Hello everyone! I'm digging out my old cb stuff from many years ago and I'd like to use it in the house. All I really have is the rig (Mirage 6600 Peaked/SuperTalk). I know right away that I'll at least need a AC/DC Power Supply to run it and I'm planning on buying a straight stick (Antron99 or one of the knock-off equivalent antennas) mounted onto a 20' pole attached to the side of my house (stuck in the ground and anchored to the peak so that only about 5' is above the roof).
My questions are:
1. What is the minimum amp rating for a power supply to sufficiently feed my rig?
2. Any brand name of power supplies and antennas you prefer or that I should stay away from?
3. Is there anything wrong with or that I should change about my setup (such as it won't get out or may jack up my neighbor's tv/radio)?
Many Thanks!
Mobile as a base
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robturpin
- 4 PILL USER
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Apr 17 2011, 02:37
- Real Name: Robert
- Antenna: IMAX 2000
- Radio: Mirage 6600
- Contact:
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231
Re: Mobile as a base
Welcome to the forum. Perhaps when you get a moment you can take a minute and post an [Please login or register to view this link]?
1.) Probably anything over a 5amp, perhaps a 7-10amp would work just fine and allow some room for growth (i.e. sideband) should you ever want. [Please login or register to view this link] appears to only be a 10w (give or take). If yours has allot more mods perhaps considering a bit bigger supply would be good. Most are not rated for continuous duty, so if you need 5amp, get a 7 or 10. The difference in cost shouldn't be all that much more.
2.) Off the top of my head, Astron, TrippLite, some of the MFJ switcher supplies should be fine, too. I'm not sure which to stay away from as I've owned mine for some time. I have 2ea 40 amp Tripp-Lites, and a 10amp for the stuff I run. So I honestly don't know what's available out there anymore.
3.) For the little bit of cost difference I'd probably consider the Imax 2000 vs. the others. But both will work. The Imax is probably the cheapest S-unit of performance gain over the others you'll ever get. But follow your conscience and what you can budge. You'll have fun either way. You are likely to get into some devices, but keeping the mic gain down and doing a coaxial choke at the feed point (bottom of the antenna where the coax plugs in) should help. If you plan on running an amplifier that's likely to be an issue. And getting the antenna higher in the air might help some, too. You'll just have to start somewhere and see how it goes.
Best of luck and let us know how it goes.
1.) Probably anything over a 5amp, perhaps a 7-10amp would work just fine and allow some room for growth (i.e. sideband) should you ever want. [Please login or register to view this link] appears to only be a 10w (give or take). If yours has allot more mods perhaps considering a bit bigger supply would be good. Most are not rated for continuous duty, so if you need 5amp, get a 7 or 10. The difference in cost shouldn't be all that much more.
2.) Off the top of my head, Astron, TrippLite, some of the MFJ switcher supplies should be fine, too. I'm not sure which to stay away from as I've owned mine for some time. I have 2ea 40 amp Tripp-Lites, and a 10amp for the stuff I run. So I honestly don't know what's available out there anymore.
3.) For the little bit of cost difference I'd probably consider the Imax 2000 vs. the others. But both will work. The Imax is probably the cheapest S-unit of performance gain over the others you'll ever get. But follow your conscience and what you can budge. You'll have fun either way. You are likely to get into some devices, but keeping the mic gain down and doing a coaxial choke at the feed point (bottom of the antenna where the coax plugs in) should help. If you plan on running an amplifier that's likely to be an issue. And getting the antenna higher in the air might help some, too. You'll just have to start somewhere and see how it goes.
Best of luck and let us know how it goes.
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robturpin
- 4 PILL USER
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Apr 17 2011, 02:37
- Real Name: Robert
- Antenna: IMAX 2000
- Radio: Mirage 6600
- Contact:
Re: Mobile as a base
Thank you very much for your reply 231! That definitely gets me going in the right direction and I appreciate your wisdom. I figured that most of the little stuff that we're talking about wouldn't have a very big cost variance between good and better quality, so I believe I'll go with a 20A supply and the Imax 2000 w/coaxial choke and see what happens. I'm so excited to get back into this and my only hope is that my town has a community of talkers... As they say "It takes one to know one".
Thanks again,
Rob
Thanks again,
Rob
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231
Re: Mobile as a base
Glad to help Rob. A 20 amp should work terrific. That'd surely give you plenty of head room if you wanted to upgrade to something else down the road...or run a couple of radios. There are all kinds of links and threads on the forum here (along with the web) on how to make a "choke balun" etc. It's pretty easy to make.robturpin wrote:Thank you very much for your reply 231! That definitely gets me going in the right direction and I appreciate your wisdom. I figured that most of the little stuff that we're talking about wouldn't have a very big cost variance between good and better quality, so I believe I'll go with a 20A supply and the Imax 2000 w/coaxial choke and see what happens. I'm so excited to get back into this and my only hope is that my town has a community of talkers... As they say "It takes one to know one".
Thanks again,
Rob
Best of luck.
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robturpin
- 4 PILL USER
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Apr 17 2011, 02:37
- Real Name: Robert
- Antenna: IMAX 2000
- Radio: Mirage 6600
- Contact:
Re: Mobile as a base
Thinking of where and how to mount the imax and assuming that higher is always better, would bolting it to a straight up tree truck have any affect on it's performance? The other option is to simply get a long pole and stick it into the ground directly below the 15.5' roof peak and connect it to the peak with supporting brackets.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
