CB Questions

[daniel3507]

im pretty new to CBs and was wanting to put one in my 93 and run dual antennas like Lifted_Mazda has. Other than the CB its self and the antenna and mounting harware, what else is needed?

[85_Ranger4x4]

A cable to connect the antennea and the radio. Dual whips are more for looks than performance on a pickup.

And either a SWR meter to tune it or a CB shop can do it if you have one close.

[MudSlutII]

dont buy a cheap walmart one. pick a cb up at a local truck stop or somewhere. it'll come in more clear and people could hear you better.

[Wicked_Sludge]

actually, if your going to skimp on the cost of anything, it should be the CB itself. a cheap CB with a quality antenna will outoperform a top-shelf CB with crappy antenna any day.

+1 on the dual antennas on a pickup....your liable to have a very poor wave pattern with them since you cannot get the antennas far enough apart on a pickup (much less a compact pickup).

and +1 on tuning it or getting it tuned. CB's arent as simple as hooking some wires together and calling it good. they are much more sensitive than that.

[daniel3507]

what brand antennas and CB do you guys recommend?

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

I picked up a nice cobra unit from ebay for about 45 bucks

[daniel3507]

Cobra is what i have been looking at. they seem to have some pretty nice ones. im still not sure how about is how to mount it to the bed of my truck. i want to mount them on the corners right before the cab. all the mounts i have seen are mirror mounts or hood and bumper ones.

[daniel3507]

So after doing some research i still cant find any mounts that would put it where i want it. I was wondering if the magnetic mounts work alright? i would rather not go that route but i may not have a choice

[Jason]

Get a cobra 29 and any GOOD antenna. mount the antenna in the center of the roof and wind the extra coax in a figure 8 fashion. Have someone tune the antenna (or do yourself, Radio Shack sells SWR meters). Cobra's are nice radios but remember that the soundtracker feature is only worth its ass if you are talking to someone else with the same feature so don't pay extra for it.

Good antennas are easy to find. Buy Wilson. :D

[dranger21]

+1 on the Wilson

[drifterawh]

Wilson is great but K40 just as good an a few $$ less.

[Scrambler82]

daniel3507,

How did you make out on the CB install ?

Talk to us !

ltr,

[tony314]

Show us pictures!

[bagdranger]

wilson is a good antenna. im running a cobra 148 with a frances 4ft on a permant mount inside the bed. I get pretty good reception and range with what i got. and dual antennas arent the best bet on a small pickup unless your only using one and the other is for show. just a single good antenna and a decent radion and your all set.

[TKEsigmaOmega273]

ive got a lil wil wilson magnetic antenna and it works great with my uniden 40 channle cb so i would recomend both of those

[bagdranger]

i had a little wil before my frances and it worked great until just recently and i think it started to get a short in the base somewhere. sometimes I'd get signal and then I'd loose it

[_Kyle_]

My lil wilson was a great antenna when I had it on my Jeep. When tunes properly, I had amazing range with it. I need to find another for my exploder now as the antenna on it currently sucks.

[Scrambler82]

IMHO, Wilson is the best mass made antenna on the market, the Firestik is widely used and appears to work, the K40 not sure haven't used one in a long time, then there is the Monkey Made, they are big (& $$$) but from stats work great.

The CB, again IMHO, Uniden is the best Communication gear fro general use; their scanners are the best available, their phones are good and their CB, NICE stuff and affordable.
They make a Pro 510 or the Pro 520 (has PA and RF Gain) both good CBs and available at most department stores for around the $60 mark or from an On-Line Store like Walcott CB ( http://www.walcottcb.com/uniden-pro520xl-compact-cb-radio-with-pa-jack-p-532.html?cPath=340_377 ) or Right Channel Radio ( http://www.rightchannelradios.com/uniden-cb-radios-129/uniden-bearcat-pro-520xl-cb-radio-195.html ); both come in at $60.

As stated by others, buy a good quality Antenna then buy some good quality coax (Belden RG 8X) and then look for a good CB.
Run the coax to the antenna away from power lines and the computer.
Mount the antenna so the Mount has a good ground; even if you have to add an additional braided strap to the frame.
Get the antenna tuned for low SWR.

Talk to whom ever you can talk to.

Luck to ya,

[tony314]

IMHO, Wilson is the best mass made antenna on the market, the Firestik is widely used and appears to work, the K40 not sure haven't used one in a long time, then there is the Monkey Made, they are big (& $$$) but from stats work great.

The CB, again IMHO, Uniden is the best Communication gear fro general use; their scanners are the best available, their phones are good and their CB, NICE stuff and affordable.
They make a Pro 510 or the Pro 520 (has PA and RF Gain) both good CBs and available at most department stores for around the $60 mark or from an On-Line Store like Walcott CB ( http://www.walcottcb.com/uniden-pro520xl-compact-cb-radio-with-pa-jack-p-532.html?cPath=340_377 ) or Right Channel Radio ( http://www.rightchannelradios.com/uniden-cb-radios-129/uniden-bearcat-pro-520xl-cb-radio-195.html ); both come in at $60.

As stated by others, buy a good quality Antenna then buy some good quality coax (Belden RG 8X) and then look for a good CB.
Run the coax to the antenna away from power lines and the computer.
Mount the antenna so the Mount has a good ground; even if you have to add an additional braided strap to the frame.
Get the antenna tuned for low SWR.

Talk to whom ever you can talk to.

Luck to ya,

+ 10 WELL put! :icon_thumby:

[TKEsigmaOmega273]

agreed well put

[creepinjeepster]

As for CB's mentioned, Cobra's are made by Uniden. As for the model to get, depends on what kind of range and how loud you want to sound. A max 5 mile type range with decent volume, Cobra 19, Pro 510, Pro 520 etc. More distance and volume, Cobra 29 and the like. Most volume and distance, Galaxy 10 meter converted to an 11 meter, Cobra 148 GTL, Super Star and like radio's.

As for antenna's, like others I only recommend Wilson steel whip antenna's. As for the difference between Wilson's and K40's, you won't really see a difference unless you run a system with power. Wilson designed there's with a better center load than K40 which translates into the following example.

K40-first TX puts out 500 watts. 2nd TX 375 watts and so on. It gets hot on the center load because of its design and lets less power out each time its keyed up.

Wilson steel whip-1st TX 500 watts. 2nd TX 500 watts and so on. Air gap greater to allow for quicker cooling.

this test can even be proven with a good SWR/Power meter. If you want to spend the money on the antenna's just to try it out. I've done things with my radio that would make you call BS, but there are others out there that can do the same for those that are really into radios like I am. Try channel 6 or 11 almost any day of the week with a stock radio and see if you get a word in. I can. :) Operators on those channels talk from state to state and sometimes continent to continent with there radios.

Post isn't to brag, just to let everybody interested know the differencesbefore they buy one set up and then discover it's not what they want and spend more to UPGRADE. CB's are expensive hobbies too.

[Prodigous Ranger]

Just a question, I wired my CB into the cigarette lighter power supply because I took out the ashtray and slid the CB in the slot. Approximately how much will this affect my signals? is it worth worrying about or is it just for those optimization details?

[Doug Metheny]

i am running 3 atennas in my ranger actuly a little will magnetic and 2 dual whips i cant remember the whips but my first fear was over modulating my radio but that didnt happen.

and prodigous ranger i have run my power to the cb from my 12v supply in the truck and "right" way i honestly didnt see a diffrence but i could be wronge that is my opnion

[adsm08]

So after doing some research i still cant find any mounts that would put it where i want it. I was wondering if the magnetic mounts work alright? i would rather not go that route but i may not have a choice

I have a firestick NGP antenna and it has a mirror mount bracket that I just bolted on to the cab corner. I'm sure you could probably get it bolted into the bed corner if you try hard enough.

http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac325/geaeri95/IMG_0465.jpg

You can kinda see where it is in this picture, but I don't have any of the actual mounting.

[Jason]

Post isn't to brag, just to let everybody interested know the differencesbefore they buy one set up and then discover it's not what they want and spend more to UPGRADE. CB's are expensive hobbies too.

I did this tonight. My new Prostar has a hell of a radio setup and I didn't hear shit.