Cb?

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Sully1190

Sully1190

Look. It's a Gold Duster.
Joined
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Clinton, MS
Was toying with the idea of getting a CB for the Duster, if I can talk the rest of the family into installing them in their vehicles as well. Typically, on multiple-vehicle road trips, we take hand radios. But you have to keep them charged and the range and sound is crappy. Was thinking about how much fun that 4-5 hour drive would be to Cruise the Coast this October if we had CBs to mess around with.

Thoughts?
 
Cells phone with "push to talk" or "paging" feature will do the same thing, and you have it with you at all times. ;)
 
Problem with these cell giswhis is, everybody has to buy the same cell service, and you DO have to have cell coverage. If you are in "that part" of Kansas 'er somewhere, it ain't gonna work.

Your "hand held" radios you are referring to are probably FRS (family radio service) which are GREATLY restricted. For example, you cannot use better antennas on the radios by FCC mandate.

There is ANOTHER "free" radio service on VHF, known as MURS. (Multi Use Radio Service) The ONE BIG difference between FRS and MURS is that an antenna height up to 20 ft, and "gain" type antennas are allowed.

Just like FRS, you MUST HAVE radios that meet FCC approval for MURS use. This is a "trick" There are LOTS of commercial and amateur radio units that can be programmed onto MURS frequencies. THEY ARE NOT legal for use

An excerpt from the page posted below: What all this REALLY meas is, "buy a radio that is currently approved for MURS use"

To determine if a particular radio is permissible to use as a MURS station, you will need to verify

that it is certificated specifically and exclusively for MURS use under the new FCC Rules;

or

that it is currently certificated (type-approved) for Part 90 operation, and was certificated for this use prior to November 12, 2002;

that the frequency(ies) on which it will operate are authorized in the MURS;

that its transmitter power output (TPO) does not exceed a maximum 2 Watts, and that the radio has no provision for increasing its TPO above that limit [95.649];

that the maximum deviation is not greater than +/- 2.5 KHz (or +/- 5.0 KHz and it transmits only on the two MURS 154 MHz frequencies); and

that the transmitter maximum bandwidth does not exceed 11.25 KHz on the three 151 MHz MURS frequencies, or 20.0 KHz on the two 154 MHz MURS frequencies. Also see Question 15 above.

Some "stuff"

http://home.provide.net/~prsg/murs_faq.htm?iframe=true&width=100%&height=100%

CB RADIO. You can get them CHEAP. You can use OD antennas. They have fair range IF your group is within reasonable (2 miles ?) of each other, you can "squelch out" the nonsense that goes on

DOWNSIDE When "the skip is in" something that is not happening so much in this sunspot cycle, CB can be a TERRIBLE place to be. "Skip shooters" awful, awful language, just plain noise, it's horrid. No place for young kids listening. But again, if you all use fairly small antennas (low gain) and squelch the 'ell out of the thing, you might get by
 
Once the CB is bought, its use is free. Cell phone use is not free.
 
Frankie said:
Cells phone with "push to talk" or "paging" feature will do the same thing, and you have it with you at all times. :wink:
Click to expand...

Service is rather spotty though, and the volume on my external speakers is... poor.

67Dart273 said:
Problem with these cell giswhis is,... you might get by
Click to expand...

Wow. That's a lot of info, but it's pretty interesting. Thanks! If I have trouble, I'll be sure to hit you up for help, as you obviously know a lot on the subject.

nothingbutdarts said:
And no antenna to deal with!
Click to expand...

Not really a concern for me ^^

StrokerScamp said:
Once the CB is bought, its use is free. Cell phone use is not free.
Click to expand...

My thoughts. We're not all on the same carrier.
 
inkjunkie said:
And illegal in some states while driving......
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New Jersey is one of those states that it is illegal to talk on the C.B. while driving, unless you hold a valid HAM operators license. That was a couple years ago and may have changed that law since.
 
j-miller said:
New Jersey is one of those states that it is illegal to talk on the C.B. while driving, unless you hold a valid HAM operators license. That was a couple years ago and may have changed that law since.
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I bet that didn't make the Teamsters local very happy.
 
Woo-Hooo !!!!!! .....You can install it right next to the 8-track !!!!! :blob:
 
i drive a truck and rarely turn my cb on because of the nonstop fighting and foul language that goes on there the last few years the mentality and brotherhood between truck drivers makes cb land a very ugly place if u can find a channel where u wont be bothered or bother anybody else and get called all kind of nice names it wont be too bad.
 
I want a CB too! In my Duster. We have been mulling over the ideas of outfitting the vehicles :)
When I was a kid, the CB was nice. Plenty of people had them. People also had home base stations that could reach miles and miles. Rural areas had no phone, so CB was the way to contact people.
Respectful air waves behavior back then too.
Now the CB is probably like everything else, gone to shi*, overrun by animals.
.
 
That's why I don't want anything long ranged. Just something short to communicate with the people in our convoy
 
Frankie said:
Depends on your service plan. I have 12 people using that service, and it's never cost me a cent over the base plan cost.
Click to expand...

With a CB there is no "base plan cost".
 
Rice Nuker said:
What about running marine VHF in your car? Is that illegal? Probably so I guess.
Click to expand...

You do NOT want to do this. There ARE folks that have been caught, and the fines are tremendous.

Something you need to realize is that the FCC no longer has manned monitoring stations that I'm aware of. But they DO have scattered REMOTE CONTROL monitoring sites, and ya just never know......................................
 
CB (children's band) has became a joke. When I was 11 (1975) I got an old CB gave to me and cobbled together an antenna and had a ton of fun talking to people. Everybody (well almost everybody) was courteous and gave you your turn to talk. Got out of them when I got my license in 80 (racin and chasin female tale was more important LOL) then in 92 I got married and needed a cheap hobby so I thought I'd get another CB and have some fun like the old days. Man how the world changed. Rude ignorant asses that you don't even know would cuss you out for no reason at all and key down over you so you couldn't talk. And nearly everybody has a freaking 250+ watt linear so you better have one too if you plan on talking very far (5 miles), just don't get caught running it. I threw them all in the garbage and got my amateur radio license in 2000. For your use I would highly consider MURS like 273 suggested.
 
I got one on the swinger and do exactly what you want to do, it works great and isn't illegal like cell phones.
 
Get the CB radios! They're a lot of fun. If you guys are driving within a couple miles of each other, choose a channel and have at it. I had one in my car back in the early 90's. It saved my *** from speeding tickets MANY times when I routinely drove 200 miles each way to visit friends.
 
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