Fred you being a ham operator and putting up stuff like this dealing with 11m is awesome, most hams I’ve talked to look down on me being involved in cb and tell me it’s garbage which pushes me away from wanting to be involved with ham, I’ve never been shamed by those on 11m, I look at it differently, for me it’s a great learning experience, I am in the process of learning everything that I can about cb including building my own antennas and running a good clean station, grounding and whatever information I can learn, in my opinion this is a great way to start out, it’s affordable, I’m making contacts all over the world and I don’t even have to run much power to achieve this, my station is clean and grounded properly thanks to ham operators showing how it’s done, this to me is most definitely a gateway to ham, especially if the person learning cb is wanting to do it right and clean, I’m getting into ssb for the first time on cb and now thinking about studying for ham as well realizing how fun ssb is, I’ll always talk on cb still, it’s my roots, thank you for being involved with 11m and teaching us how to do stuff like this, it really helps me out and means a lot 😎😎😎😎
@CB-RADIO-UK2 жыл бұрын
Hi Mike. Thank you for such a detailed comment and iam glad you are enjoying 11 meters as much as me. Just one thing iam not a radio Ham myself. I just hang out on 11m SSB
@mikehannahs2 жыл бұрын
11 m is really fun, and no problem on the comment I appreciate you thank you
@joewilson22584 жыл бұрын
The proper way to make the inverted V antenna is to use this formula 468/27.205 aka channel 20 and multiply by .98 to get the best length for the antenna and to figure the length of each leg is 234/27.205 and again multiply by .98 . But if you have the antenna straight horizontal the impedence will be about 73 ohms but by dropping the legs down you can find the impedence will get to be 50 ohms . I'm an amateur radio operator and I have been studying antennas and with help from other amateur radio operators I have found out about how to build my own antennas and save money . Good luck on your antennas and have fun with them ,73's from kn4kbh .
@MrScotchpie4 жыл бұрын
I have a 27mHz inverted-V in my loft too. Amazing antenna. Gets out across the continent and beyond when the bands are good (furthest I worked is Israel and North Africa but received from USA and Canada). As the old saying goes, its easy to build a worse antenna than a dipole but hard to build a better one. You should maybe consider going for your foundation ticket (easy peasy). You've basically passed the practical building this. It will teach you everything you have covered in this vid and more.
@ericdee68022 жыл бұрын
Wow, sounds like you have made some awesome contacts on your "V" what are the deminsions if i may ask???
@aa0ni4 жыл бұрын
Everything in your design should work except the close proximity of the attic insulation with foil surface. As for those pointing out horizontal vs vertical polarization... An inverted-vee is not perfectly horizontal, so you will have a combination of both horizontal and vertical waves. None of this will matter with skywave DX. Keep up the good work.
@timothywilliams89074 жыл бұрын
Made one of these back in the late 70's, and got a 1.3-1 match with it. Close enough for Government work. LOL Seriously, it was a great little experiment, and in an emergency would have worked to allow you to communicate locally with friends and others. I found some 8-10 gauge solid aluminium clothesline wire at a local store, and based my measurements off of the basic 102 inch whip antennas being sold at the time.
@maj.d.sasterhikes98843 жыл бұрын
Keep in mind, the 27mgz cb band used to be an amateur band so there is no reason you can't operate an inverted V dipole. I had one years ago that I built as an extra antenna in addition to a half-wave ground plane. When a friend was thinking of buying a second antenna I told him to save his money and showed him my dipole and then got out the materials to make one for him. He just could not believe that I built him an antenna for less than $5.00 worth of parts that worked so well!
@James_Bowie4 жыл бұрын
Gee Fred, making your own antenna. We''ll make a ham out of you yet! 😀
@janbundell64344 жыл бұрын
It’s the only way we learn Fred...trial and error...well done mate....Bob
@raytowler22864 жыл бұрын
Congratulations on your homebrew dipole, nice work 👷
@Big_John_C4 жыл бұрын
It's definitely not going to work with that shiney insulation in your attic
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Hi. I covered that in another video it non conductive mylar.
@Big_John_C4 жыл бұрын
@@CB-RADIO-UK So no effect on radio waves reflected back to dipole and poor reception/transmission?
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
@@Big_John_C I think there will be some effect yes. Hard to say to what degree without removing the mylar. However the antenna worked and got fair reports. I would think that most people trying this set up would prob not have the same problem.
@Big_John_C4 жыл бұрын
@@CB-RADIO-UK I mounted my dipole on the ceiling of my radio room in a v shape and it performed exceptionally well even though it was horizontal, had a nice chat with a gentleman from Zealand Island Denmark that evening.. 5,460 miles away with a 25 watt radio
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
@@Big_John_C Amazing result. Well done.
@andy2E0JIU2 жыл бұрын
Love your enthusiasm Fred,channels got so much better over the last couple of years so well done mate n look forward to the next one:) looking forward to a back in the day story :)
@CB-RADIO-UK2 жыл бұрын
Thanks 👍
@dzoni2zr4 жыл бұрын
nice video greetings from Serbia, 45NS001, mate the dipole is sometimes better than vertical or directional factory antena, so thumbs up for creation, iverted V especially outside with a center on some high pole, i was experimenting very much with dipoles and i am very happy with them, also try to experiment to take a 2,5mm full wire then remove completley the isolation, after you trim and tune it just spray it with nitro glaze protection for wood or metall the transparent one to protect it from weather conditions
@AnthonyJones-vk6xq4 жыл бұрын
Gave you a thumbs up Fred for building your new antenna, last time i worked into the UK on the 11m band i was running one of my Kenwood transceivers (i can,t remember which one) with an Acom 1000 amp for a laugh, just to say HI !!!! The guy thought i was pulling his leg when i said i was in the South West of France ! Is 27.305 a regular SSB frequency Fred, i will store it in the memory bank in the scan cycle, incidently had a friend after all going to a restaurant here, he had been into CB and had a box of stuff in the garage and would drop it off at my house. Came home one afternoon to find a box, full of Cobra 148GTL's , Midland 80channel AM/FM rigs, valve amps and cables and even a antenna rotator !!! and the best was the K40 with a mag mount !!!!!!!!! So my new 10m antenna is now the K40, started on CB, been licensed since 1982, held ham callsigns all over the world, still do, won plenty of contests on HF but still love the CB. Respect to you man, keep the videos coming. 73s call you on 27.305 one evening whens theres some 'skip' into the UK ......
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Thanks Anthony
@alanprice12374 жыл бұрын
Have a look at the book Dummy’s guild to CB. Played with that antenna 40 years ago. Another one we use 3’ by 3’ ply covered in tin foil small block of wood in the middle with a broom stick and 18’ of single Core wire. I had that in my loft for years.
@26tm99994 жыл бұрын
Nice one Fred, I only use wire dipoles now, if you stuck it outside you would be surprised at how well it will work. I always use an airwound as well I also use electric flex, a cheeseblok for connecting the wire and coax at the antenna side obviously. The best antenna I used was one of these but as a fan dipole, never needed a tuner for the band's it worked brilliantly. I'm hoping to get one up soon again but got to much to do with the house atm, the wife will kill me if I start playing with wire again lol
@japautosalon4 жыл бұрын
Keep up the good work Fred. Without people trying and failing then trying again none of us would learn.
@z1100a24 жыл бұрын
Excellent video. I've been messing about with antennas for ages, both on CB & the Amateur Bands. And have had some excellent results with antennas that supposedly shouldn't work very well. Usually it's all down to the tuning of the antenna - if you can make it radiate the RF out rather than reflected back, then you're heading in the right direction. The whole radio hobby is all about experimenting. Of course, when experimenting, always be aware of the damage that high swr can cause to your equipment..... Keep up the good work Fred.
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Thanks. Yes i agree you have to try different ideas and find what works. RF is an issue running an antenna in the same room as the radio but i did get it working.
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
I really fancy building a mag loop. Ive read up on it a few times. Finding the right vari cap for a decent price is the tough part.
@redeyegooner Жыл бұрын
@@CB-RADIO-UK Did you ever get round to building a magnetic loop? I've really enjoyed this series, it's been really helpful 👍 I've seen 6band UK made mag loop on fleabay for 110quid. Do you think it would be worth it? I'm thinking my options are between a loft dipole like yours (cheapest option), the mag loop, or a widebander wonder wand/loop (most expensive option). (I do plan to get a ssb rig at some point later on, but will grab a cheap UK rig to start with)
@boxingday114 жыл бұрын
Don't forget Fred, the other lads are virtually polarized and the inverted V is mostly horizontally polarized. Best regards , carl.
@g1fsh4 жыл бұрын
My god this takes me back lol i used one of these when i was in me teens. It was great for talking stateside. I used 1 because a vertical dipole used to cause loads of tvi. The inverted v stopped all that. Nice one Fred.
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Thanks Gary. I wish i had made one for my dads loft back in the day.
@rickvia84354 жыл бұрын
Good work. You have an effective inverted V antenna cut for 11meters. Since it's legs are slanted it emits a signal w/ both vertical and horizontal polarity components. You CAN feed a 1/2 wave dipole directly from RG58, Though it's not recommended. You can even get very acceptable SWR if the length of the dipole legs are carefully adjusted. Where you run into possible issues is proximity to any metal (and even wooden structural material). In the case of closeness to wood, the leg-length adjustment should allow low SWR. Now it IS best to put a choke-BALUN at the feedpoint (as you did by coiling several turns of RG58). That effectively negates the BALanced antenna from the UNbalanced RG58 section of feedline to the radio. The 1:1 BALUN wasn't necessary, as the coiled coax took care of that (the choke-BALUN effectively IS a 1:1 BALUN). The choke action of the coil also helps keep RF off the feedline portion from the radio to the dipole, helping keep RF out of the area of the radio. Since the dipole is physically close to the radio, the RF field is gonna be high anyway, though. I've been making dipoles for decades (for 11M as well as 10, 20, 40 and 80M. They make great antennas. They're horizontally polarised for local (non-skip) comms. However, after the signal enters the skip (skywave) domain it becomes circularly polarized so it doesn't matter the polarity of the receiving antenna.
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Thanks Rick thats really helpful info. I did wonder if the air choke and Balun would be doing the same thing. After my first fail i was really happy it worked. I may try building one outside next year so i could try it with just a RF choke.
@r188ops84 жыл бұрын
Hi Rick, I’ve got the same setup as this in my attic with a President McKinley. Unfortunately I’m getting erratic swr on the inbuilt swr meter. I’m being heard ok but in receive it’s dropping out due to the swr jumping around, any ideas?
@rickvia84354 жыл бұрын
@@r188ops8 Go to a Pilot/ Flying J/ Loves truck stop and get a $25 SWR/ watt meter and see if your antenna is unstable. I don't see that a simple dipole will give you trouble, but you should be able to determine if there's something happening with your "Radio to SWR meter to antenna" stream. Move stuff around while transmitting and see if anything changes. I don't have a lot of faith in SWR meters built into the radio. Let me know what you find out after you eliminate the "in-built" meter.
@r188ops84 жыл бұрын
Morning (well it is here) Rik, will do, I’ll get one today and see what happens 👍🏻 Paul
@shaneweightman Жыл бұрын
Catching up on some of your past vids Fred, 30 odd yrs ago , I made a inverted v , for a naughty freq , echo Charlie , and it was a vague basic antenna that was chucked over the top of the roof of my house, coming down about a foot off the ground in my front and rear garden , a thin piece of wire that was hardly noticeable, didn’t have any rf chokes or ballum, I used the antenna tuner in the kenwood to swr the Ariel, and believe it or not I spoke to a group every day for months using 30 watts lsb ,, can’t remember the exact length of each leg for 6.6 , but was around 38 ft , if my memory serves me right , oh and in the group was a woman called Annin France a guy in Cornwall and a guy in London , , they were the days , l o l , cheers Shane ,,, back on the Cb, and will be doing some videos on my sister channel , cheers shane uk 🇬🇧
@CB-RADIO-UK Жыл бұрын
Sounds interesting and sneaky. Glad to hear your back on the air. Hopefully your noise will be better this time. Look forward to your videos.
@shaneweightman Жыл бұрын
@@CB-RADIO-UK thanks for the reply Fred , one of these days before I die , maybe before this winter will drive down some where nr ur location and have a yatter with you on your afternoon 405 net ,,, it’s on my bucket list , l o l cheers shane
@DavidSmith-mk7qo4 жыл бұрын
Unfreaking real. These guys are masters of an art that is almost gone forever!!
@marksteeples54894 жыл бұрын
Hi Fred thanks for that I am making one for my loft as a back up to my outside antenna
@DrWatts-bi1jv4 жыл бұрын
Love it! Great experiment with good results. I wanna put a wire up for top band during the winter. I'll let you know how it goes 👍
@brianhealey35284 жыл бұрын
Hi Fred I hate to pull rank on you but you said that you were not any good at making aerials but I can honestly say that my record for making aerials is pretty poor. Thanks to your video I was inspired to build an inverted V antenna and I ordered a balun like the one in your video and I got stuck in, expecting the worst, due to my previous failed aerials in the past. I made the inverted V and it actually works. Thanks for your Video and for inspiring me, keep the videos coming they are much appreciated. all the best, Brian
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Glad i was able to help you Brian. Well done on building your own.
@stevebrettuk4 жыл бұрын
Best CB contacts I ever made was on a bodged-together wire inverted-v dipole fed with 75-ohm TV coax with an equally bodged-together connector (a tv coax plug soldered onto a PL259). Literally cobbled together out of stuff I had handy. Couldn't believe the results, it didn't need much fettling to sort out the SWR and worked a treat. I used it for a couple of years around the last sunspot peak and was getting into Canada, US, and the Carribbean on 12W PEP SSB. Niiiiice. If you're making contacts and your radio doesn't go bang, that's a win. Mate if you're this into playing about with radios you should do your Foundation ticket. Basically if you can read you can pass it. PS All that metal on your roof insulation will F up any antenna you put inside it... tear it out and put fibreglass instead lol.
@stevebrettuk4 жыл бұрын
@Charles B. As long as the radio doesn't care too much (mine didn't). I'd always planned to replace the coax but it worked so well I didn't dare change anything!
@lesjones56849 ай бұрын
I’m learning a lot from you ❤❤❤❤
@Jim_2E0HKM4 жыл бұрын
Well done on the Antenna Fred. Good to see it working, get well soon!
@frankc1430 Жыл бұрын
You didn't need to make a choke. You're balun is your choke. Only thing I see that's going to hinder you is all that foil insulation.
@jeffferrell.k9hca5314 жыл бұрын
Please keep in mind that there is a 20 DB loss in signal going between a horizontal and vertical antenna. In America, most CB antennas are verticals. Good build though!👍
@MWOCQU3 ай бұрын
You might have been better off separating that foil insulation at the apex of the roof into a "Left and "Right" panel and connecting that to the coax . An 11m dipole should present a significant mismatch or performance hit in the presence of that much foil Backed insulation.
@dougc.17734 жыл бұрын
Lest we forget, before spending time and $ on a dipole CB antenna, unless one plans to string it vertically, which would not be very feasible in a attic, a horizontal dipole is polarized "horizontally"...exactly 90 degrees out of polarization with most all mobile and base CB transmissions on a vertical antenna. But since he's strung a inverted V, there will be some vertical polarization component but only 50% efficiency. The foil backed insulation doesn't help either.
@DAVIDGREGORYKERR4 жыл бұрын
A 4:1 BALUN would have worked also but a long-wire antenna matching to your transceiver via an UNUN should also work.
@steven65174 жыл бұрын
Lovely job. Got one up in the same fashion. Top video keep it up Fred. 👍🏻
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Cheers bud
@allthegearnoidea67524 жыл бұрын
It looks like you had some form of metal foil insulation in the loft I suspect that didn’t help things. I bet you shack was live with rf and half you signal was radiating from the feeder. I actually don’t mean to be disparaging as I have built a lot of antennas and my efforts have been very random and many really poor, it never matches the theory but you doing absolutely the right thing by experimenting. An indoor antenna is always going to be a serious compromise and have a high noise floor. 27mhz is also a relatively low frequency lending itself to electrically large antennas. I have been doing some work using two loaded vertically mobile whips to form short tuned dipole. It worked very well on 27 but it was still just to big. I have a couple CB restoration video if you get a minute I would love a thumbs up from you. Keep going keep experimenting and I hope your feeling better soon. Best regards Chris
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Thanks Chris. The foil in the loft is non conductive mylar. Thanks bud.
@allthegearnoidea67524 жыл бұрын
fredintheshed1 Mylar is definitely non conductive it’s the insulator used in high voltage and high stability capacitors. But it does look to be purposely reflective so still wondering if it’s metal sprayed ie like mirrored sun glass these are splutter coated.
@mikemcdonald51474 жыл бұрын
@@CB-RADIO-UK it may be non conducive but I still think its blocking rf. We use mylar to protect our computer components in a high rf environment and high static environment.
@ben2e0omr4 жыл бұрын
Cracking video Lad. Making antennas is fun. I now have a spiders web/rats nest of failures, but some do work very well. Keep the videos coming and kick that cold right into touch.
@stevedodd78834 жыл бұрын
oh well its a LOT claener than mine. im just starting up again after being away from c b since 1982, Got a lot to re learn
@sahhull4 жыл бұрын
Im cleaning the spiders out of my old rigs too.. Nothing to re learn other than where did I put my screw drivers.
@sahhull4 жыл бұрын
Are you sitting nicely??? Way back in the old days... I made a 36ft wire dipole from 2.5 twin core wire. Strung it at washing line height down the garden. It worked pretty well out to 15 - 20 miles, Ive never been interested in DXing. If I get an out of town copy, its an accident.
@twocvbloke4 жыл бұрын
I keep looking at my extendable curtain pole and thinking that it maybe could be used as an antenna of somesort, I just don't know how that would work though, but would need to be vertical, which would make it hard to keep the curtains up on... :P
@CurmudgeonExtraordinaire Жыл бұрын
Initially, I was thinking that your attic looked entirely too neat and clean and then you pointed your camera to the side areas and I saw the fiberglass insulation mess and I felt right at home... I absolutely HATE working in the attic due to the fiberglass... Then again, the fact that it can reach 140F up there in the summer with the 90+% humidity that we get here does not make it exactly "inviting" either...
@CB-RADIO-UK Жыл бұрын
Hi. Yes mine gets too hot also in the summer.
@K5NOV4 жыл бұрын
Great job Fred learning is part all part of it and makes the hobby more interesting. Now you have achieved and made you feel good.. 5 star mate and well done a fully tuned dipole makes a good antenna
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Cheers Lee. I did enjoy the building part.
@K5NOV4 жыл бұрын
@@CB-RADIO-UK just remember from novice to advanced you will never stop learning clueless is a little harsh we all learn from one another hence your video and other ones out there it's all about enjoying the hobby whether it be CB or Ham radio ignore the stigma kick ass on the learning and enjoy it 😁
@frankierios28379 ай бұрын
i am using a 4ft top load antenna in my loft it is working pretty good
@CB-RADIO-UK9 ай бұрын
That's great
@ExtremeTimmah4 жыл бұрын
Good video Fred, Some of the information is a little wonkey on the net with regard to building dipole antennas and inverted Vee's. The angle of the V needs to be 90° as close as possible and will affect SWR and the need for a balun. A dipole is a balanced antenna, coax is unbalanced hence the need for a balun (BALanced UNbalanced) ive got mine to mount up when my leg is better. Did do a mic mod though to a cobra M75 today ready for use on the 6900
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the info.
@tlachta3 жыл бұрын
its the table that Mrs Fred varnished
@CB-RADIO-UK3 жыл бұрын
Hi. Yes the same one.
@tlachta3 жыл бұрын
@@CB-RADIO-UK thanks for the reply Fred Watching from Ireland, keep it up I want to put an antenna in the loft, now I have to decide whether to buy the rod balun or some wood varnish, as our own table needs work
@christopherhulse83854 жыл бұрын
At 27Mhz, the loss through tiles is lower than at FM frequencies and far lower than TV frequencies, but obviously reflected power is the big issue here.
@agoraphobicadam11714 жыл бұрын
Always fun to experiment.
@mickibbett21204 жыл бұрын
Glad it worked for you Fred. Regards Mick (26CT3060)
@stevedodd78834 жыл бұрын
wow you have a clean loft
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Its not a s clean as it looks.
@matiasramos24094 жыл бұрын
Dipoles are good for dx, great video👍
@artdodd29324 жыл бұрын
Great video Fred
@Frank35WR0354 жыл бұрын
Nice Video. Its a good alternativ to use inside of the roof. Best greetings from Austria. 73s Frank - 35WR035
@rangerbud2 жыл бұрын
Your 5 turn transmission line coil is a choke balun. Did you really need a second balun at the apex of the antenna?
@Tobinindustrial4 жыл бұрын
Impressive setup Fred. That balun is key to a good antenna. The choke idea seemed to work reasonably well Fred. Maybe a little diffierent tweak or more wraps might be better. Experimenting, as you say, is the key. All is well here Fred. Decent weather here as well.
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Thanks Andy. I wont be stopping when i get a little breathing time after xmas. Hope the quad bike is going well.
@48pluto4 жыл бұрын
For the ugly balun its mostly around 8/10 windings. But to me honest it didn't work that well and i went for a 1:1 ferrite balun and that worked much better. I noticed less local noise. Considering SWR i never seen too much difference between inverted V with or without the balun. Just a little perhaps. But without i have seen 1:1 SWR as well. So it all depends on the antenna location i guess..
@katmanclancy4 жыл бұрын
Ah no 😒your the first to say that it's not for cb Fred! I'm going to cry😭😭
@paul1962uk4 жыл бұрын
I had a 5/8 wave up the chimney back in the day
@noelwiltshire89264 жыл бұрын
G'day Fred. I've designed, and am constructing a ground plane antenna. It's got to fit in a small area. If possible, I'd like to send you progress pics. Then you'd be able to tell your viewers how easy it is to make an antenna in a fashion that you or they may not have thought of.
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Hi Noel. LOL iam no way qualified to teach antennas iam just a rough learner. Maybe you could share the video yourself. I'd be interested to see your progress.
@noelwiltshire89264 жыл бұрын
Righto Fred. I'll give the video a shot. It will be my first video. We'll see how it goes. It'll be a little while, 'cos I'm still waiting for some parts.
@fredriko.zachrisson97114 жыл бұрын
Thanks for giving me some inspiration.
@8vRocco4 жыл бұрын
Wow, you guys have way more activity on CB there! Ever thought about running that Grant 2 and the dipole as a portable set up to see how far you can go? And yes, I subscribed. Anything radio related is worth watching. 73! WX7UTE :)
@darrenpash507711 ай бұрын
Morning Fred.... I've watch your video and have had many an hour pondering over wether an balun is really needed.....As a fellow Ham and CBer since the early 80s I've built many antennas. At the minute I have a wire dipole for 40/20 meters but it also tunes on several other bands with my MFJ tuner.But no balun at all or a trap...I havent used HF for a while but I've had good DX all over the world. so is a balun really needed ?? when you buy a cheap dipole from knights its just 2 x 9 foot sections of ally and the mounting pole...no balun or choke . which brings me back to the question....do we need a balun or not??? Anyway thanks for all your vids and the time and effort you put into the..73 for now CT341
@CB-RADIO-UK11 ай бұрын
Interesting question. Ive not got much experience with antenna construction. I did try a simple T joint dipole but could not get the SWR low enough to work which i why i bought the balun and that worked. I deffo did not need the coil choke.
@hi-tonemichael80304 жыл бұрын
Great video bud 73-51 from 29AT120 MICK
@JohnnyNJones4 жыл бұрын
Hey fred! good to see you making antennas. I recently uploaded a video on my channel of a cb antenna i made from measuring tape on my ceiling. Maybe you could do that if you're having any issues, mine is a V dipole also. Check my video out if you have the chance, you would have a ton of fun building something like it. The configuration you have with your dipole will react to vertical and horizontal signals, probably why you were able to talk to people with verticals easily. My tape measure dipole is strictly horizontal so i don't get hardly any vertical contacts unless they are within a few miles. BUT because my antenna is horizontal it cuts out on the vertical noise of people trying to talk over eachother and when I'm able to get a contact with a sideways antenna like mine, we can talk easily because of the limited noise. I'm easily talking/receiving over 15 miles with 7s units. You should try some more designs, my first successful antenna opened many great doors for me, get into it man!
@mikesmithg0rfd3564 жыл бұрын
good job fred
@russellhueners84994 жыл бұрын
Hey fred, two kinds of balun, you want to use a current balun and not a voltage balun, from what Ive read
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Hi Russ. This one is made for radio.
@eastcoastcb61273 жыл бұрын
think i might give this ago fred
@joeB4 жыл бұрын
Try a one-to-one current ballon it helped me a lot with RF getting into my computer laptop etc and it's significantly dropped my standing wave ratio a significant amount
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Yes i ended up with a 1:1 balun.
@joeB4 жыл бұрын
@@CB-RADIO-UK here is a link to the 1:1 I made on my other KZbin account kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqOuf5Khhqd8ask
@wishicouldgame4 жыл бұрын
well worked out Fred I may have a go my self :)
@redeyegooner Жыл бұрын
Really enjoy your channel 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Please feel free to laugh at my questions as I know nothing, lol, but do you think it would be possible to make a diy hexbeam/moxon beam out of copper wire and an old aluminum rotary washing line frame, to use in my loft?? Lol😅😂 (I have litterally no idea what I'm doing, but the fun/attraction as a kid was to see if I could get out on something I'd throw together myself, lol😅😂)
@CB-RADIO-UK Жыл бұрын
Hi Iam sure most things are possible when making antennas. Ive never tried a Moxon myself so would have no idea where to start. I think all the information would be found on radio Ham forums or maybe the homebrew section on Transmission one. here www.transmission1.net/
@redeyegooner Жыл бұрын
@@CB-RADIO-UK thanks once again mate, I'll check those resources out 👍 much appreciated!! ☺️🙏
@robertburdoff1789 Жыл бұрын
cheers for that - as a CB newb (ex pat living in New Zealand on 477mhz) I've been trying to work out how to best do this - I've also just become aware about signal loss over cable length & you need to budget otherwise you might spend a princes ransom for something that has less range, haha.... how much per meter did you spend on the cable? anyways, just wondering if all that foil backed insulation you have impacts your signal? Like would it be worth putting that over the dipole(s) so the antenna is in no way shielded?
@CB-RADIO-UK Жыл бұрын
Hi. The mylar is non conductive but it prob does not help.
@ammocraft4 жыл бұрын
Thinking about your other video on the start of CB, how cool would it have been to have access to the info to make this kind of stuff when we were kids. nowadays, everything is a Google query away, whereas back then you had to sort through the bullshit and old wives tales, and learn by trial and error! With your dipole, don't forget the impedance will change relative to height above ground rather than always be the "native" ~73 ohms, and also, you will get more signal broadside to the length of the wire, if that makes sense.
@paulwilson15558 ай бұрын
Another great video Fred, I have a SS CRT 7900, it covers 25 to 30 mhz, would I need two inverted v aerials to get a good SWR on 10 meters and 11 meters? Or is one longer and perhaps use some kind of antenna tuner?
@CB-RADIO-UK8 ай бұрын
You could use a tuner but if you have the space a 2nd tuned V for 10m would work better.
@paulwilson15558 ай бұрын
@@CB-RADIO-UK thank you Fred, would it be worth having up two inverted v's, one facing north - south and one facing east to west? As I did read they can be directional, I'd have each v on its own coax, using a switcher box to the radio.
@CB-RADIO-UK8 ай бұрын
I think its worth a try. Thats the real good thing about making antennas you just try things till something works. Good luck.
@marksteeples54894 жыл бұрын
Hi Fred I have just made myself one from your advice I can only get the swr down to 1.6 so from 26mhz to 28mhz it goes from 2.0swr to 1.6swr back to 2.0swr at 28mhz
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
1.6 SWR is fine. I had to fold the ends over and tape them to about 1cm at a time to get mine down low. Ive since bought a antenna analyzer for about £38 from ebay but not even had the time to open it yet.
@marksteeples54894 жыл бұрын
Fred in the Shed Hi Fred snap I have just brought a RigExpert Analyzer which made the tuning in a lot easier. I found the angle of the wires made a big difference.
@marksteeples54894 жыл бұрын
Hi Fred I have managed to get the SWR down to 1.0 on 27.555 and that was by changing the angle of the wire. Like you it is just a back up just in case anything happens to my Antron 99
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
@@marksteeples5489 Sounds good. i will be playing later in the year outside.
@paulwilson15557 ай бұрын
@@marksteeples5489did you go at 90 degrees for the best SWR
@caseykelso12 жыл бұрын
Thank you for the video Fred in the shed, they're awesome! and we have learned a lot. This is going to be lengthy so please bear with me. I want to put a inverted V dipole on the outside of my house at the peak of my roof similar to your installation in your rafters. The roof pitch is 4/12 Maybe 160° , not even close to the 110°suggested angle for inverted v I have read about...You think this will work with wire being Directlty contacting the house with the wave/radiation shooting into the house and half of radiation shooting out into free space ???or do I need to hang it in my rafters in the in between them without the dipole's touching anything like in your video? . I hope you understand my question,not the best explaining things.lol
@CB-RADIO-UK2 жыл бұрын
Hi Casey. The voltage at the end of the dipole wires can get very high so you need to use plastic insulators at the ends. If they touch the house i would suspect that your SWR will also be quite high.
@caseykelso12 жыл бұрын
@@CB-RADIO-UK thanks for sharing. Most KZbinrs dont write us back. Yes I have insulator for the tips. So you don't think it's a good idea? Should I just put it in the rafters?
@David-kd7vl2 жыл бұрын
Just made one of these but my swr is high and if I shorten the wires it's well below 2.7 meteres wire length.🤔
@CB-RADIO-UK2 жыл бұрын
Hi David. Without an antenna tuner you just have to play at shortening the wire ends a small bit at a time till the SWR is the best you can get.
@jasonhowell53624 жыл бұрын
Good job on the dipole, this will work better on dx
@americaswayout44893 жыл бұрын
You may also have a 75-ohm load on the dipole at that height if so 1.5 or so is about as good as the swr will get. You might if you like experimenting make another one the same total less about 10 percent and mount 1/4 wave apart making a beam, if you have the room put up a third one and get maybe 8 = dbi gain. research wire beams, it looks like you could successfully do it. In other words the dipole in the middle and another wire the same length as BOTH sides of the dipole a 1/4 wave each side of the dipole, getting gain off each the back and front with a lower side signal. A beam with that gain. better for others using the same polarity. This is a calculator page www.eagle3.net/browardarc/documents/antenna-calc.html
@WHNorthcote4 жыл бұрын
Have you tried the Sigma Excalibur antenna? I remember them from the 90's and were good for local contacts around the town.
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Not one ive tried myself.
@caseykelso12 жыл бұрын
At 55 seconds in you have a sheet up there showing the inverted dipole being longer legs and total length of wire than a regular horizontal dipole , now everything I've read shows the inverted dipoles the lengths are SHORTER on each end than with a traditional straight across dipole ... what's the Correct answer? because I'm seeing two different lenghts on many different videos what's the truth?
@CB-RADIO-UK2 жыл бұрын
In practice i started longer than recommended and simply folder over the ends on each side until i reached the best SWR that i could.
@caseykelso12 жыл бұрын
@@CB-RADIO-UK thank you Fred.have a great weekend.
@truthfilterforyoutube82184 жыл бұрын
The Rf was high because you have foil backed insulation which is reflecting back on the antennae
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Certainly did not help but it went away after the air choke was fitted.
@truthfilterforyoutube82184 жыл бұрын
@@CB-RADIO-UK The Choke will also inhibit the signal....you would have done a lot better t have laid the antennae on the top of the roof rather than under it
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
An outside antenna will always do better but that would defeat the idea behind the video of setting up a simple antenna inside a loft.
@PeterMaddison2483 Жыл бұрын
I'm looking to put up a Thunderpole in the back garden but permission is looking flakey with my housing assoc, so I'm looking into dipole. Would I be able to make one compleley out of RG213 BX coax?
@CB-RADIO-UK Жыл бұрын
In theory yes. I tried RG58 but found it gave a very high SWR compared to single core wire.
@PeterMaddison2483 Жыл бұрын
@@CB-RADIO-UK 🤥
@mikeriverajr4447 Жыл бұрын
do you know if this is possible to make the v with the t2lt so that it can be dual use when ever you need in the loft in a V configuration OR in a tree vertical?
@CB-RADIO-UK Жыл бұрын
You could bend a T2LT into a V and it might work. Only issue will be getting the SWR down to a safe level.
@johnholland-rf4qo7 ай бұрын
Having multiple foil will not help at all
@masken723 жыл бұрын
21 CT 003 can't you putt your builds onto the grup padge the toow mobile wips looks so good but can't find the cooling fore it best regards from Sweden
@CB-RADIO-UK3 жыл бұрын
Hi. Do you mean a playlist ? If so they already are just see here. kzbin.info/aero/PL26R2EonyEzyDtiGIK1DWa4Gnd3186xRx
@spinnerinthebubbleCT45434 жыл бұрын
You say the rod balun was only around £20 on ebay? Can you put the link up for the one you got coz the only one I can find is £54.99 cheers Fred.
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Ok i will add it to the video description. Now done
@CharlieTrevaskis3 жыл бұрын
Can’t help but cringe at the foil backing right next to the antenna. Probably going to have a lot of coupling there. But if it works then go for it!
@davidlean28794 жыл бұрын
Thw foil in the top of the roof will make it less efficient
@marinmarin71874 жыл бұрын
Is dipole good for CB base antena? GP is more better or the same?
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Some dipoles work well but a full dipole is very large unless you use mobile antennas. A 18 foot base station antenna on a pole is kinda like a dipole.
@marinmarin71874 жыл бұрын
@@CB-RADIO-UK with a 1/2 cb Dipole and 30w on ssb... and other radio have 1/2 dipole. Talk range distance its cca 20km?
@Walterz9304 жыл бұрын
My wife says size matters all the time to me 🤣🤣
@katmanclancy4 жыл бұрын
It's the angle and length of the legs I'd say is it?
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
No not really. The angle should be around 90 degree but ive had to go with what i could make fit the space.
@katmanclancy4 жыл бұрын
@@CB-RADIO-UK worked pretty well Fred!
@AndrewBryantPianoTuner2 жыл бұрын
I doubt it worked because of the shielding effect on that insulation. Next time just lay the wires on the outside of the roof
@CB-RADIO-UK2 жыл бұрын
It worked pretty well.
@AndrewBryantPianoTuner2 жыл бұрын
Can you review the Anytone AT-5555N II this month please???
@CB-RADIO-UK2 жыл бұрын
Yes if your willing to sent it me free of charge :-)
@marktonylindo46272 жыл бұрын
👍
@r188ops84 жыл бұрын
Hi Fred, nice video👍🏻. As someone who really is a ‘noob’ to CB (month 🤣), can I ask how you grounded the inv v? If that’s a daft question I do apologise.......Paul 👍🏻
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Hi paul. Its not grounded but insulated. The ground mesh is connected to one part and the centre core the other.
@r188ops84 жыл бұрын
Hi Fred, thanks for the swift reply. Now you have confused me 🤣🤣, what do you mean by ‘mesh’? Or are you just referring to the centre wire going up to the dipole? Apologies for being thick 👍🏻
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
@@r188ops8 Hi. Sorry to confuse you. Yes the coax center and earth screen is split to form the dipole.
@r188ops84 жыл бұрын
Hi Fred, roger, got you now. I’m Going to have a go at this over the next couple of days, just got a McKinley today so should make it really easy to adjust the swr if I don’t get the lengths right first time 🤣👍🏻
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
@@r188ops8 Go for it. Just fold the ends over and tape then to reduce the length.
@lesjones56849 ай бұрын
Do I need a balun
@CB-RADIO-UK9 ай бұрын
Well some say yes and some say no. I tried without and had very high SWR issues.
@VK9TOM4 жыл бұрын
What about a magnetic loop antenna
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
I would love one :-) They are expensive to buy but i do fancy having a go to make one in the future. The expensive part is the vari cap with high enough power handling.
@VK9TOM4 жыл бұрын
I am a amateur radio operators but I still enjoy what happens if your videos and building one would be a good project 73
@tommcbride7984 жыл бұрын
What length is each leg ?? I'm gonna use my old g5rv wire antenna
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Think i started at 2.65m and cut them back to get a good SWR.
@tommcbride7984 жыл бұрын
Fred in the Shed roger that bro I will dig my old wire out in fanny about tomorrow with it taking my time ? Tell me did you use it on usb 27.555 ?
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
@@tommcbride798 No not for the test as the bands were closed. It should work well for skip though.
@tommcbride7984 жыл бұрын
Fred in the Shed I will test it out and let you know how I get on with it 😉🤪👌😜
@DynoDieselWagon2 жыл бұрын
The foil insulation board is killing ur sines
@CB-RADIO-UK2 жыл бұрын
Its non conductive Mylar
@arlenewolf52604 жыл бұрын
As soon as I saw the inside of your loft I knew this antenna was a total waste. The Foil insulation will reflect almost everything back into your radio. Even with a low SWR, the metalic foil will block your output significantly. That location as a total waste. The easiest thing for you to do (THAT WILL WORK) is to use a K40 base loaded coil mobile antenna with the K40 magnet mount set up (IT NEEDS TO BE THE BASE LOADED COIL MODEL, not the fiberglass whip model). Somehow place it (hide it) on the outside of the residence. Nobody will see that skinny whip from the road (you can say it is a lighting rod if someone sees it). You will not need an actual quality ground plane with that magnet set up. The K40 mag mount is an 8 pole magnet and is designed to even work on a vinyl car top with out a direct ground plane (in other words that specific K40 magnet acts like a much larger piece of metal ie a car body). You can increase the ground plane using many wierd concepts (example paint can lid with a copper wire attached to the paint can lid and the other end of the wire going to something like a rain gutter or house grounding rod). One mounting option would be a 90 degree bracket attached to a toilet vent pipe. with the paint can lid screwed to the bracket and hose clamp the vertical portion to the toilet vent pipe. Good luck you will enjoy this set up and have decent range.
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
Hi. Thanks for your suggestions I already have a Antron 99 mounted outside on a pole above the roofline which gets out fine. Ive always recommended where possible the use of an outdoor antenna. The idea behind these indoor antenna videos is to see what will work with real life situations that people find themselves when wanting to set up a CB home base without ripping their loft about. The foil certainly dose not help matters but the antenna was able to work through it to get fairly good local reports. If you watch the earlier indoor videos that ive made you will get the idea. Thanks for your input.
@davidpayne43154 жыл бұрын
I wonder if this antenna would work on a homemade fm radio
@CB-RADIO-UK4 жыл бұрын
On the commercial band ?
@paul1962uk4 жыл бұрын
Hi Guys! 😉
@ironhead3202 жыл бұрын
How long are your ends are they 103" total
@CB-RADIO-UK2 жыл бұрын
Sorry Pete a cannot rem.
@ironhead3202 жыл бұрын
@@CB-RADIO-UK I went 9ft on each side so I have a little to play with