Tips on buying a CB Radio?

[amelia]

I'm looking into the possibility of a CB radio. It would be for emergency use in the car while driving through mountain passes and possibly for use on the homestead where cell phone reception is nonexistent. I'm just beginning my research on radios and am a bit confused about just how useful CB radios are, what their limitations are, etc. I may end up needing to get a Ham radio for home use, and wouldn't mind ultimately having both a CB and Ham, if that's what's necessary. But for now, any advice on selecting a CB would be appreciated, as well as any comments on what it can, and cannot do. Thanks!

[JIL]

I'll be watching this as we are also thinking about getting one thanks JIL

[texican]

Get as fancy a one as you can afford. SSB, and maybe even a linear amp, to put out more power. A good antenna...

If you're thinking of getting a HAM, you can get mobile hams that'll also do CB.

Imho, the achilles heel of cb's are that hardly anyone uses them anymore, outside of truckers... and if you're broke down on a backroad, you're SOL. On a main road, I'd imagine if you were broke down, a good hearted soul would stop and help you.

You can always get a tracfone or netfone......... you CAN call 911 with a dead phone.

When I got my truck from my dad, it still had a cb in it... after it getting in the way for five years, I took it out, and put it behind the seat. Never had a use for it. Got my first cell phone last year... comes in more handy, at least if you're around lots of people. Like the OP, we have no coverage at home... but then, we have no cb coverage either... (live in a hollow).

[Bearfootfarm]

Get as fancy a one as you can afford. SSB, and maybe even a linear amp

Those are illegal.
The FCC frowns on boosting the wattage

The best thing would be forget the CB and go for a good HAM radio

[Beeman]

Originally Posted by amelia

I'm looking into the possibility of a CB radio. It would be for emergency use in the car while driving through mountain passes and possibly for use on the homestead where cell phone reception is nonexistent. I'm just beginning my research on radios and am a bit confused about just how useful CB radios are, what their limitations are, etc. I may end up needing to get a Ham radio for home use, and wouldn't mind ultimately having both a CB and Ham, if that's what's necessary. But for now, any advice on selecting a CB would be appreciated, as well as any comments on what it can, and cannot do. Thanks!

I really don't think a Citizens Band radio will do much for you. I would buy a Cobra 29 which is an inexpensive dependable radio and a decent antenna and have the setup tuned at a CB shop. This would give you a cheap way to see how well it would work for you. Cobra 29's can be had on sale at chain truck stops for about $70.
You're limited to a few miles depending on weather and terrain. The other limitation is who is on the other end. If you've lead a sheltered life it will open up a whole new world and language you'd rather not hear.

[WolfWalksSoftly]

I tend to agree with Beeman in general if you live in a Valley or surrounded by Mountains. With your terrain, CB isn't going to do much for you unless it is a base to base situation with high antenna's. My advise would be to study a bit and get your Ham Ticket and purchase a 6 meter radio, if there are several repeaters in your area it is "possible" you could talk the whole State.

[DYngbld]

I see no use in CB radio. The CB is all but useless, outside the trash mouths in the trucks on the highways. If you looking to use them locally on the farm a couple of GMRS/FRS handhelds work great for a couple of miles.

Talk to a local Ham Radio operator. (I can help you find one) Ham radio is great but can cost quite a bit. My wife and I use ours with the local reteater and can talk over 50 miles.

Darryl
KE4HTS

[fantasymaker]

Id get (and I do often) the kind with a speaker on the front ,NOT the top or bottom. I like the ones with the weather channels built in. Get a good antenna system and have the Cb shop tune them for you ,should be less than $100 totl.

[ericjeeper]

Then you can often find a good used setup. And also have them set the standing wave on your vehicle.. I always carry a cb and magnet mount antenna in my truck.I went to Wisconsin 2 weeks ago and I hooked it all up.. It is great fro getting last minute traffic help from the truckers when going through "The windy"

[Wis Bang]

The best thing is one w/ a RF gain control. You can leave the squelch open and turn up the gain until you don't hear any noise eliminating the distant stuff. A little up/down on the RF gain clears up close people talking...

CB is very limited w/ out illegal amplifiers [linears] and you don't know if anyone else is out there sometimes...latenights can be funny sometimes.

[JohnL751]

A CB is a good idea if there are several other people within a few miles who also think it is a good idea.

[jason.]

I do the occasional two day drive on a mix of highways and two lanes, a little off-roading, and a lot of camping. For monitoring traffic and weather, and keeping in contact with other people in my group, I run a Uniden Pro 538W radio and Wilson Lil Wil antenna. The radio has a front-firing speaker, receives weather channels, and performs without surprises. Ideally the antenna would be longer for better reception/transmission, but it does fine for me.

EDIT: I dug out my receipts for the gear: $57 for the radio, $28 for the antenna. I borrowed an SWR meter to tune it, but I think they'll be $20 at Radio Shack if you need to buy new.

[Shrek]

The community watch program I was with found the Cobra Roadtrip handheld units to be good. They have a power save feature, loc/distance filter, weather radio and can be used with the handheld antenna, included magnetic car antenna or can be a base station antenna with a bnc coax connector and A/C to 12volt power transformer.

I have two set up as emergency communications between my and my parents houses at a distance of about 4 miles using starduster base station antennas on 25 foot tv antenna masts.

When I go on roadtrips, I plug it into the cigarette lighter, put the radio in a cup holder hung on the console and run the stubby outside mag base antenna in from the rain channel in the door.

The radios and car adapter ran $99, Chargers and rechargable batteries were about $30 and I found both base station antennas used on Craigslist for $20 and $15.

Heres the radioshack product page on it

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2437610

[texican]

Originally Posted by Bearfootfarm

Those are illegal.
The FCC frowns on boosting the wattage

The best thing would be forget the CB and go for a good HAM radio

Speeding is illegal, too.

I'd rather have a linear, and not need it 'cept for emergencies, than to need it, and not have it.

In an TEOTWAWKI situation, I doubt if anyone 'in charge' will even exist.

[radiofish]

Well Texican, I have HF ham gear that will do over 1.5 Kilowatts of output "power" on 27MHz, the CB band.... Like posted above, you will hear language on the CB band - that may curl your toes, or make a Marine Blush!!

Besides being limited to 4 watts AM output power on most commerically available radio models, get the largest antenna you can. That is why they made the 102" whip antennas, which are a 1/4 wavelenght on 11 meters\ 27 MHz. Checking the standing wave ration of the antenna would help..

Do not get the tiny loaded coil antennas (less than 36 inches in lenght) if you can help it.. They are terribly inefficent radiators..

One can get a 2 meter amateur "ham" radio and antenna for mobile/ portable operation for less than $150.00 dollars. Plus the FCC has dumbed down the ham radio testing and removed the morse code requirement. So easy, a caveman could do it!!!!! Hey they will even sell you a book with the exact FCC pool of questions and answers, that your test will be taken from!!

With some linked ham radio repeater systems, one can talk over very long distances. The 222 MHz "Condor Linked System" covers several states in the Southwest. There also is a large linked 2 Meters system in the Pacific Northwest area.

de KK6ZY

[Wis Bang]

Originally Posted by texican

Speeding is illegal, too.

I'd rather have a linear, and not need it 'cept for emergencies, than to need it, and not have it.

In an TEOTWAWKI situation, I doubt if anyone 'in charge' will even exist.

that's true but most truckers w/ them use 'em.

Way back I had a re-box Midland 23 ch w/ USB/LSB & RF Gain. I'd use it on the NJ tpk 'bout 3am & would open the gain on quiet summer nights...then I'd be by this trucker and hear the first milisecond of his voice and watch my meter continue. Being that close to a linear would burn the tiny internal speaker. After having 3 replaced, I just found a trucker's extension speaker and plugged it in.

I used to have a radio shack 40ch w/ weather and a RF gain knob in my S-10 that I used for traffic info on longer trips it is sitting on a shelf, I paid $25.00 @ englishtown flea market. Dad's Jimmy came w/ a cheap one from a truck stop. His mount took up too much room & his cheap radio shack antenna broke so that one sits along side the other one.

[Shrek]

The atvantages of CB is that they are inexpensive, there is no licensing required, without illegal linear amplification the distance of coverage is adequate for a 5 to 10 mile radius, they don't require external repeater towers like cellphone PTT or GMRS and will hold the same coverage during power outages that take out the repeater towers and if your on the road, more truckers use CB radios than ham sets for relaying traffic information.

Although many ham radio operators are also storm spotters, during bad weather, decent visual reports can also be recieved from commercial drivers on the heavily travelled roadways in your area.

As someone mentioned above, the true effectiveness of CB radio depends on how many in your area use them.

Here after the community watch began using them, about 15 or 20 residents not a part of the CW got them or hooked their old ones up so that they could monitor the watch patrol like they do their scanners. Now there is a small CB coffee clatch chat that goes on every morning with 4 or 5 women in our area who use it hobby form as they did 30 years ago and people currently use the internet.

[WolfWalksSoftly]

Originally Posted by Shrek

Here after the community watch began using them, about 15 or 20 residents not a part of the CW got them or hooked their old ones up so that they could monitor the watch patrol like they do their scanners. Now there is a small CB coffee clatch chat that goes on every morning with 4 or 5 women in our area who use it hobby form as they did 30 years ago and people currently use the internet.

I think thats GREAT

[tamsam]

Ask around and find a ham operator and ask if there is repeaters in your area. If you have 2 meter repeaters you can get new 2 meter rigs fairly cheap. This also opens up a great hobby for you and your family. The license is easy to get since they dropped morse code from the test. We have a base here at home and mobiles in both car and truck and I can talk back to home from about 3 counties without any trouble. Right now the base is sitting here scanning all the channels that is in it and if some one needs help we will answer. Although you may not hear talking there is usually some one somewhere listening. We have heard calls for help at all hours of the night. Good luck in what ever you decide. Sam

[Old Vet]

Originally Posted by texican

You can always get a tracfone or netfone......... you CAN call 911 with a dead phone.

You can get a cell phone that is the best in the world and can't 911 on it from my place because I don't have cell phone coverage here.