CB Radio - recommendations?
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kevinpt
Senior Member
are you wanting to know best mounting of radio or antenna?
KidVermicious
New member
No need to mount it.
http://www.amazon.com/Cobra-75WXST-...=UTF8&qid=1413281784&sr=8-2&keywords=cobra+cb
http://www.amazon.com/Cobra-HHROADT...qid=1413281847&sr=8-1&keywords=cobra+roadtrip
Amazon.com : Midland 75-822 40 Channel CB-Way Radio : Two Way Radios : Electronics
These are not super-powerful radios that will let you reach out miles and miles. For road trips and trail comm, you don't need them, and the bonus to these is they're portable. I have the Midland, and I don't need a CB for each vehicle I own, I just move it from truck to truck. I can also throw on the battery pack and rubber duckie and carry it with me outside the truck, which has been useful a couple times.
If you want superpowerfulreachoutmilesandmiles, skip the CB and go straight to amateur radio.
Martinjmpr
New member
+1 on the Midland 75-822. I've been using one for 8 years and it works great.
I also use a base-loaded mag-mount whip antenna in the center of the roof, which seems to work just fine (length is around 36" so.)
If I'm going to take the time and effort to mount a radio it will be a 2m or dual-band mobile HAM radio, not a CB.
03_4x4Runner
Senior Member
An old post from the 5th gen forum I believe. http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/178169-whats-your-favorite-cb.html
I have this one in my jeep: http://www.amazon.com/Uniden-PRO520...=UTF8&qid=1413313819&sr=1-7&keywords=cb+radio
Very compact and user friendly and inexpensive! Works well when wheeling with a group of people. On highway I can pickup some decent traffic as well. Avoid the handset/combos as they are bulky and not as good as a 2 piece unit.
Don't forget to get a CB meter/tuner as well or you might as well not get one in the first place. I got a cheapo like $25. The combo has good range with my 3-4'? hard antenna.
chmura
New member
CB's are pretty much unless with maximum power of 2-5 watts of transmitting power.
I bought a CB 2 years ago and I only used it once because if your buddy is 1-3 miles far away than you cannot communicate with him. It's in the garage now collecting dust.
I would highly recommend you getting your HAM license and buy a real radio. Test is not hard at all. I took a online course (https://www.hamradiolicenseexam.com/) and I studied 1 hour a day for 2 weeks.
Bought a HAM radio with 65w of power and I can communicate with people 80 miles away. Love the range of HAM as I use it for emergency communication when I am in Death Valley or far away from civilization.
I bought a CB 2 years ago and I only used it once because if your buddy is 1-3 miles far away than you cannot communicate with him. It's in the garage now collecting dust.
I would highly recommend you getting your HAM license and buy a real radio. Test is not hard at all. I took a online course (https://www.hamradiolicenseexam.com/) and I studied 1 hour a day for 2 weeks.
Bought a HAM radio with 65w of power and I can communicate with people 80 miles away. Love the range of HAM as I use it for emergency communication when I am in Death Valley or far away from civilization.
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chmura
New member
The reason why I got HAM was because the entire group that I wheeled with all were using HAM.
Expedition portal guys all use HAM. That's how I was introduced to it, and I could never go back to CB after using HAM.
ddnww
New member
Im also interested and in need of something. I need something for the truck but also maybe portable i can carry when we go hiking or camping deep in the woods for communication. Just an added safety to add to the survival gear. Im completely new to cb, radio or any of this stuff.
Martinjmpr
New member
The best HAM radio in the world is a useless lump of metal if the person you need to talk to doesn't have one.
My HAM radio is in the garage gathering dust because most of the people I go on trips with don't have HAM. OTOH, everybody has a CB. The other advantage of CB is that CB radios are much, much easier to use. No programming frequencies or repeaters, no setting of offsets, no multiple menus, etc. Just pick a channel, key the mike and talk.
That's the advantage of CBs, they're easy to get, cheap and anybody can use them. They are noisy, range is limited and the sound quality is pure crap. But they work well enough, and "well enough" is good enough for most people.
If someone could figure out a way to make amateur radio more friendly to people who aren't "into" radio, then amateur radio could take off like CB did in the 70's. However my experience has been that too many HAMs are jealous of the "exclusivity" of their hobby and resent the notion of "outsiders" coming into "their" hobby who only want to be able to talk to one another and who aren't radio enthusiasts.
And since it is the HAMs who drive the radio market, the market is making radios that cater pretty much exclusively to the hobbyists, the ones who like lots of knobs and settings and features. Which makes the radios both expensive and complicated to use, and which discourages casual users from moving over the HAM.
My HAM radio is in the garage gathering dust because most of the people I go on trips with don't have HAM. OTOH, everybody has a CB. The other advantage of CB is that CB radios are much, much easier to use. No programming frequencies or repeaters, no setting of offsets, no multiple menus, etc. Just pick a channel, key the mike and talk.
That's the advantage of CBs, they're easy to get, cheap and anybody can use them. They are noisy, range is limited and the sound quality is pure crap. But they work well enough, and "well enough" is good enough for most people.
If someone could figure out a way to make amateur radio more friendly to people who aren't "into" radio, then amateur radio could take off like CB did in the 70's. However my experience has been that too many HAMs are jealous of the "exclusivity" of their hobby and resent the notion of "outsiders" coming into "their" hobby who only want to be able to talk to one another and who aren't radio enthusiasts.
And since it is the HAMs who drive the radio market, the market is making radios that cater pretty much exclusively to the hobbyists, the ones who like lots of knobs and settings and features. Which makes the radios both expensive and complicated to use, and which discourages casual users from moving over the HAM.
03_4x4Runner
Senior Member
When we off road in the desert I will not go with people without a cb. The Jeep clubs around here are the same way. Why is someone in your group 3 miles away? We tend to stick closer together to keep track of everyone. A good antenna is key to good performance. The stub antennas on handhelds have very limited range. Connect that same handheld to a good antenna like a magnetic mount k30 and it will work great. I can communicate 3-4 miles away in open country but when the other person is blocked by mountains the range is much less. If we loose contact we stop and wait till everyone catches up.
chmura
New member
I guess the use of HAM vs CB radios seems regional.
Like I said I had a CB radio, I got very annoyed that I could not communicate with my buddy when he went around the next turn in the mountains.
I am not into radio at all. I just love the coverage of HAM, that's all. I mostly use my HAM in simplex mode and sometimes I mess with the repeaters just to practice. That's it. Talking to people 80 miles away on a radio is pretty awesome if you ask me. I'm not going to argue with you which is better, its up to you to decide that. I sometimes wheel solo in the back country and I have the 2M HAM frequency for the National Park Service in the area, and 1-2 repeaters in the area as well. And if needed I know I can reach someone long distance with it. With CB forget about it if I'm alone in the middle of nowhere.
I mostly use my HAM as simplex, HAM simplex use is very similar to CB use and is not hard at all.
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KidVermicious
New member
HAM is excessive for short range trail comm, for sure. But wheeling is different in the west. We have places that you can drive for hours without getting a cell signal, but most of those places you can still get a shortwave signal. Get stuck or have an emergency out there and CB and cell phones just don't cut it.
I agree with Martin, a HAM radio is important enough to sacrifice dashboard space for
. If you don't ever wheel too far from cell range, I can see why it wouldn't seem as important.
Martinjmpr
New member
Understand, I don't dislike HAM. I still intend to install my 2m mobile into my 4runner sometime this Winter and then I'll have to figure out a decent antenna mount that is garage-friendly.
It's just that very few of the people I 'wheel with have HAM. Without someone on the other end, there's no real point to having it. I did take my dual band HT on a trip in March because 2 of the other people I was with had their HAM tickets as well.
It did OK but trying to program in the correct frequencies was frustrating - more frustrating that it had to be, IMO. And we still had to have CB's to talk to the 3 other people in the group who DIDN'T have HAM radios.
I know I probably need to just buckle down and figure it out, but I don't have room in my life for another "hobby" right now, I just want a radio that works.
My frustration comes from feeling like I am not the only one who would love an inexpensive, easy to program, easy to use 2m or dual-band radio, but the manufacturers are catering to the real "hobbyists" who want 10,000 features, 5,000 cascading menu selections and multi function buttons that require a doctorate in engineering to figure out.
I get it, those are the customers who are "driving" the hobby, but IMO it's a pretty severe barrier to entry for those of us who just want to talk.
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04rnr
New member
WIN....
This is why I think its silly, to buy a ham. I would ONLY use the radio (CB) for wheeling, we are NOT 50 miles from each other... I could put that money into other things lol
oldmansimek
New member
COBRA!!! I have a cobra 29 lx it is nice because it also has bluetooth for your phone
Hawaiian Hillbilly
New member
The cobra cb radios are decent for trails and mid range communication. It helps when you go with a pack and they all run cb too. Ive seen a lot of great suggestions in this forum on mounting suggestions as well. Add a small booster and a good antenna and your golden! A highly overlooked thing is antenna selection. Its super important. Ive always liked the Wilson magnet mount antennas. No drilling or complicated location on the body and they perform well too. The Wilson 1000 and Wilson 5000 have excellent capabilities for trail useage and mid range coms. Plus the whip is super flexible if your going through trees and such it wont get knocked off your rig. aloha from Hawaii!
