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Who Sells A Good RF Gain Preamp?
- Thread starter Eastside
- Start date
Couldnt you just upgrade the recieve transitors in the radio to help pull in those quieter stations better? I guess it would mainly depend on the radio and your pocket book.
This is from the E-bay Auction..
It was years ago when i had one, but I remember it worked fairly well.
73
Jeff
It was years ago when i had one, but I remember it worked fairly well.
73
Jeff
I also use to use a CPI preamp was pretty cool looking too, did the job for me.I have seen them for sale on Ebay but not too cheap.
B
BOOTY MONSTER
Guest
here's some reviews so you can read the results folks had with some of them .
http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/66
http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/66
I think those preamps that hams use will only work with ham radios.....their receive and transmit is separate...not like CBs.:mellow:
Hello All,
Pre-amps can be fun.
But in order to actually have a bennefit of them you should know if there is anything in your system causing that much loss it is needed.
The most important thing to remember is:
A pre-amp can NOT amplify a signal what isnt there!
A pre-amp has its own internal noise which will enlarge your system noise figure.
There are some very old "deaf" tranceivers in which it can be helpfull to use a pre-amp.
Though in my opinion this says more about the the tranceiver your using then the pre-amp. And ofcourse it is understood: it is fun to work with those "oldies".
The only rigth place for a pre-amp would be directly underneath the antenna.
In that way we can overcome the loss we have in our entire system.
(coax/amp/switches etc). As thats the only purpose of a pre-amp..to make-up for the loss which exist at your station.
The biggest problem is pre-amps cant handle a lot of power. So if it exceeds your power you need to work with remote switches..not a big problem either.
It migth be difficult to actully find a situation where a pre-amp is needed.
Ofcourse when were running 300 feet RG58 coax then its "needed".
However the average CB station with a vertical and say 60 feet high quality coax isnt going to notice a difference, this ofcourse unless there is something else in the system which is causing loss.
A good pre-amp will have a low noise figure this will automaticly mean higher costs.
Im a bit worried that 95 procent of the 11 meter pre-amps are "junk" with high internal noise figures. You will have to take that in mind aswell.
There are "pro" pre-amps for sale which can be used on 11 meters, the two i know of are:
Mirage
and
Receive Only Processing Equipment
You have to bare some time with the last one, i believe the owner just passed away..
The last thing would be to mention the large amount of amplifiers who have buildt in pre-amps.
That actually makes me wonder if the manufacturer finds it a "must have", or that it just is a nice extra "thingy".. If it is that "must have" that would indicate the poor quality components they have used.
Hoping this was helpfull.
Kind regards,
Henry HPSD, 19sd348
All about antennas
Pre-amps can be fun.
But in order to actually have a bennefit of them you should know if there is anything in your system causing that much loss it is needed.
The most important thing to remember is:
A pre-amp can NOT amplify a signal what isnt there!
A pre-amp has its own internal noise which will enlarge your system noise figure.
There are some very old "deaf" tranceivers in which it can be helpfull to use a pre-amp.
Though in my opinion this says more about the the tranceiver your using then the pre-amp. And ofcourse it is understood: it is fun to work with those "oldies".
The only rigth place for a pre-amp would be directly underneath the antenna.
In that way we can overcome the loss we have in our entire system.
(coax/amp/switches etc). As thats the only purpose of a pre-amp..to make-up for the loss which exist at your station.
The biggest problem is pre-amps cant handle a lot of power. So if it exceeds your power you need to work with remote switches..not a big problem either.
It migth be difficult to actully find a situation where a pre-amp is needed.
Ofcourse when were running 300 feet RG58 coax then its "needed".
However the average CB station with a vertical and say 60 feet high quality coax isnt going to notice a difference, this ofcourse unless there is something else in the system which is causing loss.
A good pre-amp will have a low noise figure this will automaticly mean higher costs.
Im a bit worried that 95 procent of the 11 meter pre-amps are "junk" with high internal noise figures. You will have to take that in mind aswell.
There are "pro" pre-amps for sale which can be used on 11 meters, the two i know of are:
Mirage
and
Receive Only Processing Equipment
You have to bare some time with the last one, i believe the owner just passed away..
The last thing would be to mention the large amount of amplifiers who have buildt in pre-amps.
That actually makes me wonder if the manufacturer finds it a "must have", or that it just is a nice extra "thingy".. If it is that "must have" that would indicate the poor quality components they have used.
Hoping this was helpfull.
Kind regards,
Henry HPSD, 19sd348
All about antennas
Turn up the S-meter pot and volume control. That will have the same effect as a receive preamp only with slightly better SNR.
Youe noise blanker will still work and the radio's front end will have more dynamic range.
The only time a receive amp improves communication at CB frequencys is when the radio used has problems or is a really bad design. Most aren't.
At higher frequencys receive preamps can overcome thermal noise of the transmission line. Different story.
Youe noise blanker will still work and the radio's front end will have more dynamic range.
The only time a receive amp improves communication at CB frequencys is when the radio used has problems or is a really bad design. Most aren't.
At higher frequencys receive preamps can overcome thermal noise of the transmission line. Different story.
RatsoW8
Supporting Member, W9WDX ARC Member - WD8T
What decade are you stuck in? CB and Ham radios transitioned from seperate tx and rx modules to transceivers at the same point in time. :glare:
Welcome to the 21st century.
Got that right even I know the pot for the S meter is just an adjustment for what the needle should read, maybe he has one of those Golden Screwdrivers
RatsoW8
Supporting Member, W9WDX ARC Member - WD8T
You can find those Ameco PT-3 preamps used from time to time on ebay. The specs say it can handle 350 watts. Here's one right now that looks ok: Ameco Model PT-3 Preamplifier | eBay
Another trick that you can use to kill the additional noise that will be amplified along with the desired signal is to use a good DSP noise reduction speaker in combination with the preamp. I've combined a preamp circuit and a DSP speaker in my mobile CB station in the past and had pretty good results. Either the West Mountain Radio Clearspeech speaker or the BHI product are the ones I would use. I've tried most of them over the years and those two are the best I've found.
Another trick that you can use to kill the additional noise that will be amplified along with the desired signal is to use a good DSP noise reduction speaker in combination with the preamp. I've combined a preamp circuit and a DSP speaker in my mobile CB station in the past and had pretty good results. Either the West Mountain Radio Clearspeech speaker or the BHI product are the ones I would use. I've tried most of them over the years and those two are the best I've found.