Greg 43AX005

Q: What is the Stoner PRO-40 SSB?
by AX05 » Fri Dec 28, 2007 7:34 am

Q: What is the Stoner PRO-40 SSB?

A: The BEST SSB CB radio ever made (NOT the editors opinion!;-)

A number of unusual engineering techniques were employed in the PRO-40.

To eliminate crossmodulation interference from adjacent channels, Stoner avoided the conventional transistor r.f. amplifier/mixer technique used in virtually ALL CB receivers even today. In fact, no r.f. stage is used at all and a Schottky diode mixer is employed, similar to that used in commercial SSB equipment. With no amplifying stages in the front end which could be overdriven by strong signals, the receiver uses dual cascaded crystal filters for extraordinary selectivity. Reception of unwanted sideband is totally suppressed. This allows the radio to be used within 100ft. of another station without harmful interference. Adjacent channel rejection is greater than 90dB, and crossmodulation rejection greater than 120dB.

AM heterodyne can be eliminated by the “Whistlestop” passband audio filter, which can also be used to “peak” audio, helping separate stations on the same channel. In addition, dual time constant “NB1” and “NB2” noise blankers are provided.

The PRO-40 employs a built-in speech processor which creates a unique SSB tailored audio envelope and “talk power” without distortion or the need for an amplified microphone. The radio was factory equipped with an Astatic GD-104.

What does it sound like on the air? In the 11m environment full of “peaked and tweaked” radios, overmodulated signals and excessive background, the Stoner shines, always spurring unsolicited comments on the “sound”. “..What kind of radio are you on?….What kind of mic are you using?…very pleasant sound…easy to listen to…easy on the ear…broadcast quality…sounds real smooth…very crisp and clear…..” When you key a Stoner, people listen.

Channel selection is controlled by a custom “Nitron” chip interfaced with scan-actuating pushbutton switches. The radio features a true frequency counter readout active on transmit and receive.

Fine tuning the PRO-40 is a real pleasure with the wide range 10-turn clarifier and large dial for smooth response.

Another interesting feature is the unique discriminator type SWR meter, unseen in typical CB radios, indicating the optimum transmitting frequency of the antenna without calibration. The meter works much the same as the tuning indicator on an FM receiver. Deviation from the centerline of the meter indicates antenna mistuning and whether the antenna is high or low of the operating frequency.

Although the PRO-40 does NOT offer an AM or FM mode, a provision is made to allow interconnecting antenna and power to a typical external AM/FM CB radio, to allow using both radios on the same antenna without swapping antenna leads by simply depressing the “AM” button. This passes the AM/FM signal through the PRO-40 internal multi-stage TVI filter and frequency counter for accurate display of the external radio output.

In 1977-80, even with contenders such as Cobra, Midland and Browning all vying for the high end CB market with impressive models such as the 2000GTL, 78-999 and Golden Eagles, the Stoner PRO-40 SSB stood out as the 11m DX Sidebander dream radio.

: according to : http://www.dxring.net/stoner/

Certainly has some impressive specs even if it looks like a modern TRAM D201!!

Last edited by AX05 on Tue May 13, 2008 12:24 pm, edited 2 times in total.

AX05
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Location: Melbourne Australia

Nice looking spider web there Pete
by AX05 » Sun May 04, 2008 12:49 pm

Hi Pete, looks the goods in the morning mist!

I guess it pulls the DX as welll as you seem to be doing a bit OS lately.

Good to know its out there if you have the ears!

DJolsen nice to see you in here as well. Let us know how your going up the in sunny QLD on the Barret and the CB bands.

I may catch you on #16 as I monitor there when it gets dx busy on #35 as I am a mud duck station

AX05
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Location: Melbourne Australia

Re: antron 99 into a 5/8 wave
by 269 Hunter Valley » Sat Aug 29, 2009 9:54 am

Hang on a sec…the A99 is a 1/2 wave, in theory about 18′ high. It comes in 3 sections approx. 6′ long. So by taking off the top section you are physically shortening the antenna. OK you put a Wilson Firestick on top and tune….may work may not. I don’t think there is a 6′ firestick the longest is 5′ from memory…don’t rely on that. Either way it will be nowhere near a 5/8 which is approx. 24′ high. might be better to bite the bullet and purchase an Imax 2000 which is a .64 wave and a better antenna than the 99 ever was. Just my experience.
Regards,
Bob.

269 Hunter Valley

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Joined: Fri Dec 28, 2007 4:54 am
Location: Muswellbrook NSW

by 26FB185 » Thu Apr 30, 2009 3:55 pm

get a fire stick a red one ?? and tune your rings it defo works there are a few here in the uk they work very well
26FB185

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Joined: Thu Apr 30, 2009 3:48 pm

Re: MOXON RECTANGLES – Anyone used these on CB 27Mhz?
by Bellhopper » Sat Jan 02, 2010 6:58 am

EI9GQ HOME BREW RADIO PAGE

My appologies to EI9GQ but I have found many good resourcses on the web that just dissapear over the years. I mean for this site to stay around for a while so this info stays available. EI9GQ please let me know if you want this removed.

http://homepage.eircom.net/~ei9gq/index.html

If you want to see the illustrations please goto the URL above.
During a visit to a local garden centre, I bought a pack of 6ft bamboo rods. Armed with just a couple of rolls of sticky tape, some fibreglass rod, cable ties and the pack of bamboo, I set about building a beam for 10M. I don’t have enough room for a full size Yagi or quad, even if I had, the bamboo rods would be too short. I eventually decided to build a 2 element Yagi with the ends folded inwards, like the VK2ABQ beam or the Moxon rectangle.

The physical dimensions of this aerial were not determined by any published formula or theory but by the length of the bamboo rods. For the driven element and reflector, I used two bamboo rods joined together with vinyl tape. The total length of the two rods is 3.35M (11ft). For the boom, I used a 2.1 metre length of fibreglass pole that I scrounged from John (EI7BA).

Driven element and reflector details

The bamboo elements are attached to the fibreglass boom by a criss-cross arrangement of heavy duty cable ties. I used a pair of pliers to get a really good pull on the cable ties. After the cable ties were tightened, I stretched several layers of vinyl tape over them.

I cut a resonant half-wave length of plastic covered wire for the driven element. The conductor is 1.5 mm, multi-strand copper with PVC insulation. The driven element 4.95M (16.241ft) long.

300/f = free space wavelength. 300/28.5 = 10.5263M.
divide by 2 for a half wavelength = 5.26315M.
multiply by the velocity factor of the wire (0.94).
5.26315 x 0.94 = 4.947M.

The reflector is about 7% longer than the driven element. Wire length = 5.29M. The exact dimensions are in the diagram below. The spacing between the centre of the driven element and the centre of the reflector is 2M (6.56ft). You can use small cable ties or vinyl tape to fix the wire to the bamboo rods.

Exact dimensions of wire elements.

The gap between the ends of the driven element and reflector is about 175mm (7in). I used a couple of short lengths of nylon cord as insulators. I did try pulling the wire ends closer together as with the VK2ABQ but I found I could get a better F/B ratio with a wider gap.

The NEC2 input file is here: 10M-beam.nec

Mounting the boom on the support mast

The boom is mounted on the support mast with a cross shaped brace made from aluminium and some more heavy duty cable ties. A length of nylon cord runs from the centre of each element to the top of the support mast The cross shaped brace was made from a square of aluminium plate with the four corners cut away.

I used 75 Ohm co-ax for the feeder. Ordinary TV co-ax or the double screened co-ax used for satellite TV has very low losses at 28MHz. I made a loop of 6 turns, 150mm (6in) diameter, close to the feedpoint as a ‘poor man’s balun’.

Why does it always rain when I work outdoors?

The beam was placed on a 3M (10 ft) pole to do some initial tests. Most stations reported a F/B ratio of about 3 S-units. The performance of the aerial compared with a half-wave vertical suggests that it has some gain over a dipole. Next, I increased the height to 7M (23ft). I spent several days experimenting with the length of the reflector and the size of the gap between the elements. The aerial is now permanently installed at a height of 10M (33ft). The final result seems quite close to the performance of the computer model. Most stations report a F/B ratio of between 3 and 4 S-units. Many thanks to John EI7BA and Dick W3ORU for helping with on-air tests.

NEC2 plot in free space

The plot above shows the free space radiation pattern of the 2 element beam. The beam is optimised for F/B ratio. It would be possible to trade a reduced F/B ratio for slightly more gain. The gain is less than 1dB below the gain of a conventional 2 element Yagi. The F/B ratio is considerably better than a conventional 2 element Yagi.

Graphs of gain, F/B and SWR from 27.5 to 30.5 MHz in free space.

The plot above shows the radiation pattern when the aerial is 10M (33ft) above average ground. This plot shows a slice of the radiation pattern at 10 degrees elevation.

At 10M above average ground.
5 degrees elevation – maximum gain = 5.33dBi
10 degrees elevation – maximum gain = 9.85dBi
15 degrees elevation – maximum gain = 10.87 dBi

RP elevation plot

3D view.

The NEC2 plots and graphs were all generated by the superb ‘Xnecview’ software by Pieter-Tjerk de Boer PA3FWM. This is one of the nicest open-source programs I have seen.
Xnecview homepage

Some other useful sites.
NEC Archives
W4RNL web page
EI7BA web page
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Bellhopper

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Joined: Sat Nov 21, 2009 11:40

Re: Get the true facts about different type of CB 11 Meter a
by Flash » Tue Jan 10, 2012 5:44 am

Sparks54 wrote:
Great info. I particularly like the part about coax, common mode ground currents, etc. Too many hams and CB’ers rely solely on a SWR meter to find problems when we should be using an antenna analyzer to find antenna resonance, feedline problems, etc. I also highly recommend this site: http://www.k0bg.com/

By the way, the highest quality hand machined mobile antenna mounts can be found here: http://bellsouthpwp.net/b/r/breedlove1/page2.html

73’s

Read both these sites and some fantastic antenna info in kObg.com site with great hardware for mobiles in http://bellsouthpwp.net/b/r/breedlove1/page2.html

Would recommend anyone that wants to get true facts about antennas to read thoroughly.
DC to Daylight Working the World… Yeah riiiiightt..

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by wwpdx582 » Sat Dec 29, 2007 9:55 pm

good info Thnks and 73’s

wwpdx582

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Re: 27 foot j pole antenna
by Bellhopper » Wed Sep 15, 2010 12:21 pm

Hey caesar, what happened to the photo and info?

Too busy DX’n I guess!
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