Sirio 827 One Year Review and Overview - CB Base Antenna

Someone asked to see my base antenna setup. I thought I've give a bit of an overview to show how it's set up and how it works for me. If you're new to setting up a base station at your house, I will say that you at least need to get an Antron 99 or larger antenna if you are wanting to talk coast to coast regularly.

I had a 102" stainless steel whip with an SWR of 1.1 for over a year and only talked to one person, locally. So do yourself a favor and get a dedicated base antenna. It doesn't need to be very high off of the ground to get you out there.

I chose the Sirio 827 based on what I thought would be the best performance for the cost. It's not as durable as a Colossal 5K antenna, but it's less than half the price. It's nicer than the cheaper Sirio and Maco offerings from what I can tell. Mine has withstood 80mph winds and nothing has come loose in the past year. I used blue Loctite on every threaded connection and have had great luck so far. I'm sending 500W into it with only RG8X (cheap, small, Chinese coax.)

I made this video to demonstrate the sort of performance I get out of the antenna in the middle of the day when skip is rolling. This is pretty typical behavior that I have recorded.