We get caught up all the time in details. I am using a Star Duster which is basicly 102 inch whip with radials in the grand scheme of things. 1/4 wave ground plane. Their will always be something better but anything is better than nothing. I knew a guy that had a Firestick mounted to the rain gutter of his trailer and was using a wall-wart transformer to power a tiny radioshack 40ch ssb radio. It let him talk from home instead of just when he was in his car and beat a sharp stick in the eye.
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Procomm Patriot 12 Foot CB Base Antenna advise
- Thread starter KOBO
- Start date
Not disputing the fact on the details. Before I had the setup I have now. I used a Cobra 25 LTD Classic (1991 PI made model. ), 50 ft of various coax brands. All hacked up and connected with double females, and a magnet mount with a 5 ft 5/8 wave Firestik firefly with a make shift ground plane with one ft radials that I made for it in the same position as the new ProComm. The only difference is that the firefly was mounted right on the chimney lid (15 or so ft lower.) The set up worked well with lightly lower than 2.0:1 at the ends, but my range due to terrain most likely was limiting the range to 5-7 miles or so. This even on a peaked and tuned rig with almost no antenna tuning. In most cases improvised setups (At least in my experience.) usually work ok, but never really satisfy.
Anyway..... Back to the product issues at hand. I've reworked one of the key factors that may have been causing most of the issues. The pole is now metal chain link fence pipe instead of wooden dowel. A factor that the manufacturer says the antenna is designed to work off of since it's basically a no ground plane antenna. The change brought down the SWR to back to 2.0:1 adjusted to the middle of the tuner. Once evened on the top and bottom of the band (More clipping of the top whip.). I moved the rings up all the way. Checked the readings across the board and they are now even at a acceptable level of 1.6:1 1,20, & 40. Keeping in mind that I haven't added the GPK to the antenna yet. As this was a day ago. Today I installed the GPK after it's arrival and again took readings. It's even again across the board at 1.3:1 high, mid, and low. The gain has come up as well and the antenna hears very well. Skip has been fun after getting it up and running earlier today. In closure. I may have gotten the only one of these antennas ProComm has made that actually works, but it's been real work just getting it there. So the money well spent on such rigs as the A99 or a Maco would have been well worth the money spent in all reality. But!........ We all gotta learn somehow.
On the side.......
Best,
SF
Anyway..... Back to the product issues at hand. I've reworked one of the key factors that may have been causing most of the issues. The pole is now metal chain link fence pipe instead of wooden dowel. A factor that the manufacturer says the antenna is designed to work off of since it's basically a no ground plane antenna. The change brought down the SWR to back to 2.0:1 adjusted to the middle of the tuner. Once evened on the top and bottom of the band (More clipping of the top whip.). I moved the rings up all the way. Checked the readings across the board and they are now even at a acceptable level of 1.6:1 1,20, & 40. Keeping in mind that I haven't added the GPK to the antenna yet. As this was a day ago. Today I installed the GPK after it's arrival and again took readings. It's even again across the board at 1.3:1 high, mid, and low. The gain has come up as well and the antenna hears very well. Skip has been fun after getting it up and running earlier today. In closure. I may have gotten the only one of these antennas ProComm has made that actually works, but it's been real work just getting it there. So the money well spent on such rigs as the A99 or a Maco would have been well worth the money spent in all reality. But!........ We all gotta learn somehow.
On the side.......
Best,
SF
This is an old thread but if there are any Patriot 12 owners still out there this info should prove useful.
It's common knowledge now that the Patriot 12 uses a portion of the coax as a portion of the antenna system. And since the coax is "radiating" it should not be placed near anything metal.
THAT explains what went wrong with the Procomm Patriot 12 antenna I once had. When I first put it in the air, the SWR was great, the needle barely moving. Then after tidying things up and taping the coax to the mast, I went inside to enjoy it only to find the SWR was sky HIGH. No amount of adjusting the tuning rings, adding hose clamps to the tuning rings (as some suggested), or trimming the top of the antenna helped. I eventually hack-sawed it into several pieces and dumped it.
In hindsight I remember now that when I first checked the SWR, the coax was pulled off to one side at approximately a 45 degree angle. And only when I taped it to the metal mast did things go wrong. This knowledge might save future owners the headaches us former owners suffered with.
Hope so.
It's common knowledge now that the Patriot 12 uses a portion of the coax as a portion of the antenna system. And since the coax is "radiating" it should not be placed near anything metal.
THAT explains what went wrong with the Procomm Patriot 12 antenna I once had. When I first put it in the air, the SWR was great, the needle barely moving. Then after tidying things up and taping the coax to the mast, I went inside to enjoy it only to find the SWR was sky HIGH. No amount of adjusting the tuning rings, adding hose clamps to the tuning rings (as some suggested), or trimming the top of the antenna helped. I eventually hack-sawed it into several pieces and dumped it.
In hindsight I remember now that when I first checked the SWR, the coax was pulled off to one side at approximately a 45 degree angle. And only when I taped it to the metal mast did things go wrong. This knowledge might save future owners the headaches us former owners suffered with.
Hope so.
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More experience with the Patriot 12.... Had it for about a year now, and I can never get the SWR to be consistent across the CB band, no matter how I adjust the rings. Even using a small tuner to get the SWR to ~1.2:1, im still getting power reflected back into my radio. I can hear it through my speaker.
I have tried just about everything... moving the coax off the mast, isolating the mast from the ground side of the antenna, adding the GPK, testing the coax... It will be coming down soon so I can play with a dipole / inverted Vee!
I have tried just about everything... moving the coax off the mast, isolating the mast from the ground side of the antenna, adding the GPK, testing the coax... It will be coming down soon so I can play with a dipole / inverted Vee!
hahahaha yes thats about right. I pictured that scene from Office Space with the baseball bats. Its amazing how many of these things are still being sold and still being reported as trash.
BJ radionut
Supporting Member and 6m addict
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/oAMAAOSwX0VgCKU6/s-l640.jpg
18.5' Tall, Breaks Down Into 4 Sections, Includes Mounting Hardware
18.5' Tall, Breaks Down Into 4 Sections, Includes Mounting Hardware
Well I successfully removed my Pro Comm PAT-12 and it's GPK. They now reside in the shed untill further notice.
I put up my inverted vee dipole yesterday in it's place and tuned it some today (1.3:1) adjusting it's height-to-angle sweet spot. Locals say I'm booming and clear, and sensitivity is way up as I can now just hear the other side of local conversations that are about 20+ miles away now. Before not a chance. DX clarity seems to have also improved, and I was able to clear out some dead branches too off a few trees!
So yeah a $30 ready to hang dipole smokes the PAT-12. Won't buy again.
I put up my inverted vee dipole yesterday in it's place and tuned it some today (1.3:1) adjusting it's height-to-angle sweet spot. Locals say I'm booming and clear, and sensitivity is way up as I can now just hear the other side of local conversations that are about 20+ miles away now. Before not a chance. DX clarity seems to have also improved, and I was able to clear out some dead branches too off a few trees!
So yeah a $30 ready to hang dipole smokes the PAT-12. Won't buy again.