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Post by thebigwoo on Jan 25, 2010 8:49:07 GMT -5
Hi there, I just inherited my grandfathers' SBE Console II w/ Astatic D-104 mic and I was wondering what a good antenna would be to purchase for it to mount on the house and more importantly, how could I amplify my signal to be able to chat w/ people outside of my area. Is it possible to achieve the same distance w/ a CB that Ham people can get? Thanks in advance  |
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss 
Posts: 6,250 
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Post by Sandbagger on Jan 25, 2010 22:55:37 GMT -5
Hi there, I just inherited my grandfathers' SBE Console II w/ Astatic D-104 mic and I was wondering what a good antenna would be to purchase for it to mount on the house and more importantly, how could I amplify my signal to be able to chat w/ people outside of my area. Is it possible to achieve the same distance w/ a CB that Ham people can get? Thanks in advance Congratulations on inheriting a classic 70's radio. Assuming it's in good shape, it will works as well as any modern CB rig, except it's only 23 channels. A cheap and easy, but still relatively decent performing antenna is the Imax-2000. For maximum signal potential, you can't beat a directional beam antenna. But they can be big, and require a lot of support hardware, and usually only the really serious ops will go through the expense to do a beam the right way. You can boost your transmit signal with an external amplifier. But how far you ultimately can talk depends far more on the height above average terrain that your station's location has. As an example, I am at 400' ASL, and with 30 watts, I can make 50 to 70 mile contacts on AM. Others, with higher locations, and more power can do better. But it's rare to be able to talk further than 120 miles direct. Yes, there are people on top of mountains on the west coast, who can do it. But most of us don't live on 5000' mountains. At my old place, which was at 125' ASL, with 250 watts and a 40' tower, I was lucky to make 40 miles. When the skip is in, you can make DX contacts hundreds or thousands of miles away. But skip depends on the whims of the atmosphere and is unreliable. So how far are you looking to talk? |
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