unknown antenna

[towernewbie]

Hello all,
I took a tower down yesterday and don't know what kind of antenna it is. It has a maybe 18" metal collar at base, base is about 3" in diameter, and tapers to maybe 1" at the top with pointed metal collar, overall length is around 21'. The color is white, I have a picture but I don't know how to upload it. If anyone knows what it is and if I can use it for cb, I would really appreciate a response, thank you, matt.

 

[kd-5-bgt]

Hey TN ! Good to have you here. It is hard to tell without seeing the antenna. Where did you get the tower set from?Was it a business of some kind? Farmer?........

That would be a good place to start at I guess.A business would most likely use a VHF or UHF band around 150 mhz or 450+ mhz ...usually

A Farm set could be anywhere from CB to a VHF/UHF set up.

If you know someone that has a frequency analyzer they could tell you.

 

[towernewbie]

antenna

thanks for the reply, it was a catering business,

 

[Master Chief]

It is something along the line of a Phelps Dodge Super Stationmaster for VHF:
http://www.rfsworld.com/websearch/DataSheets/Default.aspx?q=220-3AD

Phelps Dodge was bought out by Celwave years was picked up by RFS. This antenna can NOT be used for CB as it sits But it does make an EXCELLENT MURS antenna! I have two of them for that!

That antenna has multiple 1/2 wave elements stacked on top of eachother. You could gut it and put in your own wire and matching network and make a heavy duty 5/8 wave antenna out of it, but it still won't be as good as an I-10K.

 

[towernewbie]

Thanx Master Chief, You hit the nail on the head, that's the antenna. Thank you very much. Do you know what this antenna is worth. I was thinking about getting the I-10k but someone told me unless I was running lots of power it would be like having 1000 watt speakers with a 10 watt stereo? I have an astroplane but I would like some better ears. I was hoping the antenna I got off the tower would offset the price of the i-10k. thanx again..matt

 

[towernewbie]

What is MURS antenna?

 

[Master Chief]

MURS is a VHF CB band.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-Use_Radio_Service

 

[towernewbie]

upon cleaning the metal base with brasso, I found a tag, It is a Motorola tdd-6073, the operating freq. is 150-159mhz. How hard would it be and how would I change this to cb freqs. I can't find anything online about this model number.

 

[Beetle]

150-159 MHz is nowhere near CB (27 MHz). Far more trouble than it would be worth to remodel it for CB. You need a CB antenna, plainly and simply.

However, experimenting is always worthwhile.

 

[towernewbie]

yeah , I think your right, I just don't know what to do with the antenna. I put it on craigslist , maybe someone will buy it, I would rather have an I-10k, Will a 100 watts drive the I-10?

 

[W5LZ]

towernewbie,
There are two basic things that any antenna should do for you. One is to radiate a signal in such a manner as it 'goes' where you want it to. There are two general 'types' of antennas, one is omni-directional, the other is directional. The typical vertical antenna radiates a signal in all directions. A typical directional antenna sort of 'squeezes' that 'all directions' quantity of signal into a very general 'one' direction (not really just -1- direction, but sort of, kind'a). Also, in general, those directional antennas require some method of turning them so you can point that 'signal' in the direction you want.

Another characteristic of an antenna is how much power it can withstand/handle. That's more or less a mechanical thingy, how the antenna is constructed. High power handling ability generally means 'bigger' components. A piece of wire that's about 0.0001 inch in diameter just won't handle as much power as one 0.1 inch, or 2.0 inches, etc. See where I'm going with that?
That power rating is typically for the maximum, not the minimum. So if it'll handle 1000 watts, it can certainly handle 1 watt (or whatever, up to 1000W).
So, I would feel confident that the "I-10K" would work well with any power level up to it's maximum, as would any other antenna.
- 'Doc

Sort of a long way of saying, yes, it'll work, huh?

 

[Beetle]

Will a 100 watts drive the I-10?

Antennas don't require a specific "drive" level. You feed a signal to the antenna, and the antenna radiates it. If the antenna represents a good match to the feedline and is the required length or a specific multiple or submultiple for the frequency you're using, it will radiate pretty efficiently, regardless of the power level.

 

[towernewbie]

Thanks Beetle, That answers that question!

 

[towernewbie]

here's a pic

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w306/stilllearnin/Picture021.jpg

 

[Cheech]

It is something along the line of a Phelps Dodge Super Stationmaster for VHF:
http://www.rfsworld.com/websearch/DataSheets/Default.aspx?q=220-3AD

Phelps Dodge was bought out by Celwave years was picked up by RFS. This antenna can NOT be used for CB as it sits But it does make an EXCELLENT MURS antenna! I have two of them for that!

That antenna has multiple 1/2 wave elements stacked on top of eachother. You could gut it and put in your own wire and matching network and make a heavy duty 5/8 wave antenna out of it, but it still won't be as good as an I-10K.

Anything work as good for omni directional use as a stationmaster on MURS?