Continuing with our research into the CB craze of the mid 70s we'll take a look at what were considered the elite antennas when it came to having a CB setup. While the truckers may have ruled the roads and channel 19, it was the everyday hobbyist who ruled the airwaves from his home, and rule they did.
If you were on CB and really wanted to impress people with your booming voice over the airwaves you had no choice but to set up a base unit. Not only were the units themselves powerful but the antennas that people put up on their roof tops could have given some rival TV stations a run for their money.
Choosing a CB antenna for your base station was not easy. There were plenty to choose from and they all had their pluses and minuses.
One of the most powerful, yet most frustrating was the ever popular Moon Raker. This was a beam antenna that looked very similar to TV antennas, most having 3 elements mounted on an 11 meter base. These were called regular Moon Rakers. However, there were beam antennas that had up to six elements on them. They were referred to as a Moon Raker 6. These things were huge. The problem with them was that they were directional antennas. What this means is that depending on what direction your antenna was pointing that was where you got your best reception and transmission. So if you were speaking to somebody who was south of you and your antenna was pointing north you had to turn the antenna 180 degrees in order to get a decent reception. This got to be a pain after a while. The plus side was that these antennas were so powerful they could cut through anything once you had your target zeroed in.
Another popular base antenna was what was called the "Big Stick". This was really just a very long fiberglass antenna. They were usually about 10 to 15 feet long. They weren't as powerful as the Moon Raker but they transmitted and received equally well in all directions and therefore were great all purpose base antennas especially if you were in a centrally located area where you had a number of people you could speak to in all directions. Also, Big Sticks were relatively cheap next to a Moon Raker that sold for a couple of hundred dollars. A Big Stick was about $70.
For people who didn't have a very large budget, there were base station antennas made that quite honestly were not much more powerful than their mobile counterparts. When you take the lack of power of these antennas into account against their price tag of about $50, it made much more sense to go with a Big Stick.
The biggest problem with all of these antennas, especially in the old days, was that they were constantly interfering with TV receptions. Today with cable, things are not quite as bad.
Even though CB isn't as popular with homeowners as it was 30 years ago, you can still see these bad boys on roof tops if you look close enough. Just make sure you stop the car first before taking a look.
Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Antennas
» left by william barentine from Phoenix, Arizona (1 year 311 days ago.)
No.
I was looking for a DIY article on building a base station antenna, NOT a history lesson. Respond to this comment
» left by thrustmore from harper woods mi (1 year 289 days ago.)
what ever happened to the ms119 superscanner?? Respond to this comment
» left by Bill Clint's Quick Fix from Arkansas (1 year 247 days ago.)
Thats why history keeps recycling. People are not smart enough to know that history is a very important part of building anything in the future!! DIY nothing else matters!!! Quick fix now and suffer in the future. Respond to this comment
» left by some cb dude from on air (1 year 157 days ago.)
what about the 1/4 wave and 1/2 and 5/8 wave grand plane? you left them out!
» left by Rooster from Keystone State (278 days 14 hours ago.)
To those willing to trash this page, before you make yourself look anymore like an idiot, take a second and realize that this page is made to provide information on base antennas, NOT DESIGNS. If you're looking to build, go check out some sites such as hamuniverse and you'll find enough to keep you busy. This site offers good information to those wanting to learn, my thanks to the author.
» left by john schweitzer from lombard il (249 days 2 hours ago.)
the sad part of society is that cb radio was virtually killed by the "HOME COMPUTER" I was very involved in cb radios. lots of "eyeballs" and whatnot. But as time went on people had to go home to "talk on the computer in chat rooms" Computers cost money monthly either for internet connection, or phone bills. Not to mention the cost of the equipment itself and the computer you buy today is outdated six months ago. Cbs yes had their initial price tag also but after that your operating cost was what just a touch of electricity.Then what computer retards like myself who take twenty minutes to type one sentence. By the way I'm not saying that the computer is useless, It is a very useful tool. I just happend on this site looking for a new antenna because I would like to get back "ON THE AIR" Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts on this
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