August 31, 200520 yr What kind of CB radio are you guys running in your trail rigs? What kind of antenna? Any tips and tricks to a cb radio. I just bought a 40$ CB Radio from radio shack. I also got a K40 antenna for it. I got it because my friend and I go on trails just about every weekend. It's nice to be able to talk to eachother without getting out of the car. Plus if I get stranded somewhere I can sit on the CB and talk till someone hears me.
August 31, 200520 yr The most important thing to your radio setup is your anntenna. You can have a radio with all the bells and whisles and still not get heard if you got a junk antenna. K40's are ok, I have run a few, but wasn't real impressed with the performance. I run a cobra 29, and a wilson 1000 mag mount. I have yet to knock the wilson off the roof, and the are easy to tune. Get a swr meter, and get the swr's down as low as possible. Make sure that you coax is run in a way that it won't be kinked or pinched.
August 31, 200520 yr Author Word. My friend got a crappy antenna and I can't hear him half the time while he can hear me perfectly. I wouldn't mind getting one of these antennas. http://www.firestik.com/CatalogFrame.htm
August 31, 200520 yr I run a Uniden PC 33 , with a 9' fiberglass wip on a spring, I like the 9' antenna as in the dunes I can put a flag on it, the wire between the radio and antenna was set up by a hamm CB radio guy I dont remember the length but its supose to be a certain length , ( longer then you need) for best proformance, I wish I had a PA with it, its great out on the trails, protect a solid mt as it could brake from branches
August 31, 200520 yr I use a Cobra DX III. Generic antenna from some truck stop on the way to Castana IA. Had a friend tune it with his RFW meter. Works great on the highway but out on the trails its spotty. Mostly due to the terrain; since CBs are line of sight.
August 31, 200520 yr Author Works great on the highway but out on the trails its spotty. Mostly due to the terrain; since CBs are line of sight. My friend got a generic antenna and I can't even hear him from only 3miles away. I got a nice antenna and he can hear me perfectly. CB are line of sight, but a better antenna really helps.
August 31, 200520 yr My friend got a generic antenna and I can't even hear him from only 3miles away. I got a nice antenna and he can hear me perfectly. CB are line of sight, but a better antenna really helps. Mine reaches 5miles easy; but its also tuned.
September 1, 200520 yr what you need is a cobra 148 with a power mike and a big steel whip none of them fire stix.
September 4, 200520 yr Anyone got any pics of nicly mounted CBs in their rigs? I kinda wanna see what yall have goin on and copy it:brow:
September 4, 200520 yr Author Anyone got any pics of nicly mounted CBs in their rigs? I kinda wanna see what yall have goin on and copy it:brow: I'll post some pics of how I mounted mine. Got all the stuff from Radioshack. Cost about $70 total.
September 6, 200520 yr Kind of a funky place to mount up that antenna. Most of your signal is going to go off the driver side of the car. Top center on the highest point is the best location for an ant. Looks good though. My radio is to big to mount like you all have them mounted. I'll post a pic of my setup as soon as I can find one.
September 6, 200520 yr My CB is just right of the steering wheel next to the vents. all CB functions and display are located on the mic itself. On the upper right hand corner of this picture you can see a silver box where my CB and antenna connect to.
September 6, 200520 yr now at one time i had a nice president something or other radio still do somewhere. and a 250 watt foot warmer and a 100 and something inch steel whip antenna on one of my amc eagle wagons .. never really had a problem talking to people hehe but yes i agree tune what you have before you add power or poof .. no more finals in the radio 10-4?
September 6, 200520 yr Yep, get that SWR down to a 1:1 or as close as you can. Anything over a 3:1 will burn up a radio in a hurry.
September 7, 200520 yr Holy cow Forrester_Ranger.... The wiring job in there reminds me of my Christmas tree... any heat/melty/battery drian issues?
September 7, 200520 yr My CB is just right of the steering wheel next to the vents. all CB functions and display are located on the mic itself. On the upper right hand corner of this picture you can see a silver box where my CB and antenna connect to. Are we a gadget freak, or what? Thats bodering on dangerous driving friend.
September 7, 200520 yr My CB is just right of the steering wheel next to the vents. all CB functions and display are located on the mic itself. On the upper right hand corner of this picture you can see a silver box where my CB and antenna connect to. This is your Captain speaking, "we are ready for take-off"
September 7, 200520 yr Holy cow Forrester_Ranger....The wiring job in there reminds me of my Christmas tree... any heat/melty/battery drian issues? Nope, never had any issues. i don't usually run everything at once though. Just to be safe.
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