The easiest way is to fully straighten out the built in antenna coil. Measure from the point where the antenna meets the circuit board and cut it to 6.3 inches. This way you can't connect to an external antenna but it will give you a real 1/4 wave antenna which will work better then the small coiled antenna. Cover the 6.3 inch antenna wire with electric tape, a plastic straw or something.
Keep your antenna leads as short as possible or you will face an impedance mismatch! Then you lose output power from a transceiver that doesn't have a lot to begin with. You may as well have kept the original "rubber ducky" for the power loss of your mod made.
I also agree , however I have been looking into mobile vhf installation and coax type and length.The company I work for,all my coworkers vehicles have low band VHF radios,but in the natural gas industry where I work, antennas are continually being ripped of by tree limbs and branches,so none of the radios are operational.many areas have no cell signal either. I had 3 years of radio and Tv repair years ago in high school and told supervisor I'd get radios working with minimal $ expenditure.In studying coax for VHF apparently you can just cut coax to the shortest length. But especially in mobile applications coax should be about 1 wavelength. The excess coiled up and stuff under the seats or whatever.
At Christmas our CEO came to town and took the whole crew out to a restaurant for lunch. I brought up the radio topic and learned the company is paying $5,000 per month for a Repeater on a nearby MTN ridge,that not being used! Yet at times,we are in situations, alone,in the wilderness of central Pennsylvania,with no communication! SMDH.
You have the connection wires from the antenna connector centre terminal to long, they need to be soldered to the circuit board and kept as short as possible. The black conductor wire will be a bit longer but an earth point can be located on the board for interconnecting. 73
Also good point about element Diameter! Some years ago I found a wavelength and diameter calculator online. I was amazed that the " sweet spot" in diameter for certain frequencies was nearly 5" in diameter!! Not practical but very interesting, nonetheless. Also apparently the tip of the antenna is important as a jumping off point for the RF,and not just protection from putting an eye out accidentally.
Also if memory serves me,that calculator had a setting for element material. Naturally copper is good but not practical in many situations. Aluminum being the most common,but material composition also has an effect. Strangely stainless steel,being non magnetic is used often. Unless it's the magnetic stainless steel that is being used.( I only learned about magnetic stainless steel while at a scrap metal salvage yard last year, I shamefully admit.)
Hi Robert Well Done putting this Video up and will help those who are interested in Radio get better Reception which is never illegal to do 😊👍. .Just a couple of points for everyone to note is not to forget all un-shielded wire to the main radiating part of the Antenna will become part of the Antenna,s overall length..So best to use Coax to the Sockets and also between the socket and Antenna itself...The Scope probe lead is not screened and also the short lengths of wire connected to the bnc socket inside the Radio will become a part of the Antenna..Best to use very thin coax inside Radio and Rg58 between bnc socket and Antenna Connections...Normal TV Coax is no good as it's 75 ohm not 50 ohm which most Radios are designed for....Anyway good Video and best Regards Steve Liverpool UK
it has to be said you should make sure the ground you attach the - point on the antenna plug to is an RF ground, not an analogue ground or digital ground but RF ground. great video by the way.
The long wires inside the radio will act as an antenna and will radiate inside the radio. This will also affect the tuning and performance of the connected antenna.
I did a 1988 version of this. Eurosonic 250mw 2 channel CB handhelds bought from local CB, relectronics, radio shop up by secondary school at at the time. Had these 1987 christmas. As CB walkie talkies, completely daft long antennas, as they would be fro 27Mhz. telescopic. left dowen, bit of thin standard grey speaker wire ripped down middle to get 1 bit of the pair. Croc clip one end to telescpic up a few cm for the clip. wire as it was, 1 core to a unstraightend coathanger with tight loop at bottom, bolted to the plastic of the panier rack on the back, Bike CB. Bicycle. Crap. Never as good as the long antenna and coukld have stuffed it up, High SWR. But not ruin. Just comprimise the TX and no doubt Rx of the Hong Kongs finest 2 channel 250mw radio. Radio profile linked in my words or banner photo. Moved on from that, first things I had, Car CB. base and 4W handheld (eat 10AA rechargable thing) in the 90's. A few amateur radios now.
I like how you skirted around the issue of legality. I'm modifying antenna for " reception" ONLY,! LoL ! As modifying antenna for power transmission would be illegal. 😂😂
D ' ont use wire between the point of power out put and the jack antenna. Will loose power and change impedance ! These FRS use low power and high grequency.
Great stuff, PMR446 can be a great deal of fun. It's amazing how far you can get with these little radios. One thing that puzzles me about your video.... The frequency on your receiver when you do the check... Channel 4 should be 446.04375...... 446.14375 is channel 12 (On the newer 16 channel radios)????
You could actually use a single 18650 battery outside the case, or a 14450 battery with two dummy batteries in the case (a 14450 rechargeable battery is a sized AA battery) with a remote microphone if your radio is set up like a Baofeng UV5R. The dipole could be set up outside with a length of very low loss coaxial cable, too. Lots of ideas can be done with the new lithium batteries of today. Think about a 4.5V 1amp "wall wort" as a no worry power supply for the radio? Just remember your polarization when you connect the wall wort power supply or you ruin the radio. I am not suggesting that you do this, but done carefully, it is possible?
I used NOS surplus Navy double shielded coax 50 ohm .50" diameter and hard drawn 12 gauge wire for the dipole both vertical and horizontally polarized (separate antennas). RG-6 can be used with "F" or B NC connectors with little loss. RG-174 can be used for short length deadlines but be sure to get the 174 with silicone dielectric and at least 80% shielding copper braid.
If you're not, you should consider becoming a Hamradio operator. You seem to have skills with tinkering with radios. With Hamradio you are allowed to legally to tinker/experiment with radios (if your intent is to modify it FOR USE within the Ham Bands ONLY). Unfortunately, PMR/FRS rules do not permit this at all. Any antenna modification to a legal PMR/FRS radio automatically makes it illegal to use as those services require a fixed, non-removal antenna. Well, good luck and don't get caught...
If i don't use biple, is it mandatory to add the coax to ground (neg) component with connector for antenna? or can i not just attach a longer antenna to the existing single connection?
Hello, I have a couple of walkie-talkies and wander if there would be any improvement if the antenna is replaced with a telescopic one (like the transistor radio ones)?
LPD-PMR 446.005 the minus the 011.950 Subcon 77 for transmission. Total: reception 446.005, 434.055 with subtenon 77.0 Antenna 8 dipole Russia Balakovo
this wont work that good.. WHY?? cause the wire you used for the center conductor from radio to antenna isnt shielded!! and thus the wire will act as PART of the antenna!!!!
@@freepressright prove it.. cause ive done this mod with professional equipment to test the mod and its exactly what i posted above! SIGNAL LOSS CAUSE THE COAX ISNT SHIELDED!!!! ask a professional to explain it to you.. antenna desgn and theory! PS: you can also tell the guy in this video doesnt really know what hes talking about with his coax selection.. ie: rg-8 or rg-58.. As that is NOT good for UHF band.. it will work fine for Cb radio though lol
@@WPGinterceptor460Interceptor prove it? So, would a video upload of me on a modified Cobra Microtalk CXT-125 with an SMA jack that I added using normal wire, with a 15.6 inch whip and talking to someone distant be proving it? I understand antenna theory just fine, but I did this mod with what I had and it works better than it did factory. I have an active RUclips channel. Would you like an upload?
@@freepressright if you used a normal "WIRE" as you say it... from the transmit output of the board to the input/ centre conductor on the sma then your losing power to your antenna.. because that wire becomes part of the antenna and on UHF band as these FRS radios are, then absolutly the wire is aboubt 3/8 that of a 1/4 wavelength antenna for this frequency!! YES it will work a little better than the normal spring antenna the radio comes with but the real loss there is the wire.. Lookup M17/94-RG179 CABLE.. thats what should be used .. and with minimal seperation from centre conductor to braid! TRUST ME
@@WPGinterceptor460Interceptor I never argued it was perfection. I argued that it was a significant improvement, because it is. I wired to the center pin, then tested for ground and found it on the headphones Jack. I grounded to the outer structure of the SMA. I understand loss factor perfectly, but we are talking about an inch here, at most. Loss factor would be negligible. I'm talking on my Tram magnet mount in the car just fine, and the 15.6-inch whip is a huge improvement over the pile of shit that these come with that they call an antenna. If I'd have had the coax, I'd have used it. But I didnt, and these radios are nothing special. It was an experiment and it works well. Would you like video?
Every time and ANY time the USA feds enforce their laws they're required to report said enforcement. Go and read up on that... 😂 You'll learn they haven't done so any time in the last 7-8 yrs. Want more proof?... go read up w/ links on UTube channel [ ItsNotARubicon]
Why even bother pointing it out, other than to be a Karen? Not a single individual has EVER been cited by the FCC for modifying an antenna on a GMRS radio, and that's according to the FCC's database. So, in short I ask you, who in the hell gives a god damn rat's ass who mods an antenna on a damn half watt walkie talkie?
If there was a razzie award for worse youtube video this one would win hands down. You talked WAY to much and your fumbling around would have driven Mr. Rogers to lose it and punch the hell out of someone.
Oh god, here we go. Not a single individual has EVER been cited by the FCC for modifying an antenna on a GMRS radio, and that's according to the FCC's database. So, in short I ask you, who in the hell gives a god damn rat's ass who mods an antenna on a damn half watt walkie talkie?
You're not supposed to be modifying anything like this it says it's not allowed according to the rules because here in the US we have FRS and it clearly states no external antennas at all if you want to use something you have the option for five VHF license free m u r s frequencies that you can use that permit the use of an external antenna
The easiest way is to fully straighten out the built in antenna coil. Measure from the point where the antenna meets the circuit board and cut it to 6.3 inches. This way you can't connect to an external antenna but it will give you a real 1/4 wave antenna which will work better then the small coiled antenna. Cover the 6.3 inch antenna wire with electric tape, a plastic straw or something.
Finally does something worth noting 39:20.
Keep your antenna leads as short as possible or you will face an impedance mismatch! Then you lose output power from a transceiver that doesn't have a lot to begin with. You may as well have kept the original "rubber ducky" for the power loss of your mod made.
I also agree , however I have been looking into mobile vhf installation and coax type and length.The company I work for,all my coworkers vehicles have low band VHF radios,but in the natural gas industry where I work, antennas are continually being ripped of by tree limbs and branches,so none of the radios are operational.many areas have no cell signal either. I had 3 years of radio and Tv repair years ago in high school and told supervisor I'd get radios working with minimal $ expenditure.In studying coax for VHF apparently you can just cut coax to the shortest length. But especially in mobile applications coax should be about 1 wavelength. The excess coiled up and stuff under the seats or whatever.
CANT CUT COAX...I meant to say.i would edit my comment above,but it likely won't repost as google has a ax to grind with me
At Christmas our CEO came to town and took the whole crew out to a restaurant for lunch. I brought up the radio topic and learned the company is paying $5,000 per month for a Repeater on a nearby MTN ridge,that not being used! Yet at times,we are in situations, alone,in the wilderness of central Pennsylvania,with no communication! SMDH.
You have the connection wires from the antenna connector centre terminal to long, they need to be soldered to the circuit board and kept as short as possible. The black conductor wire will be a bit longer but an earth point can be located on the board for interconnecting. 73
Great video Robert, you explained it really well.
Good video, it's convinced me to try this on one of my handhelds, only wish Radioshack were still in business!
Also good point about element Diameter! Some years ago I found a wavelength and diameter calculator online. I was amazed that the " sweet spot" in diameter for certain frequencies was nearly 5" in diameter!! Not practical but very interesting, nonetheless. Also apparently the tip of the antenna is important as a jumping off point for the RF,and not just protection from putting an eye out accidentally.
Also if memory serves me,that calculator had a setting for element material. Naturally copper is good but not practical in many situations. Aluminum being the most common,but material composition also has an effect. Strangely stainless steel,being non magnetic is used often. Unless it's the magnetic stainless steel that is being used.( I only learned about magnetic stainless steel while at a scrap metal salvage yard last year, I shamefully admit.)
Hi Robert Well Done putting this Video up and will help those who are interested in Radio get better Reception which is never illegal to do 😊👍. .Just a couple of points for everyone to note is not to forget all un-shielded wire to the main radiating part of the Antenna will become part of the Antenna,s overall length..So best to use Coax to the Sockets and also between the socket and Antenna itself...The Scope probe lead is not screened and also the short lengths of wire connected to the bnc socket inside the Radio will become a part of the Antenna..Best to use very thin coax inside Radio and Rg58 between bnc socket and Antenna Connections...Normal TV Coax is no good as it's 75 ohm not 50 ohm which most Radios are designed for....Anyway good Video and best Regards Steve Liverpool UK
it has to be said you should make sure the ground you attach the - point on the antenna plug to is an RF ground, not an analogue ground or digital ground but RF ground.
great video by the way.
The long wires inside the radio will act as an antenna and will radiate inside the radio. This will also affect the tuning and performance of the connected antenna.
I did a 1988 version of this. Eurosonic 250mw 2 channel CB handhelds bought from local CB, relectronics, radio shop up by secondary school at at the time. Had these 1987 christmas. As CB walkie talkies, completely daft long antennas, as they would be fro 27Mhz. telescopic. left dowen, bit of thin standard grey speaker wire ripped down middle to get 1 bit of the pair. Croc clip one end to telescpic up a few cm for the clip. wire as it was, 1 core to a unstraightend coathanger with tight loop at bottom, bolted to the plastic of the panier rack on the back, Bike CB. Bicycle. Crap. Never as good as the long antenna and coukld have stuffed it up, High SWR. But not ruin. Just comprimise the TX and no doubt Rx of the Hong Kongs finest 2 channel 250mw radio. Radio profile linked in my words or banner photo. Moved on from that, first things I had, Car CB. base and 4W handheld (eat 10AA rechargable thing) in the 90's. A few amateur radios now.
I like how you skirted around the issue of legality. I'm modifying antenna for " reception" ONLY,! LoL ! As modifying antenna for power transmission would be illegal. 😂😂
great video Robert and good instruction to thank you seen some of the pmr distances in the eu is over 100s of miles
Cool gonna build one like that when my exams are over.
Good idea,but will be better when you change antennas cable on 50 ohms.
Att . ! The positive wire must be short to antenna conector ( direct if possible) .Antenna must have 17 cm and without wire.
Roberts Shed why not just make antenna from the Coax ? fold the shielding back 161mm and you got you're dipol
becouse your in truble with the f.c.c that's why
why not just leave the radio and con tact the f c c and get your fcc gmrs license I did and I talk to chicago
every morning on a tower gridd
D ' ont use wire between the point of power out put and the jack antenna. Will loose power and change impedance ! These FRS use low power and high grequency.
Great stuff, PMR446 can be a great deal of fun. It's amazing how far you can get with these little radios. One thing that puzzles me about your video.... The frequency on your receiver when you do the check... Channel 4 should be 446.04375......
446.14375 is channel 12 (On the newer 16 channel radios)????
@RadespotosR analogue channel 12 is 446.14375MHz
The FCC agents reading the title and seeing the thumbnail are losing their minds 😂
The inconvenience of a 30 cm antenna would be far more convenient that a dipole on a piece of wood in my world.
Nice video....
Best Antene 5/8 = 40 cm 500mW 10-15 km
Greetings from Ohio US. I just love the welsh accent
Dublin Ireland
You could actually use a single 18650 battery outside the case, or a 14450 battery with two dummy batteries in the case (a 14450 rechargeable battery is a sized AA battery) with a remote microphone if your radio is set up like a Baofeng UV5R. The dipole could be set up outside with a length of very low loss coaxial cable, too. Lots of ideas can be done with the new lithium batteries of today. Think about a 4.5V 1amp "wall wort" as a no worry power supply for the radio? Just remember your polarization when you connect the wall wort power supply or you ruin the radio. I am not suggesting that you do this, but done carefully, it is possible?
What low loss coax would you recommend? Im about to build a 446mhz half wave dipole.
I used NOS surplus Navy double shielded coax 50 ohm .50" diameter and hard drawn 12 gauge wire for the dipole both vertical and horizontally polarized (separate antennas). RG-6 can be used with "F" or B NC connectors with little loss. RG-174 can be used for short length deadlines but be sure to get the 174 with silicone dielectric and at least 80% shielding copper braid.
If you're not, you should consider becoming a Hamradio operator. You seem to have skills with tinkering with radios. With Hamradio you are allowed to legally to tinker/experiment with radios (if your intent is to modify it FOR USE within the Ham Bands ONLY). Unfortunately, PMR/FRS rules do not permit this at all. Any antenna modification to a legal PMR/FRS radio automatically makes it illegal to use as those services require a fixed, non-removal antenna. Well, good luck and don't get caught...
Who the hell is gonna catch him?? Do you keep to the speed limit in your car all the time???
Hi Robert thanks for sharing your knowledge on this topic you have a new sub :-)
If i don't use biple, is it mandatory to add the coax to ground (neg) component with connector for antenna? or can i not just attach a longer antenna to the existing single connection?
CLEAR AS MUD. !!!!...any chance of subtitles. ?
Last step: explain the police why you’re using a modded illegal transmitter
Sorry Robert a dipole is not a 50 ohm impedance .
Hello, I have a couple of walkie-talkies and wander if there would be any improvement if the antenna is replaced with a telescopic one (like the transistor radio ones)?
Fail.... the red wires to the BNC connector... fail
40 or 30 cm?
LPD-PMR
446.005 the minus the 011.950 Subcon 77 for transmission.
Total: reception 446.005, 434.055 with subtenon 77.0
Antenna 8 dipole Russia Balakovo
HI ,THANKS FOR THE POST,,DES 68CT022........YOU SOUND BELFAST,,
You would do better just putting on a 5 inch piece of solid wire.
this wont work that good.. WHY?? cause the wire you used for the center conductor from radio to antenna isnt shielded!! and thus the wire will act as PART of the antenna!!!!
Funny, I made the same mod and have nothing but improvement on TX and RX, significantly
@@freepressright prove it.. cause ive done this mod with professional equipment to test the mod and its exactly what i posted above! SIGNAL LOSS CAUSE THE COAX ISNT SHIELDED!!!! ask a professional to explain it to you.. antenna desgn and theory! PS: you can also tell the guy in this video doesnt really know what hes talking about with his coax selection.. ie: rg-8 or rg-58.. As that is NOT good for UHF band.. it will work fine for Cb radio though lol
@@WPGinterceptor460Interceptor prove it? So, would a video upload of me on a modified Cobra Microtalk CXT-125 with an SMA jack that I added using normal wire, with a 15.6 inch whip and talking to someone distant be proving it? I understand antenna theory just fine, but I did this mod with what I had and it works better than it did factory. I have an active RUclips channel. Would you like an upload?
@@freepressright if you used a normal "WIRE" as you say it... from the transmit output of the board to the input/ centre conductor on the sma then your losing power to your antenna.. because that wire becomes part of the antenna and on UHF band as these FRS radios are, then absolutly the wire is aboubt 3/8 that of a 1/4 wavelength antenna for this frequency!! YES it will work a little better than the normal spring antenna the radio comes with but the real loss there is the wire.. Lookup M17/94-RG179 CABLE.. thats what should be used .. and with minimal seperation from centre conductor to braid! TRUST ME
@@WPGinterceptor460Interceptor I never argued it was perfection. I argued that it was a significant improvement, because it is. I wired to the center pin, then tested for ground and found it on the headphones Jack. I grounded to the outer structure of the SMA. I understand loss factor perfectly, but we are talking about an inch here, at most. Loss factor would be negligible. I'm talking on my Tram magnet mount in the car just fine, and the 15.6-inch whip is a huge improvement over the pile of shit that these come with that they call an antenna. If I'd have had the coax, I'd have used it. But I didnt, and these radios are nothing special. It was an experiment and it works well. Would you like video?
спасибо друг....
Why bother.
Whats a pitty, describtion is disabled , and You spelling relly fast.
I would have a recommendation: get rid of electronics!!!! It's not for you!!! Look for something else!!
Almost 40 minutes to explain a 5 minute project. You would get more likes and viewers if you got to the point instead of rambling on.
You got a point.
your radio has a range of two miles at best I think the F C C would fine you IF thay can please donot modafie your radio
Every time and ANY time the USA feds enforce their laws they're required to report said enforcement. Go and read up on that... 😂 You'll learn they haven't done so any time in the last 7-8 yrs. Want more proof?... go read up w/ links on UTube channel [ ItsNotARubicon]
FYI, its illegal to modify the antennas of FRS radios, that's why you can't unscrew them.
MidnightVisions I think that's what makes it fun to modify them.
In the words of the great Cheeseburger Eddy of "The Longest Yard", "Who gives a shit!"
No. Illegal use external antennas. Not ovet the radio.
Why even bother pointing it out, other than to be a Karen? Not a single individual has EVER been cited by the FCC for modifying an antenna on a GMRS radio, and that's according to the FCC's database. So, in short I ask you, who in the hell gives a god damn rat's ass who mods an antenna on a damn half watt walkie talkie?
If there was a razzie award for worse youtube video this one would win hands down. You talked WAY to much and your fumbling around would have driven Mr. Rogers to lose it and punch the hell out of someone.
holly masih you could have ignored the video and just leave..
No funny Cats, no naked Girls, just PMR Walkie Talkies. How boring😴😏
To hyper😢
To much talk
LOL
It is illegal to change antennas on FRS radios.
No one ; only use external antennad.
Oh god, here we go. Not a single individual has EVER been cited by the FCC for modifying an antenna on a GMRS radio, and that's according to the FCC's database. So, in short I ask you, who in the hell gives a god damn rat's ass who mods an antenna on a damn half watt walkie talkie?
You're not supposed to be modifying anything like this it says it's not allowed according to the rules because here in the US we have FRS and it clearly states no external antennas at all if you want to use something you have the option for five VHF license free m u r s frequencies that you can use that permit the use of an external antenna