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Base Looking for an unobtrusive base station antenna

M

mroneeyedboh

Active Member
Mar 9, 2014
130
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Hey guys
Looking to set up a base station in my large shed. I may or may not run an amp, buy I'm looking for something that isnt gaudy or screams CB antenna...

Is there something that works well, that is slim ( even just a whip style? ) Not too tall etc? I'd like to attach it to the side of the shed or maybe the peak of the roof, either way, I thought I'd ask the guys that know.

Appreciate your help!

Edited: I have a serio 4000p mag base mobile antenna, that maybe could be made to work?
 
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Maybe you could use a 102" whip with radials. I use one sometimes at my townhouse. I mount it on a painters pole and can get pretty good results with it. Right now I use a wire dipole in an inverted V. I can talk to base stations on sideband about 50 miles from me. And it works well for talking skip both AM and sideband.
There are YouTube videos of guys running 102" whips for thier base station. So maybe that will give you some ideas.
 
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A Maco 3 element beam works well. If you run it horizontally, it looks like a large size old school rooftop TV antenna. It'll look cool on top of your shed. Just get it up at least 18 ft. off the ground at the base of the antenna. I use 2- 10ft galvanized pipes attached to my house for a mast. Those cheap TV antenna rotors will easily turn it if you want. I just have my beam broadside side east and west so I really don't need a rotor.

Horizontal antennas work better for DX but not as good for local work.

If stealth is what you need, you can't go wrong with a simple wire dipole. You can string them from trees or with 1 mast support attached to your shed and drop each wire leg to form an inverted V pattern. For the CB band, you only need 2 -9ft pieces of 12 guage wire and few other readily available dipole antenna parts.
 
mroneeyedboh said:
Hey guys
Looking to set up a base station in my large shed. I may or may not run an amp, buy I'm looking for something that isnt gaudy or screams CB antenna...

Is there something that works well, that is slim ( even just a whip style? ) Not too tall etc? I'd like to attach it to the side of the shed or maybe the peak of the roof, either way, I thought I'd ask the guys that know.

Appreciate your help!

Edited: I have a serio 4000p mag base mobile antenna, that maybe could be made to work?
Click to expand...
Sirio 2016 is in my mnid a very good base antenna. 5/8 wave G.P.
 
I have had good luck with dipoles made using two 4' Firestik mobile antennas. Any brand will work. The longer the better. Have done them in an inverted V and a flat horizontal. Have also made a ground plane using one as the vertical and two as radials slanted downward at 45 degrees. All are pretty darn stealthy. I didn't use a choke or balun with any of the three and was never bothered by mode currents that I could detect. SWR was great on all three. The Firestiks have an adjustable tip for easy tuning.

This post will be likely be followed by others stating how "inefficient" antennas of this type are and that's okay. One doesn't have to be a genius to know they don't perform like a full-sized half- wave or 5/8, but I was wanting something small and stealthy and these fit the bill. (y)

We've all heard it said that when conditions are right you can shoot skip using a wet noodle. All I know is I've done so running barefoot with all three antennas and have yet to hear or talk to anyone using boiled pasta. Maybe if I switched from thin sphagetti to regular. (n)
 
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fourstringburn said:
Look at this way, if you have no other antennas at your station to compare it to, you wouldn't know the difference.
Click to expand...

Right you are, fourstring.
Using a 4' Firestik dipole is kinda like growing up on a farm and never going to town. Have what you need to get by, but there's a whole other world out there just a-waitin'.
 
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thanks for the options. I was wondering, whats the best/better way to attach a mast to the shed? Roof or maybe just make a concrete slab/sonotube in the ground and make a ground mount?

I'd prefer just a single pole style antenna if at all possible. The Sirio is nice, the 2016,but those little star burst mini antennas make it super obvious. Granted I have a tree that kind of covers the shed, so the antenna would be hidden a bit.

Thats not an issue is it? The tree being there/brushing against the antenna?
 
mroneeyedboh said:
I'd prefer just a single pole style antenna if at all possible. The Sirio is nice, the 2016,but those little star burst mini antennas make it super obvious. Granted I have a tree that kind of covers the shed, so the antenna would be hidden a bit.

Thats not an issue is it? The tree being there/brushing against the antenna?
Click to expand...
Putting a antenna right up next to a tree where the branches are hitting the antenna itself is not a good idea, unless you just want to make contact with someone in your house maybe...

Look at it this way...Your antenna is the most important part of your station...skimp on the antenna, and it won't mater how much power your running, your signal will suffer greatly...

There are short/stubby antenna's available that will work, but when it comes to 11 Meter (CB Band) "taller and higher, the better"...just no two ways around it...
 
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if you want to actually enjoy your base station, then you need a big honkin antenna up in the air in the clear. that's just the way it works below 30mhz.

if you just want to have a radio in your shed that you can listen to static and the occasional trucker on, then you can get away with any of the options you have listed so far.

this question is asked quite frequently, and it always comes down to what kind of radio hobbyist you are. If you want to talk on your CB, you need a real antenna mounted high.

if you just want to listen, and don't really care to put much effort in, anything more than a spaghetti noodle will be fine.
LC
 
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