CB Radios

[War Pin Meers 10+ year member]

Figured this fits in this forum, dunno where else.

Way back my cousin and some of his friends had picked up some CB radios, and I guess they were pretty useful, not to mention just plain **** cool to have in your car. Me n some friends are looking at doing the same thing, not to mention it'll be great with no interference out in the boondocks. Problem is, from what I've read, max legal output is 4 watts. I've looked around, and I guess a bit of modding won't get you in trouble, as long as your arent messing with some important freqs. I've looked around and seen that most radios reach 4-5 miles at a time, with the max legal limit being 155ish. Then I see that some are reaching thousands of miles at a time, and now I see the sunspot cycle comes into play.

This is the radio we're all looking at picking up ($30 cheaper at wally than the current model on the Cobra page). My question is, has anyone ever tried this? Anybody know how far we can reach with these? ..and, to get farther, what kind of modding are we gonna have to do? Also..how big of an antenna comes with that thing? It says "4-Pin Screw On Dynamic". So from the sounds of things, it's all internal, which is great. All feedbacks appreciated.

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[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

That particular CB falls under the category of what those heavily involved in the hobby to any extent like to call "ham sandwich" radios since that's the approximate size of the unit. It isn't moddable, sadly, and that is due purely to the internal circuitry not supporting such an action.

It doesn't come with any kind of antenna. For that price you get the radio itself, an el-cheapo mounting bracket, the power/ground wiring, and a very basic microphone (the mic is what the "4-pin screw on dynamic" is referring to, btw).

My, my, my but this conversation could go on forever.

Yes, legal output in 11-meter, which is the group of frequencies dedicated to Citizen's Band radio transceivers....26.965mHz to 27.405mHz, is stated by FCC regs to be no more than 4 watts.

The overwhelming majority of people running technically illegal rigs won'[t ever be troubled for their indiscretions as the FCC has extremely minimal funding in their budget for infraction enforcement.

The cheapest equation to longer transmission distance will be to get a top-quality antenna (which you will NOT find at Wal-mart)

 

[matrxx dude 5,000+ posts]

this is what i do for a living,i own my own cb/ham shop.

 

[War Pin Meers 10+ year member]

I see, so simply, if we were to buy that exact model, they'd be practically useless unless we were close together?

Another thing, when you say "ham" radio, you don't mean amateur radio, right. I don't wanna get confused here, I'm new to the whole CB thing, and from what I've looked up amateur radio is an entirely different topic, but I've seen "ham" thrown around quite a bit in discussion with that.

Hypothetically, if we were to buy that radio, and this antenna, do you have any prediction as to the distance we could achieve, or do you have any recommendations altogether.

Also, how would we fare in the sound quality department, I've heard very little on that. Thanks again.

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

this is what i do for a living,i own my own cb/ham shop.

I used to be hardcore into it but the widespread use of the 'Net pretty much killed the CB...

I still have some gear but it's currently stored in the attic.

Hypothetically, if we were to buy that radio, and this radio, do you have any prediction as to the distance we could achieve, or do you have any recommendations altogether.

The linked-to item is an antenna. The fact that it is priced @ $5 ought to tell you something...
Hypothetically speaking? If your SWRs were completely flat (Google it if you don't know what I'm talking about) and the ambient noise-floor on the day in question were almost nonexistant I'd say 10 miles across flat terrain and lessening dramtically if there's anything to block the signal. (trees, buildings, etc)

 

[pitbull12888]

lol ham sandwhich wow.... dads big into ham.. we have about a 60 foot antenna with a rotation thing on it . the whole antenna is painted john deere green and yellow off our house haha .. tell me that aint redneck

 

[matrxx dude 5,000+ posts]

that little cobra tuned up properly,and a good antenna and swr's set right,should talk good for at least a good 10 miles mobile to mobile,now if you were to get a base antenna like a antron 99 and put it up about 30 feet or higher,you could talk pretty **** far like 30 to 50 miles barefoot at night.

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

that little cobra tuned up properly,and a good antenna and swr's set right,should talk good for at least a good 10 miles mobile to mobile,now if you were to get a base antenna like a antron 99 and put it up about 30 feet or higher,you could talk pretty **** far like 30 to 50 miles barefoot at night.

Solarcon A99 ~ IMO there's not a better ground plane base antenna to be had for the $$$ //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/thumbsup.gif.3287b36ca96645a13a43aff531f37f02.gif

 

[matrxx dude 5,000+ posts]

then if you wanted to really talk a long way's,thats when linears come into play,which i build them also,basically they amplify your singal which is guaged in watts.they start off little and get monsterly big.

 

[matrxx dude 5,000+ posts]

Solarcon A99 ~ IMO there's not a better ground plane base antenna to be had for the $$$ //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/thumbsup.gif.3287b36ca96645a13a43aff531f37f02.gif

no doubt,unless you go to beams

 

[War Pin Meers 10+ year member]

Yep, typo there, meant antenna. I'm not looking to get deep into it at first, so I don't want a project we're I'm tuning, modding, anything like that. I just want a quick, simple solution, extending preferably near 30 miles, must be mobile, with the largest antenna being one mounted on the rear window, within an affordable price range. I'm pretty much lost from there. I figured that radio at Wal-Mart was a steal, considering its priced $30 cheaper.

 

[angrytrucker78 10+ year member]

I drive a truck and currently all I'm running is a good ol' Connex 3300HP peaked and tuned with a wilson trucker 2000. My SWR's are WAY LOWWWWWW.

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

no doubt,unless you go to beams

But then beams aren't a ground plane, are they?

I have a set of PDL IIs in storage as well as a set of Moonraker IVs.

Up a 60-foot tower with about 800w (dead key of 120 with MASSIVE modulation from a modded JB 12) it talked pretty well! The Moonrakers transmitted better but the PDLs inarguably have better ears in my experience.

 

[matrxx dude 5,000+ posts]

you are not going to talk very far at all with a antenna on the back glass,now with a proper mag mount and like a wilson 2000 ant and your radio tuned up,possibly

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

you are not going to talk very far at all with a antenna on the back glass,now with a proper mag mount and like a wilson 2000 ant and your radio tuned up,possibly

There isn't a magnet-mount version of the Wilson 2000, is there? Isn't that strictly designed for a mirror-mount or something fabricated similar to one? I thought the only magnet-mount versions were in the Wilson 1000 and the 5000 excepting the 'Lil Wil (which I liken to the K30, the K40's little brother, and I'm not impressed with either) //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif