130 replies to this topic

[koss]

Not to the two chaps are you

[mic]

no no fraid not

[Silicon Skum]

I live pretty high up on a hill not far from the tv mast and with a decent homebase Ariel, I hear very little activity on 27mhz.
I am surrounded by three major city's and the only thing I hear often is two rather camp sounding chaps. Usually late at night.
I just think no one bothers with CB these days.

When I fix the CB microphone (as in FIND all the BITS...), I'll get my rig powered up and give you shout.

Heheh, Just found my old 50watt burner this morning, might even hook that up too (and proly cause a little RFI...)

SS

[unseen]

Maplin have a basic 40 channel rig for £50 :

http://www.maplin.co...e...O&U=strat15

But you would be better off going for an 80 channel rig (offcom are looking to sell the UK CB band channels in the next few years), and this is the only NEW CB that is 40 channel only, all the rest are 80.


Another Moonraker rig, £100 (actually considering this one myself) :

http://www.maplin.co...e...O&U=strat15

This one is slightly cheaper at £75, Midland 80 channel :

--URL::20c27b5a412df42a1282d89ce43efcb0-- http://www.maplin.co...e...887&doy=1m5

SS

Just been looking at this one.. CB Shack Linky But was wondering how they compare to Midland kit? CB Shack is not far from me (and god forbid I could get it en-route to riv run!) Just trying to see whats worth getting.. Looks like I'll have to get a gutter mount too (not much roof on a BOC for a mag mount )

Rob

[Yeti]

SWEEET!!!


Im going to dig the one I was given out!

Hmmmm have to find a place to mount it now.... damn.....




Oh well..... I'll find somewhere!



Mr Benn

[Touche Away]

Just been looking at this one.. CB Shack Linky But was wondering how they compare to Midland kit? CB Shack is not far from me (and god forbid I could get it en-route to riv run!) Just trying to see whats worth getting.. Looks like I'll have to get a gutter mount too (not much roof on a BOC for a mag mount )

Just a quick note on gutter mountings, they have to be earthed which means that you have to remove paint from the bodywork at the point where the mounting attaches right down to the metal otherwise you will have no groundplane.

You can find info on groundplane here : http://www.4x4cb.com...e.cfm?CatID=646

Just worth noting, bearing in mind how well Minis cope with the old brown death!

Gav

[Silicon Skum]

Yup! you will need an electrical connection to the groundplane for a gutter mount. You *could* however make the connection on the inside of the car, but it needs to be as close as possible to the gutter mounting point. For the connection to be electrical, you will still need to clean to bare metal, but you could use a strong magnet to physically attach the wire to the roof metal (avoiding the need to drill, screw or solder.

You can use a mag mount without an electrical connection, as the roof will RF couple to the antenna, but it's not as effective as a direct connection. But drilling the centre of the mini roof might not be the best idea for avoiding tin-worm.


unseen:

I have not personally used any Team equiptment, but I've not heard of any direct bad comments about it. Seems to fairly good kit. Common complaints seem to be the internal speaker is a little bit muffled and can clip at high volume (there is an exteranal speaker / headphones connection on the back, so could hook it up to seperate speaker or car radio!), the microphone feels a bit "cheap" and the channel buttons on the mic give a "Beep" on every click - which can get irritating after a while.

Hope that helps.

SS

[unseen]

Yup! you will need an electrical connection to the groundplane for a gutter mount. You *could* however make the connection on the inside of the car, but it needs to be as close as possible to the gutter mounting point. For the connection to be electrical, you will still need to clean to bare metal, but you could use a strong magnet to physically attach the wire to the roof metal (avoiding the need to drill, screw or solder.

You can use a mag mount without an electrical connection, as the roof will RF couple to the antenna, but it's not as effective as a direct connection. But drilling the centre of the mini roof might not be the best idea for avoiding tin-worm.


unseen:

I have not personally used any Team equiptment, but I've not heard of any direct bad comments about it. Seems to fairly good kit. Common complaints seem to be the internal speaker is a little bit muffled and can clip at high volume (there is an exteranal speaker / headphones connection on the back, so could hook it up to seperate speaker or car radio!), the microphone feels a bit "cheap" and the channel buttons on the mic give a "Beep" on every click - which can get irritating after a while.

Hope that helps.

SS

Ahhhhh BUGGER!!! Sounds like gutter mounting COULD be a problem then! Hmm anyone got any suggestions?? I've got till erm.... Ideally 2pm Friday to get a fix (no pressure then!!! lmao!!) before I have to head off for reading..

Thanks for that info about the Team Kit.. I'll give CB shack a tinkle tomorrow.. I remember them being quite helpful when I last needed help with a rig (god 7yrs ago now!! ) See what they suggest especially with it going in a mini... Just need to get my cig lighter working and a splitter so tomtom can keep running... (How much are them 70amp alternators??? )

Rob

[Touche Away]

Ahhhhh BUGGER!!! Sounds like gutter mounting COULD be a problem then! Hmm anyone got any suggestions?? I've got till erm.... Ideally 2pm Friday to get a fix (no pressure then!!! lmao!!) before I have to head off for reading..

Panel mounted, on the rear quarter, opposite side to the tank. Dead easy to route, feed cable straight through cabin between back seat and side panel and mounting on the rear wing is no problem (unless you've twin tanks like I have, then it's tank out time )

Gav

[Silicon Skum]

Ahhhhh BUGGER!!! Sounds like gutter mounting COULD be a problem then! Hmm anyone got any suggestions?? I've got till erm.... Ideally 2pm Friday to get a fix (no pressure then!!! lmao!!) before I have to head off for reading..

Panel mounted, on the rear quarter, opposite side to the tank. Dead easy to route, feed cable straight through cabin between back seat and side panel and mounting on the rear wing is no problem (unless you've twin tanks like I have, then it's tank out time )

Gav

Still requires a hole drilled into the shell though...

If your car has a antenna for the car radio mounted on the wing (or a blocked mounting hole), then you could use this to mount the CB antenna with a panel mount, and not have to drill extra holes in the body. I would not use an antenna over 96cm though, if too long it could "whip" out to the side and hit other cars or PEOPLE ! In this case, short is GOOD!

The next best thing is to go with the gutter mount, this will not require a hole (just clean metal, or a pointed / self tapping screw to bite into the paint and connect to metal), and the connection area can be treated with a good dose of waxoil to help prevent rust. Same with a boot lid mount, though a much taller antenna will be needed (needs at least 2ft above the roof).

The wing, boot and gutter locations will all make the antenna slightly directional (see my other posts about antennas), but for anything under 1 mile, it should be OK. Best position is the centre of the roof, but again, this has it's drawbacks for ease of fitment and coax cable possibly sliding around the roof as the car moves.


by the way:
Don't be tempted to use a normal car radio antenna, it'll burn out the rig. If you do use a wing mount and loose the car radio ant, just fit one of the cheap £8 ebay electronic antennas (got one mounted on my rear window - works well).

SS

[Silicon Skum]

Well I managed to find enough of my old rig to give it a test, switched it on and............"POP"....followed by a smell of dead capacitor guts. Seems the poor old thing has passed it's use by date.
It still works (sort of, the audio amp stage has fried - fixable though, just a pain to do), the Audio output is almost non existant, and slightly distorted, but the TX / RX circuits are fine. I'll proly get around to fixing it at a later date, some of the parts are obsolete, so will have to find alternatives. Too much work for now, besides - it's about 25 year old, can't complain really.


So, I've just bit the bullet and ordered myself a new rig, it'a a Midland 48 Excel Multi. Mostly beacuse it's got some nice features, but really it's because I can modify it to 400 channels - turning it into a 10m - 12m band rig....
I ordered it from 4x4cb.com, mainly because others have said they had good results from them. Hopefully it should be here some time next week.

Once it turns up, I get on with testing some low profile antenna ideas for the mini roof. These should be nice simple designs that anyone can do themselves with common household stuff and some lengths of wire (and save some cash in the process)

SS

[Jamier101]

.

Edited by Jamier101, 16 November 2012 - 09:49 PM.

[mayedd]

A quick word of advice. Many people in the CB'ing world have reported that the Moonraker (mainly the minor) radios are very underpowered. Rather than 4 watts they seem to be putting out about 2 watts. This is why there are so many factory returns on ebay of these radios.
Quick Tips when buying a CB:

1) If the radio has 27/81 stamped on it, it is one of the first CB radios made between 1981 and 1993. Although old, many of these radios will still give sterling service. Look out for names such as Audioline & Uniden. Radios are 40 channels FM

2) If the radio has PR 27/94 it dates from 1994 to 1997. This specification replaced the previous one above. It reduced interferrance and made the traditional swing needle a thing of the past. Radios are 40 channels FM

3) If the radio has PR 27 GB then it is a European CB. There are not many of these radios (the european frequncies never have been that popular). To be honest do not buy one of these from ebay as you most likely will not hear anyone and most mini convoys use the UK channels. Radios are 40 channels (Euro) FM

4) If the radio has PR 27/97 then it is one of the latest generation of CB radios. Many of these radios feature advanced facilities such as scanning, auto squelch, memories, Dual Watch, frequency readout etc. These radios are 80 channels which consist of the 40 UK channels and 40 european channels. Earlier sets where FM only but many of the newer sets can operate in AM as well. Often these radios can be modified to operate on many more channels either by selection of the switches on the front or by simple modifications inside the radio.

5) If the radio has 934/81 then you have bought yourself a duck. This CB system was shut down at the end of 1999. It used totally different frequencies to the other systems and the performance when mobile was very bad. DO NOT BUY. Radios are 20 channels FM

6) If the radio has anything like FCC on it then steer clear. This will be an american set which only operates on AM and SSB and on different channels to the UK system. Beware of Ebay sellers trying to sell these as UK sets. Ensure that they tell you which of the markings above the radio has.

7) There are a number of CB radios which don't fall into the above catagories. Radios such as the Lincoln, superstar, Stalker 9FDX. These are MULTIMODE radios which often do cover the UK channels but also cover alot more. In addition they are usually hi-powered (around 20watts) and operate on FM-AM-USB-LSB-CW. These can be difficult the non-dedicated user so only buy if you know what you are doing!

8) Burners/linears,boots etc. These are names for power amplifiers that can be plugged inline between the CB and antenna. They will increase the range that your signal can be heard. Power can be between 30watts and 600watts. Beware though, the higher the power the more amps they will pull. Treat them in the same way you would treat and a stereo amp. Also bear in mind that when you start to increase you power you VSWR will become very important. Whilst your radio can handle a relativly high VSWR at low power it will rapidly become a toasted tea cake if the VSWR is bad at hi-power. Remember that if you are using 200watts that people will hear you alot further but unless they are using 200watts you will NOT hear them!

9) Pre-amps. Supposed to increase the range you can HEAR. In reality they do NOT work. If your antenna can not "hear" a signal then it does not matter what gain you apply to it, it will never hear the signal. Don't buy

10) Antenna, there are many antennas on the market, some good, some bad.
Mount-on-glass = Absolute rubbish
Magmount = Good
Gutter mount = Good (can be slightly directional to the opposite side of mounting)
Boot Mount/Hatch Mount = Good (ensure the antenna is high enough to sit about the roof of you vehicle. can be slightly directional to the opposite side of mounting)

In general the bigger the antenna the better. I personally use a Sirio Hi-power 4000 about 6ft long )

Hope this has been of some help
Edd

[rosewhite]

I'm think ing of fitting CB. need to do more research, but would really like to use it at shows and runs etc. are there many people to talk to at mini runs?
otherwise it may just be taxi drivers around london!?!

[Silicon Skum]

8) Burners/linears,boots etc. These are names for power amplifiers that can be plugged inline between the CB and antenna. They will increase the range that your signal can be heard. Power can be between 30watts and 600watts. Beware though, the higher the power the more amps they will pull. Treat them in the same way you would treat and a stereo amp. Also bear in mind that when you start to increase you power you VSWR will become very important. Whilst your radio can handle a relativly high VSWR at low power it will rapidly become a toasted tea cake if the VSWR is bad at hi-power. Remember that if you are using 200watts that people will hear you alot further but unless they are using 200watts you will NOT hear them!

9) Pre-amps. Supposed to increase the range you can HEAR. In reality they do NOT work. If your antenna can not "hear" a signal then it does not matter what gain you apply to it, it will never hear the signal. Don't buy

Just to add, BOTH of these items are illegal to use on a CB or on the CB frequencies Unless you have an "Amature Radio Licence" which allows the use of modified radio transmitting equiptment. Even then, it's still frowned upon by the radio hams (actually they F***ING HATE IT!), and may still be illegal to operate with increased power on the 27Mhz band. The maximum transmitter RF carrier power output allowed is 4 Watts. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Also using cheapo linear amps will proly land you in trouble with your neighbours (and even people MILES away) as the amps can cause TVI (TV interference) and can even affect stereos, computers, intercom systems etc. It has even been known to cause your voice to be heard out of a TOASTER - given a big enough amp.

Pre-amps are of no use on FM, they DO however have a very good benifit to AM reception, but AM is illegal to use in the UK.
Also you are not allowed to use frequencies other than the UK 40 and CEPT 40 (euro / mid band), and SSB (single side band) is prohibited also.


That said, quite a lot of people DO use the above list of things, and if you DO happen to find yourself with an SSB capable rig and a moderate power linear amp, then you can have long range comms (DX-ing) with other regions, countries and even entire continents......depending on solar activity ("skip"). But thats more for the "pro's" rather than someone just getting started.



Anyway, I have been testing a few home made antenas, some interesting results, but nothing to report yet. I got a small "springer" style antenna with my rig, simply to see if it was any good, and it does perform quite well for such a short antenna. So if you are looking to buy a SMALL CB antenna that doesn't look out of place or silly on a mini, go for the Springer - it's quite cheap and performs quite well (but has a slightly high SWR on a mag mount, not too bad though). Range is limited by the short length though, maybe 4 miles or less in clear open space.

So far nothing has compared to my old DV27 antenna (a VERY cheap, old design, but not very flexable antenna) But my home made 8ft wire wound whip (3/4 wave) beats the C**p out of anything but the most expensive antennas.........sadly not that practical for the mini (and would need a mag-mount the size of a bin lid!).

SS

Edited by Silicon Skum, 24 May 2007 - 07:34 AM.