Let’s talk CB radios

-
go-fish

go-fish

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
Joined
May 20, 2010
Messages
2,751
Reaction score
4,434
Location
Okla.
I have no clue about them. I know the Cobra is the classic radio because my Dad was a trucker and that’s all he used.
I also heard that back in the day hotrodders had them. My dad told a story of a bunch of folks would play cat and mouse around town in their muscle cars and call people out on the CB if they were spotted. Rule was you had to keep cruising and couldn’t hide in a garage or something. Sounds like a lot of fun.
The Dukes had one in the General!
I was thinking about getting one in my 2nd Gen Cummins and/or Duster. My dad’s handle was “Holy Roller”. I would resurrect the handle for myself.

I called a couple places in the Oklahoma City area it either no answer or they only do HAM radio.

What is the power needs? Need an inverter? How far does the signal go? Can you build a portable set up to move the radio and antenna from car to truck?

Maybe someone can even answer questions I don’t even know to ask yet.
 
Some of your questions answer each other

First instance, I have had CBs that plug into the cigarette lighter, and the antenna is a magnet that sits on the roof

Takes about 30 seconds to move it from one vehicle to the next

No idea what their range is, but I'd imagine a hardwired set up with a better antenna would reach out further
 
go-fish said:
I have no clue about them. I know the Cobra is the classic radio because my Dad was a trucker and that’s all he used.
I also heard that back in the day hotrodders had them. My dad told a story of a bunch of folks would play cat and mouse around town in their muscle cars and call people out on the CB if they were spotted. Rule was you had to keep cruising and couldn’t hide in a garage or something. Sounds like a lot of fun.
The Dukes had one in the General!
I was thinking about getting one in my 2nd Gen Cummins and/or Duster. My dad’s handle was “Holy Roller”. I would resurrect the handle for myself.

I called a couple places in the Oklahoma City area it either no answer or they only do HAM radio.

What is the power needs? Need an inverter? How far does the signal go? Can you build a portable set up to move the radio and antenna from car to truck?

Maybe someone can even answer questions I don’t even know to ask yet.
Click to expand...

Basically the hookup is very simple, and they don’t seem to use more power than an FM radio.
They run on your basic 12v.

As far as distance, that can be quite a ways depending on conditions.
Pretty much as far as a small town radio station.
There is a thing called skip, where your signal bounces off the atmosphere and can be sent and received from other countries at times, though that signal isn’t reliable and is more common with the ham type radios that have more power.
I remember that keying the mic without the antenna connected can destroy the unit, but maybe that has been addressed since.
Keying means pressing the talk button.

Certain channels are for specific uses, like 19 is emergency only if I remember correctly.

I see the vehicle trade question was already addressed.
 
Last edited:
I still have my cb radio from 40 years ago. I haven't used it in 30 years but it is on the shelf if I decide I want to. Yes channel 9 was the emergency channel years ago, probably still is. On older mobile radio's I remember the range being up to 15 miles on a good day. A home base radio would have much more range depending on the weather and skip. Bobby
 
If I were you and just looking for something to communicate every so often, I would buy a Uniden Pro 520 about $80 or so it's a very good radio. I wouldn't use a cheap lighter plug because it effects the performance of the radio, hard wire it with a quick plug. A magnet mount antenna will do a good job, but you have to get the swr set for the antenna for best performance. Also get an external speaker much better than the built in one. The Cobra 29 LTD Classic is a good radio if you want to step it up.
 
QWKSLVR said:
I still have my cb radio from 40 years ago. I haven't used it in 30 years but it is on the shelf if I decide I want to. Yes channel 9 was the emergency channel years ago, probably still is. On older mobile radio's I remember the range being up to 15 miles on a good day. A home base radio would have much more range depending on the weather and skip. Bobby
Click to expand...
Radios of today will not reach out 15mi maybe 5 with a good antenna unless they tuned on a bench. That doesn't include the Strykers, Galaxies, Connexs and so on. I have a Stryker 447 and have $300 in it, but I drive a truck, so I use it a good bit.
 
CB use is company safety policy.wife has hers installed, mines kinda just hanging there.

image.jpg

image.jpg

image.jpg

image.jpg
 
Channel 19 is where you hang out and break in to find someone then you move to another channel for more conversation. Wally talkies are citizen band
Usually channel 14. You need one to safely navigate mountain roads around here that are being logged.
 
Midland was another classic brand.
I've had a 40 channel Midland made in 1977 for over 30 years.
It's got a built in SWR meter and adjustment.
Back about 25 years ago, my friend who had a later model one like pictured above and I did a range test.
It worked all the way through our city of about 60,000 but just barely.
Outside the city was better, but this is FL and reasonably flat.

Try a swap meet for vintage equipment.
Shouldn't be terribly pricey.

I also bought a Midland base station at a thrift store for $15 about 5 years ago.
Haven't tried it yet.

Truck stops (Pilot/Flying J, etc) sell new stuff and all sorts of antennas.

I have a 70's magnet base antenna that does real good.
Better than the new "fire stick" one I bought last year.
 
12 volts is what they run on.

The simple Base Stations that you can set up at your home office plug into wall power but like our desktop computers the power source inside turns it back to 12 volts.

Base stations can work off that simple Cobra CB, they just like to use a 36' high antenna to get good distance out of them.

I am getting 15 miles, from my base station to a Mobil unit, need to have enough elevation to grab the base signal and not be down in a hole.

A year ago we did 18 miles (line of sight) Base Station to another Base Station a couple towns away.

The response was from the people receiving my signal: "You are lighting the place up, coming in loud and clear".

Good to have a few radios up and running too for basic communications, just in case the SHTF senerio happens to take place. People will freak out when their phones quit working, the internet goes down, and or the power goes out for a long period of time.

12 volt car batteries charged up on hand is a good thing to keep the CBs up and running.

12 volt solar charging cells are a good backup too and portable.

Yeah, they are fun.

20240107_084809.jpg


The bottom 3 radios here I use as stationary Base Stations with the 36' Pipe mounted antenna off the end of the shop.

Radio on top is a Short wave reciever picks up from all over the US, Over Seas Different Languages , Mexico and Canada with what is called a Long Wire Antenna of 160' running horizontal about 20 yo 30 feet off the ground. Lots of AM that is what travels the farthest.

☆☆☆☆☆
 
It's a hobby similar to Mopar collecting that can easily get out of control. Seems like yesterday vehicles had huge whip antennas with a fluorescent bulb that glowed in a show of power! Miss those days.
 
With regards to beer runs, yup that's how we communicated to meet friends and enjoy the suds.
 
KHF XXXX From the 70's when you HAD to be licensed with FCC.

I think all of us should ble connected for when caca/cell hits the fan. Neighbor is huge into HAM with linear amps directional motorized antenna etc.

Winterhawk
 
Workingdog1 said:
KHF XXXX From the 70's when you HAD to be licensed with FCC.

I think all of us should ble connected for when caca/cell hits the fan. Neighbor is huge into HAM with linear amps directional motorized antenna etc.

Winterhawk
Click to expand...
That's called a big radio! I still have my 18ft ground plane antenna stashed just in case. and 2 power supply convertors.
 
Look around at truck stops, strike up a conversation with a trucker at said truck stop. Those guys are a wealth of information about CB radios.
 
They were handy to have on those lovely desert evenings as lookouts for the illicit street fun on the mostly deserted county highway :lol: Radio Shack made CBs easy peasy :thumbsup:
 
A few of us car club members have them. We find them very useful on our longer journeys with multiple cars participating. We try to have 3 cars in the caravan with a CB. One in the front, one in the middle and one bringing up the rear. They help a lot communicating with the lead cars (missed traffic lights, break downs, gas stops, etc...). Nobody gets stranded to fend for themselves.
 
Demonracer said:
Look around at truck stops, strike up a conversation with a trucker at said truck stop. Those guys are a wealth of information about CB radios.
Click to expand...
Wellllll maybe. I drove a truck for 13 years. I couldn't tell you anything about cb's. I had a cheap one just to talk with co-workers.
 
Cell phones and texting pretty much made CBs superfluous for non "on the road all day" folk.
 
Back in my mud running days and before cell phones, we all had CB radios to communicate. Worked great! Had a trucking buddy with a big amp on his CB that talked to people clear out to California and Texas from West Michigan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top