CB Radios
- Thread starter Irishwolf
- Start date
arkjarhead
Veteran Expediter
CB shop would be about the best place to go. You can go in the truck stop and get one, but I wouldn't. A good truckstop radio is going to cost about 100 dollars plus tax. Then you have to take it to the cb shop to get it peaked and tuned so it will talk farther. A peak and tune is kind of like taking the governor off of a truck. I also like a talkback on my radio. I want to hear myself so I know how I sound. Doing that you will spend about 130 with tax maybe a little more. Or you can go to a cb shop and get a used radio and for about 60 bucks that has already been peaked and tuned with talk back.
What kind of radio to get depends on how much you want to spend and what you want to do with it. Any radio will talk on 19. I have a Connex General Lee which has the side bands. That way I can get on different channels besides the regular 40. There is truck traffic on some of the low side channels, and it's a lot different than regular 19. There is a lot more visiting and alot less cb rambo trash talking. The only thing is you have to pay to get there. Expect the price on a used radio with side bands to be about the same as a new one with out. It's worth it though. Especially if you want to enjoy intelligent conversation on the radio.
When competeing with the big radios you are going to need power behind your radio. Some call it a kicker, the proper name is a linear, in the cb business we called it having fire in the wire. You don't really need it. What most people negelct that can really improve their radio's performance is their anteanna system. Factory coax and antennas aren't worth a crap. You need 18 feet of after market coax running to a single anteanna on the driver's side that you can adjust. My favorite anteanna is the Skip Shooter. You can get one at Ch 25 cb shop in West Memphis,AR. I used to work there. They are made by Everybody's Electronics in South Haven, MS. Everybody's might have a website where you can order one. It is a simple anteanna. It is adjusted by raising or lowering the galvanized nail in the top. If you lose the nail some how you can go to any hardware store and replace it.It would be best to let a cb shop adjust the anteanna once you put it on. They will put a SWR meter in line with your cb. They'll check the SWR and tune the anteanna to get the SWR as low as possible. If the SWR is to high it can damage your radio. If you have anymore questions about cbs let me know. I know a little about them for being in that biz for a little while.
What kind of radio to get depends on how much you want to spend and what you want to do with it. Any radio will talk on 19. I have a Connex General Lee which has the side bands. That way I can get on different channels besides the regular 40. There is truck traffic on some of the low side channels, and it's a lot different than regular 19. There is a lot more visiting and alot less cb rambo trash talking. The only thing is you have to pay to get there. Expect the price on a used radio with side bands to be about the same as a new one with out. It's worth it though. Especially if you want to enjoy intelligent conversation on the radio.
When competeing with the big radios you are going to need power behind your radio. Some call it a kicker, the proper name is a linear, in the cb business we called it having fire in the wire. You don't really need it. What most people negelct that can really improve their radio's performance is their anteanna system. Factory coax and antennas aren't worth a crap. You need 18 feet of after market coax running to a single anteanna on the driver's side that you can adjust. My favorite anteanna is the Skip Shooter. You can get one at Ch 25 cb shop in West Memphis,AR. I used to work there. They are made by Everybody's Electronics in South Haven, MS. Everybody's might have a website where you can order one. It is a simple anteanna. It is adjusted by raising or lowering the galvanized nail in the top. If you lose the nail some how you can go to any hardware store and replace it.It would be best to let a cb shop adjust the anteanna once you put it on. They will put a SWR meter in line with your cb. They'll check the SWR and tune the anteanna to get the SWR as low as possible. If the SWR is to high it can damage your radio. If you have anymore questions about cbs let me know. I know a little about them for being in that biz for a little while.
Thank you for the info. Im not really interested in having the most powerfull radio just one that can be heard if and when i need to be heard...i was thinking about a galaxy or a General Lee.. of the two wich do you prefer? Can you give me a few ideas for good cb shops. i bought a radio from one once and it worked for two days than stopped. I never got back to the area to get it fixed or a refund. just looking for a reputible shop
arkjarhead
Veteran Expediter
I like the General Lee better myself. Galaxies are good radios, but they don't hold up well the vibrations of a truck. They were orginally designed to be marine radios. I guess they don't have to stand up to the beating in a boat like they do in a truck. Either one will take you to the side bands if that is what you are looking for. Channel 25 cb shop aka Pro Tech is a good shop. There is a tech there by the name of Ray who has been working on radios for at least 30 years. They warranty what they sale. Unless things have changed if you have a problem with the radio you can drop it off and they will ship it back to you. They will most likely even let you ship it to them if need be. There was a list somewhere on the internet of backballed cb shops, but I don't recall where. The main thing is get your anteanna system right. Have the radio peaked and tuned and you will be ready. I wouldn't run a kicker unless I was going to talk skip, or go to key down competitions.
Legal CB is good for about a mile in crowded conditions and a few miles in optimum conditions. Spending $30-40 to "peak and tune" a radio will add a few football fields to each measure. Get yourself the cheap Cobra that's about $39.95 and save your money so that after you study and pass the test you can get a ham radio. You won't have to learn a new language to talk on it because ham operators don't use all the slang terms they do on CB. You'll be able to talk 50-60 miles and sometimes more using repeaters and if you go for the HF bands you can talk around the world.
mrgoodtude
Not a Member
One of the best barefoot radios I have owned was the Cobra 25 (about 60 dead presidents)..
Saved my worthless butt in a blustery MN morning and with a good antenna coax you can pull and transmit for 5 miles...
Saved my worthless butt in a blustery MN morning and with a good antenna coax you can pull and transmit for 5 miles...
nightcreacher
Veteran Expediter
I run a galaxy 99,its one of those illegal high powered radios,unless its being used on 10 meters,since im not a ham,its just used on 11 meters,(cb).With all the power,sometimes I can be heard either,or they just dont want to answer.But ,no matter,since my speeding days are non existant,i just have the radio to listen for traffic conditions,where the police are .is no matter to me.Ts nice to know in advance about wrecks,icy conditions,roads closed,especially with the work we do,so can take a different direction if need be.
get yourself a used radio,most of the radios are all the same.have the tech guy put it on a modultiion meter,and if he says its doing over 100% modulation,you dont want it,unless he can fix it, stay away,as anything over 100% will be distorted.you should be able to pick up a used radio good radio for less than $50.00,as for an antenna,aany antenna that the standing wave can adjust to 1 to 1 is a good antenna,the $100.00 antennas dont do any better than to 10$ antennas if adjusted properly,but the longer in height the better,otherwise an 8 foot whip is the best.Dual anteennas just make the radio think there is one antenna in the middle of the truck,so there for if you can mount an antenna on your roof in the middle thats the best place for it.If you want a great hobby,by all means study and get your ham liscense,from what I understand,its not that difficult anymore,I was doing thay 50 years ago when i was a boy scout,but much harder then,so I never completed it.and with the outlaw radio I have,if the air wave conditios are just right I can talk around the world,its called a skip condition.Hope this helped some
be safe and good luck.
get yourself a used radio,most of the radios are all the same.have the tech guy put it on a modultiion meter,and if he says its doing over 100% modulation,you dont want it,unless he can fix it, stay away,as anything over 100% will be distorted.you should be able to pick up a used radio good radio for less than $50.00,as for an antenna,aany antenna that the standing wave can adjust to 1 to 1 is a good antenna,the $100.00 antennas dont do any better than to 10$ antennas if adjusted properly,but the longer in height the better,otherwise an 8 foot whip is the best.Dual anteennas just make the radio think there is one antenna in the middle of the truck,so there for if you can mount an antenna on your roof in the middle thats the best place for it.If you want a great hobby,by all means study and get your ham liscense,from what I understand,its not that difficult anymore,I was doing thay 50 years ago when i was a boy scout,but much harder then,so I never completed it.and with the outlaw radio I have,if the air wave conditios are just right I can talk around the world,its called a skip condition.Hope this helped some
be safe and good luck.
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I have the General Washington, same as the Lee but a different flag on the front. I had it tuned by the guy at the Detroiter and he knows his stuff. With the power switch on low it swings 50 watts with a dead key of 2 watts. It seems like people can usually hear me.
The problem with that, besides being illegal, is you are casting many times as far as you have line so you can't possibly reel in replies. Having a CB that puts out multiples of legal power is an absolute waste and only good for walking all over everyone so they wish they could run over your radio.
TRUCKMNGR
Seasoned Expediter
I gotta agree with LEO on this one. If you are just starting off get you a good Cobra 19 or 29. Dont worry about all the peaking and tuning stuff but do make sure your antenna is good with the 18 ft coax, single antenna on drivers side. Should you ever build a "big radio" do not add a linear without havin the radios dead key lowered or you will burn up your finals.
As far as a ham band radio, also a great idea, I personally have a 10 meter that I modified to open it up to the CB bands as well as 10 meter ham bands. I think I paid 140.00 at the TA for that radio.
Sure, as I also work on radios and had to have a big radio when I drove I could steer you into all of that but you are new, just getting a decent 5 watt radio set up right will do you fine. Just remember NO DUAL ANTENNAS or you will be sending a directional signal and probably off into a field instead of across the comedian strip.
Best of luck to ya, BTW if you want talk back in your radio, ask a radio shop, if you know how to solder you can take the appropriate diode and solder one end from the negative speaker connection in te radio to the chasis and tada you have talkback... See, maybe just saved ya 30.00 but only if your handy with a soldering iron. Best to ya man, hope some of this rambling helps...
As far as a ham band radio, also a great idea, I personally have a 10 meter that I modified to open it up to the CB bands as well as 10 meter ham bands. I think I paid 140.00 at the TA for that radio.
Sure, as I also work on radios and had to have a big radio when I drove I could steer you into all of that but you are new, just getting a decent 5 watt radio set up right will do you fine. Just remember NO DUAL ANTENNAS or you will be sending a directional signal and probably off into a field instead of across the comedian strip.
Best of luck to ya, BTW if you want talk back in your radio, ask a radio shop, if you know how to solder you can take the appropriate diode and solder one end from the negative speaker connection in te radio to the chasis and tada you have talkback... See, maybe just saved ya 30.00 but only if your handy with a soldering iron. Best to ya man, hope some of this rambling helps...
arkjarhead
Veteran Expediter
Al, no offense man, but where do they charge 30 bucks for talk back? When I was in the cb biz I think the charge was 7 bucks to install talk back.
No offense to anyone but advice to the one(s) inquiring that don't have a radio, DO NOT modify a radio to operate on both 10 (ham) and 11 (CB) meter bands. It is illegal and a $10,000 fine when caught. DO NOT operate in the ham bands without the proper license for the band segment to be operated in. The same goes for a CB and a linear. It is illegal in any form. Even if it wasn't, what is the point of transmitting 50 times as far as you can receive? Yes, you may pick up a very few from skip that are receiving you from excess power but you will be ruining things for many many many others in between. Just get a plain old radio, decent antenna and good coax and forget it till you need it.
I have to disagree. The CB Rambos will abuse a radio like mine and be obnoxious. But, if I'm able to find out about a problem on the road a few miles sooner, it can make the difference between exiting and going around or sitting in the middle of a jam. Besides tuning the output, the receive is also tuned.
You are looking at the opposite side of what I said though. Yes, you can hear the illegal radio from 20-30 even more miles away. If you reply, he can't hear you. That was my point. It doesn't matter if the receive is tuned or not really. It can only receive what can get to it. Once in a while that may benefit you but I said it can't benefit him.
I like bad analogies so here's one. There's 1000 guys with golf clubs. One guy has a driver. The other 999 have putters. They are scattered over 100 acres legal only for putters. The guy with the driver (linear) is in the center of the 100 acres. His ball (signal) can reach several hundred of the 1000 guys because of the range the driver can send a ball. Only a few dozen can reach him because they aren't criminals and their legal equipment doesn't have the reach. There's some weird cosmic thing going on that when they hit the ball it splits and goes to every person within reach in all 360 degrees.
Once in a while it might benefit the guy who is much too far away to reply to hear what the criminal says. Most of the time it only means lots of miles and minutes of not being able to use your own equipment because the criminal is acting illegally and prohibiting all the legal people from proper use of their radio.
I like bad analogies so here's one. There's 1000 guys with golf clubs. One guy has a driver. The other 999 have putters. They are scattered over 100 acres legal only for putters. The guy with the driver (linear) is in the center of the 100 acres. His ball (signal) can reach several hundred of the 1000 guys because of the range the driver can send a ball. Only a few dozen can reach him because they aren't criminals and their legal equipment doesn't have the reach. There's some weird cosmic thing going on that when they hit the ball it splits and goes to every person within reach in all 360 degrees.
Once in a while it might benefit the guy who is much too far away to reply to hear what the criminal says. Most of the time it only means lots of miles and minutes of not being able to use your own equipment because the criminal is acting illegally and prohibiting all the legal people from proper use of their radio.
I'm a golf fan, so I like your analogy. Where it's flawed is that there will be others with drivers mixed in with the guys with putters. I may not hear a 5 watt radio, but I will hear another radio that's tuned.
I agree that a big radio in the hands of a moron is about as annoying as it gets. But I think there is some value in it when used in a mature manner. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.
I agree that a big radio in the hands of a moron is about as annoying as it gets. But I think there is some value in it when used in a mature manner. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.
If we increase the field and players then yes, more drivers but in this size field probably 1/1000 is accurate. Once in a blue moon it's useful to hear the illegal radio but as a general rule CB radio power and user IQ are inversely proportional, at least by their usage display.
arkjarhead
Veteran Expediter
Leo,
You are saying that all the drivers that talk on the low side of Channel 19 are big bad criminals? It's not like they are busting in on a military freq. The FCC really doesn't give a crap about cbs anymore. They will tell you that. If they did don't you think they would be busting all these cb shops that sale kickers? I'll admit. I have a bunch of kickers. My grandmother in law gave them to me. They belonged to my wife's grandfather and he was in cbs. I'm actually thinking about getting my ham so I can talk long distance and use the equipment given to me. Back on these big bad criminals. If the FCC wanted to take them down so bad why wouldn't they just bust one of the key down competitions where everyone has a big radio? Most likely because they don't care. The only time they care is in a situation where a guy I knew was pushing about 5,000 watts, keyed up in his drive way, and made his neighbor's pace maker go nuts. Other than that I have known of no one getting in trouble for a simple peak and tune,talk back, or echo board being installed on their radio.
You are saying that all the drivers that talk on the low side of Channel 19 are big bad criminals? It's not like they are busting in on a military freq. The FCC really doesn't give a crap about cbs anymore. They will tell you that. If they did don't you think they would be busting all these cb shops that sale kickers? I'll admit. I have a bunch of kickers. My grandmother in law gave them to me. They belonged to my wife's grandfather and he was in cbs. I'm actually thinking about getting my ham so I can talk long distance and use the equipment given to me. Back on these big bad criminals. If the FCC wanted to take them down so bad why wouldn't they just bust one of the key down competitions where everyone has a big radio? Most likely because they don't care. The only time they care is in a situation where a guy I knew was pushing about 5,000 watts, keyed up in his drive way, and made his neighbor's pace maker go nuts. Other than that I have known of no one getting in trouble for a simple peak and tune,talk back, or echo board being installed on their radio.
I'm saying that anyone who operates a CB radio on a frequency other than the 40 allotted to CB and/or operates a CB radio at power levels above the legally authorized level is a criminal. I'm using a harsh word to emphasize that it's illegal operation. The FCC does what it can with limited enforcement abilities. They do locate and penalize some offenders and they have levied significant fines against vendors offering illegal equipment. Unfortunately they are far too short of resources to deal with all the problems.
I highly encourage you to get your ham license but caution against using any of the equipment you have. It's likely that none of it is certified for the ham bands if it's as old as it sounds. Whether CB or ham, just run legal and avoid any potential problems.
I highly encourage you to get your ham license but caution against using any of the equipment you have. It's likely that none of it is certified for the ham bands if it's as old as it sounds. Whether CB or ham, just run legal and avoid any potential problems.
arkjarhead
Veteran Expediter
I don't know exactly how old it is. He quit using it in the late 90s. I'll look on the equipment for the date of manufacter.