Any cb'ers here?

[dasmoeturhead]

Good old Diego Garcia. Never set foot on it, but I've been by it few times.

[dasmoeturhead]

Here is the simple mount I made for the radio and external speaker:

IMG_0492.JPGIMG_0493.JPGIMG_0496.JPGIMG_0497.JPG

I have always had an external speaker. It just handles the sound better I think.

I tried it out on a short road trip and it stayed in place and with the cup holder stowed away, I could see the radio face pretty well. The cup holder can just fold out too. It makes the radio stand straight up and the face isn't visible. Not a problem for me.

Nice mobile set up. I have that same radio in my Honda Pioneer.

[daytime dave]

I like the scan feature. It lets me know no one is on without turning the dial too many times. lol Nice install.

[Catherine]

Back east...

My late husband and I used to have CB radios in our trucks and cars for emergency use. I liked it because I used to travel a lot ALONE or with my female, smart, and faithful German Shepherd from the Great Lakes region to the East Coast where I was born and raised.

Plus both of us had long drives from our home in the boonies to our jobs in the city. I did not always work in the city down the road though.

For a brief time, we set up and used a CB radio in our den in the house that we built and lived in for all of those years.

My late husband had a license for a ham radio and his old radio was in his old house as a young man before his military time. I think that he built that old radio but I am not positive now. (That was before I knew him.)

We had ship to shore radios on our sail and power boats too.

Here in Montana...

Some of our friends up north are big into ham radios.

My MT husband had a CB radio but he never had a home base ham radio.

I would not mind getting one again but we might have some issues (?) with a CB due to the mountains and valleys.

We don't even own a cellular telephone and many places around here that we go to have NO coverage due to the mountains. I did have a spare cellular telephone with my MT husband for a very BRIEF TIME and when he no longer needed one for work... we got rid of them.

We only have a land line - house telephone.

My late husband and I never used or owned a cellular telephone even though they were getting a wee bit more common before he died.

Most of our friends have NO land line - house telephones now. They can't imagine living without a cellular telephone.

We would most likely get a CB radio if we buy the property up north especially for emergency use.

My late husband and I used to own a Cobra, Midland (?), Radio Shack and some other name that escapes me now.

My CB old radio name was 'Blue Spruce' because I planted tons of Colorado true blue spruce trees back east. LOL

I can remember my late husband's OLD call sign number too. I can remember his old military number before they put the SS number on his dog tags later on too.

Cate

[Catherine]

What is the range distance for the newer CB radios if you are NOT in a deep valley surrounded by high mountain ranges?

What is the best CB radio when it comes to range distance on the market now?

Cate

[dasmoeturhead]

A CB radio doesn't have a very far range by itself. CB radios can only legally have 4 watts. That's not to much, so in the flatlands probably 5-10 miles. Maybe. In the mountains way less. Now if the atmospheric conditions are good you can talk great distances, like from Montana in the mountains to Japan or South America. Now if you have a Side Band Cb (ssb) they can legally have 12 watts of power, and the SSB is much more efficient to talk long distances. I talk SSB most days, and although the conditions aren't very good these days I routinely talk to operators in, LA,GA,VA,KY from Tennessee.
Ham radios can legally have a a lot more power, and also can use frequencies that don't need good conditions, but you need a license. Hope that helps some. In my opinion, a SSB radio is the way to go. Also on SSB most of the operators conduct themselves more like HAM operator's.
If I was in the market for a new radio with a budget of say $150.00 (without antenna) I would get the Uniden
bearcat 980. It is a SSB radio with 12 watts, and has the regular cb band, and SSB.

[daytime dave]

Here's a technical question. Does the radio switch from 4 watts to 12 watts when you turn from Cb to SSb?

[dasmoeturhead]

Yes. If I already didn't have 3 CB's I get one of these. You really can't go wrong with a ssb radio. It has a lot to offer, however of you ever wanted to modify it (which is illegal) this radio design will not allow it due to its design (surface mount technology). No big deal for the average Joe. The people who would be modifying a radio for more power, or more frequencies would go with a different model.

[daytime dave]

So those can't be "peaked and tuned" either?

[BigAl52]

If you want one with more power get a 10 meter radio and have it tuned to all the bands. Galaxy still makes them and there are other brands that are available. I use to hang out in the ssb mode with a group of guys that were all truck drivers. It help pass the time while on the road and was alot of fun as most of the time everyone got along. We also would be able to meet up once in a while and put a face to the handle. Was it legal no we were in the band your not suppose to be in. But no one seemed to care and there were hundreds of people on those different frequencys just talking away. Al

[dasmoeturhead]

So those can't be "peaked and tuned" either?

They can probably be peaked and aligned yes, but from what I read not much more than that. Yes those so called 10 meter import radios pack a Hell of a wallup, and can be converted to the cb frqs also, but that's technically illegal. Lots of folks do it though. The power range for those imports can be anywhere from 50 watts to over 400 without any adjustments, but will always benefit from the so called peak and tune.