cb radio
brockolicious, Mon Sept 03 2007, 01:47AMWhat would happen if I connect my radio to this amp, would something break?
Re: cb radio
Dave Marshall, Mon Sept 03 2007, 02:31AM
If you're in the US, you'd risk an ugly fine from the FCC, as CB radio is limited to a maximum power less than what is required to drive that amp to maximum output (4w PEP AM and 12w PEP SSB).
If you are outside the US, no nothing would break most likely. If you want to play with high power and world wide communications, I'd strongly suggest you look into ham radio. In comparison, CB ends up looking pretty unattractive.
I'm moving this thread to the EM radiation board where it belongs.
Dave
Dave Marshall, Mon Sept 03 2007, 02:31AM
If you're in the US, you'd risk an ugly fine from the FCC, as CB radio is limited to a maximum power less than what is required to drive that amp to maximum output (4w PEP AM and 12w PEP SSB).
If you are outside the US, no nothing would break most likely. If you want to play with high power and world wide communications, I'd strongly suggest you look into ham radio. In comparison, CB ends up looking pretty unattractive.
I'm moving this thread to the EM radiation board where it belongs.
Dave
Re: cb radio
brockolicious, Mon Sept 03 2007, 02:48AM
I'm up north in Canada and have a cheap cobra that i'm going to be using just to talk to my friend. My antenna is a small magnetic mount thing. I'm probably going to end up building something big.
brockolicious, Mon Sept 03 2007, 02:48AM
I'm up north in Canada and have a cheap cobra that i'm going to be using just to talk to my friend. My antenna is a small magnetic mount thing. I'm probably going to end up building something big.
Re: cb radio
Dave Marshall, Mon Sept 03 2007, 03:09AM
You'd do better by building a quality antenna and getting some decent feed line than you would with an amplifier of dubious nature. Your neighbors would be happier too.
It appears Canada observes the same 4w/12w PEP output limitation for CB as well, though I don't know how carefully it is regulated up there.
A moxon antenna or even a cubical quad or yagi antenna could be built for perhaps $20-$75 depending on how fancy you want to get. There are dozens of websites online detailing how to build various antennas that should do nicely. I'd adapt an amateur radio antenna design to your frequency though. CB websites are notoriously sensational, and are often riddled with outright lies.
Dave
Dave Marshall, Mon Sept 03 2007, 03:09AM
You'd do better by building a quality antenna and getting some decent feed line than you would with an amplifier of dubious nature. Your neighbors would be happier too.
It appears Canada observes the same 4w/12w PEP output limitation for CB as well, though I don't know how carefully it is regulated up there.
A moxon antenna or even a cubical quad or yagi antenna could be built for perhaps $20-$75 depending on how fancy you want to get. There are dozens of websites online detailing how to build various antennas that should do nicely. I'd adapt an amateur radio antenna design to your frequency though. CB websites are notoriously sensational, and are often riddled with outright lies.
Dave
Re: cb radio
brockolicious, Mon Sept 03 2007, 03:12AM
Canada observes the same 4w/12w PEP output limitation for CB as well, though I don't know how carefully it is regulated up there.
^I didn't know that. Thank you very much for your help.
brockolicious, Mon Sept 03 2007, 03:12AM
Canada observes the same 4w/12w PEP output limitation for CB as well, though I don't know how carefully it is regulated up there.
^I didn't know that. Thank you very much for your help.
Re: cb radio
Chris Russell, Tue Sept 04 2007, 05:08AM
Dollar for dollar, the best investment is usually in improving your antenna, rather than increasing your output power. A properly built low-cost antenna in that frequency range could easily offer 13dB or more of gain over a cheapo mag-mount antenna. This is approximately equivalent to increasing your output power by a factor of 20, and has the added benefit of increasing the strength of incoming signals as well.
The general rule is, only spend money on an amplifier if your antenna system is already optimized. No sense adding more power just to have most of it end up as waste heat in your antenna, feedline, or ground.
Chris Russell, Tue Sept 04 2007, 05:08AM
Dollar for dollar, the best investment is usually in improving your antenna, rather than increasing your output power. A properly built low-cost antenna in that frequency range could easily offer 13dB or more of gain over a cheapo mag-mount antenna. This is approximately equivalent to increasing your output power by a factor of 20, and has the added benefit of increasing the strength of incoming signals as well.
The general rule is, only spend money on an amplifier if your antenna system is already optimized. No sense adding more power just to have most of it end up as waste heat in your antenna, feedline, or ground.
Re: cb radio
CDX825, Wed Oct 31 2007, 08:29AM
depemding on where you got your radio setup a better antenna will certainly help! when it comes to mobile antennas the wilson 1000 and 5000 are hard to beat and as for base the good old antron is a great start or even an Imax 2000. Another problem you would have with that amp is the output power on your radio would probly be to high for that amps input most CBs dead key 3-4 watts and that amp probly only takes half a watt to one watt drive. Lots more info on CB amps and antennas can be found here
CDX825, Wed Oct 31 2007, 08:29AM
depemding on where you got your radio setup a better antenna will certainly help! when it comes to mobile antennas the wilson 1000 and 5000 are hard to beat and as for base the good old antron is a great start or even an Imax 2000. Another problem you would have with that amp is the output power on your radio would probly be to high for that amps input most CBs dead key 3-4 watts and that amp probly only takes half a watt to one watt drive. Lots more info on CB amps and antennas can be found here
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