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CB advice

We often struggle with phone signal even in some villages, still have zello as never know when it might be needed.

we had in car radios donated recently which has helped.
Have a mag mount antenna for my handheld too if need to help its Range.
Many of the members have amateur radio licences. Theres times when Zello won’t work and AR will. It can sometimes take a bit of setting up an antenna to get a good signal if stationary.
 
We used to use the enterprise version of Zello at work from when it was in beta. If you use a dedicated handset, explore all the settings, and use a speaker mic or headset with a PTT button it works brilliantly and is very economic on bandwidth and data use. The instant replay function is very useful as is the global range.
 
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I have just put my CB in for the trip to Clives, I normally use Ham radio way better than a CB
 
I would like to go over to vhf or uhf however not enough people in my groups to warrant it.

Any info on this would be great full
 
If you want VHF/UHF with any sort of range then Ham radio is the way to go with more power to play with plus repeaters etc and the licence required is fairly easy to obtain especially at foundation level. The VHF 2m band is currently under threat for Ham use although, personally, I can’t see the whole band being lost completely. PMR446 UHF is licence free but very limited in power and range, much more so than CB.
 
I have just put my CB in for the trip to Clives, I normally use Ham radio way better than a CB

I feel a “...can you ‘ear me now...” session coming on in my garden, when everyone arrives :lol:
 
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You may not have enough ground plane or ground connection to your roof rack at the antenna mount, Bill. It’s probably now at the side of the truck instead of part way towards the centre of the roof with the mag mount so the area of ground plane may be affected.
Thanks, I’ll give it a try, I will persevere as I know the desired result can be achieved and I really want good coms for a trip in Oct to Corsica, rained off today but will start again tomorrow thanks again
 
Install finished, feel free to offer constructive advice.

I made the bracket from some Ali. I had and added and earth strap to the chassis.

I’ve bought an swr meter to finish it off.

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Looks like a nice tidy install. For me I would rip the ariel off in that position due to over grown lanes and roads in my area.
 
The earth wire is unnecessary if you make the bracket have a good connection with the wing, I.e. remove the paint. However, Ally corrodes, especially in contact with steel so all sorts of problems could ensue if it gets wet. I’m not sure the earth wire will be effective. Maybe but I’ve usually seen large braided straps used which look total overkill from an electrical standpoint but are correct from an RF angle.
 
@StarCruiser, the bracket was made of Ali, I could always make a steel one up and then powder coat. As the Ali doesn’t provide a good earth I added the strap which goes straight to the chassis. When belled out I have good connection from the mount to the chassis. With out I get nothing.
 
Thanks, I’ll give it a try, I will persevere as I know the desired result can be achieved and I really want good coms for a trip in Oct to Corsica, rained off today but will start again tomorrow thanks again

Update, I “earthed” the Ali bracket and no change with the SWR, the mount is at the centre front of the roof rack, the mag mount when I try it is about 3 inches forward of it using the same antenna, tried new patch lead, and mount, no change. In a field trial, my pal in his car drove away from me while I transmitted and only got about a 100 yards away before he lost me, so, with a “ loose” plug in unit on the same antenna we had good comes for more than a mile, we ran out of usable track, however, (I have a spare CB that has a cigarette lighter power lead not bolted in.) So, wonder if I can get the SWR down on the “ loose” CB , if I can it must be the hard wired CB unit faulty, if not, back to mount issue, ( is it possible for it to be too high on the car)
I have in my shed two “ fire stick” antennas from all those years ago, I’m itching to find out if they might work, if one of them does it’ll be no good, because for off road it'll need to be able to flex, ( they are as stiff as ramrods) just a thought.
 
@StarCruiser, the bracket was made of Ali, I could always make a steel one up and then powder coat. As the Ali doesn’t provide a good earth I added the strap which goes straight to the chassis. When belled out I have good connection from the mount to the chassis. With out I get nothing.
This is part of my point. From an electrical point of view it’s great. From a radio point of view it’s better than nothing but not as good as it could be. The trouble is, on any vehicle, it always about compromise. Unless you drill a hole in your roof, and let’s face it, there’s few who’ll want to do that including me, it’s a case of making a poor situation (for the antenna) as good as it can be.

It might be ok, is what I’m saying. It’ll never be perfect, but there might be some improvement to be had.
 
Ok an update. SWR meter arrived today so took Thomas out in to the fields to set things up.

After a few little tweaks; 1.3 on channel 1 and 1.4 on channel 40. According to what I’ve read this should be pretty good, correct? How far should I take the squelch? It’s currently on 6 with no static on 1 to 40 but then I don’t hear anything!
 
You should be OK with the SWR readings you’ve got.
Squelch setting will depend on the strength of the noise floor which will vary, hence the squelch adjustment. Back off the squelch until channel noise appears then increase until it just disappears. The higher the squelch setting the stronger a received signal has to be to be heard.
 
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