I am in the US,NY . CB picking up . made my portable set up with wire antenna. made a few. I have the DX commander fiberglass pole so easy to sting wore up. lean into a tree or park bench. for that center fed easy to choke it. just get ferrite core T 240-43 wrap some RG 8X threw it place at antenna . I made a end fed half wave with UNUN 49:1 . works great . even made 3/4 wave slope antenna and worked DX. wire antenna's are fun. I did a full wave loop on ground with a 4:1 and got a tune under 1.5:1 and worked DX . and from a park and CB . I got the midland 42 and thunder pole TX HT radios. when doing DX you do not need far off the ground. under 1/4 wave is great. off ground. 73's NY,USA
I've done tests on wire dipoles if you slope it 35 degrees will get best results local and dx Height is might ,once you get antenna above 50ft less ground affect on dipole ,increase angle to more vertical.Agree use a a simple balun but one factor have to bear in mind is angle of the wires affects the impedance and as mentioned height due to ground affect . Great vid Andy
Perhaps when FM CB is "legal" in the U.S.A. , President CB will redesign the Randy and (Redesign in that the ones sold in the EU and UK have all the EU/UK channels built in - so President will have to produce one for America by itself) add SSB ! President Electronics are you listening ???
I use my Randy on my lunch breaks sitting along the East River and talk to stations way up in the Bronx and down to Coney Island to the south. Easy 10 miles.
We have been building low cost field antennas or massive base antennas for AM CB here in the US for 40 years. When you see large setups in the US it's generally a good bet that it's a CB'er more time than a Ham. My first cb antenna as a kid was a long wire. Dipole antenna is very common (commercial or homemade).
I have the President Randy HT for a while too. It is nice as a CB Walkie-talkie, though like most does not have SSB. I have heard skip here when the band is open, on US 🇺🇸 channel 6, 27.025 MHz, usually from our Southern states, even with the provided antenna. I have even done better with my amateur antenna, for HF, the Windcamp WA4 Windom antenna. How about the 17.5 foot Moonraker antenna? 73 de W2CH Ray, NH.
Can I ask a question. New to handheld. Which would you say is best. Thunderpole Tx, president randy 3, or the albrecht ssb , sorry forgot the number of the albrecht Thank you
Andy, have a look at the Diamond BU-55 I think it is, dipole centre with a built in balun, nice piece of kit and not much bigger than the dipole centre you have there.
"Antenna is everything" nailed it! How i wish this would be more common. All this screwing with loads of Watts... Once you had experiece with a well tunend good working Antenna with environment where hf can spread, its a real joy:-) so much fun with way less Power than most guys can imagine
Great Video Andy yes ive got one of those dipoles from ebay works ok as instant QRP as live in rented place no aerials allowed zzzzz Thanks for the video
good amount of tech yet to the point! cool to see a HAM not trash 11m! RADIO IS RADIO! O & in the days of old before thare was a radio license ALL RADIO WAS CB! THAT IS RIGHT Tesla, Marconi & the old time radio men wear cber! o in the usa we are do to get fm on mid band!
I wonder that your modulation was loud enough. In my experience, the radio modulation is unfortunately not very loud and you was also far away from microphone
Would an ‘ugly balun’ work on the feeder line by wrapping the coax around a plastic bottle say eight turns? That’s all most T2LT antennas have and it’s much cheaper than buying a 1:1 balun.
Thanks Andy. Worth looking into, a 1:1 balun will probably cost more than the dipole antenna. I know you can make them but that won’t appeal to everyone 👍🏼
@@andykirby T2LT sleeve dipole antenna is just what I was going to suggest...is an end fed halfwave dipole. I used to use one portable with a fibreglass fishing pole. From a couple of hilltops that Lewis knows I worked Lake District, South Wales, Corsica & Tenerife. Not bad for a rearranged bit of cheap rg58! Edited to add: that was with a 4w Midland using FM btw...I think the propagation was ever so favourable 😹
Hiya Andy I’m 68 just started to get interested in CB Radio know nothing about it have bought a President Randy 111, and would be most grateful for any advice all The tech talk does lose me a bit Thanks Steve SE28
Hey Steve, OK.. Great choice. Firstly join our discord. discord.gg/K4zbpqdf Next up, grab a decent antenna. Upgraded handheld antenna here: amzn.to/3EaxO6N You need to go somewhere pretty high. It really depends on who is about in your area. If you hear some conversations, in the gap shout "on the side" and if they hear you they will ask you to join in if you are lucky! Don't be surprised if they cant hear you as your signal will be weak from a handheld. To maximise your chances of getting heard get yourself a magmount and antenna for the car. In reality a lot of the activity on CB bands is on the sidebands which sadly you can't do with the Randy. You need something like a president McKinley to do that... You can make some good contacts on the Randy but you need to persevere. Watch all my CB related videos! Good luck and maybe catch you on air soon!
You should throw a Tiger Tail on a Handheld, just a quarter-wave piece of wire attached to the ground of the Antenna or the ground of the Radio Inverted V for a CB Dipole works best for me
You can Attach a Counterpoise Wire about 8 feet in length to the base of the Telescopic Whip. At that point you have a Portable Dipole Antenna, very effective on the 2m Band also. A definite improvement on 27mhz.
.. lool buiscuit tin... yeh.. used to do that... great video.. the large telescopic is going to put a lot of stress on the case.. if you were to do more of that im sure a 3d printed support could be fabricated..
Use that wire dipole horizontally as an option for dx on 11 meters (as opposed to my vertical antenna) and it works fine if the conditions are with you and the other station is horizontally polarised as well. Moved my choke to the rig end (which is not successful) and you have just reminded me to move it back to the antenna end . My main 20/40 meter end fed wire has just been brought down by pesky fat pigeons sitting on it as a perch ! 73 M7BLC
I have a Cherokee walkie-talkie and a Midland walkie-talkie both of them have unlocked channels and can talk on free band..(above channel 40 and below channel 1) I purchased a 46 inch foldable flexible portable antenna for one walkie-talkie.. the other walkie-talkie I have a telescopic antenna that I can hook on it with a BNC connector... With the telescopic antenna I talk to my friend one quiet night approximately 15 miles no lie to him in this pickup truck
Hi Andy. Brings back great memories of CBing in the 80s. I can't remember how many rigs I had. I think I had them all at some point starting off with a midland 2001 and finishing up with a Rotel 240. Remember the Sadelta echo master plus? I may buy a new rig and see what it's like round here in North Hampshire. Is 27mhz still a thing for CB? I know it all moved on to the new EU bands in the early 90s. Not sure if that every took off or if people stuck with 27/81 or moved to AM? Any advice would be great. Just subscribed to your channel 👍🏻
Hi Andy, really like your videos, got the wonder wand loop ant from your video, thanks, where can I get the 27mhz telescopic ant, amazon seems the only site. Cheers Steve
I agree with the other commentators. There should be more CB radios with SSB. A handleld like this one that includes SSB would be tops! I would buy one, if my finance minister XYL gives the green light. Hah!
There are very few amateur handhelds with SSB, I guess it is not practical to fit those filters and extra circuitry within such a small case. A modern SDR transportable is your best option with the current state of the art.
Cheers mate , I have that radio , and really enjoy it , I bought on the strength of your last review with Lewis, so my wife hates you .. I like you so keep up the reviews mate 🍷
Haha that made me chuckle and rest assured I never say how much the stuff is in my videos, just in case "they" are watching!!! you might have noticed that!!😅😅
I should stop watching your video ive just ordered one of those antennas going to try it on my albrecht 2990 asf handheld and see how i get on. good video
In USA having only 40 chs with FM is useless if they don't designate the A channels or give us 120 ch total to go where there's no noise or DX then why buy it. But FM has not caught on here. Also no ch mods for FCC randy that's junk. So we here are at a disadvantage.
@@andykirby yes sir n tell everyone that wood like a ssb one to call or email ì saw in the comments a lot Of people sed if had ssb thay buy it. Or it be perfect if had ssb I watched over a dozen Randy videos to day n all had comments like this n One had over 30 comments for the ssb I back pack n kayak n mountain bike N camp out doing them so I like keep light fast n mobile lol old habits die hard it from my days in service I see a few comments that people Take Randy out on their lunch break N there not a nuther ssb hand talky Being currently made So I hope you do make a video n if there is a nuff interest thay will make it I enjoy your videos n thank for the quick reply 73
Some telescoping CB antennas come built in with the TNC connector, such as the HYS company...
That looks like a great hand held radio to have around. I'm liking all these tips you're giving us.
The CB radio space has always be 20 years behind in terms of development.
Nice to see that they are finally catching up.
The handhelds yes but otherwise no.
That "behind the times" also includes a huge number of handheld CB's not even having rechargeable battery packs or USB charging for those that do.
Oh wow remember making wire dipoles for CB as a teenager, great fun and great experience too.
Yes wire dipoles across the back garden or in the attic worked great, far, far better than the magmount on a biscuit tin.
I am in the US,NY . CB picking up . made my portable set up with wire antenna. made a few. I have the DX commander fiberglass pole so easy to sting wore up. lean into a tree or park bench. for that center fed easy to choke it. just get ferrite core T 240-43 wrap some RG 8X threw it place at antenna . I made a end fed half wave with UNUN 49:1 . works great . even made 3/4 wave slope antenna and worked DX. wire antenna's are fun. I did a full wave loop on ground with a 4:1 and got a tune under 1.5:1 and worked DX . and from a park and CB . I got the midland 42 and thunder pole TX HT radios. when doing DX you do not need far off the ground. under 1/4 wave is great. off ground. 73's NY,USA
Back in the late 70's we used AM all the time but is there a product that can filter out the Essex style accent?
Oí bruv! I need a translator innit!
How would the rubber duck have compared to the telescoping antenna?
They are a great little hand set.. ive put mine into export mode and got all the extras.
Export mode??
I've done tests on wire dipoles if you slope it 35 degrees will get best results local and dx
Height is might ,once you get antenna above 50ft less ground affect on dipole ,increase angle to more vertical.Agree use a a simple balun but one factor have to bear in mind is angle of the wires affects the impedance and as mentioned height due to ground affect .
Great vid Andy
Thanks mate!👌🏼
I used to use a silver rod in the loft just laying down, had to take it down it was messing with neighbours tv signal lol.
Great radio if only it had ssb ! Great tips also...
Thanks, yeah shame it doesn't have SSB. They would have sold 10x more probably.
Perhaps when FM CB is "legal" in the U.S.A. , President CB will redesign the Randy and (Redesign in that the ones sold in the EU and UK have all the EU/UK channels built in - so President will have to produce one for America by itself) add SSB !
President Electronics are you listening ???
I use my Randy on my lunch breaks sitting along the East River and talk to stations way up in the Bronx and down to Coney Island to the south. Easy 10 miles.
We have been building low cost field antennas or massive base antennas for AM CB here in the US for 40 years. When you see large setups in the US it's generally a good bet that it's a CB'er more time than a Ham.
My first cb antenna as a kid was a long wire. Dipole antenna is very common (commercial or homemade).
True HAMEs are stupid and use lazy junk builds.
Have you seen them foldable bnc aerials for Cb handhelds , few on Amazon Amazon , but not sure if any good or just a gimmick
I have the President Randy HT for a while too. It is nice as a CB Walkie-talkie, though like most does not have SSB.
I have heard skip here when the band is
open, on US 🇺🇸 channel 6, 27.025 MHz,
usually from our Southern states, even
with the provided antenna. I have even
done better with my amateur antenna,
for HF, the Windcamp WA4 Windom
antenna.
How about the 17.5 foot Moonraker
antenna?
73 de W2CH Ray, NH.
Try the albrecht ae2990 afs
Has am fm USB lsb and amateur best there is
@@indiana146 Thank 😊 you for the info.
Can I ask a question. New to handheld. Which would you say is best. Thunderpole Tx, president randy 3, or the albrecht ssb , sorry forgot the number of the albrecht
Thank you
Andy, have a look at the Diamond BU-55 I think it is, dipole centre with a built in balun, nice piece of kit and not much bigger than the dipole centre you have there.
How about using a field strength unit close to the loop antenna and tune for max RF on wonder box ??
Give that a go!
Lots of natural noise sources are AM modulated so the noise floor can easily be ch louder you can squelch it all out if your signal to noise is good.
I bought a wire dipole from Nevada and they told me both wires are driven elements,,is this possible?
It's correct, a radio wave is a sine wave it alternates from + - + -
"Antenna is everything" nailed it! How i wish this would be more common. All this screwing with loads of Watts... Once you had experiece with a well tunend good working Antenna with environment where hf can spread, its a real joy:-) so much fun with way less Power than most guys can imagine
Great Video Andy yes ive got one of those dipoles from ebay works ok as instant QRP as live in rented place no aerials allowed zzzzz Thanks for the video
Which adapter did you use to attach the antenna to the Randy FCC? Thanks for any info you can provide.
good amount of tech yet to the point! cool to see a HAM not trash 11m! RADIO IS RADIO! O & in the days of old before thare was a radio license ALL RADIO WAS CB! THAT IS RIGHT Tesla, Marconi & the old time radio men wear cber! o in the usa we are do to get fm on mid band!
Can you recommend a good CB radio for newbie to radio to grow with as hopefully get more proficient.
Superstar 6900 👍
Biscuit tin? I had to use a 1960's metal hub cap as my ground plane.
No mag mount, but the old DV27. Oh, the fun on the old colt 210 AM.
👍😎👍 61MU
hey bud don't know if you fixed this in your later videos but your end music is twice as loud as the rest of your video
Great video , as are alot of what you do. I'm stuck in the dilemma of buying a president randy 3 or a unit for my car
I wonder that your modulation was loud enough. In my experience, the radio modulation is unfortunately not very loud and you was also far away from microphone
Does that Randy Haemorage Batteries
I have a Intek
Just Drains them as Quick as you Like
That QSO was around 1 hour, the battery wasn't fully charged and its still going now. It runs for hours, good battery.
Are those stax electrostatic speakers in the corners?
What is voltage of battery in the radio?
a Firestik is impressive also.. got my Base Station back out in time for the Apocalypse.. PMSL
Mate hit that radio with a 5/8 wave T2LT see how well you do, fricking mind blowing. Please do let us know how you get on??
Would an ‘ugly balun’ work on the feeder line by wrapping the coax around a plastic bottle say eight turns? That’s all most T2LT antennas have and it’s much cheaper than buying a 1:1 balun.
Yes it would work👍🏻it depends on diameter of the former and number of turns but I bet you can find designs online to make one easy.
Thanks Andy. Worth looking into, a 1:1 balun will probably cost more than the dipole antenna. I know you can make them but that won’t appeal to everyone 👍🏼
@@andykirby T2LT sleeve dipole antenna is just what I was going to suggest...is an end fed halfwave dipole. I used to use one portable with a fibreglass fishing pole. From a couple of hilltops that Lewis knows I worked Lake District, South Wales, Corsica & Tenerife. Not bad for a rearranged bit of cheap rg58!
Edited to add: that was with a 4w Midland using FM btw...I think the propagation was ever so favourable 😹
Hiya Andy I’m 68 just started to get interested in CB Radio know nothing about it have bought a President Randy 111, and would be most grateful for any advice all The tech talk does lose me a bit Thanks Steve SE28
Hey Steve, OK.. Great choice.
Firstly join our discord. discord.gg/K4zbpqdf
Next up, grab a decent antenna. Upgraded handheld antenna here: amzn.to/3EaxO6N
You need to go somewhere pretty high. It really depends on who is about in your area. If you hear some conversations, in the gap shout "on the side" and if they hear you they will ask you to join in if you are lucky! Don't be surprised if they cant hear you as your signal will be weak from a handheld.
To maximise your chances of getting heard get yourself a magmount and antenna for the car.
In reality a lot of the activity on CB bands is on the sidebands which sadly you can't do with the Randy. You need something like a president McKinley to do that...
You can make some good contacts on the Randy but you need to persevere. Watch all my CB related videos!
Good luck and maybe catch you on air soon!
How much for your dipol? Thank you
Have you seen the Unihertz Atom XL, thought it would be good to hear your thoughts on it and how useful it is, could it be used as a portable CB ?
CqDx, This is Yankee Delta 21, 10 miles North of the town of Dorchester, standing by.
You should throw a Tiger Tail on a Handheld, just a quarter-wave piece of wire attached to the ground of the Antenna or the ground of the Radio
Inverted V for a CB Dipole works best for me
How much is the loop antenna and where can I buy it at???
You can Attach a Counterpoise Wire about 8 feet in length to the base of the Telescopic Whip. At that point you have a Portable Dipole Antenna, very effective on the 2m Band also. A definite improvement on 27mhz.
Yep tried that on Randy 2 improved tx/Rx gain by 3-4 S points !!!
worth trying and plug in mic? nice video
Which one is most adequate for SSB?
.. lool buiscuit tin... yeh.. used to do that... great video.. the large telescopic is going to put a lot of stress on the case.. if you were to do more of that im sure a 3d printed support could be fabricated..
When's the playdate for your dogies and Max?
I wouldn't want to inflict these little terrors on Max! Max is great!
Use that wire dipole horizontally as an option for dx on 11 meters (as opposed to my vertical antenna) and it works fine if the conditions are with you and the other station is horizontally polarised as well. Moved my choke to the rig end (which is not successful) and you have just reminded me to move it back to the antenna end . My main 20/40 meter end fed wire has just been brought down by pesky fat pigeons sitting on it as a perch ! 73 M7BLC
What a great video. Thanks for posting.
I have a Cherokee walkie-talkie and a Midland walkie-talkie both of them have unlocked channels and can talk on free band..(above channel 40 and below channel 1) I purchased a 46 inch foldable flexible portable antenna for one walkie-talkie.. the other walkie-talkie I have a telescopic antenna that I can hook on it with a BNC connector... With the telescopic antenna I talk to my friend one quiet night approximately 15 miles no lie to him in this pickup truck
Hi Andy. Brings back great memories of CBing in the 80s. I can't remember how many rigs I had. I think I had them all at some point starting off with a midland 2001 and finishing up with a Rotel 240. Remember the Sadelta echo master plus? I may buy a new rig and see what it's like round here in North Hampshire. Is 27mhz still a thing for CB? I know it all moved on to the new EU bands in the early 90s. Not sure if that every took off or if people stuck with 27/81 or moved to AM? Any advice would be great. Just subscribed to your channel 👍🏻
Yes CB is back again
EU AM FM Ssb
UK old FM only
New CB coming out with ctcss/DCS sub tones like pmr446 UHF radios for quiet communications 👍
@@rpcomms1 only took a year to reply 😂 roger that
Where to buy this telescopic antenna with adapter to fit randy
Link is in the description I think. If not amazon.
@@andykirby thank you
Hi Andy, really like your videos, got the wonder wand loop ant from your video, thanks, where can I get the 27mhz telescopic ant, amazon seems the only site. Cheers Steve
Thanks! Yes amazon is where I bought mine. Not sure of its available elsewhere.
what is the music track at the end of this?
I agree with the other commentators. There should be more CB radios with SSB. A handleld like this one that includes SSB would be tops! I would buy one, if my finance minister XYL gives the green light. Hah!
There are very few amateur handhelds with SSB, I guess it is not practical to fit those filters and extra circuitry within such a small case.
A modern SDR transportable is your best option with the current state of the art.
Have you tried the albrecht ae 2990 afs hand held am fm USB LSB and amateur
It only pushes 4 watts but itgood
Can you use this for picking up airport channels i.e. manchester tower and approach me being a bit of a plane spotter noob?
Nah you can't unfortunately, you'll need a scanner for that!
@@andykirby no worries thanks for getting back ;)
Cheers mate , I have that radio , and really enjoy it , I bought on the strength of your last review with Lewis, so my wife hates you .. I like you so keep up the reviews mate 🍷
Haha that made me chuckle and rest assured I never say how much the stuff is in my videos, just in case "they" are watching!!! you might have noticed that!!😅😅
Do you get many people on cb these days
ps your music is EPIC Andy!
I was Wondering ,when will president would come out with a president Andy walkie talkie !! ✍🏻
I should stop watching your video ive just ordered one of those antennas going to try it on my albrecht 2990 asf handheld and see how i get on. good video
Haha! You need to stop!🤣
Q Marca son esos radios
In the 70's we all use AM on our CB radios, before it became legal and they switched to FM.
Hello ..2wv427 Bodacious Salem West Virginia US ⚡
We like your show and Kool to see ideas from cross the pond ...73 & God Bless
everyone should have a mini baofeng or 446 mhz walkie talkie
neighbourhood watch
Randy Andy, the name is gonna stick
In USA having only 40 chs with FM is useless if they don't designate the A channels or give us 120 ch total to go where there's no noise or DX then why buy it. But FM has not caught on here.
Also no ch mods for FCC randy that's junk. So we here are at a disadvantage.
No ssb no good
SSB would have been good
Defo a shame, hope they do on the next one.
I called president yesterday asked if there going make the next Randy a ssb thay sed if thay git a nuff interest thay might so give a call or email
Amazing! Yes that would be great! I should make a video about it.
@@andykirby yes sir n tell everyone that wood like a ssb one to call or email ì saw in the comments a lot
Of people sed if had ssb thay buy it.
Or it be perfect if had ssb
I watched over a dozen Randy videos to day n all had comments like this n
One had over 30 comments for the ssb
I back pack n kayak n mountain bike
N camp out doing them so I like keep light fast n mobile lol old habits die hard it from my days in service
I see a few comments that people
Take Randy out on their lunch break
N there not a nuther ssb hand talky
Being currently made
So I hope you do make a video n if there is a nuff interest thay will make it I enjoy your videos n thank for the quick reply 73