CB users--guide a newbie~

greetings fellow flashaholics;

i'm thinking--ok, i *want* to--get myself a CB radio. now i know more than a few of you fellows are into ham/CB, so advice would be appreciated.

not looking to start at the top, a decent entry level unit that will last me a couple of years. mainly, i'm planning a cross country trip, and a cb would be a great thing to get heads up on traffic conditions, speed traps, or just call in a stranded motorist. yes, i will have a cellphone but cbs are *fun*.

I was guided to a texas ranger tr100 series model by one fellow when i said i'd be doing xcountry. whaddya think? I don't have loads of dough (starving student /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif). it looks like i'll have to get an antenna for these things. will a magnetic or suction mount of some sort work? things have to be able to be pulled out of the car on short notice, i can't have this stuff on the car in school parking lot lest it get nabbed.

suggestions, comments, or just plain "visit this website for all your info" is welcome. thanks a million!

Check your local Radio Shack.

Don't have CB (so know nothing of the products), but am a licensed amateur radio operator. I know a bit about antennas that is not band/power dependent.

The best antenna you could use is a quality magnetic-based unit in the center of your roof. The roof makes a fantastic ground-plane. Folks mount their antennas on mirrors, bumpers etc. for convenience. For a given antenna type, you just can't beat something that sits in the middle of a large expanse of ground plane. That is is removeable is a bonus. You just have to route the wire out a window or the trunk is all...

Getting into radio is lots of fun. When you realize how much MORE you can do with a ham license you may be tempted.

When we take a road trip we do it in style--with multiple vehicles (Cuz' the whole family and extended family goes...it's crazy)

We have a Radio Shack hand held model. I think it was about $200. My dad wanted it because he didn't want to have to mount one. I wouldn't reccomend a hand-held model. Sure you can take it out of the car and carry it with you if you want but that's what FRS is for (Smaller, cheaper to run). Also, when you want to talk into it you have to hold the whole unit with 2 cords (Ant. and Power) trailing from it. Get a nice unit that can mount under your dash, and if you don't want to mount it under your dash find a different way to stick it in--my uncle has a plywood box he built for his so he can just pull the whole box out.

Actually a set-up like my grandparents might be just the thing for you--they've got a hybrid model of sorts. The unit is mounted in the trunk but the controls are built into the Mic, so 90% of the time they just drive with the antenna thrown in the trunk and the Mic under the seat. When they need the CB they just stick the Antenna on the trunk and pull the Mic out.


If you're doing xcountry with somebody else I reccomend you pick up a pair of cheap FRS radios. They're great to have to stay connected when you're away from the car.

[ QUOTE ]
Darell said:
Don't have CB (so know nothing of the products), but am a licensed amateur radio operator. I know a bit about antennas that is not band/power dependent.
...snip...

[/ QUOTE ]

Darell,
As a ham, and an ex-cb guy (back when they were popular), your close to right. The thing is, you can get 1/4 whips (102") which really don't mount well on the roof, but are great on a bumper! That's that I used to run, and NOTHING beats it. I always made sure the mount was on the passenger rear, so that the directional pattern you got from the lopsided ground directed the signal forward and left, (aka towards oncoming traffic)

The joke is, when I bought my truck, it had (and has) a CB mount in it. Of course I put in my ham rig, but the CB mount is still there (unused)

I've found FRS radios work perfectly for car-to-car convoy needs, and they're so cheap and easy to boot.

For talking to truckers and others outside your convoy, however, CB is needed. I use the handheld type on occasion (we have an ancient GE one that's in an "emergency kit" type plastic case). Unfortunately, I've found the signal to noise ratio for CB conversations to be pretty terrible. And the language can be so foul you can't have it on with your kids in the car.

Good luck,

Dave

I still have an old "emergency kit" CB somewhere that was put together using a regular Courier CB, a power cord to fit a cig lighter, and length of coax hooked to a mag mount antenna. Used to throw it in the back when traveling long distances on the highway. Haven't used it since the mid-70's. It still works, but CB doesn't ... At least to my satisfaction.

I'd agree with putting a mag mount loaded whip at roof center for the quality omnidirectional radiation pattern (a 102/108" whip is marginally better, but much more difficult to install/handle, and not really omni as usually installed).

I also agree with simply heading for RS or the equivalent and picking up an economical rig.



EDIT: (The reason I said 102/108" for the 1/4 wave whip is that the correct 1/4 wave length is 108, and 102 inch whips expect a 6" mounting spring. For use with no spring, 108" whips ARE actually available, I even used to use 'em, but difficult to find. Bugs me to see 102's with no spring. *sigh* ) <--- Anal retentive, eh? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

We always mounted the 108" whips on the left side of the car because the trees are taller on the drivers side! We also found that ball mounts would loosen on the right side due to wind pressure on the antenna and the direction of the threads on the ball mount. I had a Hornet Sportabout with two 108' whips..(Shakespears) one on each side. Call was KFK3896....issued by the FCC!

this will be a single car run, we used the FRSs on multicar family trips. still i'll take the frs and put it in scan mode, see if i catch anyone that way.

re. antennas, from what i read, i know that putting them on flat surfaces is good, next to vertical metal surfaces is bad. this isn't gonna be on the car all the time, just for the occasional road trip, so i don't mind running the wire thru the door seals to the roof. will check radioshak and see what they have, altho for some reason i don't have very high regards for RS branded stuff. handheld is out, mainly due to cost--don't wanna pay for something i rarely use only to have it perform badly. i don't have any mounts for sticking the cb in the car, so i'll just either leave it on the dash or centre console during the drive, and tape the antenna lead on the dash and A pillar before it goes out.

I used to go by "Telephony" on the CB, probably dating back to the late 1970s when I got my first handheld (a radio that I could call my own) up in Alaska.
True, some people cuss like sailors on those things, but I never did. Something about FCC regulations. (You aren't supposed to use swear words on the telephone either, but some people do it anyway - just like on a CB radio).

Somewhere around here, I have a Navajo base station and mag-mount antenna, but I haven't used it in awhile. I also installed a GE "Help" CB radio on my old wheelchair, but never really got a chance to use it. I don't know if I even have that radio & antenna anymore, but they could be around here somewhere.

Sometime in the late 1980s or really early 1990s, I had a 5W handheld CB, and talked with somebody driving a big truck in Iowa from Seattle using atmospheric "skip" or "bounce", and this was around 2:00 in the afternoon, which is a little unusual because "bounce" usually happens at night rather than in the middle of the day. I think that radio was destroyed in an earthquake in 1995, so I don't have it anymore.

[ QUOTE ]
KC2IXE said:
As a ham, and an ex-cb guy (back when they were popular), your close to right.

[/ QUOTE ]
Ha! Not the first time that somebody thinks I'm only half right... or half wrong depending on how you look at it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif And it certainly won't be the last...

After going through probably 20 antennas on several vehicles, I've found nothing that will compete favorably with a full ground-plane mast. This is for 220 and 440 bands only though. I have no experience with CB frequencies. One way or the other, a mag-mount is going to be the easiest portable solution.

Well, there's a lot of good advice given so far, but speaking as somebody who used to work in a Radio Shack, don't buy from there unless you know exactly what you want to buy. If you have to ask for help from the sales staff on what you should buy, likely he knows less about the stuff in that CB radio corner than you do. They spend their time learning the features of the more expensive consumer electronics and tend to know very little about the electronic parts and radio gear that Radio Shack used to once sell exclusively.

As somebody starting out I would say to go to a larger-sized truck stop or maybe a farm store to buy a mid-priced under dash mount CB unit. The expensive radios might have extra meters to watch and also have single-side band features, but it sounds like you mainly plan to turn it onto channel 19 and just listen mostly. $50-$60 will buy a decent radio without the extra bells and whistles that won't get used. Get a magnet-mount end-loaded antenna (end loaded means that there is a coil inside the base that electricly lengthens the antenna so it is properly tuned) and route the cable into the trunk. If you drive a sedan, just run the cable out of the trunk and set in the middle of the trunk lid for a large ground plane (you radial pattern will extend farther forward like this, less sensitive to you rear, but only a little). If you have a hatchback or minivan just route the cable and set the antenna on the roof as centered as you can. With this setup you just pick up the antenna and stow it in the trunk space when not used, or going through a car-wash. I would avoid those cute-looking "cellular" look-alike CB antennas, the whip is just too short and depends too much on the loading coil. An end loaded CB whip about 4.5 to 5 feet long does work well. A full-sized 108 inch quarter-wave whip obviously gives optimal performance, but it just is so ungodly big and hard to store in a trunk.

Sheesh! No wonder you had to quit Radio Shack. You know WAY too much about radios. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

buy a decent radio within your budget.
but remember that the antenna does the work.
money spent on the antenna system goes farther than all the silly power mikes and amplifiers a cb shop is likely to try to sell you.
but dont expect to talk more than a few miles because of the high noise level and all the skip.thats what all that spanish speaking jabber you hear is.
around dayton 19 is so crowded 2 miles is about all you get.
the upside is that some jurisdictions monitor ch 9 and in some areas react is still active.otherwise cb is a wasteland.you could do better getting your amateur radio ticket.the entry level is easy.

Darell - I knew you were a ham, but didn't know you had a radio license.

If you can't run a 102" whip (which will wack the hell out of anything you try to park under), I'd go for one of the fiberglass helically wound things, sorta like a hamstick. Anything less than 2' tall would be close to useless.

I ran a 2' radioshack helical fiberglass on my bronco for CB, and that worked pretty well. Used a mirror mount, clamped to the rear tire carrier.

For the car, when I run CB I just put a radioshack magnetic mount antenna on the center of the roof.

As long as you're not going to run high power, the radio shack antennas are fine. IMHO, 102" whip the best, helical second, base loaded steel whip last. As far as radios goes, I bet they're all close to the same.

If CB is anything like it used to be, don't let your kids listen to it. If you're looking for something for the long term, think ham radio. Great people, more fun, better for emergencies, much greater range, and not as expensive as you might guess.

[ QUOTE ]
Darell said:
...snip...After going through probably 20 antennas on several vehicles, I've found nothing that will compete favorably with a full ground-plane mast. This is for 220 and 440 bands only though. I have no experience with CB frequencies. One way or the other, a mag-mount is going to be the easiest portable solution.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, for 144, 440 work, the mag mount works great, because you can stick a 1/4 wave in the middle of the roof.

Once you get down to 11m band, it gets a tad impractical to put a 1/4 wave on the roof /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

The added gain of the "big stick" often more than makes up for the worse ground plane

That said, I use a mag mount in the middle of the roof for my 2m/440 work. I'll stick with a "big stick" 108" for CB - heck, I have it back from the early 70s

BF; that's the idea, i just plan to listen so i know what i'm driving into. as to ham vs cb, i want to get a ham license too, but will anyone on the road be talk on that? since i'm mainly concerened with open stretches of road, i figure cb is the way to go. right now my default choice as far as cb goes is the texas ranger 100 series, haven't figured out the antenna bit yet, most likely the magmount on the trunk deal.

thanks again for all the advice, this is great!

Heheheh ... Once again CPF amazes me. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Yeah, for 2 meter and shorter a roof mount quarter-wave is easy and very good (especially since the roof of even a small car is nearly large enough to be a perfect theoretical ground plane.

For CB, though, a 1/4 wave on the roof is incredibly awkward (I had on on an MG 1100 Sport Sedan in Denver in the '60's and trimmed a lot of trees and, uh, gas station/drive thru fluorescents).

If you do try to pick up a CB at RS, just go for a cheap one - CB these days isn't worth spending much on ... Also check at Target, K-Mart, or wherever you might see a cheap rig.

A cheap magnetic mount base, continuous or top loaded CB antenna is fine for the quick-on, quick-off occasional user. If you spend over $100 for the whole kit and kaboodle you've spent too much. So long as your grounds are good, and your coax isn't pinched or kinked too badly you'll be OK. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

(Side note: In the late '60's, while in the service, I worked part time at a little radio shop - Juge Electronics - in Ft. Worth doing a bit of installation and maintenance on two-way gear, including CB's - most of 'em were still tube type rigs, but not all. The owner eventually went on to be a VP at Radio Shack, and occasionally had his pic inside the front cover of the catalogs. Ed was a really nice guy, and his mom made some really good Texas coffee. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif )

Take care,

Tom, KFI 1040 <---- My legit CB call from the early '60's

yup trying to keep it under a century /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif will let you know how it goes /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Oh oh...just realised...

Cadillac Kid was my original handle as, well, first time I was on the CB we'd rented a car and due to all sorts of odd circumstances we ended up with a Cadillac. More recently I decited I liked those odd Swedish cars more than Cadillacs so here I am.