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ProComm Proton PT99 Base Antenna

P

Palletburner

Member
Mar 24, 2007
27
0
11
Snohomish, WA
I've been looking into putting up a base antenna for a while and I think I've narrowed it down to this PT99. From what I understand it requires no ground planes, is this true? The biggest reason I'm leaning towards this antenna is the price ($59) and ease of installation. I could probably make my own antenna but I'm too lazy, or go with something like the Antron99 or V58, but I really dont feel like messing with the ground planes and the price is a little high. I dont know how far into the CB hobby I want to go, so I dont want to get too carried away, right now I just have CB's for wheeling and work. This will be mounted on a pole I have that a TV antenna was mounted on before I got cable. The pole is roughly 20' tall and galvanized steel, I believe it was the top rail for chainlink fencing. It'll be mounted to my deck, the top of the pole where the antenna will mount is about 10' above the top of the roof of the deck/house. Is that high enough? Or too high? Also, right now I'll just be using a mid-grade radio shack mobile radio with a power inverter because I already have it. If I decide this is something I want to get into I'll invest in a better base station radio. I know not to buy the 50' coax from Radio Shack, so what should I buy? I know the coax is a important part of the setup.

Like I said, I want to keep it cheap for now, and what I really want to know is if there is a better antenna I could get for under $75 that is easy to use like the PT99.

Thanks in advance for your replies.
 

Thanks for the quick response. I thought I remembered the Antron 99 being more expensive and requiring the ground plane stuff, which is totally over my head. So the Antron99 is pretty much like the PT99 where I just mount it, hook up the PT239 connections, tune it in and I'm set?
 
Palletburner,
That antenna may work just fine since you're trying to figure out if you want to get into the hobby and want to keep it $imple. It should work for that, but don't expect a whole lot, you know?
Antenna mounting height is one of those "the higher the better" thingys. An antenna will 'hear' at ground level. It'll hear 'better' if it's higher than that, usually. A foot or two isn't gonna make a huge difference, but 10 feet or so will make some difference. Just depends on what you have available, or can manage.
Radio Shack's coax is sort of comparable to a 'Wal-Marts' fork. Not exactly the 'best' in the world, not the prettiest, but it does what it's supposed to do, certainly cheaper than a jeweler's $50 fork, which is what matters... sort of.
If you decide that CB radio is something you really want to do, then you can always 'up-grade' (everybody does to some point).
Have fun...
- 'Doc
 
Palletburner said:
The biggest reason I'm leaning towards this antenna is the price ($59) and ease of installation.
Click to expand...
You get what you pay for. Based on your requirements, this antenna should work just fine. Remember, EVERYTHING works, some things work better than others.
 
Palletburner said:
I've been looking into putting up a base antenna for a while and I think I've narrowed it down to this PT99. From what I understand it requires no ground planes, is this true? The biggest reason I'm leaning towards this antenna is the price ($59) and ease of installation. I could probably make my own antenna but I'm too lazy, or go with something like the Antron99 or V58, but I really dont feel like messing with the ground planes and the price is a little high. I dont know how far into the CB hobby I want to go, so I dont want to get too carried away, right now I just have CB's for wheeling and work. This will be mounted on a pole I have that a TV antenna was mounted on before I got cable. The pole is roughly 20' tall and galvanized steel, I believe it was the top rail for chainlink fencing. It'll be mounted to my deck, the top of the pole where the antenna will mount is about 10' above the top of the roof of the deck/house. Is that high enough? Or too high? Also, right now I'll just be using a mid-grade radio shack mobile radio with a power inverter because I already have it. If I decide this is something I want to get into I'll invest in a better base station radio. I know not to buy the 50' coax from Radio Shack, so what should I buy? I know the coax is a important part of the setup.

Like I said, I want to keep it cheap for now, and what I really want to know is if there is a better antenna I could get for under $75 that is easy to use like the PT99.

Thanks in advance for your replies.
Click to expand...

Hey there Palletburner,

If it were me I would go ahead and spend a little more $ and get an IMAX 2000, an antenna that I have proven to myself and others, and on more than one occasion, to be superior to the Antron by 2 S-units and the V-5/8 by 1 S-unit, both RX & TX, and it looks to me like the PT99 is basically an A99 knock-off.

It might cost another $50 but think of the fun from the additional performance gain, plus the savings of the work, $ and time spent taking down the PT99 and selling it, the $ lost in the process and the work putting an antenna back up where the PT99/A99 was, all just to upgrade, and which you'll probably end up doing anyway just like Doc mentioned. We all do.
Why not just do it right the 1st time...?

I've owned at least 10 A99s, most of them NOT by choice, (they were given to me when their respective past owners realized anything was better and decided to upgrade to an antenna) most of which I gave away to guys wanting something for Camping.

Also, adding four 8' 7" radials (made from the guy wires & egg type insulators & attached to the top of the mounting plate) to the IMAX will improve it's performance to even more than the 2 S-units above the A99 / PT99.

If I lived in a high wind area I might be tempted to spend a few more bucks and add a layer of fiberglass & resin to it to stiffen and strengthen it a bit, but I've seen those Imax 2000s survive over 90mph winds just north of the Reno, Nv area.

OK, good luck on your install & make sure you use at least a good full-size RG-8 base coax, preferably LMR-400.

73
 
My experience is v5/8 and imax 2000 both perform almost exactly 2s units difference.. I did not find much difference between the imax 2000 and/or v5/8.

That being said.. I agree with the guy above.. save up a little.. however long it takes you to come up with $50 more and go for the imax.. and/or try to find an imax locally cheap.

You will not be disappointed.. If you run 200 watts, to get the same performance increase from power that you would from that $50 extra in antenna price would be very costly like along the lines of 12 pills or more and that doesn't include the that you won't hear as well.

In other words.. that $50 is gonna make your hearing/talking alot better, and alot more fun to tinker with.

FWIW: I also found that on 5 ft off the ground the average 5/8 wave tends to talk as good to my locals at the same signal strength as the a99 at 30-35 ft to the base..

That's very sad.

Josh
 
2 s-units is the difference between 10 watts and 160 watts , or , 100 watts and 1600 watts in a transmission .
multiply power by 4 for each additional s-unit .

from what i understand though the angle of signal radiation from an antenna can greatly affect just how much signal reaches a given recieving station and do as good or better job than a another antenna rated higher in gain .

someone PLEASE correct me if im wrong .
 
I might be able to get ahold of a used Maco 5/8 locally.

With the Imax 2000 and maco v5/8 can they be pole mounted? And what exactly does a ground plane do, and do I need one with the imax? Is the ground plane the same thing as radials? Sorry to sound like such an idiot. I hope im not putting the "There is no such thing as a stupid question, just stupid people" idea into play.

Also, I should of added this to my first thread but I forgot. Which of the antennas mentioned in this thread would cause the least amount of interferance to my neighbors? My closest neighbor to the antenna would be about 50' away.
 
Palletburner said:
I might be able to get ahold of a used Maco 5/8 locally.

With the Imax 2000 and maco v5/8 can they be pole mounted? And what exactly does a ground plane do, and do I need one with the imax? Is the ground plane the same thing as radials? Sorry to sound like such an idiot. I hope im not putting the "There is no such thing as a stupid question, just stupid people" idea into play.

Also, I should of added this to my first thread but I forgot. Which of the antennas mentioned in this thread would cause the least amount of interferance to my neighbors? My closest neighbor to the antenna would be about 50' away.
Click to expand...

The V5/8 is 20' tall, the IMAX 2000 is 24' tall, ...which do you think is a real 5/8 - .64?
- Which would you expect to hear better?

That being said, if you use the guy wire for a counterpoise on the IMAX either should be equally good / bad for RFI / TVI.

Personally I don't like the light duty, TV antenna level quality of the metal which the V5/8 is made from, nor the overly whippy top section of the IMAX, so I changed the top of my IMAX to the stiffer 102" fiberglass top off of an old 2-piece big stick from the '70s.
 
CDX-007 said:
The V5/8 is 20' tall, the IMAX 2000 is 24' tall, ...which do you think is a real 5/8 - .64?
Which would you expect to hear better?
Click to expand...
The V58 has a less lossy matching network than the iMAX 2000; which antenna do you think will radiate more energy?

The iMAX 2000 uses lossy coils in the base of the antenna. The tiny wire encased in fiberglass may be .64 long, but if the energy is lost in the matching network, little in equals little out.

Don't get me wrong, both antennas have their advantages and disadvantages, but the Maco V58 is a better performing antenna.

Also, an antenna hears as well as it transmits. These two parameters are concurrent. An antenna does not hear better than it transmits, or vice versa.

Here are a couple of Robalo's excellent pictures:
http://forum.worldwidedx.com/viewtopic.php?t=14247&start=0
 
I found a good deal on a new A99 so I bought that tonight, as well as ordered 100' of RG8 coax. I'll let you all know how it works out when I get it. In the meantime I'm going to look around for something else to use as a mast, or something to add to mine to put it higher up.

Thanks for all your replies, I've learned alot in this thread.
 
How do I go about grounding the antenna? If the base of the pole the antenna is mounted on goes straight to the ground (dirt) will that be ok? Or do I need to run a copper wire to something else?
 

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