What CB would you buy??

[youngcoloradoXJ]

So I am in the market for a CB radio and am already confused on what I should get. is 4 watts enough output? whast brand should I buy, where should I mount it? what does the majority of wheelers run? any help would be appreciated!

 

[Littlewhitexj]

Personally If I were going to buy a new radio today it would be a Galaxy 959 or 949, or a Uniden 78 Elite. If you arent into SSB, dont buy the 959, and If you are only planning on using it for wheeling you could even go with a Uniden 68 Elite. Most of the Uniden line are great radios, even the Uniden 510 can be made into a talker.

4 watts is the legal limit. However many people run much much more than that, but its not in your best interest. If you want to run lots of wattage get your Ham ticket and you can legally run lots of power.

A lot of wheelers run the Cobra 75? its the model with all the controls in the mic. I personally am not a fan of this radio just because CBing is a hobby of mine, I dont just use it while wheeling. Also, If you are looking at the Cobra radios, be aware that the "sound tracker" models are known to have a lot of problems. Also know that the new Cobra 148 is NOT the same talker the old discontinued 148 was.

Stay away from radio shack coax. Get some good (belden) RG-8x (AKA mini-8), and use soldered on Amphenol connectors.

The biggest thing to remember is to get a good antenna. A crappy radio and a good antenna will out talk a good radio with a crappy antenna any day of the week. A lot of wheelers like the Firestik line of antennas, which are fine on the trail, but they dont get out too far in my expirence. My favorite antennas are the Radio Shack 102" SS whip, and the Predator 10K single coil (I wouldnt recommend the predator on the trail though.)

Also, if you are going to drop the coin for a new radio, buy a SWR meter also. The SWR meters that are build in to radios are notoriously inaccurate. The radioshack model is fine.

Any other questions just ask.

 

[DXJ]

As LittleWhiteXJ said, 4 watts is the legal limit. The other day though I saw a uniden that bragged all over the box that it was a 5 watt radio. I had to open the box to find that the speaker was powered with 5 watts not the transmitter. I thought it was very misleading so I thought I would point it out so people could be aware.

Again as LittleWhiteXj said, the antenna is probably more important than the radio. I don't really want to run a 102" whip antenna so I settled for a Firestick that just barely fits in my garage. I fiddled around with the mounting, tuning and cable routing using an external SWR meter, and now it gets out and receives pretty well.

When I thought I messed up my radio, I put in an old Sears 23 channel radio and it also worked great because I spent the time to get the antenna as good as I could get it (with the space and equipment I had). Turns out the mic was bad and not the radio. But what I'm saying is, antenna set-up is more important than radio.

 

[xjjeepthing]

I bought my Cobra at Walmart works great

 

[MogifiedXJ]

If you want a cheaper radio the uniden pc 78 (like stated above) is a good unit.

 

[Motornoggin]

I have a Cobra 125 in my XJ with 18' of Firestick coax and a 5.5ft Francis antenna on a spring. My Tahoe has a Cobra 19 with 18' of coax and a 4' K40 antenna. I didn't get the range I wanted with the K40 on the XJ so I switched to the Francis and I have been more than impressed. Granted, the length of the antenna has a lot to do with it, but the range really surprised me.

 

[MogifiedXJ]

The Galaxys have a good reputation and I do like them. Maybe young should tell us what he wants to spend on one then we could suggest what he should look at.

 

[1996cc]

I have a cobra 19 ultra. I've had to have it repaired due to the cold solder joints cobra uses. When I buy another one, it will be a Uniden, either a 510 or 520.

 

[theksmith]

Though much more of a "consumer" level radio than those mentioned so far, I love my Midland 75-822:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...7031/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-1280179-5406450?ie=UTF8

It fits in my center console untill I need it during a trail run. I like it becuase you can unhook it from the vehicle power/antenna and slap on it's battery pack and whip antenna and climb up to the top of a hill if you need better reception or are broken down and have to walk out...

 

[youngcoloradoXJ]

okay so I guess I was looking for something complete around $100-130. Or less being that I am in college. I know I don't want a HAM radio, just something that can pick up rigs w/in a mile or two. One of you mentioned the routing of the cable, don't you just plug it into the antenna and then into the radio or is there a special way to route the cable to get a better signal? also I saw a really cool mounting bracket for the rear tail light, is that the best spot or where else would be ideal for reception and cosmetics.

 

[Littlewhitexj]

Ideal spot would be smack dab in the center of the roof.

 

[MogifiedXJ]

Ideal spot would be smack dab in the center of the roof.

That's how I've got mine mounted...there really old pics but I'll post them up tomorrow.

If your just wanting to spend $100-130 the uniden pc-78xl elite w/ the weather alert would be a nice option.

 

[Stone Dragon]

okay so I guess I was looking for something complete around $100-130. Or less being that I am in college. I know I don't want a HAM radio, just something that can pick up rigs w/in a mile or two. One of you mentioned the routing of the cable, don't you just plug it into the antenna and then into the radio or is there a special way to route the cable to get a better signal? also I saw a really cool mounting bracket for the rear tail light, is that the best spot or where else would be ideal for reception and cosmetics.

Cobra 25-$89 and a 4' Firestix /mount/ and coax-$40. The cobra 25 is one of the loudest radios out there when tuned properly. It keeps up with or out does the Galaxies and Magnums.