Best CB To Purchase

[WarrenD]

I have run a Cobra 25 GTL for over 35 years and it's still going. If you are looking for the best store, Walcott CB. If you are looking for a retail store in CT, good luck! The only place I know for sure that have CB's are the truck stops. Be prepared to pay a premium.

 

[R Racing]

how about this 1 ?

Cobra 29 Army | Go Army Strong CB Radio | Cobra

 

[dozer1]

how about this 1 ?

Cobra 29 Army | Go Army Strong CB Radio | Cobra

Would be hard to go wrong with that 1

 

[Flyingvan911]

I have a Midland 79-290. It has the weather band and a detatchable face. I like it. Don't get caught with an amplifier on the CB band. The FCC will nail your feet to the highway.

 

[midcounty]

I have 3 CBs. A Galaxy DX959 in my civi pick up, but will soon go in one of my M1009s. A Cobra 148 in my 818, and the big one is my Galaxy 95T in my daily driven M1009. All of these do have SSB, and the 95T has many other capabilities. I run a 102" stainless whip antenna on a cucv mount on the M1009s. They are slightly directional mounted that way, but work well and looks a little more original that roof mounting. Be glad to answer any questions I can, but I am no expert.

 

[Billy Bobbed]

I have a Midland 79-290. It has the weather band and a detatchable face. I like it. Don't get caught with an amplifier on the CB band. The FCC will nail your feet to the highway.

I have one of them in my Ford Expedition very nice cb radio.

 

[Welder Sam]

I was googling cb's earlier and found some 24vdc units from the uk. Hmmm... anyone know if uk cb freq's are the same as us?

 

[m16ty]

Don't get caught with an amplifier on the CB band. The FCC will nail your feet to the highway.

While this is true they don't enforce it very much. Almost all independent truckers are either running liners or at least have their radio tuned to more than 4 watts. About the only time the FCC will get involved is if you are causing a nuisance. The main problems you'll have is running high watts in residential areas. I've seen CBs come over phone landlines and TV sets. I think it's less of a problem than it used to be since most TV has went to digital.

CBs were kind of the forerunner of the cell phone. Years ago just about everybody had a CB in their vehicle around here and a lot had base stations at their home or business.

I drive a truck from time to time and for the most part I leave the CB turned off anymore. Way too much BS going on with all the other truckers. About the only time I'll turn it on is for traffic info if there's a traffic jam or something.

 

[Billy Bobbed]

I add a little NOS to my CB every now and then.600 shot.

 

[Goose2448]

Now this is something I have a little knowledge on, just some, not all. I personally run a Cobra 19 ultra, it was $35 at walmart, and it fits nicely between the seat and center console in my burban, no drilling holes required. Its nice to start with, but it is limited. I also have it set up so I can plug it in to the power point, instead of running and splicing into the wiring. Now for an Antenna, I started with a 27" fiberglass whip from Radio Shack, comes with the magnetic mount and 16' of coaxial. That worked well for the first 10 mins, and with 1800 miles on it, and nothing but static and bits and pieces here and there, that went out the door. So I ended up with a 102" Stainless Steel 1/4 wave whip from Radio Shack. I used the mount from the 27" and rigged it to fit, then stuck it between the back rails on the roof rack so it would not fall off. It dose not stand straight up, but it has that layed back look, which shortens the overall height, about 15 feet or so when its straight up. Its not the perfect set up, and I have to fiddle with it from time to time, but it works well going up and down 75 and 95. I can pick up guys on the east coast of FL form time to time. Average distance I get is about 10 miles I would say, maybe more. I dont use mine really, but for traffic, the po po, and for something different from the radio, 24 hours of driving straight you tend to hear the same crap on the raido. Its not my Ideal set up, but its working for now until I can get another pickup. If you wanna go all out, you could get one of those Cobra 29 LTD BT 40 Channels, with Duel 102" whips. Thats what I am going to end up with one day here soon.

 

[4x4 Forever]

I was googling cb's earlier and found some 24vdc units from the uk. Hmmm... anyone know if uk cb freq's are the same as us?

24v would be sweet!

Goggle theUK units back up and check the freq chart and one of the US freq charts, that would tell you pretty fast. Ours is in the 27mhz band.

 

[rickf]

10 miles on 400 watts? I got a consistent 200 miles on 200 ways. I can attest to the fact that the FCC does not like linears. They were a lot more lenient back then.

Rick

I was a long haul trucker for many years......the Realistics (sold by Radio Shack, built by Cobra) were good in the early years.

Later I switched to Cobras (when they went to 40 channel) and stayed with them.

I still have a Cobra 29 that has been peaked and tuned and has the high and low channels installed (never used them).

I ran a 400 watt Texas Star kicker to cut through the clutter and twin "Hot Stick" antennas.

Under ideal conditions I could talk ten miles or so (assuming I had someone who had a radio similar to mine) with that setup.

In todays modern vehicles it it very hard to find a decent place to mount a CB.

With an M-1009 you can fab a mount to put it between the visors overhead.

 

[srodocker]

so im just getting into radios and i will get a handheld ham radio after i take tests and such. so for now im going to go with a decent cb setup in the deuce and a portable cb unit in my m105 camper. so having dual 102" whips will increase the reception and range? or just reception?

 

[Welder Sam]

"Ariel shack" is where i found the 24v radios. Ive sent them an inquiry. I dont know the exchange rate but the units start @ £60-ish and high end is £150-ish. Just incase anyone else is interested

 

[rickf]

You will not be able to get enough separation between the antennas, You will get much better reception with one 102 whip.

Rick

 

[midcounty]

so im just getting into radios and i will get a handheld ham radio after i take tests and such. so for now im going to go with a decent cb setup in the deuce and a portable cb unit in my m105 camper. so having dual 102" whips will increase the reception and range? or just reception?

Dual antennas will make your signal directional. If you mount them one on each side, like a lot of truckers, you will get more range ahead of and behind you. However, you will loose range to both sides.

 

[rickf]

Splitting your signal into 240 inches of antenna will send your reflected signal off the scale. You will have little or no signal. If you want to run dual antenna's then you need a matched set with the proper amount of cable. The antenna need to be at least 8 feet apart if I remember correctly.

Rick

 

[4x4 Forever]

I think a little further than that, if I remember correctly 208" or 240" apart is more like it, although the truckers get by with it...

 

[srodocker]

okie dokes. maybe i'll run one for looks...who knows thanks for the info

 

[Goose2448]

Sorry for the confusion on the antenna thing. To run 2 antenna's and gain from it, they need to be at least 8' apart, which is hard to do on a pick up sized truck. And as it was stated before, the 2 antenna's will be more for forward and backward reception, something to consider if you do a lot of highway driving, like myself. And the antenna's have to be matched, they make a special set just for this kind of thing. Then you also run into tuning and all too. If its look your into, the duel 102" look BA, and so do the 4' FIRESTICKS. I did some research into the matter before hand, and learned something, so google the heck out of CB, but to get you started try these......

Citizens' band radio - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia