Base Antenna Opinions

I'm looking for a base station antenna. Like the A99 I live in a neighborhood so I want to keep the height down. Is this a good antenna for SSB?

 

Interesting, it appears to be the same design like the Hy-Gain Super Penetrator, now made and sold by MFJ for $150.

 

The antenna doesn't care if you are on AM or SSB. So any base antenna will work fine. You have to understand that SSB isn't anything special, other than it is a little quieter than AM mode, and legally 12 watts instead of 4 watts. If you are on channel 19 AM, the frequency is 27.185 Mhz. Now if you push the USB (upper sideband) button, you are 3 Khz above channel 19, which would be 27.188 Mhz. If you push the LSB (lower sideband) button, now you are at 27.182 Mhz. You are on the same channel but basically off frequency by 3 Khz. Some people make the mistake and consider a SSB cb radio as 120 channels, when it really isn't, its still a 40 channel radio.

 

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Just wanted to make sure it's in the same frequency. I'm new at this and just wanted a solid fact. Any recommendations on a antenna like the sirio gpe or antron 99? Thanks

 

I would go with the antron 99, mainly because it is only 17ft tall, which a shorter antenna is what I believe you are interested in. The Sirio gpe 27 looks like a nice antenna, but some people have had problems with water getting inside the antenna through all the rubber boots on all the vertical joints. A lot of people seem to like the Imax 2000 a little better than the antron 99. Personally I don't care for fibre glass antennas, because if they ever get hit by lightening, there's nothing left of them, but that's just my opinion. Also they can be a little bit noisy compared to aluminum antennas, mainly due to the lack of horizontal radials. The cb radio frequencies are channel 1 (26.965Mhz) through channel 40 (27.405Mhz) just to give you an idea of the frequency range of the 11 meter band.

 

I've read for hours on comparisons, supposedly the A-99 is prefered to the imax 2000 due to water getting inside. Have you heard of this? Even though I've read that imax is better compared to A-99. Besides the water problem on all of these antennas, which one would you buy compared to A-99 and sirio gpe?

 

Well, which one would I buy is a tough question. I personally would probably go with the Sirio gpe 27, mainly because I have never been a big fan of fibreglass antennas. As a rule of thumb, you have to remember that you get what you pay for when it comes to antennas. Looks like the imax 2000 is around $120, the antron 99 is around $85, and the sirio gpe 27 is around $150 on fleebay. The main thing I don't like is the water problem that some guys are having. I would think some silicon would solve that, but for how long I don't know. The siro antenna should perform better than the 2 fibreglass antennas, because the sirio is whats referred to as a 5/8 wave antenna. I think the other 2 antennas are 1/2 wave, but I'm not sure. Of course if I was to go with a 5/8 vertical antenna, I would buy a tried and proven antenna, like the SPT 500 super penetrator, it's on sale through DX engineering for $140. There are a couple of other great 5/8 wave antennas like the penetrator, such as the I-10K, or the mr coily enforcer .64. both these antennas resemble the 500 super penetrator, except the price of these antennas are 2 - 3 times higher. I did find the installation manual for the sirio gpe antenna, here's the link.

http://www.sirioantenne.it/images/pdf/manuals/id-037.pdf

The antenna does look nice, and the antenna is only 2ft taller than the antron 99. But performance is more important than looks too. Of course for easy installation the Imax and Antron are the way to go. So
basically it really boils down to what you want. Are you wanting somewhat long distant communication or just local chatting in the neighborhood. Just remember the key with vertical antennas is the higher up
the better.

 

I just bought the sirio GPE 27 on Amazon for $65. Hopefully I made a good decision, cb stuff is really expensive and I don't have cash to waste...

 

Chris Smit makes a nice one.
Shockwave Antenna - Home

 

Here is another one rated for 100 mph winds.
11 METER 5/8 WAVE COLOSSAL 10 KW GROUNDPLANE VERTICAL ANTENNA | ZEROFIVE-ANTENNAS