Iso: 2 meter base antenna

[w9cll]

CB I'm headed home!

No EME on CB, No satellites on CB, No ATV on CB, No 17 Element beams (okay maybe there is but who has the room for that) on CB, No Echo link on CB...etc.. get the idea.

I think I get what you are after, you are hoping that 2 meters would be like 11 meters in range and popularity, you want to put up that big antenna and talk long distance. I get it but as we all have said 2 meters is not the place to do that, those days are gone. Two meters is now mostly HT's and repeaters, at least here in Chicago area. There are some cool stuff you can do, stuff like I pointed out above but to sit and chew the fat with someone a few hundred miles away simplex... not happening easily anymore.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

I'm in the wrong world..I can't pass the general...can't afford the equipment....and vHF is a watered down cell phone...CB I'm headed home!

CB won't work for you over the distance you want if there is even a smidge of skip in either. With so many underused repeaters on the band today 2m thru a repeater is EXACTLY what you need whether it is what you WANT to use or not.

 

[543_Dallas]

Heck I might as well go back to CB if vhf struggles to get across the county....5 mile ragchew isn't what I want to get into..I want 50-and beyond miles...I'm 60 miles north of Dallas tx and I would love to get into Dallas and Chat without bouncing repeaters...I got a cell phone for that

That's not impossible on 11 meters if you put up a beam. We talk with some guys in southern Oklahoma from south of the metroplex often on 11 meters. You need some power but 50 to 100 miles isn't unheard of. Some people say it's conditions and maybe they are right. If that's the case these conditions have been consistently right for the last couple of years.

The best thing to do would be upgrade to general if you aren't already. If the static isn't bad you can easily get double the distance you're after on 40 meters during the day and 75 at night. All you would need is a 100 watt rig and some wire to build an antenna. Much more reliable communication and cheaper too. A couple of nice HF rigs will run you less than a GOOD cb amplifier.

 

[binrat]

BearCat,
Don't loose motivation. It can be done but the system would have to be fine tuned and height is might for 2 metres.
Here is an example that many locals at the time said would not work.
My setup: Icom V82 HT connected to a homebrew 1/4 wave vertical at 26' above the ground hitting and talking on a repeater 70 miles away. The coax that I was using was LDF-2 with a short RG8x jumper at the radio end. Now the height of the tower where I lived at the base was 350 mr above sea level and was overlooking Georgian Bay which is 177 mr to the repeater tower which I was told about 220 mr. The antenna on the tower was up 30 metres. Basically it was line of sight and that is what you need to get the distance you are looking for.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

The HUGE difference in working a repeater and working simplex is that the repeater is most often located on the highest piece of ground available in the area and often on a tall tower on that site whereas two stations working simplex usually make do with whatever height they can accomplish on their site with a tower or mast and sometimes just on the roof.