Indoor antenna
 

My son has talked me into trying to get one of my old mobil cb's to work in the
house for him. I have a proper power supply, but the only antenna I have is a
mag mount. I put the antenna on a large cookie sheet. It works but very poorly.
I was thinking about trying one of those indoor dipole antenna's. Has anyyone
tried doing this before and what kind of results did you get? Any thought or
suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Oh I live in a townhouse and what I
can put outside is very limited.

Thank you,
Bruce

"BruceB1836" wrote in message
.
...
My son has talked me into trying to get one of
my old mobil cb's to work in the
house for him. I have a proper power supply, but
the only antenna I have is a
mag mount. I put the antenna on a large cookie
sheet. It works but very poorly.

Not so surprising. The cookie sheet needs to be
about 17 to 18 feet square to work right. A bit to
large for inside use. 8-((

A dipole antenna would work, BUT being horizontal
you take a hit of almost 3 "S" units loss in
signal strength. Most CBers use a vertical antenna
so the dipole antenna would really cut down your
TX and RX signal strength. 8-||

Or you can try the antenna below from Radio Shack:
http://www.radioshack.com/default.asp
__________________________________________________
______
"No Ground" CB Antenna

$41.99
Catalog #: 21-977

For boat, RV, van. Specifically for wood or
fiberglass vehicles and boats -- metal ground
plane is not needed. Half-wave design for
excellent performance on all 40 CB channels.
Mounts on boat rail, luggage rack or truck mirror
bracket. 48" whip. 16-foot cable.
__________________________________________________
________

Since a ground plane isn't needed you could try
and stick it on the edge of the roof, or on the
chimney. Being only 4 feet tall, and no ground
radials it won't be very noticeable. 8-)) If you
try using it inside it may not work well.


--
Leland C. Scott
KC8LDO

Saw this on a Tee-shirt:

"I am a
bomb
technician
if you see me
running
try to keep up "

Those dipoles do work but very poor for distance. I'd say they have the range
like a walkie talkie...maybe a quarter to half mile radius of coverage before
the transnit quality goes down to the point where nobody will hear you.

On 31 Aug 2003 02:15:06 GMT, (BruceB1836) wrote:

I was thinking about trying one of those indoor dipole antenna's. Has anyyone
tried doing this before and what kind of results did you get? Any thought or
suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Perhaps because my house is tall, ( roof ridgeline where I mounted the
dipole is about 35 feet above ground ) I got reasonably good results
with an indoor dipole. I tried it both horizontal and inverted V
configuration with similar results.

I got even better results from an indoor 1/4 wave verical groundplane
antenna I built from a SO239 fitting and 5 pieces of 9 foot long wire.
I'm lucky to have a 10 foor high attic where I could set it up. Total
cost about $3.00.

I would try the dipole. They are cheap and will certainly give you
better performance than the magmount on the cookie sheet.

The only problem with messing with antennae, is that it can be the
"thin edge of the wedge". I started with a dipole in the attic. I
now have a Solarcon A99 on a mast 45 feet AGL, and am looking at
building a Beam.

Good Luck

Bruce,
The problem with the mag-mount antenna is the cookie
sheet isn't large enough to be an effective groundplane.
Adding a couple of 9 feet wires to the cookie sheet would
help a bunch. They don't have to be entirely straight,
they can be bent around to 'fit', just so long as they are
not bent back onto thems selves.
A dipole antenna will work. If you hang it horizontally
it will be horizontally polarized and you will 'loose' a bit
of signal strength. Hang it vertically, or like an "L" and
it will be vertically polarized and should 'hear' a little
better than the horizontal way.
No indoor antenna will ever work as well as an outdoor
one, unless the outdoor antenna is kinda doggy to start with.
But, an indoor antenna is certainly better than none at all.
It doesn't hurt to experiment and it can be as much fun as
talking to people. Give the dipole a shot, or add a radial
(9 foot wire) or two to the cookie sheet...
'Doc

What do you know! Advice from a man that don't even OWN a CB ! DO NOT go
to Rat Shack! I have a better antenna---a brand new 20 year old 7' BOAT CB
Antenna that will work better for sale.
Dave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Leland C. Scott" wrote in message
...

"BruceB1836" wrote in message
.
..
My son has talked me into trying to get one of
my old mobil cb's to work in the
house for him. I have a proper power supply, but
the only antenna I have is a
mag mount. I put the antenna on a large cookie
sheet. It works but very poorly.

Not so surprising. The cookie sheet needs to be
about 17 to 18 feet square to work right. A bit to
large for inside use. 8-((

A dipole antenna would work, BUT being horizontal
you take a hit of almost 3 "S" units loss in
signal strength. Most CBers use a vertical antenna
so the dipole antenna would really cut down your
TX and RX signal strength. 8-||

Or you can try the antenna below from Radio Shack:
http://www.radioshack.com/default.asp
__________________________________________________
______
"No Ground" CB Antenna

$41.99
Catalog #: 21-977

For boat, RV, van. Specifically for wood or
fiberglass vehicles and boats -- metal ground
plane is not needed. Half-wave design for
excellent performance on all 40 CB channels.
Mounts on boat rail, luggage rack or truck mirror
bracket. 48" whip. 16-foot cable.
__________________________________________________
________

Since a ground plane isn't needed you could try
and stick it on the edge of the roof, or on the
chimney. Being only 4 feet tall, and no ground
radials it won't be very noticeable. 8-)) If you
try using it inside it may not work well.


--
Leland C. Scott
KC8LDO

Saw this on a Tee-shirt:

"I am a
bomb
technician
if you see me
running
try to keep up "







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"Dave or Debby" wrote in
message ...
What do you know! Advice from a man that don't
even OWN a CB !

The physics of antennas don't change from one band
to the next unless you believe the voo-doo advice
some others give on the group.

DO NOT go to Rat Shack! I have a better
antenna---a brand new 20 year old 7'
BOAT CB

Of course you do. That's why its 20 years old and
you can't wait to unload it on the first dummy to
hand over his money. Of course you forgot to say
it was designed for 23 channel CB's and the match
goes to pot above 23.


--
Leland C. Scott
KC8LDO

Saw this on a Tee-shirt:

"I am a
bomb
technician
if you see me
running
try to keep up "

From: (Leland=A0C.=A0Scott)
"Dave or Debby" wrote in message
...
What do you know! Advice from a man that don't
even OWN a CB !


The physics of antennas don't change from

one band to the next unless you believe the

voo-doo advice some others give on the

group.
_
But the characteristic properties of the bands most certainly are
different,,affecting the antenna.
You are forgiven, as none expect you to know things as they pertain to
HF. Perhaps if you would have kept your word over two years when you
told us you were studying for upgrading.....