Question about CB's

[EBorraga]

I'm looking to get a little info on mobile cb's. I'm going to be doing a lot of driving over the summer and I'm looking at putting a cb in my car. I've pretty much decided on the Bearcat 980ssb, but I'm looking for a compatible antenna. Id like a smaller magnetic mount that I can put on the top of my Subaru. Any advice would be helpful.

 

[mecompco]

I'm looking to get a little info on mobile cb's. I'm going to be doing a lot of driving over the summer and I'm looking at putting a cb in my car. I've pretty much decided on the Bearcat 980ssb, but I'm looking for a compatible antenna. Id like a smaller magnetic mount that I can put on the top of my Subaru. Any advice would be helpful.

Well, I've been out of the CB loop for a long time. I always used K30s or K40s after I moved on from the quarter wave whip. Are you going to be talking, or just listening? A multi-band ham rig might be of more use. Illegal for use on the 11 meter band, but some can be tuned to do that (nothing against using it to listen). A ham ticket is easy to get if you can memorize facts (or better yet if you already know basic electronic theory).

Regards,
Michael

 

[Carl Fisher]

I've got a Firestik Firefly 4' and have been happy with it. I have a comet mount on the hatch of my 4Runner and just throw firefly on when I travel and it comes off easy and stores out of the way when I don't need it.

 

[jttheclockman]

Wow it has been a long time. But I use to run a center loaded dual whips on my K5 blazers. I did use a trunk mount that was called the Big Moma back then but the K40 is also a good one.

Make sure you tune them to the radio to get max performance. Back when I ran one you needed a licence not sure if needed any more. Made my own power mic and it kicked the wattage up very nicely. Ran with the handle " The Sidecutter" for many years but was overtaken by someone who refused to drop it. Then ran with "The Troubleshooter" and to my knowledge I still can use it but it has been so long. My unit was and still is a 23 channel with sideband capabilities. It was a Robyn GT-7C top of the line back then. Oh those were the days

10-4 good buddy

 

[mecompco]

Wow it has been a long time. But I use to run a center loaded dual whips on my K5 blazers. I did use a trunk mount that was called the Big Moma back then but the K40 is also a good one.

Make sure you tune them to the radio to get max performance. Back when I ran one you needed a licence not sure if needed any more. Made my own power mic and it kicked the wattage up very nicely. Ran with the handle " The Sidecutter" for many years but was overtaken by someone who refused to drop it. Then ran with "The Troubleshooter" and to my knowledge I still can use it but it has been so long. My unit was and still is a 23 channel with sideband capabilities. It was a Robyn GT-7C top of the line back then. Oh those were the days

10-4 good buddy

John, you are old school! CB has been license-free for decades. :biggrin: I still remember our CB call sign back from when I was a kid 40 years ago--KANK0616. My first radio was, IIRC, a Viking that took 5 crystals.

But, yes, you DO have to tune your antenna--borrow or buy an SWR meter from someone to do so.

Regards,
Michael

 

[CREID]

I have used a K40, Firestick and a whip, They all worked. I liked the K40 The best.

 

[campzeke]

If you are looking for traffic information and updates and if you have a smart phone, turn on the GPS feature in your smart phone, then open Google Maps . Turn on the traffic layer in Google Maps and you will have constant real time traffic updates.

Good luck and be safe!

 

[EBorraga]

My car is a wagon, so it's not possible for a trunk mount. I also don't want a 4 foot whip. I'm looking at a k30 magnetic antenna or a Wilson Little Wil magnetic antenna. Both seem about 34-36 inches tall with a removable antenna.

I'm planning on being able to talk and listen. 10-15 hours in the car by myself can get pretty boring.

 

[CREID]

When i used to travel, it got really boring driving all those miles. I started listening to old time radio and then audio books. Now both of these are really expensive if bought at the store. An audio book can cost up to 50 dollars. I belong to Audible and for about 25 bucks a month i get two credits a month to buy books, almost all books are one credit, in over 7 years and a couple hundred books later i don't think i used more than one credit on any book. As for Old Time Radio, The Shadow, Suspense, Sherlock Holmes, I Love a Mystery and hundreds more, i think its less than 10 dollars a month to download as many Old Time Radio shows as you want and i think they have over 20,000 at RUSC.com.

 

[Dalecamino]

Ernie, just an offer. We have a GE High Performance 40 Channel PLL with a 14" flex antenna w/ mag base. It powers on and goes through the channels but, I don't hear anything except when I turn it on. Maybe the antenna needs tuned. Let me know if you want it.

 

[mecompco]

My car is a wagon, so it's not possible for a trunk mount. I also don't want a 4 foot whip. I'm looking at a k30 magnetic antenna or a Wilson Little Wil magnetic antenna. Both seem about 34-36 inches tall with a removable antenna.

I'm planning on being able to talk and listen. 10-15 hours in the car by myself can get pretty boring.

A K30 will work well--perhaps not quite as much gain as the K40, but still not bad if it's tuned properly. Remember that your car is the ground plane--were it mine, it would go right at the center of the roof (which is where I have my K40 on my Cherokee). That will give you the best radiation pattern in all directions (well, probably a little more fore and aft).

I'm sure you know about SWR (Standing Wave Ratio), but for those who don't, it is (rather simplistically) the amount of resistance the antenna provides to the transmitter. A 1:1 ratio is perfect (and not possible), but you want to tune the antenna as close to this as you can get (on the channel you'll mostly use, such as 19, which is the most popular as it's right in the middle of the band). Too much SWR can ruin your transmitter (though the new rigs probably have some sort of protection in place). This is why you need an SWR meter when you set up the rig.

Regards,
Michael

 

[Carl Fisher]

You might find that conversations on 19 these days are pretty sparse and 9 has gone from an emergency channel to mostly hispanic truckers, at least in our region.

 

[mecompco]

You might find that conversations on 19 these days are pretty sparse and 9 has gone from an emergency channel to mostly hispanic truckers, at least in our region.

I don't think the FCC much gives a you-know-what about CB these days. Although we don't have many Hispanic truckers up here in Maine, it's sad that the emergency channel is being mis-used. I guess cell phones pretty much killed the need for it, anyway. I've heard that many truckers are using the ham bands.

I know I can easily talk to folks 150 miles away using our linked repeater network even on 2 meters with a small HT. Still, CB is kinda cool and we used it in our 4x4 club for trail rides. I run an old Cobra 148 GTL w/SSB tweaked up to max legal power and a well-tuned K40. Of course, one can go crazy with linear amps, etc. if one wants (still illegal, however). Get your ham ticket and you can run 1.5 KW on some bands legally. :biggrin:

 

[Carl Fisher]

yeah, I think that the CB bands are pretty much dead these days. I got mine for the occasional offroad venture and just to have another means of communication while on the road. Old habit really.

 

[jttheclockman]

Wow it has been a long time. But I use to run a center loaded dual whips on my K5 blazers. I did use a trunk mount that was called the Big Moma back then but the K40 is also a good one.

Make sure you tune them to the radio to get max performance. Back when I ran one you needed a licence not sure if needed any more. Made my own power mic and it kicked the wattage up very nicely. Ran with the handle " The Sidecutter" for many years but was overtaken by someone who refused to drop it. Then ran with "The Troubleshooter" and to my knowledge I still can use it but it has been so long. My unit was and still is a 23 channel with sideband capabilities. It was a Robyn GT-7C top of the line back then. Oh those were the days

10-4 good buddy

John, you are old school! CB has been license-free for decades. :biggrin: I still remember our CB call sign back from when I was a kid 40 years ago--KANK0616. My first radio was, IIRC, a Viking that took 5 crystals.

But, yes, you DO have to tune your antenna--borrow or buy an SWR meter from someone to do so.

Regards,
Michael

You bet. It has been awhile. I still have the unit and I bet it still works. Found a photo on line but not sure when they say radiomuseum

It had an swr meter built right in it. But always used an external one too to fine tune the antennas.

5-Watt CB Mobile Transceiver GT-7C Citizen Robyn Internation

 

[jttheclockman]

You might find that conversations on 19 these days are pretty sparse and 9 has gone from an emergency channel to mostly hispanic truckers, at least in our region.

I don't think the FCC much gives a you-know-what about CB these days. Although we don't have many Hispanic truckers up here in Maine, it's sad that the emergency channel is being mis-used. I guess cell phones pretty much killed the need for it, anyway. I've heard that many truckers are using the ham bands.

I know I can easily talk to folks 150 miles away using our linked repeater network even on 2 meters with a small HT. Still, CB is kinda cool and we used it in our 4x4 club for trail rides. I run an old Cobra 148 GTL w/SSB tweaked up to max legal power and a well-tuned K40. Of course, one can go crazy with linear amps, etc. if one wants (still illegal, however). Get your ham ticket and you can run 1.5 KW on some bands legally. :biggrin:

Yea still got the power amp too 80 watts:biggrin::biggrin: Cobras were very big back then also. I guess we come a long way. I tweaked mine too. Oh brings back memories. The price of those skyrocketed and then when the market got flooded with them they were so cheap. The airwaves got ridiculous with all the clowns out there.

Had a Midland base unit too.

 

[liljohn1368]

I have a cobra 29 chrome with a Texas star 500 hooked to a 9' whip. But the little Wilson is a good antina for short range.

 

[EBorraga]

After extensive google searching, I found a local cb repair guy that has a shop in his house. Apparently cb shops are something in the past. Saturday Iim meeting up with this guy and getting everything tuned and peaked!

 

[MDWine]

Wow... talk about memories.
I haven't had one in ... uh ... 35 or 40 years!
We were big into tunin em up ... we'd sit on top of the Skyline Drive and see how far we could get!
KAHT-7234, "The Black Velvet" comin' atchya!

Have fun!

 

[EBorraga]

She'll get her first test on my roadtrip to Cleveland. I'll be leaving on June 24th. Just shy of 350 miles one way.

 

[mecompco]

She'll get her first test on my roadtrip to Cleveland. I'll be leaving on June 24th. Just shy of 350 miles one way.

10-4 Good Buddy! Watch out for Smokey and Uncle Charlie and keep the shiney side up! :biggrin:

 

[sbwertz]

Before cell phones, the CB was the only way to holler for help if you broke down....it saved me several times, especially when I was soloing in our big motorhome. Today, with cell phones, I don't know if it would be worth the expense. I listen to audio books I get from my local library for free. My cellphone is hands free in the car and if I get bored or sleepy I just call someone. I'm heading out in my little motorhome on a trip from Phoenix to Colorado to Connecticut to Oklahoma and back to Phoenix the end of June. Plan to take about 4 weeks. I'll be soloing since my husband's health makes a long trip like this very uncomfortable for him. I made the same trip last year towing a sailboat! No boat this year, thank heavens...the rig was 46 feet long.

 

[EBorraga]

Here is a couple pics after I installed it. I spent a few hours at the guys shop. He probably had over 100 cb radios.

 

[Dalecamino]

That'll work! :biggrin: You're good to go now.

 

[Charlie_W]

Here is a couple pics after I installed it. I spent a few hours at the guys shop. He probably had over 100 cb radios.

At first, I thought the guy wires for the power pole were your antenna!:biggrin:

Looks good! You will have to give us a report!

KABR7072. Spark Plug / Sawdust Base

 

[mecompco]

Looks great. I can almost hear ya' wall to wall and tree top tall!