Imax 2000 CB radio antenna redneck install

[pyrofful]

Just for an update thanks for the help! I didn't have to mess with the SWR it was at 1.3 on channel 20 so I left it. I love the antenna I am getting about 6 miles with it when I talk to my mobile antenna.

[fordbroncodave]

@pyrofful with every foot higher you gain approximately a miles worth of talking

[pyrofful]

@fordbroncodave So your saying if I was to put it on a 100ft pole I would gain an extra 100 miles? I have it on a 3ft pole off of the house. It was the only mounting location that would work for me.

[fordbroncodave]

@pyrofful the antenna as low to the ground as possible is far better for skip conditions then an antenna 100 feet in the air. an antenna 100 feet in the air is awesome for local talk but poor for skip conditions. 100feet may get you close to 100 miles but land form will limit your talk distance and recieve, you could see 60miles out of it at 100 feet

[pyrofful]

@fordbroncodave That makes more sense. I thought you were saying 100ft would get you 100 miles. Thanks I didn't know that about skip. Well were it is mounted now is getting good skip, and range so I'm happy.

[pyrofful]

What did you paint the old antenna with?

[fordbroncodave]

@pyrofful flat white spray paint. lowest metal level in the paint groups

[pyrofful]

@fordbroncodave OK I actually bought some marine varnish that is clear. I heard that works good. I'm trying it now.

[pyrofful]

Hi,

Are you using an air-choke with the antenna?

[fordbroncodave]

@pyrofful no chokes. i could easily make a ballun though. plenty of coax swaying in the wind i could use

[pyrofful]

@fordbroncodave Did you have to add some U-bolts to bottom of the antenna? Like were there is 4 holes for 2 U-bolts. Or was it strong enough the way it came?

[fordbroncodave]

@pyrofful the antenna comes with 2 muffler type clamps. they are plenty to hold it to the pole. it might be worth replacing the clamps with 4 stainless steel radiator hose clamps for longevity

[pyrofful]

@fordbroncodave OK I didn't know how good it would hold so I got more U-bolts. How is the fiberglass antenna doing with the sun like is it fraying?

[fordbroncodave]

@pyrofful it was frayed pretty bad when i got it. it was already 5 years old when i got it. i painted it heavily with flat white to hold the structure together like glue and seal it again.

i think i picked it up in early 2008 and it is half way through 2011 and still going strong. still have not needed to tune it or do anything to it

[pyrofful]

@fordbroncodave Would you recommend me doing something like that to my new antenna? Do you think any paint that is made for outdoors would work? Or could some paint mess up the reception with it?

[fordbroncodave]

@pyrofful if its a bran new antenna leave it alone. a couple years from now you should check up on it. paint it with the dullest pain you can find. stay away from metallics and glosses

[pyrofful]

@fordbroncodave Maybe but what if it is all messed up like the used one you got? That maybe more of a pain then. You know what I mean?

[fordbroncodave]

@pyrofful if you are buying a used one, go ahead and paint it. if it is brand new out of the box leave it alone for a few years then paint it. UV rays make it brittle and frey over time.

[pyrofful]

@fordbroncodave It is brand new out of the box. I was thinking of preventing the fraying maybe not the brittleness. So you said you had no problem with the SWR reading changing?

[fordbroncodave]

@pyrofful do nothing to the antenna except tune it with the rings. i don't know what you are going to use it for but the way i have mine set up, i use channel 38-40 cb and i use it for 28mhz for 10 meters. i have my antenna tuned between 27.385mhz and 28.500mhz for best swr. if you use channel 1-40 tune it standard on channel 20 so swr is centered.

[pyrofful]

@fordbroncodave Like you in a way it is for a CB radio. I manly use channel 19 trying to find truckers but some time I use other for other people. Ya what is up with channel 20 for SWR check. I was told that and with this K30 antenna it told me to use channel 1 & 40 so I did that. So what is better for all 40 channels?

[fordbroncodave]

@pyrofful you are supposed to set your swr in the center of where you will be talking example, channel 20 is almost center of channel 1-40. swr is lowest on channel 20 if set this way and will rise as you go towards channel 1 or 40. my antenna is set on channel 40 but i also use 28.500mhz. i set the swr in the 27.800 area so i am in the middle with good swr where ever i am between 27mhz and 28mhz

[pyrofful]

@fordbroncodave I'm confused so if I use all 40 channels I want to test my SWR on channel 20 right? Or is channel 20 bad because if you use 1 and 40 it maybe to high? I know what you are saying for what channels you use. How good is the Imax for giving you a steady SWR on all channels?

[fordbroncodave]

@pyrofful if you use the standard 1-40 channels test it on channel 40. just think of it like a bow and arrow. if you draw the bow pointing towards the dirt you can see the center of the bow is low and the tips are high. same with swr. once you go out of its resonant frequency the swr goes way to high for a transmitter to work correctly.

an imax 2000 is a 10/11 meter antenna. it is meant to work on all 10 or all 11 meters or in between like mine is. far easier to get good swr then a maco v58

[pyrofful]

@fordbroncodave So if I do use all 40 channels I should test on channel 20? Great to know it can get a good SWR.

[cb101va]

@pyrofful no you would test it on ch 40

[pyrofful]

Do you think it was worth the money? How is it in bad weather like is it a lightning rod?

[fordbroncodave]

@pyrofful still up in the air with no maintenance since this video was uploaded. tuning rings are all intact. it works fully. best 5/8 wave antenna on the market

[pyrofful]

@fordbroncodave OK sounds good thanks.

[HsCSpanky]

0:32 That's what she said.

[ukcharlie1]

good antenna , I have one myself . thanks for the video .

you got a good set up mate . .26 uniformkilo001 charlie great britain

[fordbroncodave]

@ukcharlie1 thanks! i need to make an update video of this antenna. the swr is still flat and not a single thing has gone wrong with it. best antenna for the money! works great on 10 meters too. 250 watts goes through this thing with no problems

[ED209ISBACK]

Maybe I missed it , but I didn't see you ground the antenna. Shouldn't you do that?

[fordbroncodave]

@ED209ISBACK the pole that holds the antenna in the air is a straight shot to the ground and under the surface. it is plenty. the antenna gets grounded by the pole as well as the shield braid in the coax to the radio collar and the radio is grounded through the power supply which is grounded to the electrical grid in the house. if there is a thunderstorm, just disconnect the coax and put the end in a glass jar.

[Mr314snowman]

@fordbroncodave You know that everything you said about the grounding of that antenna is incorrect, right? And the glass jar thing is a myth, the only thing its good for is blowing little pieces of glass all over your house.....

[fordbroncodave]

@Mr314snowman lay some top quality info on me. i have been studying for my tech license the last 2 months and i have been reading about towers, antennas and designs most of the time. as long as the conductivity and continuity to ground is good and there are no sharp bends in the ground path it is sufficient

[KC8YOQ]

I love it! Putting antennas up in the cold and snow! My kind of people! Have a great day!!! I run an Antron 99 at about 40 feet with my 2995dx for 10 meters!

73ies

[fordbroncodave]

@KC8YOQ good setup. since i have made this video, my radio has been upgraded to a galaxy saturn turbo, rg8x coax and a ham license. has not needed any attention since this video was made

[KC8YOQ]

@fordbroncodave Good welcome to the hobby! Hope to work you sometime on HF!!!!!

[HeavyHittersUSA]

Visit FordBronco Dave at HeavyHittersUSA

[fordbroncodave]

@HeavyHittersUSA i hope this was a drunk post. you do realize who you are speaking to don't you?

[greyhound4211]

@1488Warlord nice story swamp rat Greyhound in in the corner gone!! 194 clear

[KJ4UNR]

you should make a wire antenna go to this website for the langth

CB is about 27 -28 MHZ so it would be about 20 feet long

73

KJ4UNR

[KJ4UNR]

@KJ4UNR opps here is the web site bfn.org

[gforce4all]

GREAT SONG!! I LOVE CINDERELLA!!

[greyhound4211]

I have an Solarcon Antron99 and a really thick coax cable up on a 25' foot pipe Close to 40' feet in the air. and a Galaxy 959 in my shack and its awsome i've gotten up to ontario Canada with it

[fordbroncodave]

@greyhound4211 i use a 2970n2 now. the johnson is on the back burner until it finds a new home. the old stuff isn't as good as the new stuff. both radios have been to canada many many times

[HeavyHittersUSA]

@greyhound4211

[greyhound4211]

@greyhound4211 my station has changed since this upload i will post another video soon!!!

[gforce4all]

my grampa has a vintage johnson.

[gordonshan]

@gforce4all LOL best comment ever!

[fuddmethen]

@gforce4all your grampa's johnson is vintage ...LOL ...I'm sorry I couldn't resist!

[ROCKNTV1]

good choice on tunes bud

[pspbarry]

yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh­h

[fordbroncodave]

good story, how far did you get out with the metal trailer roof and the 102?

[oscarfish666]

yea it bleeds like a stuck hog,i shut down the 40channels when the power is up,but i have a straight 80 mile range,theres another base in the hill countery i talk to 80=miles

[cbtruthteller]

and i am sure you are proud of that go fucking die in a fiery car crash and save us all the embarassment you fucking looser oscarfish what a fucking mental midget

[oscarfish666]

i have a imax2000 with the ground planes,lmr400 coax,a mobile amp volted to 24 volts about 1200 watts i get,the amp is only pushed by a stryker440,great skip an key downs in my town.

[fordbroncodave]

and you are not getting a ton of bleed over? thats amazing.

i heard with these antennas that any more then 250 they bleed like crazy

[cbtruthteller]

of course a cb amp will bleed like a stuck pig because very few people know how to properly set up a base station and have a clean radio and a real clean amp driven properly what a dumbshit and astupiod statement

[Skater4Life748]

I have an IMAX 2000 hooked up to the very top of my house, running a Magnum S-980 with it. I don't have much to compare it to when it comes to other Base antennas, but I can tell you it destroys my Wilson 5000 and Galaxy DX 959 in the reception contest. I'd say both the IMAX and the Wilson are great antennas.

[Davemademan]

Nicely done !

[cbtalker205]

Would you mind sharing the plans for the powers supply? I just sold mine and now Im kicking myself in the ass because now the landlord says its OK to put up a base.

[fordbroncodave]

find electronics around the house you no longer use. open them up and see if they are converted to 12 volts from 110. all this supply is is a supply from a large printer (what you would find in a office building) and a supply from a dish network box phased together. together it makes about 12 amps at 12.5 volts

[Lowrider409ss]

good video,nice antenna and sound...would you recommend it?

[larry40m]

Nothing wrong with that.

[K9FON]

Gotta love the old school hair band rock. Ahh the good old days when the girls were hot, the cars were fast, and the music rocked!!!

I used to own an I maxx, but i broke the darn thing taking it down. Oh well. I have a Avanti Sigma 5/8 to replace it as well as a Sigma 4.

[ballbreaker1900]

change the top peace with a 102in steel whip and get out alittle better!

[ChopperTCB]

good to see Love The old Cb

[AC5CH]

Nice Johnson! :-)