Antenna Adjusting

Booty Monster: [Having a heck of a time getting back to you do to insufficient posts, but tracked you down over here. I don't know if it's acceptable to take this approach, but I guess I'll find out]

Spent a couple of hours on the CB Forum. Great stuff! 113 pages.

As I mentioned before. I would very much like to learn about CB/Tranceivers; including principles of operation, theory, and most important work on them. Could you give me an idea of what type of equipment I would need? I believe that an oscilloscope is important, but very expensive. As a hobbyist, what would one run that is of sufficient quality to meet my needs, as you see them, yet not break the bank. Ohmmeter? I do understand that all the testing equipment in the world, no matter the quality, is useless with a basic understanding, of electronics, but I do have some skills that should be helpful, i.e., four semesters of calculus, two of physics, and one semester of engineering which included circuit design, logic, most forgotten, but with some refreshing possibly salvageable.

 

range depends on a number of things. first, interference by other radios and the environment around you(ie buildings and such) second the watts you are putting out on the radio(4watts legal for cb as stated in fcc laws) and of coarse if the antenna is tuned to the lowest possible swr.

there is no question about it that a taller and better built antenna will hear farther and transmit farther. there is no clear way to know exactly how far a cb setup will transmit.

 

first i would strongly suggest getting a external meter for setting the antennas vswr . the other equipment isnt necessary unless youre going to be doing modifications that require them . some of it is pretty expensive but if ya got the bucks to spare and the inclination....... .

if youre really serious , a MFJ antenna anylizer is a very nice peice of equipment with many many uses . cant post a link to it here but you can use google to find more info .[SIZE=+2] [/SIZE]

 

I used to run a Lil Will on my pickup and it worked ok but I wanted more. I picked up a mag mount from a local truck stop and a Wilson T 2000 and installed it on my pickup and tuned it. My range more then doubled with this setup over the Lil Will.

 

i hear ya rat . the lil will is not a high performance antenna and doesnt claim to be . i think its the best cheap and easy antenna , taking into account it is what it is .

 

i like the FG k-40's much more than the wilson FG antennas , wilson has had a lot of failures at the stud and fg rod section causing the antenna wire to loos contact . you might want to look at skipshooter antennas also .

http://www.signalengineering.com/ultimate/mobile_antennas.html

heres a link to a non business site that will tell you all you need to know if running dual antennas is right for you . theres a lot of great info on that site to look at , if ya get time sometime . the coax basic section has a lot of handy info also for when you install that new antenna .