cb antenna's

[tkelley80905]

Does anyone on here use a cb while they are 4 wheeling? If so could you give me some advice on the type of antenna that is best to use while up in the mtns wheeling.
thanks guys

[Warrlord]

Any type will work, depends on what you want & if you don't mind it hitting tree branches.

[mattadams]

I used the K40's for quite a while and liked them, liked it enough I drilled a big hole in the roof to permanently mount it, LOL. I had tried firestiks with mixed results.

[Hypoid]

Since my Mrs does not want a CB, or holes in her station wagon, I bought a magnetic mount antenna and set it on the roof. I've since learned that is about the best place to mount for talking to people in all directions.

Past that, I'm still learning.

[Walker2970]

Honestly i think the best antenna for the money out there is the 102" steel whip it takes a beating and can be replaced for around $20.00.

Downside can be hard to tune sometimes ( depends on quality of the coax) is long. mount it with a ball and spring mount and when not in use tie down out of the way. Talking Quality is hard to beat too. C.B. antenna's use ground plane to send the signal so line of site is best for transmission so by having a 102" antenna you can potentially go further but this also depend on the radio.


All C.B. radio's are limited by the FCC to a transmit power of 4 watts. tweak this and cut that and with the right radio you could be pushing up to 15-20 watts. More watts = more range but as stated the FCC limits this to 4 watts.

Best thing i can tell you for performance is get a good radio good antenna and great coax but make sure the one thing that is not over looked is to have the SWR set by some one who knows what they are doing. SWR should be at 1 or less the lower the better although a SWR of 2 will work just not as well.

this is just my :twocents: as i used to be a CB nut. one other place to check for CB stuff is http://www.copper.com/cart/ these guys have been around a long time and should have anything you need or cant find localy.


Jake

[tkelley80905]

Thanks guys, i think ill try the magnetic roof type, i just wanted to make sure that i could get a signal out.The wife and i go wheeling in the pike national forest alot and plan on venturing out farther from home and we go alone, so i wanted a little piece of mind in case things went wrong.

[mattadams]

if you do a lot of venturing alone and aren't familiar with where you are going, a CB may or may not do you much good, any more than a cell phone may or may not do you any good when you are way back in the middle of nowhere.
CB's are, for the most part, a line-of-sight tool, so if you can see it, you can typically talk to it... if there's a mountain between you, you may be able to take and may not and if there's nobody else out close to where you are with their CB, then it's like a tree falling in the woods, it may make a sound, but nobodies around to hear it. You would have better luck with a ham radio (you have to have an FCC callsign in order to operate one, and you have to pass at est to get the callsign) but typically you can bounce off repeaters and the coverage is much better. Now the drawback is, not many wheelers have ham radios, so you STILL might be talking ot nobody.

[tkelley80905]

wow so basically if im out up in the mtns and something happens, (unless im injured) im basically walking out. I know wheeling alone is never a good idea,and the wife and i never get crazy with it.We dont have anyone in the family that likes it like we do or cant get saturdays off. So we are really on our own, i dont see to many people with cb antennas on thier vehicles while we are out either, we always let someone know where we are heading but we venture off.we may star out near rampart near woodland park and end up out by buena vista or maybe george town. I guess i was looking for a little piece of mind even thought a 102'' whip would be a good idea, but don't want to waste my money on something that isnt going to do much good.thanks for the info guys.

[mattadams]

depends on where you go and who else is wheeling that day, really. Most four-wheeling groups use CB's to be in touch, though I remember using FRS radios as well, and don't recall one really being worse than the other, except more people had CB's than had the FRS radios.
You are better with a CB than nothing... but if you are the only ones out there... the range on most CB's is a few miles at best... like Jake said you can juice them up (not legally) and get more range, but still... if nobody is in range...

[RayLCC]

I agree with Matt. A quality CB is better than nothing, and if you stick to established trails there will usually be enough people out and about that if you get into trouble, someone will be close enough to hear you. Its just good and relatively cheap insurance to include it on your rig even if you don't venture very far, along with other essentials like water first aid kit, a few days food, ect.
Oh, and it may be controversial, but would include a modest caliber handgun or carbine rifle (something short and stowable) and a 100 round box of ammo. If you really get stuck, lost, injured ect. it could be invaluable as a survival tool and can signal as well.
Three shots pause then three shots will let people know you need help and the sound can carry for miles in the right conditions.

[Hypoid]

I'm looking to find a HAM radio in the future. I met tbalcome, sat in his heep, watched him call his cell phone with his radio. The equipment is spendy, but the service is cheap: $20 per year to make phone calls over the airwaves.

http://www.cojeeps.net/forums/showthread.php?288-Amateur-Radio-HAM-what-is-it-why-would-I-care

It's easy to sit down with your check book and weigh the options. When you are stuck in the hills, how much would you pay for a camp shovel, a come-along, or another means of communication?

Last year I bought the lowest priced Cobra CB and $10 antenna at walmart. They work good enough for trail rides with a group. I've been told that you can use both radios at the same time, so I will. :)

[foxfire]

i have a full range ham + CBradio for sale if some one wants it. it is a COBRA 200 GTL DX.......lookin to get $150 for it they retail for around $350. you would need to e-mail me at thefoxes02@msn.com:popcorn: