I have a Galaxy 66xl. Hardly ever turn it on......too much trash talk out there:-X23

 

I'm reading this and all I can think of is C.W. McCall's convoy.

"It was the dark of the moon on the 6th of june in kenworth pulling logs, a cabover Pete with a reefer on and a Jimmy haulin hogs. We was headin for bear on I-10 about a mile out of shaky town. I said PigPen this here's the rubber duck and I'm about to put the hammer down."

 

I got too caught up in singing "CONVOY" that I forgot to mention that I am running my dad's old Cobra 29GTL hooked up to a firestick. Great old radio. No complaints. I'm gonna get back to the refrain now "We gotta little old convoy rockin through the night. Yeah we gotta little old convoy, ain't she a beautiful sight. C'mon and join our convoy, ain't nothin gonna get in our way. We gonna roll this truckin convoy across the USA. Convoy. Convoy."

I have way too much time on my hands.

 

I have a Galaxy 88 coupled up with a Texas Star 350 High Drive. Run it all into a Wilson 2000. Used to have it in my Freightliner when I was an owner operator, had to put it somewhere when I sold the truck! I have to disagree about running the dual antenna setup. I had tried lots of dual setups, from Firesticks, Wilson 2000s, Francis, and think it's more trouble than it's worth. Running a single antenna always seemed to transmit better. Least for me anyway. If you run duals, you need an 18' piece of coax (single) to set the SWR on each antenna seperately. Then hook up the dual coax. Also, one of the worst things you can do is take your excess coax and tie it in a neat little roll. Better to secure it under the dash in a couple long passes back and forth.

If you want a really good antenna for your Ford Pickup or Bronco I highly recommend the Wilson 2000 roof mount. Pop your dome light out, drill a hole straight up through the roof, and mount the antenna. A little work with a dremel tool and you can hide all but about an inch of that coax...bring it out of the edge of the domelight base and right into the headliner, cab molding, or edge of the rubber around the rear window.

I'm out

 

what do you think is the most powerful antenna? anyone know of any modificationsi can make to get a few extra miles worth of range? not alot of people around here except on the freeway, thats about 20 miles from anywhere i drive.
Mike S.
1979 F-100

 

I've run a radio in every car/truck I've had since '77. My favorite radio is a 23 channel Browning "Brownie". I use it when I'm on the road mated to a 5' Firestik. When I bought my wife her '94 F150 I needed a small radio cause there was really no place to mount one. I ended up buying a factory reconditioned unit from a radio shop, and part of the guy's service was to turn up any radio he sold. It puts out about 18 watts, the only problem is the mic's on these radios is junk from the factory, the good thing about them is a 4 pin Cobra/Uniden mic fits and works perfectly. It's a Uniden Pro 510 XL (I don't care for all the extra ***** and switches). Since then it's been moved to her car (95 Eagle Vision) and mated to a K40 whip. Since that first Pro 510, I've acquired two more, one of which is in my '93 Ford F250 mated to a 3' K40 whip, and the other is my "spare" when I'm on the road. My '72 F100 has a Cobra 21 GTL that has also been "tuned up".
I agree with being irritated with all the noise and bs on the radio, and I know alot of folks shut their radios off (even truckers), but I also like to know as much as possible about what's going on out on the road when I'm out there. I guess I'm just a die hard when it comes to running a radio.
You probably can't figure out my handle either (ha ha)

They call me Trail Rider when they ain't mad at me - I'm headed for Mama's house. Bye Bye!

 

antenna's eh! well everyone probally has there own favorite. i do prefer WILSON they seem to be very good and can handle alot of power, also a steel 102' whip is another great choice. i switch back and forth between the K-40's and a Wilson 5000 that i have. i use one of the best radio's that is on the market the Ranger 2950, it has been modified to use on the AM channels, it has also been modified to cover all the range feq. from 26 M.H. all the way up to and beyond 30 M.H. but alot of these channels no one should be on but it's cool to have them all available. the radio also has a super mod. with a connex board with echo, ( those are real neat to have ) . the radoi along puts out around 40 watts with no help on AM. and around 80 watts on side band. also have a Texas Star 667 variable connected to the radio for one of the ultimate kickers. this set-up pushes around 900 watts when you have the box cranked up. you can talk to miles and miles. i've been talking to folks on the channel that were very in excess of 30 miles away and putting well over 20 pounds on them if you know the terminology. all this is powered by a 200 amp. alternator that is specially made to handle the set-up. can't complain this is the best set-up i've ever had and would not change it, well maybe to experiment with a Texas Star 1200. but that is down the road there aren't to many people that can drop the hammer on me when i key up. it's pretty cool with all the power that when you pull up to use a pay phone and key down and ya kill the phone, or come over your own car stero when you talk, things like that, it's something to experience. C.J.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 16-Feb-02 AT 07:43 PM (EST)]so the conversation has switched to antennea, eh?

Here's the word I got from a CB shop that dealt with both Wilsons and K-40's. I'm not saying it's a proven or final word, but it was what I got...

They said they thought the Wilsons were designed for, and worked well with, radios that had (illegal) boosted output wattage. They thought the K-40's worked best with stock radios.

Of course I went to another CB shop that I kinda respected and they badmouthed one of the two while praising the other, but then they only dealt the other's brand. (Personally, if anything would make me buy one over the other it sure wouldn't be a sales tactic like that.)



(ooh, I'm editing this to pay props to the bunch of honest, hard working people over at Circle City CB Shop out east of Akron just (somewhere) off of I-76 - they're good folks)

 

i really wish i could find a CB shop in my area other than the truck stop, they dont do tuning or anything, just retail.
Mike S.
1979 F-100

 

I've been using CB's for over 30 years of profesional driving. I've tried a lot of different brands. I've foung that Cobra makes one of the most trouble free radios you can buy for the money. I have a 148GTL with a Connex Board and a Road King mike sitting on top of a Texas Star 500 tied onto a Wilson 5000. I've used this setup for past 5 trouble free years. Some people try to talk skip. I make it---------C-Ya

 

trueblue_79, the places I've found have been through trial and error on the few highway trips I make each year. Keep your ears open for the occasional 'call-out' of a CB shop on channel 19 (not sure if I would frequent a shop that advertised itself regularly over the airwaves, though).

When you get on a main interstate, don't be afraid to do a breaker (or break)-one-nine and ask (mainly truckers) where the CB shops are, say, Eastbound (pick the direction you're going). Many times the truckers are from other areas and aren't familiar with local shops, but sometimes you'll find someone running a route they do often, or you might get a local driver. Try asking once every 50 miles or so.

If your'e really stuck, tuning and such isn't that hard to do. You'll find instructions and parts on one of the pages listed at http://members.listsitepro.com/cbradio/index.shtml
Good soldering work comes with practice, but there's plenty of do-it-yourself info on those, and many other, pages.

Hope that helps.

 

allright, thanks for the ideas! ive surfed around a few CB sites on the net, but mostly just found people wanting to sell CBs and such. i will have to check out that site you listed, thanks again!
Mike S.
1979 F-100

 

If you were near I'd help you out first hand.
We have small radio shops that have a selection of
radios and antennae.I would suggest checking that thought out.

I used to help out on weekends at a place called Muntz Stereo back in the mid 70's selling & installing stereos and C.B.'s.
Got all the equipment to any.
So if you ever come to western Canada drop by and I'll set your system up for you.



Dennis https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gallery/sizeimage.php?&photoid=1733&.jpg



Please Don't Ask Me Any Tough Questions As:
"I'm Saving My Memory For When I Develop Alzheimer's"


78 F-150 429CJ,Silver
w/Explorer Pkge.
641/2-Mustang 260,Pre-World's Fair Car.
64-Fairlane500 S/C waiting for a 390-4spd.
68-Mustang 289-Sunlit Gold 80,892Mi
78-Buick LeSabre 403 4V
84 Volvo DL Wagon

 

If you REALLY want to talk skip, here's a slick little modification that doesn't even call for opening up your radio...

Get about 30 yards of medium guage wire, and ground it cleanly to your frame or negative battery terminal.

Then go find a body of water, such as a lake, river, or bay.

Bare about 2 inches of the end of the wire (you can also solder the end directly to a fishing sinker) and put it in the water...

What this does is make all of that water a part of your Ground Plane, and it can HUGELY extend your range. One trick with it, is to be on the side of the lake (or whatever) opposite the direction you want to 'skip' to. It's directional...

Speaking of - the reason for running dual antennas in the first place, is that the antenna's will focus the RF into a pattern that radiates at 90 degrees to a line drawn between them. Having them on each side of the cab means that you are mostly hearing whats straight ahead, or behind on the road. Not out to the sides.

I tend to believe that's more hassle than help, because sometimes what you need to hear won't be from someone on the road you're on.

Getting back to that ground plane thing - your antenna should always be just back of the center of the roof. A station wagon is ideal. The metal of the body (or bed) adds to the antenna's ability to radiate.

And just one more thing: ALWAYS make the ground connections from your radio to the chassis as SHORT as you can possibly make them. Use a digital meter to check for a clean ground. There should be absolutely NO resistance whatsoever.



~You got the one Greywolf, we ten-ten on the side peoples...

 

Alrighty then, knowledgeable peoples... Greywolf brought up grounding and a REALLY neat trick.

Speaking of grounding... this is what I have a question on:

I bought a stainless steel plate antenna-mount system that has a smaller rectangular plate that fits down inside one of the rectangular (not sure what they're called) bed cargo holes. By four stainless screws a top plate mounts to this bottom wedge-plate to bring a flat surface (the top plate) out to the side of the bed to mount a CB Antenna on.

I'm running a K-40 on a base made to wrap under trunk lids, so unless the ground goes through the one allen screw that would typically lock under the trumk lid (but now is tightened against the stainless plate), I'm not sure if my antenna is 'grounded'.
[img src="http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/d/s/dsh167/k40.gif"]
But if it does ground through that screw to the plate, I don't think the plate is grounded to my truck.

The reason I don't think it is grounded is beacuse the bed is painted, of course, and the stainless base is just a wedge-system that fits inside and outside the rectangular (top-of-bedrail) hole.

And now for the question...

Should I ground this plate (or anything) to my frame?

Ooh! how about another question... granted, they flap a little when moving, but is it worth getting those frame-grounding straps to touch the ground for distance?

(whew, that was a whole lot of describing & writing) (how 'bout that thar Daytona race finish, eh?)

Thanks for any help. I'm sure grounding is an issue a lot of us amateur CB'ers don't know much about.