{"id":1270,"date":"2021-10-24T14:24:23","date_gmt":"2021-10-24T03:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crest.org.au\/wordpress\/?p=1270"},"modified":"2021-10-24T14:24:23","modified_gmt":"2021-10-24T03:24:23","slug":"a-blast-from-the-past-spr-27-vertical-antenna-for-27mhz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crest.org.au\/wordpress\/?p=1270","title":{"rendered":"A blast from the past \u2013 SPR-27 Vertical antenna for 27MHz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It is great to reminisce about the different types of base station antennas that were available for 27MHz Citizens band radios in the 1970\u2019s and 1980\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1970\u2019s when 23 channel and later Australian 18 Channel equipment were available we will recall the Cushcraft \u201cRingo\u201d half wave antenna, the Hustler \u201dSuper Swamper\u201d antenna which was 0.64 Wavelength and the legendary 5\/8 Wave \u201cArcher\u201d ground plane antenna sold by Tandy Electronics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early to mid 1980\u2019s the American 40 Channel band plan was adopted and then we began to see a new breed of half wave base station antennas for 27 MHz. The average CBer would identify this new breed of antenna as being a \u201cStationmaster\u201d. Back in the day, Stationmaster was the product name of a half wave antenna made by Antenna Achievements. There were other similar competing designs on the market, each with their own claim to fame. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These competing designs were the\u201d V27\u201d made by Mobile One Communications Systems in NSW and the \u201cSPR-27\u201d made by South Pacific Radio in Queensland. New, later day variants are still available, being the \u201cStationmaster MKI\u201d sold by Shockwave Antennas and the \u201cGrazy Master\u201c, sold by G&C Communications Pty Ltd. The South Pacific Radio advertisement in CB Action magazine suggested that the design had been around almost forever but it wasn\u2019t until December 1983 that we became aware of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n