Re: CB'ing and Ham radio in the 21st Century
 

Aye theoretically around 35-36 ohms over a perfect groundplane which would present an swr of around 2:1 in an unbalanced 50 ohm system. Bringing that down to a more acceptable level of swr using the radiator cutting method would indeed throw you off resonance.

The LA8OKA corner-fed delta loop is an interesting antenna. Using a specific ratio of side dimensions you can bring the feed-point impedance down to the 50 ohm mark which effectively gives you the best of both worlds in terms of cutting out matching system losses (by not having to use one) while retaining resonance. I have one up for 20m suspended between two fishing poles using aluminium welding wire for the radiator itself - it's an excellent DX antenna for it's profile.

http://www.arcticpeak.com/antennapag...delta_loop.htm

Re: CB'ing and Ham radio in the 21st Century
 

I never was into CB or Ham but had a scanner for years, took the aerial down this weekend as when the Emergency Services went over to Tetra it all got boring!

Re: CB'ing and Ham radio in the 21st Century
 

Kymmy/Peter - thanks for the very detailed info.
I'll look more closely into this and see if I can't get away with a pole on the back wall. Should make things less complicated.
Having fun at the mo choosing a new rig ;)

Re: CB'ing and Ham radio in the 21st Century
 

Was in Rocket Radio in Letchworth today (great little shop with some good stuff in..grabbing a few PL259's and some 2" mast clamps to put up the new antenna) I did like the look of the Lafeyette Venus which has all the controls on the microphone..

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2012/03/7.jpg

As for an antenna if you can get an outside one then if they're still made an antron 99 or similar and you can't go wrong..

Re: CB'ing and Ham radio in the 21st Century
 

Pop a flag on top, nobody will say owt :)

That's a canny trick for your fishing-pole verticals.

Re: CB'ing and Ham radio in the 21st Century
 

Nice that Kymmy.
I reckon I'll go retro at this stage though. Can't help myself. I love those old rigs.
On the hunt for a Superstar 2000 with the 5 banks of 40 or a 148GTLDX with some extra freqs. Money's a bit tight at the mo though so could go with something lower end for the time being.

Re: CB'ing and Ham radio in the 21st Century
 

lol i remember my cb days..i had a cobra 148 and a superstar 360 plus a sigma 4 on the roof on top of a very large scaffolding pole and a nice meaty 500w solid state burner ;)

used to be fun and games ;)

Re: CB'ing and Ham radio in the 21st Century
 

heh if it was a Zetagi B550 then I bet it wasn't very linear either ;)

Re: CB'ing and Ham radio in the 21st Century
 

yea them and the dti lol ;) .....

Re: CB'ing and Ham radio in the 21st Century
 

Check this out for a twig

http://www.radioarcala.com/nbspStati...8/Default.aspx

Re: CB'ing and Ham radio in the 21st Century
 

You're safe now, DTI don;t exist any more... instead you'll get Ofcom chasing you :D

Re: CB'ing and Ham radio in the 21st Century
 

So much for old skool (and tight budget :rolleyes: though £150 ain't too bad for a rig like this)
Just got one of these

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2012/03/5.jpg


6 banks of 60 covering 25.615 to 30.105Mhz & multi-programmable from the PC
(so you can make it go from 1-40 CEPT on one bank for example).
Interesting foray back into radio and probably a bit of a whim, but hey.
The YouTube vids suckered me in.

Re: CB'ing and Ham radio in the 21st Century
 

Interesting bit of kit that and also to see that the market for those export type radios is still very much alive and kicking. A lot of the old names like President, Superstar and Cobra are still kicking about it seems.

Just in time for sporadic E season eh, hours of fun to be had with the Russian taxi drivers ;) :angel:

Re: CB'ing and Ham radio in the 21st Century
 

Heh. ;)

Superstar not always to be associated with the old now, Peter. Or at least not old rigs. Chinese built models are all over the place now, with freq counters and blue displays. Whilst hunting I was offered a Superstar 3900 and a Superstar Ranger both pretty much new boxed models. Word is, they lack the integrity and stability of their counterparts, and new surface mounted components make them difficult to repair - but they have the look mate. I was seriously tempted. The Ranger with the freq counter is a lovely thing.

http://www.gijoesradioelectronics.co...idproduct=1152

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2012/03/2.jpg

Re: CB'ing and Ham radio in the 21st Century
 

I guess they're all based on a limited subset of chassis like back in the day. I had one of the first generation of Superstar 3900s - must have been around 89-90. Basically a cheapo copy of the PB010 which reflected on the performance of the radio which was not aligned properly in the factory: carrier leakthrough and all kinds of grounding issues due to poor soldering and general design problems. IIRC I swapped that for a President Lincoln which had shocking selectivity but after installing the uprated 1st and 2nd IF filters (crystal and active) it was a pretty solid radio.