RADIO check, Amp check, PSU check, Antenna X.

[Silent Earth]

This is primarily about CB but may apply to other radio comms (Not PMR though as the Antenna are only 6 inches long).

Anyway, it appears the growing interest in CB Radio again for preppers and survivalists has rekindled an old problem.. Now with EXPORT rated CB rigs that cover 27Mhz AM & FM plus SSB, and the idiots and muppets who blighted CB having moved onto other things CB once again is playing a useful role for preppers who want Comms but dont want to be licenced Amateur users for assorted reasons of their own.

The gear is good , affordable and readily available but my inbox STILL gets mail about one particular problem, and its one that I share.

CB Antenna, It is so difficult to get an antenna that is DISCRETE but still FULLY EFFECTIVE. You can make a dipole out of scrap wire only 5.5 meters long and hide it in your attic but you lose much of the signal for local comms if its horizontal, and much of the signal strength is blocked by the roof. A Fire stick or modern DV 27 type vertical antenna on a mag mount attached to a square of sheet metal works, but again in the attic much signal strength is lost, same with most antenna if its inside for privacy, opsec, local laws etc much of the radios output capability is wasted and effective range shortened.

Using vertical or horizontal dipoles outdoors is better but NOT if they are strung along the eaves or guttering of the house, or along walls etc as again much needed signal strength is lost, and often local ordinances prohibited long wire antenna so preppers try to conceal them close to buildings thus again reducing their efficiency.

Many masts are HUGE great big ugly things banned by many local by laws and community rules, shorter half wave Dipoles often using TWO mobile antenna offer quite decent performance PROVIDING you can get them far enough out from any building or obstruction and also get them high enough to be fully effective.

Heck even conventional CB antenna often require ground plane radials sticking out 104 inches in all directions for OPTIMUM performance, over 200 inches wide !!!!!!!

Local laws, building regs, community rules, fears over privacy and opsec, lack of capability in building their own antenna, lack of funds, apartment dwellers, live in built up area etc.

So those are a few of the problems I am aware of, trouble is I am unaware of an answer.

There is a need for a fully effective, affordable, compact, easy to erect / install, very discrete CB antenna that will cover the 11 meter band GOOD and be still useful on 10 meter.

So thinking cap on friends , SIMPLE, VERY EFFECTIVE, AFFORDABLE, DISCRETE, UNCOMPLICATED, EASY TO USE, No soldering, No SWRing, No Degree in communications required.

Ideas please Mes Ami.

 

[Silent Earth]

This is my ***** version CB antenna, a 6 ft CB Whip antenna in a Mag Mount ( MM), The MM is sat on a 2ft sq steel plate which in turn is affixed to the top of a fence post. from outside my fence its almost impossible to see the whip. If TSHTF I can easily raise the whole lot another 4 to 6 feet. my house is already the highest point in our village as well.

 

[CommoFreq]

See in that last picture, what's up in the background? I was about to suggest sticking your magnet mount to the top of a mast, if you have one like your neighbors have, but then I realized that might cause some interference. Give it a shot and see if you get any complaints.

If you do, then it looks like you've already found the best placement solution. All you need to do now, is improve on it. There are plenty of things you can still do, to make your signal much better, both coming and going. Two major things come to mind: feedline and grounding

Feedline: If you are using a barrel connector to attach your antenna's cable to an extension cable, that's bad. You lose tons of signal with every connector you use. Take apart your magnet mount, note how the original cable is connected, and then remove it. Attach the longer cable directly in the same fashion.

Grounding: With your antenna taken apart, now is a good time to address the grounding issue. Magnets are awful for grounding. We use them on vehicles because they work, and are easy to "install". Since you're doing a base station, you have a lot more options than you would with a car. Use them!

• Try to get your antenna at least 1 antenna length away from that fence.
• Take the magnet, stick it on your refrigerator, and offer $100 to anyone who can remove it. The entertainment is worth the money.
• Get some speaker wire (or any other kind of wire). You want at least 4 strands, at precisely 8.61 feet long.
• Attach the ends of the strands together. Electrically. Solder them together.
• Take that, and solder them again, to the outer braid of your cable coming into the antenna.
• Screw the base of your antenna to your fixture there, because your magnet is gone now. Never trust nails.
  
• Go to the hardware store, and get yourself some grounding rods. Pound some into the ground, as close to your antenna as possible.
• Attach one of those wires to the grounding rod. Electrically.
• Spread out the remaining wires as radials. Tent stakes work wonderfully for that. The more radials you have, the better, of course.

Congratulations, your antenna is now at minimum, 3x better than it was.

 

[Silent Earth]

Mornning Commo freq, what you can see it the TV antenna of the next two houses, they re the only ones allowed on our little estate plus the 400mm wall mounted satelit dishes, everything is verboten by local ordinance ( technically ) I can erm twist, bend or manipulate the rules but not in your face break them

Agree on feedline one piece , will look at that today.

I've drilled and screwed the magmount to the steel sheet and ran one copper earth strap to ground.

No room for moving further away from fence or putting in radials.

BUT if TSHTF I can elevate the who lot by about another 6 ft, but not before.

 

[CommoFreq]

Is it possible to get a cheap 5ft metal pole from Home Depot, and drive it into the ground with a pole-slammer? When it's time to move, it's easy to yank back up out of the ground. . .

The reason I ask, is because if you can do that, then you don't need to rely on that fence anymore to hold up your antenna. And, you can put that pole anywhere you need to, provided you have enough cable. Since it's in the ground, you don't need a ground rod either - just attach the braid directly to the pole itself. And, you can attach the radials to the pole as well.

Edit: Holy crap that was a good idea. I'm going to do that myself real soon. I'll post pics.

 

[Silent Earth]

Ordered replacement 3/8 - So-239 antenna off Fleabay as suggested, old one was moulded on.

 

[Silent Earth]

Is it possible to get a cheap 5ft metal pole from Home Depot, and drive it into the ground with a pole-slammer? When it's time to move, it's easy to yank back up out of the ground. . .

.

Nearest HOME DEPOT is 2,754 miles from me