"THIS AND THAT....."
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"THE DIGITAL REDUX DEPT."
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Check out the photo in this link for a photoshopped rig:
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"BIG BUBBA" Antenna Review update!
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Well, it's been about, if not exactly 10 years since I reviewed Valor's "Big Bubba" mobile antenna. I believe at the time I was doing a review article for the Copper Electronics Catalog and they sent me one to review, for better or for worse (although I suspect if it was for worse, it never would have hit the printer). The Review was also printed in my "CB GAZETTE" (no longer with us).
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But, for those of you who missed either of those, let's re-cap: I'd been using a Wilson 1000 mag mount since the mid-80's and was perfectly satisfied with it when the BB hit my doorstep. Naturally with a name like "Big Bubba", I had the usual trepidations about it before even opening the box. You might even go so far as to say I'd already convicted and executed it before trying it out. The BB is sold by it's lonesome, with several mounts to choose (purchase). Mine came with a mag mount.
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Out of the box, it didn't appear THAT much different than my Wilson 1000, except the whip was longer (and having cut down the 1000's whip several times, I was not looking forward to it), and the coil's diameter was smaller than the 1000, but longer than the 1000. The connector of the base was PL-259, which was just like the 1000, and un-like so many of the other CB antennas. So much for out of the box....
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That evening I put the BB on the supplied Valor mag mount (about the same size as the Wilson) and found to my surprise that I didn't have to cut the whip a bit, even though it was longer than the Wilson, and it had decent SWR on 11 and 10 meters! The next morning I got up at the usual 4 a.m. timeslot and hit the road for work. It was a very foggy/damp morning and I chatted on the radio with a couple other earlybirds who made the same grueling trip into Houston each day like I did. Everything was fine until I hit 70mph and suddenly the radio went dead, and as I looked out my rearview mirror I could see sparks on the road - the magnet mount didn't hold and the tip of the whip was dragging along behind me. I still had my wilson mag mount so I pulled over and put the scarred BB antenna on it....and had no further problems.
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No one seemed to notice a drop in my signal, but the big test came the following weekend, where I had my wife sitting off I-10 while I was pulled off on the side of FM525. We were about 11 miles apart, barefoot, and I had the Wilson on the Top of the van first. We could hear each other but she kept asking me to repeat what I said, so I figured our string was about as strung out as it could get. Next, I unscrewed the Wilson 1000 from the mag mount and screwed the Big Bubba in it's place...got back into the van and while she seemed about the same on my end, my signal actually registered on her radio and she could hear me clearly. I put the Wilson back on, my signal dropped. I put the Big Bubba back on, and it went up again. That pretty much sold me on the Big Bubba (I even hate typing that name), and so at that time - I switched brands.
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TEN YEARS LATER....
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Well, it's ten years, 2 vans, and 1 car later and I'm still using the Big Bubba. I've used it on both 11 and 10 meters with great success, but with the Wilson or Diamond mag mount. This is my second BB (the first one I replaced in 1999 due to failure of the foldover feature. It would fold over just fine, but keeping it "up" was the problem. Too many UP and DOWNS from that parking garage downtown. This second one is still going strong, I just don't use that feature, have switched jobs where it's not necessary, but if an occasion calls for low overhead parking, I just unscrew it from the magmount.
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Of course, I peeled the "Big Bubba" off of this one too (although I did get quite a few chuckles when I'd pull into a tailgate sale). Then, one day last year, I started to worry..."What if they had stopped making it??". So I got online, checked around and could not find the Valor Big Bubba listed! Worry turned into fear - it's like buying a shirt that fits and feels just right and when it wears out, you can't find an exact duplicate to replace it (That's why I buy my favorite shirts in two's or three's now). So I went to Valor's website and son-of-a-gun if I didn't find it, so, even though you can't seem to find them anywhere, someone must be buying them....but even so, I bought two, and their sitting on the bench, waiting to be called up to bat one day. So there ya have it, 10 years later and still happy....BUT - after checking the web again, if you go to valcoelectronics it now sends you to "Reliant", which sells no, not the Big Bubba, but the mag mount for the BB. Good thing I put my shirt buying practice into play with this one!
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'Nuff Said,
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