Since just about the beginning of time, 4 watts is the legal limit for broadcast output on a CB. Technology varies though, and the clarity of what you send and receive can be greatly improved with a Cobra or such. Antenna type and location is at least 50% of the equation.
When I was young (60-70s) you had to have a license for a CB, kind of like you have to have for a GMRS radio now. When the craze went crazy late 70s for about 10 years, they eliminated the need for the license.
While 4 watts is still the legal limit, a lot of radio shops (and just independent geeks) know how to tweak the radios to get some more out of them. But you have to be careful with that. The radios are designed with a little buffer, and donāt broadcast at their full potential. Thatās a safety factor so you donāt burn them up. A lot of times when you get them āpeaked,ā the tech will push it to the limit, and after a period of time you can burn it up. Itās usually a lot cheaper to buy a better quality radio than to buy a cheap one and then pay somebody to modify it. And yes, modifying them is illegal.
Having said that, the technology and circuitry in some radios makes it much more easy to pump up the output. Understand that thatās just the output. So if you push out more signal, people will be able to hear you, but you may not be able to pick up their response.
SSB: A single side band is actually what it sounds like. When you broadcast on the regular AM CB 40 channels, youāre broadcasting a wave at 4 watts. With an SSB, when you were on the upper side or the lower side band, you are only using half the wave/band. The effect is āplus 2X,ā so youāre actually broadcasting at 12 watts. That is only when you are in the upper band or lower band, and only somebody with the upper band or lower band on that channel will be able to communicate. The āclarifyā knob is actually simply a tuning knob. When you connect to somebody, if the signal is a little bit off, you can play with the clarify knob and bring them in better sometimes, many times.
SKIP: the regular 40 channel signal compared to the SSB signal is like a bullet compared to a softball. The softball carries well for a short distance, and itās big so itās easy to catch. The SSB signal is the rifle shot. It is narrow and it can travel much farther. With that rifle shot signal, with the right atmosphere conditions, the signal can āskipā off the bottom part of a heavy atmosphere (like clouds, but it doesnāt have to be cloudy), and that signal can go great distances. Having a good clarify is usually mandatory to pick up those distant signals. Usually that skip feature goes in both directions, so you can talk to people very far away sometimes.
I use my radios to stay awake, ask local directions while Iām driving, etc. Iām not using them to talk to people far away from my social life, not that Iām knocking. If you want to use them for a good communication and long distance communication. Do you want the best radio you could get, and a very good antenna set up.
Another note for the modern day: there are radio listening sensors all over the place these days, like radar traps, but nobody is manning them. If they pick up a heavy signal, then they can go to the police or traffic cameras, or who knows what, and find you, and justify the taxes we paid for the government to keep guys like you under control.
Hope it helps
I'm 90% serious there.
