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the caveman
03-24-2013, 09:30 AM
I plan on having ,my own base in the next month or two. Got pretty much everything I need other than power source and amp. Crossin my fingers and hoping I can get what I need for a decent price.

Beercanman
03-24-2013, 10:45 AM
Take your time and get the equipment you really want the first time. You'll be much happier in the end.

Sent from your mom's mobile phone.

the caveman
03-24-2013, 11:46 AM
I'm sticking with what I got so I can save up for the good stuff. I've been working on my spending plan for this radio setup. Hopefully i can get everything I without spending to much money.

drafterruss
04-06-2013, 06:55 AM
I too am new to the world of base stations and found a lot of used items at good prices at my local flea markets and yard sales. Such as: a power mic for 5 bucks and my Royce xl 625 base for 15! Look around and take your time
Russ

irish
04-08-2013, 04:15 PM
buy once but buy good,,,,theres a lot of crap out there

drafterruss
04-09-2013, 12:22 PM
What have you found so far?

Moonchild 747
05-06-2013, 08:33 PM
I utilize my mobile rig for my base station and operate off a 105 amp/hr deep cycle marine battery ($85.00) Academy Sporting Goods. Deep cycle battery keeps the floor noise very low, no hum from cheap AC/DC power supply...Too cheap to pay the $$'s for a nice power supply...Antenna is a home brew 1/2 wave dipole (14 gauge twisted copper wire) elevated 20ft suspended between the the garage roof and a supporting tree ($15.00)...CB is mounted on the desk using a spare piece of aluminum stock scrap ($FREE), so only thing needed is that I remove the radio from the car and bring it in the house...Very inexpensive and easy for someone starting off...Cobra wire harness was cut off and replaced with PowerPole connectors for easy connect/disconnect ($10.00 for 10 pairs, only needed three).

drafterruss
05-09-2013, 09:41 AM
Very nice setup, and rather creative. What kind of distance can you PIck up and transmit to?

Moonchild 747
05-10-2013, 04:48 PM
Drafter,

Usually when the band is open I can easily hit the west coast from the east coast...Now I do have several environmentals playing in my favor...I live on the east coast and close to the beach so I have what some would call a "salt water linear amplifier" the ground below me is close to a perfect ground for my vertical due to the salinity of the sand, now my dipole benefits the same but my vertical seams to soar...Now the vertical I use is called a J-pole, which I made myself and basically is a 1/2 wave vertical with a 1/4 wave counterpoise running vertically parallel to the radiating element...pretty simple design, anyone can make it...But on a bad day I consistently hit the next state over, I run 150W's clean...It's all about the antenna! I've hit middle of the states before on just 5W's messing around...All depends on atmosphere...Day time propagation is better for 11m due to the sun charging the F1/F2 layer which reflects HF back down to the surface allowing skip but hard to break through cause so many signals are coming through at the same time...At night the F1/F2 layer disappears and HF just blows on through the upper atmosphere and never comes back...Sometimes at night though you'll experience Sporadic E or grey zone ducting which is when your signal gets trapped between the light and dark side of the atmosphere (Sunrise & Sunset) and you'll find yourself trying to understand some Japanesse trucker (If theres such a think...haha)...

drafterruss
05-11-2013, 11:26 AM
Thanks. I wish I had a set up like that. What kind of swr readings do you get?

Moonchild 747
05-13-2013, 06:14 PM
Thanks. I wish I had a set up like that. What kind of swr readings do you get?

1.5:1 on the J-pole at the beach (no ground plane required) no tunner used, just dangling on a 31ft telescopic painters pole w/ three guy lines for support...1/2 wire dipole at the house (15miles from the beach) 20ft above ground for a low angle of radiate for DX work was cut for 11m so I tune it down for a perfect match using my MFJ-971 portable tuner (not much tuning needed)


That J-Pole is super easy to make...Internet is loaded with plans for building this antenna...hardest thing to find is the 450 ohm ladder line which has to be bought in length...below is where I get mine from, decent prices:
http://www.amateurradiosupplies.com/category-s/150.htm?gclid=CKuE9LGhlLcCFS9eQgodoU4AkA

youtube video 11m J-Pole:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBsy5Vk1hZQ

This guy is a ham who has some great DIY builds for antenna.

drafterruss
05-14-2013, 06:34 AM
That doesn't seem like to much of a project. I am tackle that as it would be a hug improvement over what I have now. Today's (it's my day off) project it to re ground my current antenna. I am torn as to how many ground rods to use. Some say 3 others say 1 it will be in hard clay soil. Have any input anyone? Thanks for all the help/ ideas moonchild, I hope you will keep lending a hand as I keep learning.

the caveman
05-21-2013, 11:54 AM
maybe 3 since you will need as much grounding as possible? im not an expert but i would go with as much as possible.:)

Moonchild 747
05-22-2013, 11:18 PM
Drafter,
Just remember there are two different types of grounds DC and RF...If you are operating off an AC/DC inverter then you should be fine with the grounding your house provides through the outlet, but if you're using a DC battery then you could, but not necessary, run a 4 foot copper solid grounding rod just outside your house next to where your antenna is for DC grounding, this will help with reducing man made noise on vertically polarized antennas...Now your RF grounding pertains to your Mobile units mainly because mobiles run monopoles (positive side basically) and the RF grounding provides the second half of the antenna (the negative side)...Now if you're running from a base station then it all depends on the antenna you're using as to whether or not you need to create a ground plane for your antenna...The J-pole (Whether made of ridged copper pipe or 450 or 300 ohm flexible ladder line) is designed not to need a ground plan cause it has the other side of the antenna made into the design, same as a 1/2 wave dipole...If you was to just make a straight up vertical antenna from a 102" whip and mount it on a pole on the side of your house you would need some radials to create a ground plane for the radiator (102" whip) to reflect off of...The further off ground the vertical antenna is the less it needs for ground plane radials...actually two 1/4 wave radials 180 deg off of the radiator (102" whip) at approx. 16 ft would work great DX, kind of like an inverted "T". The closer the radiator is to earth the more the signal gets absorbed by the earth, that is why they say if you mounted a ground vertical you'd need 120 1/4 wave radials to create a perfect ground plane for that antenna (anything more than 32 radials is negligible, you wouldn't really notice any gain)...Most people that run ground verticals live in areas where there's restrictions on throwing up large pieces of metal in the air...haha...So they opt for the 8 foot vertical inside the 6 foot privacy fence so nobody can tell on them...Glad to help you guys any way I can...keep asking and I'll try to answer the best I know how...

Moonchild 747
05-22-2013, 11:30 PM
BTW...Hard clay is a poor conductor of electricity the only good ground is near salt water so anything else is going to need a decent ground plane (Radials, neg side of the antenna)...You'll hear those guys talk on CH6 about their ground planes...it really make a huge difference, for one it lowers your angle of radiation on your vertical allowing for longer skip which is what everyone hopes to achieve in their antenna setup...No body wants their signal to just shoot straight up into the sky and never come back down...kind of like skipping stones as a child, throw the stone directly at the water and it passes through to the surface and sinks to the bottom, but put some angle on it and it skips straight across the surface and gets that distance...

drafterruss
05-23-2013, 01:08 PM
Well thanks for the helP guys. I used 3 6' copper rods hammered 4' in. The ground around me is nothing but clay and rock. It did cut down on my static a good bit which made my girlfriend rather happy. Thanks again caveman and moonchild you guys where a huge help.

Moonchild 747
05-23-2013, 02:49 PM
NP bro...always helps to keep the XYL's happy too...haha

drafterruss
05-23-2013, 08:27 PM
Xyl? Sorry I am still learning

Moonchild 747
05-25-2013, 05:36 AM
XYL...EX Young Lady or old Girl Friend or Wife...no worries

irish
05-27-2013, 11:19 AM
what keep a woman happy? clone yourself and let you be happy,,,,i always tell my wife when i die i will come back as you and leave me alone