cb radios i think i need jack frost

[93 saturn sl2 10+ year member]

i have a galaxy dx959 and i got the techs choice tune up for it from 1stopelectronics.com but i dont think im getting the best performance out of it. i have a wilson lil wil. should i get a wilson 1000 or a k40? to get out and receive better?

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[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Sorry I didn't see this thread earlier.

Any CB antenna you get that's under 108" (including shock spring/mount) is going to be a compromise. Sorry, but that's the laws of physics for you. I have a full size quarter wave antenna on the van, but I realize that's not practical for everybody.

Loaded mini-whips are decent to about four feet - anything under 4' in length is going to be a serious handicap. The Lil' Wil, IIRC, is around two feet in length - tiny. You can't expect good performance out of an antenna that small; maybe enough to talk with trucks and cars that you can see on the road, but certainly nothing beyond line-of-sight. Also, don't fall into the trap that thinking that amplifier power will increase your range - if you can't hear them, more transmit power certainly isn't going to help you talk to them.

My recommendation? Get a good 4' or longer loaded antenna, and mount it through the metal on the car - this is like grounding an amp, you want a very good, solid piece of metal to bolt to. Use low-loss coaxial cable from the antenna to the radio, and make sure the antenna is as high up as you can possibly get it (my antenna sits just under 13.5 feet to clear highway overpasses). On a good day without E-layer skip, I average around 20 miles in each direction on the highway (this using a modified Icom ham radio transceiver that does 25 watts on AM and 100W on SSB, only four times the legal power). During the summer E-skip season, that range can extend across the country - something that I could do on the Ham bands anyway.

Hope this answered your question...

 

[93 saturn sl2 10+ year member]

thanks. Well i forgot to put this in my first post but i have a wilson sw-2000 that has a 22" shaft but the whip isnt over 4 feet should i get a tri mag mount for it and use that i have it screwed on to my go-kart on the very top just to see how it gets out. my friend lives about 8 blocks over from me and has a RV with a fiberglass antenna and ive talked to him on my little wil on my windstar and the 2000 on my go-kart and he said that i sounded better on the 2000. will the 2000 be better then a 1000 mag mount?

when you say mount it through the metal of your car, i dont really want to drill a hole, I'll have a little cobra in there for my pa speaker and when i go on trips oll put my galaxy in with the antenna on the roof. and i want to be able to put this on our van when we go to chicago.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

Well.....this is totally off topic....but I've been curious:

What is the fun in CB's/Ham radios? What enjoyment do you get out of them? What all do you actually do with them, other than talk to other people?

 

[93 saturn sl2 10+ year member]

other then talk to people, you can use it for a p.a. but mainly its fun (for me) for keeping in touch when your on trips with other people if they go with you

 

[snebes 10+ year member]

Isn't that what cell phones are for?

http://nextelonline.nextel.com/NASApp/onlinestore/Action/DisplayPhones?phoneSKU=I325IS

before you attempt to flame me, this is the nextel phone with off-network walkie talkie. Not a 20 mile range, but I am never more than 2 miles away from someone I am driving with. And it has a theoretical 6 mile range on the walkie talkie

 

[Loudrango112 10+ year member]

Isn't that what cell phones are for?
http://nextelonline.nextel.com/NASApp/onlinestore/Action/DisplayPhones?phoneSKU=I325IS

before you attempt to flame me, this is the nextel phone with off-network walkie talkie. Not a 20 mile range, but I am never more than 2 miles away from someone I am driving with. And it has a theoretical 6 mile range on the walkie talkie

I agree with that... just get some nice walkie talkies... and have some fun!! Listen to some nearby cordless phone talk also...

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

What is the fun in CB's/Ham radios? What enjoyment do you get out of them? What all do you actually do with them, other than talk to other people?

Isn't that what cell phones are for?

Let me answer these by saying...why do you need to spend money on an aftermarket stereo? Isn't the one that comes with your car good enough?

My point is, there's something that we find technically challenging and interesting to do...not because it's a necessity, but because there's something about it that's cool. Personally, I find the concept of being able to talk with someone thousands of miles away using nothing but my own stuff and knowledge to operate it interesting...sure, you could just call someone up with a cell phone, but that's not the point.

Most of the time, amateur radio is simply a hobby, whether you're shooting the shit with the locals or talking with someone halfway around the world, but there are other times it can come in handy for emergencies...after all, if you think your cell phone is worth something when the shit hits the fan, I can only //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif at you. Cell phones are very useful devices, but I find people's reliance on them to be funny and dangerous...for other uses of ham radio, SKYWARN weather spotters often are the "eyes and ears" of the local weather agencies during bad weather. The local club here has also ran tactical communcations for 10K races, fairs, and other large public events where a network of skilled communicators is needed...I guess we're important enough to the Red Cross for them to use amateur radio to pass health and welfare traffic out of affected areas (last year's hurricane season in FL being a great example).

Not to mention, you can learn a lot about the technology people use to communicate - after all, amateur radio has already been where the public is just getting to. Cell phones? Based off 1940's narrow-band FM repeater technology. On-Star and other GPS location technologies? Hams were messing around with packet radio position reporting systems years before it went mainstream.

CB - well, that's like your vulgar friend that provides some entertainment from time to time, but you wouldn't want to invite him over in your house //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif I use CB on the highway for finding out where the cops are, and to listen to some redneck banter, but that's it //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[Radar 10+ year member]

I use CB on the highway for finding out where the cops are, and to listen to some redneck banter, but that's it //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

And oh man, do you hear some funny shit.

 

[Jim Boom 10+ year member]

One thing I did that helps me hear other cb users is hook up an external speaker thats bigger than the one built into the cb cause just sitting in there its kind of hard to make out anything someone is saying any way.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

One thing I did that helps me hear other cb users is hook up an external speaker thats bigger than the one built into the cb cause just sitting in there its kind of hard to make out anything someone is saying any way.

Good tip - those cheap little speakers in the radio aren't designed for being heard clearly over road noise and wind...a nice aftermarket speaker could make all the difference. Some even have noise-canceling and digital signal processing in them.

 

[Loudrango112 10+ year member]

Let me answer these by saying...why do you need to spend money on an aftermarket stereo? Isn't the one that comes with your car good enough?
My point is, there's something that we find technically challenging and interesting to do...not because it's a necessity, but because there's something about it that's cool. Personally, I find the concept of being able to talk with someone thousands of miles away using nothing but my own stuff and knowledge to operate it interesting...sure, you could just call someone up with a cell phone, but that's not the point.

Most of the time, amateur radio is simply a hobby, whether you're shooting the shit with the locals or talking with someone halfway around the world, but there are other times it can come in handy for emergencies...after all, if you think your cell phone is worth something when the shit hits the fan, I can only //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif at you. Cell phones are very useful devices, but I find people's reliance on them to be funny and dangerous...for other uses of ham radio, SKYWARN weather spotters often are the "eyes and ears" of the local weather agencies during bad weather. The local club here has also ran tactical communcations for 10K races, fairs, and other large public events where a network of skilled communicators is needed...I guess we're important enough to the Red Cross for them to use amateur radio to pass health and welfare traffic out of affected areas (last year's hurricane season in FL being a great example).

Not to mention, you can learn a lot about the technology people use to communicate - after all, amateur radio has already been where the public is just getting to. Cell phones? Based off 1940's narrow-band FM repeater technology. On-Star and other GPS location technologies? Hams were messing around with packet radio position reporting systems years before it went mainstream.

CB - well, that's like your vulgar friend that provides some entertainment from time to time, but you wouldn't want to invite him over in your house //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif I use CB on the highway for finding out where the cops are, and to listen to some redneck banter, but that's it //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

Thats very interesting... I guess I understand... not my thing.. but more power to you!