using a mobile as a base

[the bandit43]

i have a moble radio..can i use it for a base what type of antenna can i use

[themotormaul]

you would need a power supply but yes you can run it as a base but dont attempt to ire a house plug to the radio.. it wont work..

as far as an antenna goes, get your self an imax 2000 or an antron/solorcon a99 and get it as high in the air as you can.

[The_Bigfoot]

Like motor was saying don't use a house plug.

Go out and find you a good 12 volt PC power supply.
Get the biggest one you need for what you're going to use.

[998]

To tell you the truth that's all I've been using in the past 10 or so years i got an older cobre142gtl base but have'nt used it in so long it might not even work ive been hooked on export. If you do use one you'll need to get a power supply to run it tho you can order one of the net or go down to your rat shack and get one fairly cheap and the same goes for an amp but you need to make sure it is going to be enough to push the amps and if I was going to do that route i would make sure to get two of them 1 for the radio and 1 for the amp just make sure it will be big enough for you ......
73's J down in the woods :D :D :D :D



* *You can do the redneck route and use a battery and charge it like every week or so been there and done that also ......**

[firefighter]

* *You can do the redneck route and use a battery and charge it like every week or so been there and done that also ......**

after I got my base antenna up, I ran a wire out my window and hooked to the battery on my car until I got my power supply in....I have a 102" whip about 42 feet in the air using it as a base antenna until I get one...I have talked about 20 miles on AM barefoot and about 30 or 40 on ssb barefoot

[themotormaul]

also a rule of thumb to remember when looking for a power supply usually a minumum 1 amp per 7 watts of power the radio is pushing. and remember dont read surge power read constant power when looking for a power supply

[the bandit43]

thanks guys

[Black Lightning]

A 5 amp power supply should be considered minimum.

I've often ran a Cobra 148GTL as a base unit, still do if I pull the 2000 out for whatever reason.

[the bandit43]

i want to beable to talk so i don't interfear with my neighbors

[Black Lightning]

i want to beable to talk so i don't interfear with my neighbors

It's all in the antenna. If you have a good, aluminum 5/8 wave ground plane, such as a Maco Alpha V58 or similar, with full horizontal ground radials, you're less likely to cause interference than with other antenna types. Height also comes into the equation - the higher you are, the less likely you are to interfere. The fiberglass antennas (any of them, especially with a ground plane kit) are most likely to cause issues with RFI/TVI.

TVI should become an afterthought sometime around Februrary, 2009.

[themotormaul]

i want to beable to talk so i don't interfear with my neighbors

It's all in the antenna. If you have a good, aluminum 5/8 wave ground plane, such as a Maco Alpha V58 or similar, with full horizontal ground radials, you're less likely to cause interference than with other antenna types. Height also comes into the equation - the higher you are, the less likely you are to interfere. The fiberglass antennas (any of them, especially with a ground plane kit) are most likely to cause issues with RFI/TVI.

TVI should become an afterthought sometime around Februrary, 2009.

well i have to disagree with ya there a little bit. your antenna actually has very little to do with the bleeding stray RF. i have a lot of home brew antennas and some of then are pretty cheesy and make of very poor quality. yet i still dont bleed. you need good quality coax and better yet GROUND GROUND GROUND EVERYTHING.

there seems to be a misconception with the whole antenna issue. people like to believe its from a a bad antenna if they are bleeding but if they were to take a closer look it usually come from bad grounding or bad coax. the antenna actually has very little do do with it.

[Circuit Breaker]

after I got my base antenna up, I ran a wire out my window and hooked to the battery on my car until I got my power supply in....I have a 102" whip about 42 feet in the air using it as a base antenna until I get one...I have talked about 20 miles on AM barefoot and about 30 or 40 on ssb barefoot

What are you using as a ground plane on that?

[slydog]

after I got my base antenna up, I ran a wire out my window and hooked to the battery on my car until I got my power supply in....I have a 102" whip about 42 feet in the air using it as a base antenna until I get one...I have talked about 20 miles on AM barefoot and about 30 or 40 on ssb barefoot

I almost fell over backwards when I read that.

[The_Bigfoot]

after I got my base antenna up, I ran a wire out my window and hooked to the battery on my car until I got my power supply in....I have a 102" whip about 42 feet in the air using it as a base antenna until I get one...I have talked about 20 miles on AM barefoot and about 30 or 40 on ssb barefoot

I almost fell over backwards when I read that.

42 feet... Holy McShiester.

[firefighter]

after I got my base antenna up, I ran a wire out my window and hooked to the battery on my car until I got my power supply in....I have a 102" whip about 42 feet in the air using it as a base antenna until I get one...I have talked about 20 miles on AM barefoot and about 30 or 40 on ssb barefoot

What are you using as a ground plane on that?

I'm using the ground plane off of a Archer Super Maxim that I bought....I was going to put it up, but it maxed the swr out and I couldnt get it down...I got a mirror mount for a chevy truck and bolted the mount to the aluminum peice that hold the ground radials on the super maxim and checked everything out w/ a ohm meter....it actually works real good....we live in the mountains of North Alabama and I can talk to my wife using the mobile about 20 or 25 miles barefoot...I'm using a galaxy dx 959 as my base deadkey of 3-6 and swinging 18 and she uses a Cobra 25 deadkey of 7 and swinging 21 w/ a wilson lil will mag mount....all barefoot....

[firefighter]

after I got my base antenna up, I ran a wire out my window and hooked to the battery on my car until I got my power supply in....I have a 102" whip about 42 feet in the air using it as a base antenna until I get one...I have talked about 20 miles on AM barefoot and about 30 or 40 on ssb barefoot

I almost fell over backwards when I read that.

42 feet... Holy McShiester.

I have it on 4 10' sticks of 1 1/4" conduit and the antenna is mounted on a 3 foot pole attached to the top of the last stick of conduit.... and it's bout 1 foot in the ground

[Black Lightning]

i want to beable to talk so i don't interfear with my neighbors

It's all in the antenna. If you have a good, aluminum 5/8 wave ground plane, such as a Maco Alpha V58 or similar, with full horizontal ground radials, you're less likely to cause interference than with other antenna types. Height also comes into the equation - the higher you are, the less likely you are to interfere. The fiberglass antennas (any of them, especially with a ground plane kit) are most likely to cause issues with RFI/TVI.

TVI should become an afterthought sometime around Februrary, 2009.

well i have to disagree with ya there a little bit. your antenna actually has very little to do with the bleeding stray RF. i have a lot of home brew antennas and some of then are pretty cheesy and make of very poor quality. yet i still dont bleed. you need good quality coax and better yet GROUND GROUND GROUND EVERYTHING.

there seems to be a misconception with the whole antenna issue. people like to believe its from a a bad antenna if they are bleeding but if they were to take a closer look it usually come from bad grounding or bad coax. the antenna actually has very little do do with it.

Here's an experiment (I performed this experiment when you were about 5 years old). Take a fiberglass antenna such as a Big Stick or an Antron 99, an LW150 or clone antenna, and a Sigma AV170 or Alpha V58.
Run equal power into them with the same radio. Do this one at a time. You will find the 170/V58 antennas are much less likely to cause RFI/TVI than the other above antennas. The reason is the angle of the counterpoise - the AV170 and V58 antennas have horizontal radials which deflect any RF from below the antenna. The others don't. It's not so much that one antenna radiates more RFI or TVI than another (which you are correct in), but how that RF is directed either to, or away from, below the antenna. Fiberglass antennas are the worst because the drooping radials actually direct a good amount of that energy directly below the antenna, and toward people's houses.