What's the smallest amps in terms of wattage that will have a effective
increase in range? I currently have a range of 7 to 12 miles from my Base to
a mobile. I need to get that to about 15 to 22 miles. Both the mobile and
the base will get amps.

Currently I have a Uniden Washington (with Peak/tune/extra channels) and a
A99 on the roof (about 33 feet up)

The Mobile is a stock Cobra 29 with a 102 steel whip.

I thought about getting side band for the mobile, but it seems like a
hassle to tune a signal while driving down the road. I has a Grant LT in my
old truck, and I don't think I ever used the sideband while in motion.

So what do I need? a mini 40watt wasp?
or one of those 100 watt palomars?
or something near or over 200watt.

I'm not looking for over kill, or to spend more then I need, I just want to
be able to talk from work to the house.

"TheHairyBeast" Emort007ATdway.com wrote in message
...
What's the smallest amps in terms of wattage that will have a effective
increase in range? I currently have a range of 7 to 12 miles from my Base
to a mobile. I need to get that to about 15 to 22 miles. Both the mobile
and the base will get amps.

Currently I have a Uniden Washington (with Peak/tune/extra channels) and a
A99 on the roof (about 33 feet up)

The Mobile is a stock Cobra 29 with a 102 steel whip.

I thought about getting side band for the mobile, but it seems like a
hassle to tune a signal while driving down the road. I has a Grant LT in
my old truck, and I don't think I ever used the sideband while in motion.

So what do I need? a mini 40watt wasp?
or one of those 100 watt palomars?
or something near or over 200watt.

I'm not looking for over kill, or to spend more then I need, I just want
to be able to talk from work to the house.



250 watts or less. Get one with high and low settings and use as little
power as possible. Don't drive the amp to hard as the transistors will reach
saturation and cause distortion, bleedover, and unwanted harmonics on other
frequencies. Make sure it is class AB. And unless you live in the sticks,
run a low pass filter.

with the cavaet that what you tring to do is ilegal of coure , either
40 watt or around 160 watt should dothe job basic inverse square rule
aplies

Make sure your mobile has low SWR before installing an amp. You should be
using an exact half-wave length of coax in your mobile which, depending on
what coax, will be around 12 to 13 feet but not 18 feet as so many people
say. A 102" whip will not match perfectly but is a great antenna with an
SWR around 1.4:1. Many people have been able to get their 102" whip to
"flatline" by experimenting with coax length but all they really did was
cause their coax to act as part of the antenna while the antenna itself
didn't work any better. It's also important to run a heavy ground cable
from the base of your antenna to the vehicle frame for proper operation.
There is a formula,which I can send you if you want, for calculating the
exact length of your particular coax needed to achieve an exact half-wave
length on your desired frequency. I assume you have mounted the 102 on the
vehicle where there is plenty of metal (ground plane) all around it and have
used a ball and spring mount. Good Luck

Scorpio
"TheHairyBeast" Emort007ATdway.com wrote in message
...
What's the smallest amps in terms of wattage that will have a effective
increase in range? I currently have a range of 7 to 12 miles from my Base
to
a mobile. I need to get that to about 15 to 22 miles. Both the mobile and
the base will get amps.

Currently I have a Uniden Washington (with Peak/tune/extra channels) and
a
A99 on the roof (about 33 feet up)

The Mobile is a stock Cobra 29 with a 102 steel whip.

I thought about getting side band for the mobile, but it seems like a
hassle to tune a signal while driving down the road. I has a Grant LT in
my
old truck, and I don't think I ever used the sideband while in motion.

So what do I need? a mini 40watt wasp?
or one of those 100 watt palomars?
or something near or over 200watt.

I'm not looking for over kill, or to spend more then I need, I just want
to
be able to talk from work to the house.

On Mon, 15 May 2006 14:47:42 GMT, "GHB"
wrote:

Make sure your mobile has low SWR before installing an amp. You should be
using an exact half-wave length of coax in your mobile which, depending on
what coax, will be around 12 to 13 feet but not 18 feet as so many people
say.

Oh boy is this an old argument.. I dont even want to get started.
Search google this has been talked about forever in here. Some of the
most successful key down guys have used 18 feet and are successful
talking skip and shootouts. Truth is the swr of your antenna will
depend on your counterpoise. Oh well if your antenna is tuned properly
the amount of coax may not matter.

A real old timer!

The 102" whip is not tunable except by adding or taking away the spring from
the ball mount. As I said the 102 never was a perfect match anyway with
about 36 ohms of radiation resistance instead of the desired 50 ohms for a
near perfect match. Since the 102 is not a perfect match the coax length
does matter but if it did match close to perfectly then coax length would
not matter. As for the "counterpoise", that is just another name for the
ground plane. Yes the counterpoise/ground plane is important but any metal
car or truck body has enough metal to form a good ground plane. The vehicle
body is half of the antenna and the 102" plus 6" ball and spring is the
other half of your center fed, half-wave dipole antenna system. As far as
SWR depending on the "counterpoise", the antenna must be mounted, as I said,
with plenty of metal all around it or to put it another way in the middle of
your vehicle roof to give it a good ground plane/counterpoise. If people
enjoy getting their 102 to "flatline" by using 18 feet of coax and having
good performance that's fine but their antenna is not going to work any
better than if they had the proper half-wave length of coax and the small
amount of reflected RF should not hurt their system.

Scorpio
"Nannar Sin" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 15 May 2006 14:47:42 GMT, "GHB"
wrote:

Make sure your mobile has low SWR before installing an amp. You should
be
using an exact half-wave length of coax in your mobile which, depending
on
what coax, will be around 12 to 13 feet but not 18 feet as so many people
say.

Oh boy is this an old argument.. I dont even want to get started.
Search google this has been talked about forever in here. Some of the
most successful key down guys have used 18 feet and are successful
talking skip and shootouts. Truth is the swr of your antenna will
depend on your counterpoise. Oh well if your antenna is tuned properly
the amount of coax may not matter.

A real old timer!

Hmm...

I use a 102, But I mounted it to a bolt through the rear metal bumper. I
did add a Heavy ground wire to both the case of the CB and to the Bumper
connecting both to the frame.

I tested my SWR at the time, and its really low 1.2.1 on ch1 and about
1.4.1 on ch 40 I do not have a spring on it. I used to, but I couldn't get
the swr down below 1.5.1 on high side of the channel list (34-40) so I
removed it.
I will have to measure the length of the coax.

As for the base, its 1.2.1 all around unless its the uppers added by the
channel kit (I never go there anyway... Its dead around here) And its run
from the Base to the mast with the Really thick low loss coax.


From what I've read, It looks like I'll have to get the Base unit "tuned
down" to match it to a amp.
As for the mobile, I'm looking at a high drive unit, so that I can keep it
stock, but the price of those little RM amps is so good, I may have it tuned
down as well.


Thanks for the help!


"GHB" wrote in message
. com...
The 102" whip is not tunable except by adding or taking away the spring
from
the ball mount. As I said the 102 never was a perfect match anyway with
about 36 ohms of radiation resistance instead of the desired 50 ohms for a
near perfect match. Since the 102 is not a perfect match the coax length
does matter but if it did match close to perfectly then coax length would
not matter. As for the "counterpoise", that is just another name for the
ground plane. Yes the counterpoise/ground plane is important but any
metal
car or truck body has enough metal to form a good ground plane. The
vehicle
body is half of the antenna and the 102" plus 6" ball and spring is the
other half of your center fed, half-wave dipole antenna system. As far as
SWR depending on the "counterpoise", the antenna must be mounted, as I
said,
with plenty of metal all around it or to put it another way in the middle
of
your vehicle roof to give it a good ground plane/counterpoise. If people
enjoy getting their 102 to "flatline" by using 18 feet of coax and having
good performance that's fine but their antenna is not going to work any
better than if they had the proper half-wave length of coax and the small
amount of reflected RF should not hurt their system.

Scorpio
"Nannar Sin" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 15 May 2006 14:47:42 GMT, "GHB"
wrote:

Make sure your mobile has low SWR before installing an amp. You should
be
using an exact half-wave length of coax in your mobile which, depending
on
what coax, will be around 12 to 13 feet but not 18 feet as so many
people
say.

Oh boy is this an old argument.. I dont even want to get started.
Search google this has been talked about forever in here. Some of the
most successful key down guys have used 18 feet and are successful
talking skip and shootouts. Truth is the swr of your antenna will
depend on your counterpoise. Oh well if your antenna is tuned properly
the amount of coax may not matter.

A real old timer!

I use a palomar MOD V in my mobile which will dead key around 17 watts and
swing to about 120 watts(at max power) with a Midland 13-882C driving it. I
did put a mod kit in it to dead key about 2 watts swinging to 11 watts. My
antenna is a 4 1/2 ft. skipshooter mounted on top of an aluminum camper
shell. I've used this system since 97 with good results.
Scorpio

"TheHairyBeast" Emort007ATdway.com wrote in message
...
Hmm...

I use a 102, But I mounted it to a bolt through the rear metal bumper. I
did add a Heavy ground wire to both the case of the CB and to the Bumper
connecting both to the frame.

I tested my SWR at the time, and its really low 1.2.1 on ch1 and about
1.4.1 on ch 40 I do not have a spring on it. I used to, but I couldn't get
the swr down below 1.5.1 on high side of the channel list (34-40) so I
removed it.
I will have to measure the length of the coax.

As for the base, its 1.2.1 all around unless its the uppers added by the
channel kit (I never go there anyway... Its dead around here) And its run
from the Base to the mast with the Really thick low loss coax.


From what I've read, It looks like I'll have to get the Base unit "tuned
down" to match it to a amp.
As for the mobile, I'm looking at a high drive unit, so that I can keep
it
stock, but the price of those little RM amps is so good, I may have it
tuned
down as well.


Thanks for the help!


"GHB" wrote in message
. com...
The 102" whip is not tunable except by adding or taking away the spring
from
the ball mount. As I said the 102 never was a perfect match anyway with
about 36 ohms of radiation resistance instead of the desired 50 ohms for
a
near perfect match. Since the 102 is not a perfect match the coax
length
does matter but if it did match close to perfectly then coax length
would
not matter. As for the "counterpoise", that is just another name for
the
ground plane. Yes the counterpoise/ground plane is important but any
metal
car or truck body has enough metal to form a good ground plane. The
vehicle
body is half of the antenna and the 102" plus 6" ball and spring is the
other half of your center fed, half-wave dipole antenna system. As far
as
SWR depending on the "counterpoise", the antenna must be mounted, as I
said,
with plenty of metal all around it or to put it another way in the
middle
of
your vehicle roof to give it a good ground plane/counterpoise. If
people
enjoy getting their 102 to "flatline" by using 18 feet of coax and
having
good performance that's fine but their antenna is not going to work any
better than if they had the proper half-wave length of coax and the
small
amount of reflected RF should not hurt their system.

Scorpio
"Nannar Sin" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 15 May 2006 14:47:42 GMT, "GHB"
wrote:

Make sure your mobile has low SWR before installing an amp. You
should
be
using an exact half-wave length of coax in your mobile which,
depending
on
what coax, will be around 12 to 13 feet but not 18 feet as so many
people
say.

Oh boy is this an old argument.. I dont even want to get started.
Search google this has been talked about forever in here. Some of the
most successful key down guys have used 18 feet and are successful
talking skip and shootouts. Truth is the swr of your antenna will
depend on your counterpoise. Oh well if your antenna is tuned properly
the amount of coax may not matter.

A real old timer!

Nannar Sin wrote:
On Mon, 15 May 2006 14:47:42 GMT, "GHB"
wrote:

Make sure your mobile has low SWR before installing an amp. You should
be using an exact half-wave length of coax in your mobile which,
depending on what coax, will be around 12 to 13 feet but not 18 feet as
so many people say.

Oh boy is this an old argument.. I dont even want to get started.

A real old timer!

INCOMING!

On Sun, 14 May 2006 21:31:38 -0400, "TheHairyBeast" Emort007ATdway.com wrote:

What's the smallest amps in terms of wattage that will have a effective
increase in range? I currently have a range of 7 to 12 miles from my Base to
a mobile. I need to get that to about 15 to 22 miles. Both the mobile and
the base will get amps.

Currently I have a Uniden Washington (with Peak/tune/extra channels) and a
A99 on the roof (about 33 feet up)

The Mobile is a stock Cobra 29 with a 102 steel whip.

I thought about getting side band for the mobile, but it seems like a
hassle to tune a signal while driving down the road. I has a Grant LT in my
old truck, and I don't think I ever used the sideband while in motion.

So what do I need? a mini 40watt wasp?
or one of those 100 watt palomars?
or something near or over 200watt.

I'm not looking for over kill, or to spend more then I need, I just want to
be able to talk from work to the house.


100 watts should so it. The mini 40 watts might do it. The 100 Palomars works
well for a cheap amp.

Vinnie S.