I read of guys making contacts very far away barefoot so the antenna and setup is most of it I would think.
I read of guys making contacts very far away barefoot so the antenna and setup is most of it I would think.
222DBFL (02-19-2020), BOOTY MONSTER (02-19-2020)
Ok it was a beautiful day here today in Western MA and and I hope it was the same for you all. Had a chance to set up my Bazooka antenna today in the attic of my garage. I set it up horizontally and hooked up my 50 feet of RG213 and my SWR meter. I used my cheap 35 dollar CB Uniden as the guinea pig. Keyed down and got about 1.75 on channel 1 and 2.3 on 40. So it is good for a start. Installed the 980 since I thought it was safe. Went upstairs and started folding back the ends by the same amount on both ends a few times and got it down to 1.1 on ch 1 and the 1.2 on 40. Ch 20 was not measurable and I used two external meters that I swapped out and they measured the same. I have as well used the meter in the radio and were within a few 10ths. Running barefoot I didn't make any contacts today but conditions are poor I guess and there are no locals in my area so this is a DX base only. Gonna wait for better conditions and give it a try. So far so good!
Last edited by Turboomni; 03-09-2020 at 03:19 PM. Reason: terrible typer.
BOOTY MONSTER (03-12-2020), whiteastro (03-09-2020)
While making contacts barefoot is possible because I have done it. There is a better chance that you will be covered up by what they call Big Radios. ( Running Amps ) DX land can be a MAD HOUSE unless you get lucky and catch it before everyone else notices. Kind of like a Free For All!
Turboomni (03-09-2020)
Yes that makes sense. Just that today I got only two very distant transmissions that were too far away. I thought I would hear more than that. Even the superbowl was dead. But it was this early afternoon. I did buy and receive a RM Italy kl203 I got from Newegg but haven't installed it yet. Was going to make sure my Swr's were low enough but ran out of time.
CB talk isn't what it use to be, you will have a lot of dead days. Like one person in here said ( it's all about location location location ) most days my channel 6 is dead but I'm not in a primo area. I was trying out a Cobra 25 yesterday I bought with a bunch of radio stuff on my way to hunting camp and was amazed at all the chatter I heard even thru the bad area of travel. I must have had people behind me I couldn't see. But anyway those cobra radios seem to have good ears compared to some of my other radios Good luck with your KL203 and like JJD said it will also increase your noise level so be prepared for that.
Turboomni (03-10-2020)
Yes thanks for that. As for the 203 it doesn't have the preamplifier in it if that is what you speak off.
whiteastro (03-10-2020)
Yeah my personal reason is I'm cheap!! Seriously though I heard the preamp would amplify the signal but also all the trash around it. Sounds like a volume control to me.
Well only you know what your budget is and your obligations so you have to do what is good for you. We would all like to have the best of everything but it isn't always in the cards. I don't want to think of all the times I settled for less than I really wanted. I spent my whole life buying used stuff and fixing it to have something decent to work or play with because the family needed stuff too. Now I'm Old and wore out so now I want to play with my Radio. LOL
BOOTY MONSTER (03-12-2020), Turboomni (03-12-2020)
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