CB HELP!

[YeaItsSlo]

Im looking to get my first CB radio for my jeep and i dont want to get a junk one.. Right now im looking at the uniden pc78elite .. Althought it seems like it has a lot of features, i know nothing about CB's .. What in that price range seem like it would be a good radio? somthing around 100 bucks would be key. Id even like to get into the hobby of modifying them in the future possibly..

 

[goodburbon]

I like galaxy radios if you;re gonna get a full featured SSB radio

you don't need all of that and you will probably never use sideband though, you may just want a cobra 25

 

[rocklandxjer]

ive hooked up a couple CBs in all ranges of "quality" and ill tell you, price really doesnt matter. my buddy has one that he got for somewhere like 50-60 bucks and no features, and a 15 dollar cheapo antenna but its well calibrated and works crystal for a surprisingly long distance.

ive also installed a top of the line CB and firestick antenna (my other buddy said he could calibrate him self without the SWR meter) and his only worked for about 100 feet.

its all about the calibration. other features like filters and weather are just comforts.

 

[YeaItsSlo]

I like galaxy radios if you;re gonna get a full featured SSB radio

you don't need all of that and you will probably never use sideband though, you may just want a cobra 25

explain the ssb? Im new to this..

 

[casm]

Im looking to get my first CB radio for my jeep and i dont want to get a junk one.. Right now im looking at the uniden pc78elite .. Althought it seems like it has a lot of features, i know nothing about CB's .. What in that price range seem like it would be a good radio?

It really depends on what you want to do with it. For something that's just for occasional trail use, pretty much anything Radio Shack sells will work fine. Bear in mind that your antenna will have more to do with quality of reception and transmission than any other component, so for a first radio I'd strongly recommend getting a less expensive radio and learning how to match the antenna to it.

somthing around 100 bucks would be key.

I've got a Cobra 75WX ST and am pretty happy with it. It's not the ultimate in CB radios, but works fine for the trail and on long drives. Some searching should let you find it for comfortably less than $100 - MSRP is $129.99, but I picked mine up for around $70 a couple of years ago.

Id even like to get into the hobby of modifying them in the future possibly..

Check out radiomods.co.nz and mods.dk to get a feel for what you'd be geting into on that front.

 

[TheInstaller]

I used to be into the CB hobby, and I run a Uniden PC68XL which costs under $100. I didn't need sideband (ssb) since I am not a big fan of it. I also have a cheap radio in my wife's car, and have found that the key is to have a well tuned antenna.

 

[YeaItsSlo]

I understand you need a well tuned antenna and that its good to start off cheap but im also a beliver on only buying somthing once... if i start off with a cheaper radio, and then grow out of it, then i'll have bought another radio.. id rather just buy a good radio from the start.. ya know?

 

[rocklandxjer]

theres nothing really to grow out of, you dont really get "channelitis" like you do inchitis. the radio you choose is totally up to you, you can get a wide variety of quality in the ~100 dollar range. (although i like cobras, they are pretty decent radios)

but like i said above, my buddy has a cheapo 50 dollar radio and its been working for over a year now wonderfully

 

[w_howey]

I understand you need a well tuned antenna and that its good to start off cheap but im also a beliver on only buying somthing once... if i start off with a cheaper radio, and then grow out of it, then i'll have bought another radio.. id rather just buy a good radio from the start.. ya know?

You left out probably the single most important fact. What do YOU want/expect from a radio? If your needs are a simple radio for trail use. Cobra/Maxon, Midland and Uniden all make some very nice radios that are under $100. If you are looking for something with more features, Cobra/Maxon pack ALOT of pretty much useless crap on their radios. but they do look pretty.

Spend absolutely as much money as you can on your antenna. If you have to get a cheaper radio to get a better antenna its a very good trade-off.

I have run a Uniden 510xl in my trail Jeep for 3 years and had absolutely no problems at all.

 

[YeaItsSlo]

no body has explained what ssb is yet? Any info?

 

[YeaItsSlo]

You left out probably the single most important fact. What do YOU want/expect from a radio? If your needs are a simple radio for trail use. Cobra/Maxon, Midland and Uniden all make some very nice radios that are under $100. If you are looking for something with more features, Cobra/Maxon pack ALOT of pretty much useless crap on their radios. but they do look pretty.

Spend absolutely as much money as you can on your antenna. If you have to get a cheaper radio to get a better antenna its a very good trade-off.

I just want a really really good radio with good distance and a ton of features that ill never get bored of haha.. More importantly, i want to be heard loud and clear!

 

[rocklandxjer]

like said before its all calibration. get an SWR meter to calibrate it to within the acceptable range (or in your case, as perfect as you can get) to be heard loud and clear.

edit: just go to casms link

 

[casm]

no body has explained what ssb is yet? Any info?

Here ya go.

 

[w_howey]

I just want a really really good radio with good distance and a ton of features that ill never get bored of haha.. More importantly, i want to be heard loud and clear!

'Distance' realistically has VERY little to do with the radio. Most radio company features are useless crap crammed on there to get you to buy their crappy repacked radio.

If you want to be 'heard loud and clear' Steer very clear of any kind of power mikes, or screwdriver wielding dumbasses who want to 'tweak and peak' your radio.

no body has explained what ssb is yet? Any info?

The basic simple answer is that Single Side Band is an operating mode on CB.

Every CB signal contains three parts: the carrier, and the upper and lower sidebands. The carrier is centered on the frequency of the channel you are using, and the lower sideband is the portion of the signal width below that center, and the upper is the portion above.

If you remove the carrier and the unused sideband you get a single sideband signal. You get a longer range from SSB, for two basic reasons. First, your not wasting signal energy on the carrier or unused sideband. Second, the FCC allows 12 watts of PEP on SSB, as opposed to 4 watts PEP on AM(the regular mode of CB).

When you are using SSB you are actually transmitting slightly above or below the frequency for the channel you are using. If you are trying to listen to a SSB signal with a regular CB, it will be next to impossible to understand.

 

[w_howey]

Here ya go.

Good description of how SSB operates. Completely crap about '120 channel radios'. The radios advertised as '120 channels' are almost invariably illegal export radios.

 

[goodburbon]

If you want to be 'heard loud and clear' Steer very clear of any kind of power mikes, or screwdriver wielding dumbasses who want to 'tweak and peak' your radio.

I can't disagree with this statement more. An Astatic D-104 and a tune up will do wonders for any radio. one of mine sounded like I was underwater when I talked, the D-104 made it so clear that people could tell I had the cieling fan on in my bedroom from 5 miles away. and Peaked and tuned my old base could be heard 30 miles away(not counting skip of course). My current 148 GTL made me sound like a little girl with the stock mic, and a d-104 cleared up that mess.

 

[YeaItsSlo]

So what radio should i go with? Is the uniden i posted any good? Im still confused here..

 

[w_howey]

I can't disagree with this statement more. An Astatic D-104 and a tune up will do wonders for any radio. one of mine sounded like I was underwater when I talked, the D-104 made it so clear that people could tell I had the cieling fan on in my bedroom from 5 miles away. and Peaked and tuned my old base could be heard 30 miles away(not counting skip of course). My current 148 GTL made me sound like a little girl with the stock mic, and a d-104 cleared up that mess.

I doubt I could count the number of unbelievably bad sounding power mics out there. I put myself through an entire year of college on the money I made repairing CB's that people screwed up with their 'golden screwdrivers'. 99% of the 'tune-ups' are nothing more than some fool either removing the limiting resistors, or turning the potentiometers to their limits with absolutely no clue on how the radio really sounds after this.

The Astatic D-104 is a good microphone, one of the extremely few out there.

 

[w_howey]

So what radio should i go with? Is the uniden i posted any good? Im still confused here..

Yes, the Uniden 78 Elite is a very good radio. It is a repackage of their 78XL. The 78XL is the technical clone of the (old) Cobra 29 XLT. The holding company that owned the Cobra brand name sold the technical designs to the Uniden company, and the brand name to Maxon. So current Cobra radios are not the same quality construction that they were.

 

[WB9YZU]

Im looking to get my first CB radio for my jeep and i dont want to get a junk one.. Right now im looking at the uniden pc78elite .. Althought it seems like it has a lot of features, i know nothing about CB's .. What in that price range seem like it would be a good radio? somthing around 100 bucks would be key. Id even like to get into the hobby of modifying them in the future possibly..

Here's my 25C

Radio
The Uniden 520XL models are good radios at a reasonable price. The radio will run you about $55. The RF gain control I find useful in tuning out strong skip (long distance crap from mexico and CA ) or people on the Interstate which are more than 10 mi away. http://www.uniden.com/products/productdetail.cfm?product=PRO520XL
Uniden also sells radios with WX (weather band) in them, not a bad idea, it just takes up more dash space

Bling
There is a discussion here about power mics and stuff. Like any bling, most of it is just that. A good microphone ads dynamic range, something you won't even hear in your Jeep, so the KISS principle applies here. The stock microphone on these Unidens are pretty good. If anything, add a good external speaker. Preferably somewhere you can hear it easily. I have a small communications speaker mounted on my lower dash and pointed at me. Much better than listening to that tinny built in thing.

Antenna
For trail riding, I do not recomend a Firestick as it is too stiff. I found a new Firestick on the trail once where it lay after being broke off the Jeep. This antenna made by Barjan (Wilson) is a nice antenna, flexable, and easy to tune http://www.barjan.com/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=11520 .

SWR meter
Get an inexpensive SWR meter, you will need it to tune your antenna. Barjan sells these with or without a built in antenna tuner (able to tune the antenna system to the CB without messing with the antenna, not as optimal as tuning the antenna though!).
Radio Shack also sells a nice one.

SSB and Radio Mods
SSB: Strips either the Upper or Lower modulation envelope off from the main radio carrier and transmits that. The radio "decodes" this by inserting a carrier in the receiver. If someone transmits on the channel you are using, with a standard AM signal, all you will hear is a squeel. In the "OLD" days, we set asside certain frequencies for SSB use. Those community "standards" no longer exist. Total waste of money and dash space.

Touching the inside of your radio is VERBOTEN! Per FCC rules unless you happen to have a FCC General Radiotelephone license. Even then, you are not allowed to tune the radio above the 4 watt maximum AM output (which works out to 12 watts Peak Effective Power for you SSB folks).

That covers the the breif discussion about CB.

Other radio systems used on the trail are:

FRS- Family Radio Service. Handheld "walkie talkies" available almost anywhere. 1/2 watt, no license.

GMRS-General Mobile Radio Service. Often confused by most folks as FRS, but more powerful. FCC licensed ($80 for 5years). Handheld, base or Mobile. See the FCC website for more detailed info. All of the 2-5-7-10-15mile "Walkie Talkies" fall into this catagory ( I know, I don't know of anyone besides me with a GMRS license...)

Marine Radio- I have seen these used on the trail...but it's use in this application is VERBOTEN! Though the radios are easily available, they are to only be used Ship to Shore (OK, boat to Shore) or Ship to Ship (boat to boat). More details FCC website, bla bla bla...I told you so...

Amateur Radio- Occasionaly I hear this used. Only between licensed "HAMs" though !
Licensed by the FCC, a valid Amateur Radio License is required when using these radios. No license, no operaty. A good hobby to get into if you are interested in talking longer distances than a few miles "legally" and/or building/modifying/operating radios (or whatever) or even Emergency/Disaster assistance. See the ARRL (Amateur Radio Realy League) for more details at http://www.arrl.org .

Personally, I use GMRS or CB in the Jeep for trail communications.
The CB is the Uniden 520XL with a Larson baseload mounted on the front fender cowl.
The GMRS is a Cobra Handheld.

Ron
Not sure if I should bother with my credentails, someone always has better ones