This is the CHEAPEST set up for CB RADIO / HAM listening station

[@batwillow]

How to save money is to build your own antenna, not difficult at all. It's called the T2LT made from coax (RG58). here is the simple breakdown to make it. Get a length of coax, nip the end to expose the inner core about 10mm, from the end of that coax where the braid is, measure 2.47m and put tape around that to show the length, from that end (where the tape is) wrap a coil that is ( i used a wd40 can to wrap the coil) 68mm, wrap 16 turns around the can and secure the wrapped coil with tape and tie wraps and the rest of the coax you attach a plug. At the other end, solder 2.5m of wire (allow for tuning if you are transmitting) remember the higher the frequency the shorter the antenna should be, so if i wanted to bring the swr down from a high reading I can fold the top wire over or lengthen it. hage it on a fibre glass pole or hang from a tree. Hope that helps, Will G1YYU

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Hi Willow. I will pin your comment. Yes a T2LT is a great idea and i have used one to great effect over the years. Thanks for the build info. Only difference i would make is to remove half of the braid down the 2.47m which in effect makes a vertical dipole. If your new and dont know what me and Willow are talking about check out this video for more info. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oqjFhWeQjZtoZ5Y

[@maciejkowalczyk23]

@@CB-RADIO-UK simple dipol is easy to make as well. And we have second hand cb radios... i think if someone spend a bit time on searching, can find really good setup for less than 100 $

[@GeorgieWing]

No way this is the first antenna I had ! A homemade one. You just brought back a great memory , it was the co ax .. that made me remember. Haha. Nice 1!

[@FrancoDX]

Hi Fred, Another option for those without or unwilling to use computers is a handheld Scanner. Something like a Uniden UBC92XLT will cover FM/AM or a Yupiteru MVT-7100 for SSB. Second hand can be bought around £50. A bottom of the range Discone or Scanking vertical in the loft will also pick up a lot on 11m. The scanner gives people the mobile option too 👍🏼

[@richardmillican7733]

Completely agree with everything you say Fred. I started back about 5 years ago with a legal AM/FM Multi norm. Then I got the Alinco DR135DX SSB. Now my main radio is a Yaesu FT920 and a Kenwood TS 450S. The Original magmount has evolved into a fibreglass 1/2 wave.

[@Tobinindustrial]

Great video Fred. This will be most helpful to newbies and people re-entering the CB hobby once again.

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Thanks Andy. Keep the videogate coming.

[@scottheath1464]

😊 I don't usually comment on KZbin videos but I must say.... Your excellent videos make a lot of sense❗😃 Thank you❗😀

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Thank you for the support.

[@christophersmith1155]

Im in NEW YORK CITY. If I was in Brittan I would go to KNIGHTS CB and buy a President Mc Kinley and a Antron 99 antenna and use RG-213 coax. You get what you pay for in life. Im a amp user so I would also use a 2x6 amplifier class B for SSB with the set up I mentioned

[@GeorgieWing]

Hey dude, great channel. At about 13, early 90s. I started up with a 2nd hand set up, cant remeber much about it. For my 13 birthday i was given, the midland portapak. Was pretty sick. Im definitely getting back on. Thanks

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Nice one i rem the Midland Portapak.

[@ON3EE]

Great video Fred , the basic of all radio is listening , sdr is good for beginners and maybe they get a real radio someday !

[@alanbond1269]

Well done Fred your videos are always useful and your very good at explaining keep them rolling

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Glad you like them!

[@alanbond1269]

Hi Fred thanks for the reply. Have you got a link for the Am filter please

[@19TC504]

the midland 42 multi handheld is easy to modify to 400channels :) and ofcourse you have the albrecht 2990 afs also a handheld but you can do ssb on it it cost 384,87uk dollars :)

[@andrewmunz1639]

These 70 quid cb setup is OK for cars in convoy 20meter apart. I have got a 5/8 gainmaster and if I plug in a small radio it still works.

[@rizmark5522]

I bought the TTi handheld CB-H100 for 114.99. The charging is brilliant. Pop in the charger dock and it lasts for ages unlike the bigger types with battery add on packs. The only thing is from my house I only managed to reach one person who is my village. And hes got all sorts of Silver rods and antennas!. Went down the M1 as passenger and up a big hill called Breedon on the Hill between Leicestershire and Derbyshire. Couldn't get anyone. But there is a church left on the Hill that was once part of a Priory.

[@26TM034]

Glad you got the dongles running ...it's a big learning curve at first......but can be fun...

[@Nitrrous19]

Hi Fred, thanks for the video I'm an IT tech through the day and ran in to an article describing how buying this little dongle would allow me to listen to massive amount of frequencies .. so this was kinda my first venture in to anything radio I like the versatility of it and also the ability to run it on Pi and have a remote antenna anywhere really aslong as you can connect to it remotely via WiFi, Also love there are many additional apps you can use to decode digital modes which opens a whole new world. Also you can use it to track weather balloons with the right plugins in SDR++ and receive live weather images from NOAA satalites Computers open open a lot of functionality. Great video on CB. I need to find a good antenna solution as I can't really have one where I live. No point in listening if your receiver can't hear anything Great video Thanks

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Good points Graham and you hit the nail on the head. SDR can be used for a lot more than just CB and Ham radio. Only issue ive had is that the dongles are so wide open that they pick up unwanted harmonics and AM broadcast bleed over.

[@chrisg7veo495]

Also for someone coming back to radio may be disappointed if they find they have S9 noise at home , not like the old days, thinking setup not working. So could advise to try setup in a car, if they have that option, and drive away from housing estates to a country place to get less noise and be able to hear more stations.

[@stampydragon2739]

I tend to use a pni escort 6500 v3

[@simonappleby4224]

Hey Fred. I got back into the hobby and got an anytone 6666 back in 2018 and found that there was about four of us on FM around the area! SSB was great and after some great contacts into Italy went and got my amateur licence, never looked back. The SDR dongles are great fun and if you have the patience to set them up you can listen to all sorts of stuff. Also 11 metres has been open for DX this last couple of weeks so contacts abroad are pretty easy at the moment Keep the videos coming.

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Nice one Simon. Good to hear that you have advanced with the hobby. Many will go from CB radio to HAM. Its great to keep radio alive and i cannot understand why some hams give CB such a hard time.

[@simonappleby4224]

@@CB-RADIO-UK To be fair neither can I. Having always been fascinated with DX it was just seemed like the next step to go from CB to HAM as all the additional bands give a better opportunity to work out side Europe. There's no one really on 2 metres round us or 27mhz. 73s Fred.

[@ianwalker3922]

Brilliant Fred I've not listoned to one of your KZbin films for ages please keep at it Fred love your shoe's I had a 147gtl dx a bit of a norty rig back in the 80s and a skip master antenna on a scaffold pole strapped to my chimney so what's the aqwivlent to that rig set up these days that I would love to see so all you big cumpanys out there send Fred some hi end siytems so he can say wich one's best 👍👍👍

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Hi Ian. Your Cobra 148 GTL DX has become a classic these days. Even in 2023 a restored (the capacitors dry out) 148 is hard to beat on SSB. Really to match that GTL your looking at Ham HF gear. The nearest performance equivalent 10m/11m radio would be the Alinco DX10 but the controls wont feel as nice to use.

[@alecsimages1]

My opinion SDR is a big NO, I have a Uniden UBC125XLT and home made dipole antenna from one length of coax RG58, each of the two legs of the dipole is 450mm of 15mm copper pipe with a 30mm gap in the center, total length is 930mm, center core soldered (or screwed) to the lower leg and coax outer soldered (or screwed) to the top leg, from the center joint its important to have your mounting piece coming off at 90 degrees and 7 turns of the coax tightly wound round ( I use a 20mm broom handle for this). This setup you can listen to anything and I mean anything, aircraft civil or military, PMR, the Space Station, 2s and 70s ham radio from repeater or simplex and much much more. There are NO critical measurements here but you must have both legs of the dipole equal and its best to use one piece of coax with no joints and mount the dipole vertical although I have mine at 45 degrees which works for me best.

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Nice set up.

[@billmorrison4746]

Great video Fred.

[@dojohns]

Perfect 18:32

[@Greg-et2dp]

Frid in the shed I learn lot from you about cbs radios my best friend 🎉🎉😊😊

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Thanks Greg. Said i would give you a mention on a video.

[@StewartDD]

Good morning Fred.

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Morning!

[@Greg-et2dp]

Frid in the shed your utube videos are awesome my best friend 🎉🎉🎉😊😊

[@matt3403]

Fred you do a great service for the radio community. That sdr noelec is now on my list. Could you do a setup to create an online sdr, so we can replicate? This would greatly enhance monitoring stations possibly around the UK and possibly world

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Hi Matt. As for set up i made a few videos a while back where i was looking for the ideal SDR dongle. I had trouble with AM broadcast bleedover so tried a couple of filters etc. To set up and operate a online SDR station is a bit beyond my knowledge right now iam afraid.

[@matt3403]

@@CB-RADIO-UK thanks for the reply. Have a great weekend.

[@simonappleby4224]

The Nooelec dongle that I have is great and I watched several KZbin videos to get mine to work. The program is very fragile and just for instance the volume is set a little high it won't work but I stuck with it and you can decode digital stuff like the local CCTV and shop watch etc that has migrated from analogue and it's pretty entertaining stuff.

[@matt3403]

@@simonappleby4224 I was thinking of putting it onto a pi and then online streaming it. Obv Linux. What's your setup please Simon? Your lucky our shop watchis now POC:( poor decision in my opinion great I suppose for national monitoring from authorities but resilience if the network goes down locally is not good.

[@26TM034]

The joderall bank SdR has a not so good RX..Weston super mare better ...lol

[@paulzuncle2980]

Isn’t the Superstar 3900 a type approved? That’s cheaper than the Mc Kinley.

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

I think it can still be spec as a UK model although its still listed as a CB/10m radio.

[@clarkjamieson692]

Hi Fred l have a question for you . I am thinking about putting up a antenna outside l was thinking about camouflaging it with some spray pain to blend in with the trees. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated would it affect it in any way ? Thanks.

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Hi. Wont have any effect on performance. One guy i used to speak to on the 305 wrapped plastic vine around his. Worked fine as long as it not wire.

[@clarkjamieson692]

@@CB-RADIO-UK thanks for that 👍

[@adamivanecky3907]

can,t use a 10 meter radios on 11 meter band 27mhz

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Yes they work really well when re programmed. However in the Uk they are not type approved so you are breaking the law.

[@M7EUP]

What antenna have you got on that Uv5r? 😂

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

LOL its a big ONE. Its a dual band center loaded 2m/70cm telewhip. You get them on Ebay.

[@miker8379]

G0(zero)XBU is a web SDR I sometimes use that allows Cb listening.