Review of the Radio Shack center loaded portable antenna for amateur radio HT and scanner radios.
instructional video on installing a common PL259 connector on inexpensive RG6 aluminum shielded coax standard or quad shield .
Video Rating: 5 / 5
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so RG6 work fine with Citizen Bands radio transmiter ? xD
So im new to ham radio and have a ton of rg6 hanging around. I’ve heard conflicting stories on if you can use it for ham radio or not. Can you give me a good honest answer. I just want to know before I hook it all up. Thanks!
Mikey RG-6 and RG-11 work very well for Ham radio go ahead and use it . I have RG-6 and RG-11 75 ohm coax on all of my antennas. HF ,6 meters ,10meters and 2 meters . Go ahead use the RG-6 and spend your money on other things you need for your station . 73 BOB
Yes ! RG-6 and RG-11 work great on CB antennas too . Remember when using ANY coax that the SWR condition AT the antenna repeats itself every one half wavelength of coax cable that is why you hear stories about trimming the coax to get a low SWR this actually works if the antenna is properly tuned . I trim the RG-6 here for best SWR for that reason knowing that up at my antenna the antenna has been adjusted properly for a very low SWR RG-58 and RG-8 works the same way. 73 BOB
Short answer, yes. It gives you a bit of an impedance bump from the mismatched radio and coax – I believe 1.4:1(?) assuming the antenna is a perfect 50 ohms(rare). The ‘bump’ might help or hurt – depending on the antenna. Hook it up, check SWR(at lowest power – easier on the radio), and then tune the antenna and/or coax for best SWR. RG6 is cheap, low loss, and durable(because of high volume production for CATV). If using an AT, its not gonna matter at all. Welcome and 73s!
I’m going to try this on my 2 meter rig. Thank you!
What’s your thoughts on matching Rg8 to 50 ohms for hams use? Thanks for the video. working with RG6 seems allot easier than ppl claim
Let me ask you this,is there a length of rg6 that you recommend? Im wanting to use rg6 and will be needing 75-100′ or so for my application.One more question,have you ever used 102″ whip as your base/ham antenna?
Like you told Mikey,I would rather spend my money on something other than expensive coax:)
No special length however remember that the matching condition at the antenna repeats every odd multiple of a halfwave at the operating frequency down the coax .This is true no matter what coax you are using . I have several over 100 foot runs here .
The102 inch whip will work on the upper HF bands15,17,12 and 10 meters using an antenna tuner but not very well you will need radials on it for the lowest band in use .I operate ALL bands from 80 to10 using a dual 80/40 meter dipole antenna fed with one length of RG-6 . It is simply an 80 meter dipole 62 ft each side and a 40 meter dipole 33 ft each side and they are spread apart as much as possible on the ends mine are about 30 ft apart at the ends fed with an antenna tuner works great . 73
I used to have this antenna. I used it on my scanner until I realized the stock antenna outperformed it. I wouldn’t recommend it, especially for the price Radioshack is asking.
Yes, it seems to only work for a specific frequency so it is not good for a scanner which usually is all over the band. However, it may be good for amateur radio HT which normally operates only on narrow bands.
Thanks for your comment.
Tom
What about receive? It says for the hi freq’s to extend ‘1 to 3 of the lower section’… Well which is which? Hi-aircraft being 3 or 1 segments? 800MHz being which? Etc?
The higher the frequency the shorter the antenna needs to be.
Hi, I use a 45.5 inch portable 5/8 160-170 Mhz BNC antenna for my VHF police scanning (163.9875Mhz). Not really that portable, but gives max performance in my bad reception area. The factory scanner antenna was no good and the Radio shack antenna was a improvement. The radio shack antenna is better for lower frequencies than some of the small portable scanner antennas. Better still use the largest dedicated antenna you can for that frequency you a listening to for max performance if needed.
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Tom (hamrad88)
I have two of these. I use them on my handheld scanners. They work best tuned to the freq you’re tuned on. Best scanner antennas I have.
Thanks for the report and have a great day.
Tom