Why Needing A 1/4 Wave Antenna Makes CB Radio Handhelds Worthless | Friday Reaction 4K
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- čas přidán 23. 08. 2024
- This week I put out a video reviewing the Wouxun KG-S72S CB Handheld radio, and it' got some great reactions. Especially when people mentioned you could fix the range problems by hooking it up to a proper quarter wave mobile antenna. While that might fix one problem, it creates another one, and we dive into it.
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****FILMING AND EDITING GEAR I USE (COMPREHENSIVE LIST) - amzn.to/3dDxI9h
one thing I love about the old 80s/90s handheld cbs was it was so common to have a 4 foot telescoping antenna on them without it being super unwieldy because it was telescoped down into the unit
Wouxun have options
1.Supply a longer sma top load long whip,a much longer Top Loaded helical or better a tape antenna or at least 1metre long.
2.Increase the RF input to the antenna ,so you do actually get 4w ERP out of the official HT antenna ( I call it the brute force method),to over come losses in the short helical design,I suspect typical loss around -6dB to -12dB on that short 27mhz helical?
3.Add a clip on wire counterpoise throw out wire (9ft) to give the radio something to work against when using the HTs for fringe coverage.
I have tried this on a President Randy 2 EU model and Randy 3 EU model,thats helped by 3 S points (+18dB),not bad for a 9ft piece off wire acting as a counterpoise ground.
Its very simple to make,just a large round crimp ring terminal spade with 9ft of wire,thats slips over the connector and the screw down antennato secure and ground it.
Im unsure how this could be achieved on a SMA ,as was using TNC type antenna connectors,
maybe a sma to female TNC could be used,then use longer TNC 27mhz antennas and counterpoise wire?
Users Expectations can be too high on cb handhelds with stock short helicals on them,so best bet is put a long 27mhz antenna on it,try point 3 and repeat the tests.
Enjoyed the vid
73's Rob.P in UK
CBS are only really effective at either very short ranges (1-2 miles) or very long ranges (hundreds or thousands of miles). The in-between ranges that most people want can be tough for 11 meter traffic. A good well tuned antenna set up can help. But I agree completely. CB HTs are a dud. My first CB was a realistic HT. It had a four foot extending antenna, weighed a couple of pounds, and burned through 8 AA batteries after an hour of usage. Hand held CBs just haven’t ever proven to be very practical. So of course I just ordered a President Randy 2 AM FM HT. Will it work any better than the Wouxon? Probably not. I got a mag mount antenna to go with it just to make certain that it won’t be a total waste of money.
Just to be honest you’re comparing apples to orange’s GMRS is UHF CB is 27 Megehertz that’s hf it’s lower in band also CB can do skip wave . This is a big difference. Fm cb is still 27 megahertz difference is frequency modulation versus amplitude modulation. So to sum up the band is inferior for reliable short distance as your video points out because of antenna restraints. I’m on my son’s CZcams account so I’m not him making this comment. But I think you do a great job on your videos keep up the good work 10-7 good buddy lol 😅
Why should maximum range be the measure of a good radio?
There are other situations where this may be more effective than the UHF options.
Lets say you're trying to avoid being detected and actually don't want your signal getting out very far at all. Not to mention directional antennas for uhfyare far more portable than HF so even if someone was close enough to hear you, they're going to have a much harder time finding your location. At least not without significant more risk of being seen first!
Can 11m get round some obstacles that UHF can't? That would be worth some experimentation.
I'd like to see a comparison to a handheld cb vs an frs radio.
Because the ideal situation I use my president randy for is I can hand it off to whoever is joining our group and they can always throw on a mag mount antenna on their car if need be.
Whereas a gmrs radio you could hand off an frs radio to someone that doesn't have a license but they couldn't use a different antenna if need be and I'm not sure if frs has the range in the woods compared to a cb handheld
Your awesome. Like the guitar analogy... along with your playing.
I have a President Randy 2 FCC If I add a 9 foot counter poise wire I can talk 5 miles To a Base station
I've got a ham license but I still enjoy cb radio, I do agree 50,watts would have solved
Everything that's going on in cb but like everything the government should the wait too long
Or it done get done at all. Of course the government is the problem 8 out 10 times.
Big question is... does it matter?
Sure, it'd be nice if a CB walkie-talkie could transmit several miles but, let's face it, most of the time they're only ever used as a more polite alternative to shouting at somebody - like when you're spotting for somebody when 4-wheeling or keeping in touch with somebody on a bicycle ride etc.
In that sort of role, a rubber-duck antenna is perfectly adequate.
*EDIT*
While I'm at it, there's also the possibility of using a "tape antenna" to give yourself a proper 1/4-wave antenna and, as a bonus, you also get that uber-tactical look too.
If you're desperate for range from a walkie-talkie, a tape-antenna might be an acceptable compromise - fold it up when you don't need the range and run it straight out when you need to.
Thanks, Si! I was wondering what the name for that type of antenna was. I've seen a couple of overland/offroad buddies with them on Baofeng UV-5R's, completing the whole "Tactical Rubicon" motif!
Yeah I use my handheld as a radio to keep in my car to hand off to someone else to talk to me in my mobile if we're riding together in a group.
Me and my friend also use them for motorcycle/car cross communication. With my president randy I still get out farther than a Bluetooth communicator and can have unlimited people in a group and still listen for truckers as well as talk to people in my car.
I completely agree that gmrs is a much better platform than citizens band especially in a ht or walkie-talkie form. Then putting a CB in the form of a walkie-talkie limits the CB even further. I believe that the President Randy CB walkie-talkie that has am and fm is a better implementation of a AM/FM CB walkie-talkie but it's not that much better than the wouxun walkie-talkie.
really? I talk around the world on the CB
It would be interesting to be able to do a side by side on them, that's for sure.
I love my president randy and while it's not gonna compare to a mobile it's still a solid handheld
I have a President Randy 2 FCC If I add a 9 foot counter poise wire I can talk 5 miles to a Base station
FM sucks for CB and you need a telescoping antenna. Rubber duckies suck compared to vhf because vhf a 1/4 wave is much shorter. you cant have more power on a walkie talkie because the battery dies too fast