1/2 inch side of the reducer so the pipe can slide down into it .
it should come out looking like this ...
N2AQS PICTURES
if you want the ends of the 3/4 cleaner/not open do this .....
The $5 Hustler Mast
you can also use other diameters . using two different sizes of tubing you can adlust it from almost 10 foot to just a lil over 5 foot in length , wayyyy more than needed for CB .

 

[The Jerk]

I like that design, is there any harm in leaving the end caps off? I would be concerned with the tubing filling with rain water.

I guess they mount the dipole using a u-bolt mounted to the PVC pipe?

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

copper will turn green as it oxidizes in the weather . id cap the ends , waterproof the connections and put a couple coats of gloss clear coat on , might keep it shinny a few days longer . or........spray the whole thing with black rubber undercoating from an auto store , make it look more like a long stick if its on a tree .

another cheaper easier option if you dont want or need to adjust for use outeside of cb channels is this ........
10 Meter Dipole - N2UHC's Radio Stuff
that is for 10 meters so its a li short for cb . just make it about 9 foot on each end and cut/tune to your particular instattation .

you can also just do two wires on a few peices of pvc pipe

 

[doctor]

SIRIO makes a dipole and the review is good in cbradio magazine on the net..$64.95

DOCTOR/795

 

[W5LZ]

The two examples given give you an idea of what a typical dipole can be like. I don't see why either wouldn't work for you.
Nothing wrong with using copper tubing/pipe for the elements except for weight. They will weigh more than aluminum tubing would, and not really have any electrical benefits over aluminum as an RF conductor.
End caps. Best reason for using end caps is so that 'things' do not take up residence inside that tubing/pipe. Leaving an exit at the bottom should take care of any water, I'd think.
Would 102" whips work instead of tubing/pipe? Sure. Might have to 'play' with the mechanics of mounting them to get the required lengths, but that shouldn't be a huge problem.
- 'Doc

 

[W9WD]

The nice thing about copper is you can solder wires right to it.

If you are going to use copper pipe go with the biggest diameter you can afford.
HD sells 1"

 

[W5LZ]

You're right, aluminum isn't easy to solder to. It also isn't difficult to make mechanical connections to, though, and can be soldered to if you prepare before hand. It can make quite a difference in weight.
Radiating element size. It does affect things. The larger the diameter the shorter it can be for a particular frequency. The 'shorter' is not going to make a lot of difference. It can also affect the usable frequency bandwidth of an antenna. But again, until you get to some really huge sizes, for HF frequencies, it ain't gonna make that much difference. The mechanical aspects to it, diameter, length, strength, etc, are more important than the electrical properties, so it just depends on what you think you can handle. If you're going to do the copper tubing thing, use the hard-drawn stuff, not the more 'flexible' stuff. (As if you didn't already know that, right?)
- 'Doc