Finally managed to get out to the good ole Radio Shack (should now be called cellphone shack).
Picked up their 102' CB antenna recommended by folks here and many other places. Going to direct attach the antenna to the Talking House V unit I have (on the built in port that does its autotuning for the wire antenna).
Since Radio Shack has literally about a 2 ft area for CB and radio stuff these days, there wasn't much (if any) in the way of mounts and related coupling for this antenna.
Intending on mounting the antenna on our rooftop when the snow and ice recede.
To do such, was wondering what folks would recommend--- to:
1. Mount the antenna to the structure
2. Provide the screw terminal for the antenna and provide conversion port for cabling
Seems standard that people throw this 102' onto a spring mount and a ball mount - but that is for vehicle mounting.
Looking for ideas here. I do have a truck stop nearby with CB shop (if still in business) along with truck stops that carry bunches of stuff for long haul truckers.
I doubt that the Talking House structure could withstand the load of the whip. And where are you going to put the Talking House - would that plus the whip even fit into a room (the whip is 8 1/2 feet tall)? You have about 1 1/2 feet to play with to keep the entire antenna structure under 10 feet, so why not do as I once did (with an old Chez Radio Talking Sign) - mount the antenna outside on the (outside) side of the house, put the talking house on a shelf on the inside of the outside wall, drill a hole and then attach the antenna to the talking house through that hole? The antenna can be mounted using a standard right angle bracket mount - you may have to move it out from the wall a bit to clear your eaves if they are lower than the top of the antenna.
Thanks @ArtisianRadio.
Your mount sounds nearly identical to my plan.
The "standard right angle bracket mount" does that have an antenna port/screw terminal for the whip and does it have the conversion port for cabling?
You can buy all kinds, but all should have a standard 3/8 female connector for the whip. Some just have posts that you attach wires to from your transmitter (antenna and ground); others use an SO-239 connector, you can take your pick. That CB store should have lots to choose from.
Thanks Artisan. Trying not to buy all kinds of stuff. My collection of parts and connectors for other stuff already needs its own building. 🙁
Looking for a 3/8 female whip antenna connector along with mount for affixing the antenna to structure + cable output/converted port.
Weary of stacking too many pieces and parts in the antenna stack as losses are supposedly high.
Monday afternoon I suspect I'll be at the truck stop and CB shop rifling through the options they have.
Remember that each connector between the antenna and the transmitter will create loss.
Connectors are quite lossy.
I'd do a hard wire connection to the antenna, Solder a good gauged wire to the whip, and just do a direct connect to the transmitter.
Direct solder sounds like a good idea.
What do you deem a "good gauged wire" to run from the TH unit to the whip?
Working with a coax output port and looking at ideally < 2 foot of cable.
Just to note that the transmission loss across a mated pair of most, properly used r-f connectors is barely 0.1 dB even at 1,000 MHz.
That loss is insignificant in most applications, even it was present in several pairs of such mated connectors in the MW and VHF bands, where their loss is even less than that.
Id use a gauge that has low loss. Down in the MW band it's pretty easy to find. Just get some wire that's decently thick, and shielded. Or else the wire will act as an antenna as well, instead of just the whip.
Thanks @mighty1650.
Probably going to only run 2 foot maximum. Ideally, I get the TH unit in a weather proofed boxed and that means six inch cable run at most.
CB shop folks should be helpful with this stuff. There is an old school shop. Hoping they are still there and in business when I go visit.
I have a Talking SIGN transmitter in great shape.
Fortunately, I can mount the antenna out a window at ground level and everything be within FCC regs.
I have the yard in front past the shrubbery and could easily create a nice ground system AND and also fortunate that a water main is 15 meters from that window.
In other words, everything could be mounted at ground level with the mini-plug from the play out system for music/elements being the longest cable of anything.
I'm wondering how to ground this properly to the ground radials.
Any tidbids would be helpful. For anyone needing information about automation and systems for play out, either budget or semi-pro or big time, I'm a SME on this.
I am, however, a doofus when it comes to engineering.
Okay, we need wire Mighty 1650. Specifically what kind of wire. I don't know which gauge has low loss. Beldin shielded cable, a shielded wire from a CB connector from a trucker place?
Thanks for your tips!
Trooper 1047 wrote: I'm wondering how to ground this properly to the ground radials.
The ground wire connects the r-f ground terminal (or chassis) of the transmitter to whatever buried conductors are used as an r-f ground.
The unburied length of that ground wire plus the length of the conductor attached to the antenna output connector of the tranmitter should not exceed 3 meters (118.1 inches), if it is desired to comply with FCC §15.219(b).
I also have a Talking SIGN transmitter - they're great little devices (made by the now Chez Radio) and work well if you can get the wire antenna vertical and out in the open (I managed to achieve over 1 mile range in the open, no obstructions, to my car radio).
The Talking Sign is grounded via the power cable, and I didn't physically ground the chassis.
I'm not sure if it will improve anything, but you take a short ground wire from the ground of the antenna RCA plug (as delivered, it is grounded to the chassis) to a copper stake pounded into the ground. You then attach the radials to that stake. You'll need to be careful of the length of the ground wire, as the Talking Sign's antenna wire is fairly long, over 9 feet, longer than the Talking House's. And you should probably replace the supplied power supply with a better regulated one - the original generates a fair amount of hum. You don't have to worry about grounding, because you've already grounded the transmitter.