CB handhelds, why so expensive.

[scanhermit]

I did one of my standard tests with the telescopic. I stuck the scanner with a telescopic in the loft then tried the TX and telescopic from 0.4m, 0.6m and a mile. It was ok if noisy at the first stage, barely broke squelch at 0.6 and couldn't be heard at a mile.

It was a couple of months ago but I think the stock antenna did better from 0.4 and 0.6m. I cycled up to DX Hill but of course my usual contacts (9-12 miles away) couldn't hear me.

Of course a scanner in a loft isn't the best base unit but it serves a comparison test and so far neither of the handheld antennas I've tried seem any better than the stock.

I'll take the telescopic and stock out next time rather than trusting to memory.

[scanhermit]

I went back to the 0.6 mile point with both stock and telescopic antennas - it's a grass field which I regard as a difficult spot because there are trees and housing in the way, though the field itself is open.

I tried both antennas on high and low power from halfway along the field path then again from near the far edge of the field, which is slightly higher up.

From the first position I couldn't make it back on low power from either antenna but both made it on high power. The sound quality was clearly better with the telescopic.

From the higher position the stock antenna made it on high power only. The telescopic made it on both high and low power. The low power was just about audible and high power clearly audible. Again, the telescopic sound quality was better than the stock.

This being a fair test I would rate the telescopic as better than the stock antenna. This time I put the scanner on a window ledge rather than the loft.

On a previous occasion, from a hill where I managed to get my usual (urban) contacts, I could be heard clearly two miles away but not four miles - I was just on the edge of S3-4 hash. I think the telescopic might lift me just above that hash and I shall try it at an opportune moment.

[scanhermit]

I tied a 2.5m length of copper to the bottom of the telescopic and the other end to the washing line so that it was pointing east. This crude counterpoise improved the signals of stations 10 miles away by a couple of S points - I wonder if it is safe to TX with

[Mudslinger]

I am sure it would be fine, I doubt that the SWR of the rubber duck is great to begin with.

[scanhermit]

I've seen a ham vid where a counterpoise worked very well for a UHF handy so I fancy having a go with CB. Anything to stretch out the portable gear

[scanhermit]

I went back to the 0.6 mile point with my crude counterpoise but when I got back and replayed the recordings two Germans had stamped all over me (I was using EU40 on FM). I tried it out in the street but the counterpoise introduced a buzz that probably didn't help when I was further away.

Tonight I occupied the hill from which I could get at least a couple of people on CB. As I thought, the telescopic lifted me enough above the hash for one person to just about heard me (4 miles). With the only chap who could hear me fully (2 miles) I was R3. That went up to R4 when I put the radio base on the edge of the car roof. Another had S8 of hash so wouldn't have heard me from two streets away.

I have to conclude that the TX isn't good for much more than two miles on a handheld antenna.

[Mudslinger]

2 miles is traditionally what you would expect on a handheld I would think and anything more than that is doing very well.

The effective radiated power from a rubber duck is always going to be very poor at 27mhz.

But I still think you should be doing better than you are if you get into a high-up location with little signal obstruction.

[scanhermit]

It possibly doesn't help that I'm testing it on the edge of York - my contacts have quite high noise floors. I suppose a worthwhile test would be to another person out in the sticks, maybe mobile or also on a handheld. My noise floor is zero

[scanhermit]

Yesterday I put the scanner in a front (north facing ) window and cycled to two points to the north that are 1.5 miles in a straight line. With the telescopic I got R4 from both locations (or R5 with hiss if you like ). There's 200-300 metres of houses then open country the rest of the way between my house and the Tx locations. I'll see if I can push it northwards to the next road up the next time I go out.

I'm in a bungalow so it really is a "feet on the ground" experiment.

[scanhermit]

I tried the experiment (1.5 miles) in the opposite direction with the scanner in a back window. Gets no more than 0.6 miles because there are more buildings and trees in the way.

[rpcomms]

You added a counterpoise? Does it improve TX and could you share your method?

ITS A 9FT LENGTH OF STAINLESS STEEL WIRE,WITH A RING CRIMP.
ATTCHES TO BODY OF RADIOS GROUND.
THROW WIRE OUT,THATS IT!

GIVES ABOUT 3s POINTS MORE ON TX AND RX

Rob.P

RPC Systems

[scanhermit]

Many thanks, I shall have to try that next time I'm out.

[scanhermit]

I've tried the TX with a PNI ML145 mobile antenna (clone of the Sirio). From the York hill my signal is generally 3 S-points better than the telescopic antenna and readability generally up one or two R values. Two stations that could not hear me before could now get me at R3, the furthest being 7.5 miles away. Again, the noise floor is S3-4 around there.

I moved location to a retail park in the city and could be heard up to 3.5 miles away. I was R5 S3 at 2 miles.

The power measured on the SWR meter is 0.5w Low and Just over 2w High. The TX is advertised at 1w and 4w respectively. I need to buy or borrow a dummy load to get an accurate reading though.

In a couple of YouTube range test videos, the receiving station reported no signal or audio difference between high and low power. I was skeptical of this, to be frank. However, one of my contacts, 4.5 miles distant, told me that when I switched to low power I dropped from a wobbly S8 to S7 with no detectable drop in readability. Colour me astonished.

When I switched to the retail park location, switching to low power did result in significant audio degradation. Anyway, I shall try the TX and ML145 combo from much higher ground when weather permits.

[Mudslinger]

I measured the power on mine and it was bang on 4 watts high power and 1 watt low power.

But again receiving stations didn't motice much difference.

This was on the built in battery which was fully charged.

[scanhermit]

I think I do need to check mine on a dummy load. It could be the power measurement on the SWR meter is wrong - my old meter did measure 4w and 1w but I'll check properly at some point.