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Any Local CB Nerds Around Lakewood/Long Beach??

waxer

JEEP APPRENTICE
Staff member
NAXJA Member
I purchased a COBRA 29 WX NW ST and could use some advice and help setting up the antenna properly. I don't have the antenna yet... but I have an old firestick and a mag mount antenna. Neither seemed to work too well when I had another Uniden CB installed in the XJ.. but that could have been a improperly tuned antenna.

Any help is appreciated.
 
I thought most have moved on to 2 meter handhelds these days. :dunno:

FaultyLine in Burbank could help you with tuning your CB though
 
I thought most have moved on to 2 meter handhelds these days. :dunno:

FaultyLine in Burbank could help you with tuning your CB though

Are you talking about those Chinese models on Amazon.. Baofung or something like that? I bought a few UHF ones and they work ok... defnitely don't have the range..
 
Are you talking about those Chinese models on Amazon.. Baofung or something like that? I bought a few UHF ones and they work ok... defnitely don't have the range..

Some use a baofang.....a handheld 2 meter usually has more range than a CB actually and that is the main reason most are not carrying a CB wired in anymore.
 
It is going to depend on the power of the two radios being combined.

My guess is that a handheld Baofeng (5 watts) is not going to have as much range as a dash mounted (i.e. mobile) CB (20 watts?).

I don't know what the output range is for mobile CB radios, but I fairly confident the ham radios outperform them, provided the laws are being followed.

This chart might be of some value:

VehVehRadioRanges.JPG


That was lifted from here: http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=304478

If you want to compare apples to apples it would be a handheld ham vs a handheld CB, but I think many folks are actually comparing a handheld ham to a mobile CB. Not quite apples to apples. But I bet the price points are close, and price is what folks look at first.
 
I purchased a COBRA 29 WX NW ST and could use some advice and help setting up the antenna properly. I don't have the antenna yet... but I have an old firestick and a mag mount antenna. Neither seemed to work too well when I had another Uniden CB installed in the XJ.. but that could have been a improperly tuned antenna.

Any help is appreciated.
Are you talking about setting up the ant with a SWR meter? I have one and am in Lakewood
 
Yeah I have one too and I'm in LBC but I wouldn't bother wiring in a CAB, just get the handheld baofeng.

Bingo ;)

Pull the CB and throw it in the trash
 
Also, CB is in the 11 meter band (27.XXX Mhz) And broadcast on AM. whereas 2 meter ham (146.XXX Mhz) and uses FM. 2 meter is a shorter radio wave and therefore more efficient.

Or in other words Ham works better.
 
Thanks guys for all the feedback. I have decided to box up the Cobra and have purchased two Baofeng UV5R-TP Ham Handhelds with upgraded Diamond antennas and extended batteries.

It just makes sense to go Ham. I can program in all kinds of frequencies, even FRS and GMRS into the handhelds. I can hit repeaters nearby and program in local repeaters based on where I'm traveling and camping at.

I'm also studying to get my technicians license. So this will be an interesting, yet fun journey.
 
An unsolicited recommendation:

I took and passed the technician's exam this morning.

For anyone else thinking of doing it, I highly recommend hamstudy.org. They have electronic "flashcards" with all of the test questions from the question pool with short explanations, as well as practice tests. As you go through the flashcards, the site tracks your progress in terms of the percentage of questions from the exam pool you've been exposed to, as well as your aptitude in individual subject areas as judged by responses. Both these measures are displayed in a neat bar chart. You can go through the flash cards randomly, or review cards related to specific subject areas separately. In addition, as you take the practice tests, results are tracked on a line graph-type chart, so you can see your progress over successive tests. And its free of charge. For me, studying the flash cards, reading some of the explanations, and then taking practice exams was much more beneficial than taking practice exams alone would have been.
 
If you make it to an AAT Varmint #1 can guide you through a bunch of the ins and outs of those radios.

And good on you for working on getting your license. It is not a hard test. There are a handful of details to keep straight about the legal rules of the game (many of which are pretty much common sense, at least when you consider the multiple choice alternatives) and then a bit of rudimentary knowledge of electronics and some simple math.
 
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