New CB antenna

[Toepopper]

I have installed an old CB radio in my shop to monitor any verbal activity traveling over the airwaves from truckers driving along the I-5 corridor. The antenna I am using is off of an old PU truck, is almost 30 years old and I am certain that I am not receiving or transmitting as far as I would like to because of the mountains between my location and the freeway. So yesterday I ordered an 18' tall home unit base mount antenna that should triple the reception area I can listen to. It will be mounted at the peak of my shops gable roof which will put the top of the antenna about 38 feet up in the air. This system will be used for emergency communications and to monitor any unusual activity along the freeway in my area and hopefully give me an advanced warning of anything moving my way.

[SS5R]

I just dug out a base unit antenna I have had for years still new in the box, I think when assembled it is around the same height 15 to 20 feet with lateral arms at two or three different levels. I have been trying to decide where to mount it. I have a few 8-foot copper ground rods around here somewhere so I can ground it as we get some pretty good lighting storms. With the high winds we get occasionally it will need some guy wires to hold it in place that’s one of the obstacles of where to mount it. I have an old 40 channel base unit in my barn I am going to use. When set up it will be interesting to see if we can communicate.

[Toepopper]

We may be able to talk to each other at night after the ionosphere rises, on the "skip". Don't know for sure since I am tucked into these mountains . If you can build a stout enough mount you may not need any guy wires.I had a 16' tall antenna on my last house and it took the full force of the windstorms with no problems.

[SS5R]

This antenna I have is an old Hy-Gain CLR-2. It’s new in the box from 1975. The instruction manual was half moth eaten but I was able to down load one off the Internet. In the manual it states it will survive an 80 mph wind. I am going to mount it to a mast I have laying around from an old TV antenna so I think I can eliminate the guy wires. The antenna it self stands 19’10” and the length of the radial arms are 8’6” end to end, for what it is worth it creates a full 5/8 wave, it develops an omni directional gain of 4 db that is 12.55 watts of “Talk Power” that is the maximum for a single 5/8-wave system.

[Toepopper]

That thing is huge! You might hook it up and turn on your CB and the grid may shut down! Haha. That antenna should let you reach out and talk to someone. Are there any city codes or regulations you must comply with to erect this monster antenna? It will be interesting to see if your radio steps on any other radio equipment such as a neighbors stereo reception.
The antenna I bought is a Solacron Antron A99 with adjustment rings for calibrating the SWR . It is a half wave over a quarter wave variable mutual transductance tuned antenna that radiates a 9.9 DBI gain. Its 18' tall with a 2000 watt rating, does not need a ground and operates at 18-29 MHZ optimal range. I have absolutely no idea what all that means. Bought it from Walcot CB in Iowa and the representative there said it would work well in the mountains because its adjustable for the SWR. We shall see, its supposed to be here tomorrow. I am looking at how I am going to mount it to the high point on the gable roof of the shop for maximum elevation.

[SS5R]

I completed my antenna installation yesterday it took most of the day Sunday and about 4 hours Monday. When I started working on it Sunday it was 28 degrees out and never got over 35, that kind of slowed me down. I buried a pier block in the ground and lag bolted my mast to it and positioned it in an inside corner of the house where I fastened the upper part of the mast to the eves. I was then able to get on the roof and install the antenna on the mast. I had put my ground wire to the mast but I was getting a lot of static so I grounded it to one of the u-bolts on the antenna and that took care of the static problem. I was receiving a couple of guys as far as Arkansas and Tennessee yesterday so maybe we will be able to communicate on the skip.

[Toepopper]

I have a mirrored word for word antenna installation experience, same temperatures but I made up my mind to geterdone. After installing the antenna I hooked the cable to an SWR meter (standing wave ratio) and then from the meter to the CB with a jumper cable. You are supposed to check channel 40 and then Ch 1 to see if there is any difference but mine both read 1.1 on the swr scale. Thats perfect so I know for sure the signal is getting out. I picked up one voice from the piney woods of East Texas and another from the panhandle of Idaho who was in his truck. I responded but evidently neither of these fellows could hear me because they didn't respond. Surprisingly I heard no local chatter from log truck drivers but they may be on a specific channel I haven't located yet. The CB I am using is a 4 watt General Electric built in 1978, the first year they went from 23 to 40 channel and it still gets out there!