hey thanks gunsmoke, i was thinkin about getting a new one anyways. Also, I undid one of the antennas and it did help a little bit, now the one's just on for looks. You guys know more about CB's than I know about myself....thanks for the info.

 

thats what im putting on my truck 102" steel whips are the best(and most obnoxious looking).

nick88150, sorry dude, those dual antennas were never meant to be used on regular sized trucks. they have to be 102" apart to work properly if at all. close does not count.

you cant add wx freqs. to your radio, but you can buy a scanner that will pick them up and you'll also be able to listen to police, fire, and other cool signals that operate in this frequency range.

 

hehe forget scanner i want real police radio

 

im not sure if i should be admitting this, but when i was 16, i got a catalog that sold radios that would transmit on the police band freqs. it was $250.00 and i just had to have it. i didnt plan on committing crimes with it but just thought it would be the coolest thing.(i know, i wasnt too bright at 16). i ordered the radio and took it to school to show it off. i left it in my trunk at lunch and when i came outside after school my lock was busted and the radio(and my speakers) was gone. i still feel very stupid and guilty for the fact that it may have been used in a crime somewhere. guess it served me right for trying to be a little anarchist!

 

ouch man that hurts.... i had my cd player jacked out of my mustang when i was 17.... wasnt too happy about it

 

my cb i had with that little amp, somehow got lifeflight and they weren't too happy when i tried to talk to them.

 

Hey Matt, Ive been reading the CB posts, and you and pretty much everyone else has said the Wilson 1000 Mag mount is the best antenna. How does that Mag mount work, and will it hurt the roof of my truck? Just kinda curious about that. I ordered a catalog from Copper, so I cant wait to get it.

 

hey biggieou, a magnet mount antenna works through what is called "capacitance", meaning that it creates an artificial ground. they wont damage the paint on the roof of your vehicle (this is where you should put it; not on the trunk or bed), and the wilson has a strong enough magnet that it wont come off when youre doing mach 1 down the freeway. be careful where you run the coax because kinks are bad. the only thing i can suggest is to take it off when you wash the car and after a big rain storm you might want to take it off and dry the base and the roof of the vehicle. water wont damage the antenna but the build up of hard water might damage paint. when you get your radio all hooked up; go to a high spot around where you live just after sundown, and scan through the channels. most likely you will hear truckers and base stations fighting on ch.19, and you might come across a channel that has some strong signals and some real conversation going on. this is your local channel (maybe more than one). ask for a break and introduce yourself. most of these are good folks are lots of fun. some are jerks and some are theives. then again we all probably work with the same gamut of people.

 

10-4 on that! Astatic makes THE best mic IMHO. I am partial to their 636L model. If you can get used to talking with it right on your lips, the sound quality is incredible on the other end. The D104 is great as it well help you reach out and touch people, but they will also hear your stereo, tires, engine, kids, dog panting or whatever else may be making noise in your cab. You can probably get a new 636L or D104 on eBay already wired for your radio for 35 or 40 bucks.

If I may throw a couple more cents in-

Radio: Cobra 29LTD...This is the radio that you will see come up in every thread about CB's. It's tried and true, affordable, and you can find an aftermarket mic to fit it easily. Don't bother with the soundtracker (ST) technology, it's a fancy automatic squelch that seems to work against you, and the backlighting is nice until the lights burn out. I have an older Ranger 2950 that is an awesome radio, but I don't think you are looking for that much.

Mic: If you are going to do any talking at all, pitch the stock mic out the window...Please. Your listeners will be glad you did.

Coax: Find some quality stuff online. Most of the stuff you find at truckstops and radio shack is crap. (Somebody else can elaborate on cable length and brands)

Antenna: Wilson is another one of those names you will see alot. Good stuff-if you go with a whip, otherwise Francis makes great fiberglass antennas.

Tuning: Get yourself a good SWR meter and read how to do it yourself. It's very easy especially with a whip.

Good luck and if you stick with the stock microphone make sure you talk with the mic about 6 inches from your mouth. Any further and all anybody will hear is cab noise, and any closer will sound garbled.

 

exellent advice 1600ft.lb.

did you know copper only charges 39.95 for an m6b? i could hardly believe my eyes!
i also run a 2950. i love them after a few mods.(if uncle charlie is listenin', i live on a boat out in international waters! )

i have developed an affinity for steel whips over the years. i know its just an opinion, but i think the copper conductor in most fiberglass whips is too thin.
RF travels on the surface of a conductor, which means the bigger the diameter, the stronger the signal(to a point). when i was cutting my 102" fiberglass whip (i know, but i was 15 and still learnin') i saw that the wire inside was like 18 or 20 gauge. that aint big enough for my radios!

 

Ok, I got a CB today!!!! My buddy had one and I bought it off of him. Its a Cobra 18WX sound tracker. I know you guys said you didnt like the sound tracker, but I thought 40 bucks for the whole set up was pretty good, so I didnt complain. We just got it hooked up, and I didnt get a chance to play on it too much, but I think I'm gonna need a better antenna, cause I was getting like static and stuff. I dunno, I'll keep yall posted.

 

theres a lot of static on AM, and its very susceptable(sp?) to noise from power lines etc. if you have a ford with an in tank fuel pump youre gonna get some noise from that, but i think ford sells a kit to suppress it. what does the antenna look like?

 

whats the range on these radios?

how far can you broadcast?

 

Hey matt77f2504x4, whats your handle around vegas? I'm a local and I'm usually on quite a bit. RF 269 maguyver out of las vegas right here. Give me a shout on the disney channel sometime man

 

Actually, it's been found that thinner wire transmits best at a specific freq. Unfortunatly, the bandwidth on cb is pretty wide, so the thicker the antenna, the wider the bandwidth will be - SWR wise.

Some people tune at the top and bottom channels, others tune in the middle around 19 or 20, (truckers pretty much dominate ch 19..hmmm). When you tune your antenna at ch. 19 the SWR will be lowest at that channel and be a little higher on either side of that channel. It peaks at the tuned freq and drops off a bit as you tune up or down. That's normal, unless you retune the antenna every time you change channels, there's no way to get the exact same SWR throughout the band with the same length antenna. (If you have a favorite channel you're always on, tune to that channel.) Every commercial mobile antenna is engineered to work well within the band, so this is more for the puritans out there or those running a bit more power than legal..

With a thin antenna, the peak to the tuned freq will be pretty steep. As the diameter of the "rod" gets larger, the slope on either side of the peak flattens out a bit. So, the SWR on a cb transmitting on channel 1, (but tuned to ch19), will be better with a thicker antenna. Don't confuse a fiberglass whip with a thick antenna, a thin wire is just wrapped around it, or imbedded.