The Most USELESS CB Radio Antenna EVER? (It's Not For Pole Dancing!)

[ocsrc]

Yup. I remember these back in the 70s. We had these in Attic. The problem was the SWR was high. The wave bounced off the wood of the roof and shingles. I got about 1/2 mile. When I put the antenna outside on the roof I got 10 miles. At night I got a lot further. I had a Uniden CB.

[SMETSYSGNIMIT]

I founded a CB and Ham Radio anrenna company back in 1975 when I was 15 years old. It grew to 5 employees and we sold thousands of antennas. I sold the company after 4 years. We made verticals, dipoles, quads, yagis, and an internal home antenna called the Hidden Gem. It used a technique I sort of invented called 360 phasing. The antenna was 3 PVC pipes, each about 8 feet long. One of the pipes was the active element and we had a coil in it to make it resonate with an SWR under 1.5 to 1. The other two pipes also stood vertically and they were used as reflectors and typically were placed from 1 to 2 feet away. The antenna came with a 3 page manual that explained how to position the two reflectors to maximize signal strength in any direction. You needed a friend or someone you knew who had a CB within a mile of you. Or, if you happen to have a walkie talkie, you could use that. You would optimize the gain of the antenna towards your friend or the walkie. It took about 15 minutes to get it tuned, but the gain was remarkably good. Customers would tell us they could often talk to people on the AM band that were 10 to 15 miles away during the day. USB or LSB contacts were always good, obviously at night. The antenna array did take up some space, but people didn't seem to care. We sold the Gem for $99 and I think we shipped well over 1, 500 of them. The construction of them took us about an hour and our total cost to build was around $35. It was a good profit maker for us. Good times back in those early days of CB radio. Our mosf popular antenna was a 3 element yagi we sold for CB or Ham that sold for $199. About 15 years ago, I was on 20 meters making a ham radio contact. I asked the guy what gear he was using. He had my 3 element yagi and was still enjoying it. When I told him who I was, he laughed and said he could still remember calling to order it and spoke to my mom who handled sales. We both enjoyed a long conversation and laughed that someone would buy, and still be using, an antenna made from PVC pipe.

[charleswoods]

Even @ 52yo and getting back into CB Radio when my disability benefits started as I needed something to do, this "Homing Pigeon Antenna" is a little before my time. However, even in the mid to late 1990s I struggled with trying to run a decent CB station in apartment complexes everywhere I've lived. It inspired me to hit the local libraries and study Antenna Theory and fortunately, I already had a basic working knowledge of how radio waves worked and traveled and the different modes. It eventually of course led to getting my Technician and later General Class Amateur Radio licenses and now, while I still live in an apartment with a balcony, I have an HF antenna that's 1/2 wavelength resonant on 10~11 meters and connected to a matcher (transformer) that gives me the rest of the Amateur Radio spectrum, with an antenna tuner of course. In conclusion, I can legitimately say I have close to 45 years of playing with radio and antennas and beating the challenges of tyrannical landlords and property managers, even the govt., (HUD, [public] Housing and Urban Development) as having the Amateur Radio license helps with being allowed to mount my 18 1/2 foot long antenna to my balcony railing!
KD8EFQ/73

[dataterminal]

Yes, I've heard of this. And my father made me my first antenna using the same principle from an extendable metal line prop for the antenna, and the shielding as a counter poise of sorts. Maybe more like a L shaped dipole. It worked well enough that we got out around 7 miles with it in our loft before we went out and eye balled someone selling a proper antenna.
You have to remember at the peak of CB radio, you'd often struggle to find an empty channel to use, particularly in a built up city. The chances of making a contact 50 miles away was non-existent for most people, nor needed as there was more than enough local chatter and complaints from neighbours when you wiped out their TV after keying up.

[sydfloyd]

The classic DV27 on a biscuit tin in my bedroom worked ok for me for local contacts !

[KiwiCatherineJemma]

I lived on the top storey of a 2 and a half story high, small apartment block in Perth, Western Australia in 1988. Their typical construction was double clay brick walls and tile roof.  

Australia used the US spec 40 channel 27 MHz CB system then.. I used a car CB antenna, mounted on a large oven baking tray/shallow roasting dish/cookie sheet. I set it on the floor of a small moveable wardrobe (closet) so the aerial poked up through "wasted space" and simply stuck up amongst the clothes hanging above. 

I lined the bottom of the wardrobe floor, below the baking tray with ordinary kitchen al-foil, (but dunno if that helped anyway).  

SWR was plenty ok. I got surprisingly good reception and TX for quite awhile. 

Later I got an 18 foot tall aluminium pole antenna ("Station Master"? it had a semi adjustable coil at the base) and mounted it to the balcony railing. That gave me excellent reception across a wide portion of the Perth metro area. cheers ZL3CATH

[jasoncarswell]

"This antenna will NOT kill!"

Well that's certainly an unusual way to start your sales pitch.

[kurtstefans]

I remember this antenna. Never thought it would work. 45 years later I discover I was right. Thanks!

[troy]

It might not have been for pole dancing, but I can imagine someone got pissed and they attempted it.

[raymondmartin]

Yes, I remember this antenna well from
back then, not interested much, being a
ham since 1962, and still today after
over 60 years, being almost 80 now.
Hustler name is still around too.
I did have a pole lamp like you showed
back then too. Cheers 73 de W2CH. 😊

[samiam]

I knew a CB who used a homing pigeon in a apartment complex he was on 2nd floor and got out about 12 miles.

[hatchetjackphillips]

A friend of mine had this antenna for his base station. It worked ok for local chatter. From what I remember, he never had any issues with the swr.

[alzeNL]

The home antenna was secured to a coal bunker on a piece of scaffold - however once we got to meet other CB users, the variety of antennas in use was impressive - mostly the biscuit tin variety for those living in flats with balconys ! The days when 27Mhz was full, just have to settle for 80m these days ;o)

[shaunw]

Many of my school friends just had a DV27 mag mounted to a biscuit tin . My indoor antenna problem was solved by my Dad who ran some TV co-ax from my rig up into the apex of the attic roof then split the inner & outers down adjacent roof joists. It worked well and SWR was more than acceptable given the DIY nature of it.

[defaultuserid]

Used one of these during the CB craze in the attic of our townhouse. You had to play around with location to get a low SWR but it was doable. With a loud mike it was good for 10-12 miles in the daytime if skip wasn't running.

[zaphodb]

More fun can be had with a beach fishing rod, and a slinky. Just attach the top of the slinky to the center of the coax at the end of the rod, then let out line until the slinky has a good noise tune. You may have to wait for darkness to put it out the window, but that's the price of living in the city.

[wlvradio]

Thanks for the memory! I had one. Mine definitely wasn't a Nu-tronics one, I would have remembered it since they were indeed based in Cleveland. I had the "Metropole" and I would hazard a guess that it was either a copy of the Nu-Tronics one, or they made it for Radio Shack, or Radio Shack licensed it from them. Mine was of a cheaper build, just plain plastic. I installed it on the second floor built-in porch of a farmhouse that I was renting. It worked for awhile. And then, I destroyed my radio. I went on to learn a lot more about antennas on my journey as I self trained and acquired all of the amateur and commercial FCC licenses. It's kind of "fun" to read the advert hype about antennas now, but I didn't feel that way back then, a college student of very limited means having a ruined radio. The upshot? It didn't put me off. Instead? I wanted to learn MUCH MORE, as indeed I did and still am about antennas. This journey has brought me to the conclusion that simple wire antennas and QRP power are pretty cost effective and a LOT of FUN, in comparison to expensive amps and towers. To each his own... With YouTube, on line equipment reviews, entry level equipment with specifications that thirty years ago we could not dream of in even the most expensive equipment (think Oscilloscopes here for just for ONE example) and delivery at the click of a mouse, IMO, THIS is the GOLDEN AGE of Amateur Radio! 73 DE W8LV BILL

[RicArmstrong]

I sure hope CB becomes popular again. I remember in the 80's my whole town was on it.

[robertmeyer]

I few of them sold around 1980's in US. Have a friend tata has one. was hard to tune. and from first floor did not get much rainge. later in 1980's a 39 in CB antenna came out under the SATURN name, can be mounted different ways. from a 2nd floor I mounted one to balcony and worked a few miles up to about 10 or so on SSB and some skip as well. with a tuner worked 12 and 10 meter ham. I took it camping 1 time. put on tent polls . made my first contact from camp cite on 10 meter ham. now I use end fed half wave long wire or offset center fed di pole antenna. works more HF bands . 73's Boston NY

[MickHurst]

First base antenna I used was a DV27 bolted on to a biscuit tin placed in the loft. Worked quite well, replaced it with a Silver Rod 6 months later, early 1980's. The difference was immediate.