April 17, 200520 yr I was haveing trouble deciding where to post this, so I though the off road section would be the best, since alot of people use CBs for communication on the trail, and in my opinion, its not a bad tool to have when venturing off road. If anyone needs any tips, has any questions or any of that good stuff about a CB instalation in you subie, let me know, I should be able to answer questions about annteneas, radios, setting SWRs, instalations, "fire in the wire" ect ect ect.
April 17, 200520 yr I read up on CB's and how they work, and how to tune them to your antenna. But alot of it I couldnt understand, and when I got my CB it seemed to work perfectly on the trail I got my CB for $30 from wal-mart and spent about $60 for the whip and base with the cable. Here it is installed: -Brian
April 17, 200520 yr I have a cobra 19+ that has been "tuned" to do 30W. I have a buddy who is good at unlocking, "tuning", and adding more frequencies. I once talked to miss. from here in town on my 19+ and a K30 (not a K40 a K30). I'd say that was quite impressive all things considered...BTW, I was in town at the time this wasn't out in the country on a mountain or anything.... Matt
April 17, 200520 yr I hate the whip antenna I have, its a magnetic base and it keeps getting taken off by branches. I was wondering if the stock FM antenna would be remotely suitable for the CB. I have a spare one, and i could mount it on the passenger side A pillar, so the antennas would be symetrical, cool and retractable. The whip length is about the same on both of them, so I was thinking that the wavelength between the 2 frequencies might be close enough, but I don't know if the CB whip has a coil in the base or not. I can splice a new connector onto the end of the FM radio jack to fit my CB.
April 17, 200520 yr sorry, probably shouldn't have said that. better remove it before it starts a flame war. hearing people way far away jamming a channel for no good reason so that my legal radio can't be heard localy just doesn't seem fair to me.
April 17, 200520 yr Author I have a cobra 19+ that has been "tuned" to do 30W. I have a buddy who is good at unlocking, "tuning", and adding more frequencies. I once talked to miss. from here in town on my 19+ and a K30 (not a K40 a K30). I'd say that was quite impressive all things considered...BTW, I was in town at the time this wasn't out in the country on a mountain or anything.... Matt When the conditions are right, you can talk all over the place. I have talked to Oragon and Cali from out here in NC quite a few times. The 19+ is actually a pretty good radio. The thing to remember is to not go with a crappy antenna. Your antennea is the most important part of your radio.
April 17, 200520 yr The thing to remember is to not go with a crappy antenna. Your antennea is the most important part of your radio. Are firesticks ok?
April 17, 200520 yr Author I hate the whip antenna I have, its a magnetic base and it keeps getting taken off by branches. I was wondering if the stock FM antenna would be remotely suitable for the CB. I have a spare one, and i could mount it on the passenger side A pillar, so the antennas would be symetrical, cool and retractable. The whip length is about the same on both of them, so I was thinking that the wavelength between the 2 frequencies might be close enough, but I don't know if the CB whip has a coil in the base or not. I can splice a new connector onto the end of the FM radio jack to fit my CB. Your fm anteanna won't work for your CB. Your SWRs will be way to high, and a few other factors also won't let it work well at all. If you want a good mag mount that won't get knocked down easily, try a wilson 1000 or 5000. I have run a Wilson 1000 on my subie and my old 4x4 pick up, and have never knocked it off the roof from branches, or anything else it would smack into.
April 17, 200520 yr Author The thing to remember is to not go with a crappy antenna. Your antennea is the most important part of your radio. Are firesticks ok? Firesticks are fairly good antennas, and aren,t priced extreamly high either. They can be a little tricky to tune the swr somtimes, but they are good antennas.
April 17, 200520 yr I dont know much about cbs but how do you tune them. Im not dumb just got my cb a couple weeks ago.
April 17, 200520 yr I have a nice setup in my car... its a cobra 148 NW ST, I ran 18 feet of coax into the dash, in a little loop then up to the big steel whip thats 8.5 feet long... its tied back military style with parachute cord (like you see on humvees) Works pretty well when the power cables are hooked up
April 17, 200520 yr Antennas and other goodies http://www.pacetronics.com/Catpage.cfm?Cat_Selected=25&SubCat_Selected=87&Prod_Selected=&Group_Selected=more fun stuff mostly firestick for antennas though http://www.alfenterprises.com/ And one more http://www.1stopelectronics.com/
April 17, 200520 yr My Set Up is a Black Faced Galaxy Wide Band, with Frequ. counter, turned down to 10w. so I can run a Foot warmer( kicker/Linear)....at between 150-550 watts....I run this into either my 102 Whip, or my 5/8 wave Ugly stick......depending on the country I'm running in....It lets me Talk all over the World .... For anyone Interested , I build a Nice C.B. Mount For EA-81 Cars...that ties into the Roof .....It uses the Mirror, Inner Sun visor, and Over head Light mounts.....Very strong, and You can hang any C.B. Off of it....??? cost is 35.00 plus shipping..... I'll have a pic of it soon on my New Site..... Later, John
April 17, 200520 yr My buddy and I went to a truck stop about 30 miles from home last night to look at radios (i'm not the nerd...he is) He wanted to get some Galaxy with a freq. counter that costs like $450 or something like that... None in stock...go figure. :-\ If anyone is looking for a CB (used of course) please let me know. Eddie (my friend) will hook you up cheap and if you want any internal work done he can/will do that too! If anyone wants a home base unit he has 2 (i think) Cobra 2000 units for sale at a very good price. BTW, Just so you folks know...everything is on the level. Nothing is HOT or anything like that. LMK...i'm 10-7, Matt
April 17, 200520 yr What about for people who are in the process of getting an amateur license or already have one? will 10-meter radios or mobile VHF rigs work just as well as CBs?
April 17, 200520 yr They will but most people dont have or intend to get an amateur (sp?) lic. So you would only be talking to other lic. people.
April 18, 200520 yr I dont know much about cbs but how do you tune them. Im not dumb just got my cb a couple weeks ago. Gotta get an R/F meter. Simply screw in the antenna jack to the meter. Basicly you zero it out as best you can for even perrformance. Using the tiny allen wrench that came with your antenna you can raise and lower it slightly within the base while you read the meter. You can tweak it for higher or lower frequency bands or for better sending or receiving. I'm no expert with one; had a friend at work who's certified HAM use his. I'm more regergitating a minimal amount of info he divludged as he tuned my antenna. Personaly I didnt care too much about the specifics of antenna theory; I'm not big into CB or HAM radio. Either read the instructions well that come with an R/F meter or have someone who's into radios help you out. Possibly a friend or someone at a real HAM / CB shop.
April 18, 200520 yr My CB has an internal SWR calibration. You put the switch to CAL Hit the button on the mic Then turn the knob til the pointer on the guage is on the little CAL arrow. Then relase and put it back on AM or side band or whatever and you are set.
April 18, 200520 yr I'm looking at some Ranger cb's, I'd like to mount one in the empty din mount storage area under my stock radio on my 'outback if possible(otherwise overhead via the sunglass storage).
April 18, 200520 yr Yeah...i'd like to put one in the empty slot above my cd player... Right now I have a handheld Cobra that hardly works unless someone is withing a few hundred feet of you
April 18, 200520 yr I ran into problems trying to mount my Cobra 19 DX III near the radio. The freak'n thing sticks out so far compared to the room thats there to accomidate it. Looking back now I wish I had mounted it on the roof for two rasons. Easy to reach and switch channels or adjust squelch. Also so the speaker is pointing down onto me so I dont have to crank it up so loud just to hear what peole are saying.
April 25, 200520 yr I think I might mount it on the dash in my OBW right above the heater and ac controls and run the wires down into the heater vent area and run them into the engine compartment so I can get power to it and whatnot... I am tempted to do it.
April 25, 200520 yr Right now I have a handheld Cobra that hardly works unless someone is withing a few hundred feet of you i bet your antenna tuning is way far off or has been for long enough to damage the finals in the radio oops just realized it was a handheld
April 25, 200520 yr I have an old CB I was going to install in the Buggy. It's a 1978 vintage CB. I think the antenna is probably shot. Is it worth getting a new CB and antenna or are the old ones just the same as the new ones? Glenn 82 SubaruHummer 01 Forester
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