CB Mods

What mods have you done to your CB?

 

I not have one yet but some folks adding amplifiers for further range.

 

Pretty sure what I'm learning is that you have to be able to adjust your dead key down to use a amp....which rules out the compact cb's Tacomas like. Maybe some one will chime in with a power adjust mod for a Cobra 19?

 

Thinking about calling this dude....


http://youtu.be/0A9CvVVUsJg

 

Did you get it on a watt meter? Dead key and swing?

I seen that mod for the compact cb's....should be able to swing 25-30 watts

 

Kinda why I started this thread...had a cb since high school and just learning these things too didn't see any threads talking about this in here.

Dead Key is the watt put out when cuing the talk button....should be around 3-4 watts on most cb's.

Swing is the watt level when talking....6-8 watts on most cb's.

Yelling or a amped mic will swing more watts.

Kinda hoping someone that really knows what the hell their talking about jumps in.

 

not sure if this is a good mod or not....lurry seems to be jumping over people.

http://youtu.be/VOUAIy0pMFU

 

The bigger CB's will double that with the simple turn of a pot from what im reading....but their BIG

 

Modding your CB is illegal. ANyways... remember if you do mod it and manage to get 30-40 watts out of it you will need to make sure your power connections can handle the extra power. out of the box they only make 4 watts and use much less power. More power wont expand your range significantly. The short range of CBs is primarily due to the band they operate and the way radio waves in this band propagate.

 

Not sure about that law....I would guess it's not illegal to mod it, just to use it Only cause it doesn't seem to be illegal to buy a modded CB

I just find this subject interesting....looks pretty easy to jump out there with 100watts or more .

 

Transmitting anything over 4w on CB is illegal, but the enforcement of CB laws is very lax. Modifying any device that requires FCC certification is illegal.

 

oh..I was reading that cb's from the factory dead key @ 4 watts and swing to 10 watts.

Then modded cb's still dead key @ 4 and swing to 30-50

Of course I did see some rigs that had a DK of 40 watts swinging to 500

 

CD radios are very limited in talk distance due to the band that they use. It is illegal to "mod" a CB. The radios that you can buy that have been "modded" are either an Export radio (not ment to be sold in the USA) or have simpily be aligned properly.

Use of an amp for CB is also illegal but legal for Ameteur Radio (HAM). Using an amp or linear... Most inear's need an input wattage (wattage of output from the radio) of 35-50 watts to make them work.

 

hmmm....what does aligned properly mean?

and what is the difference between linear and a amp?

 

aligned properly means just 100% modulation? and a amp would not need watts from the cb...just boost the peak?

 

They are the same thing. If you REALLY want a radio that will be able to talk a long distance... Take the test to become a HAM and get your license. A CB putting out 5 watts can (maybe) cover a distance of 20-30 miles... A ham radio putting out 5 watts can cover a distance of 100 miles depending on weather conditions. Ham radio operators have been able to talk 1000's of miles. Ham radio operator can bounce their signal off of satiellites or even the moon (google Earth-moon-Earth bounce)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EME_(communications)

http://www.squidoo.com/CB-Radio-DX

http://www.squidoo.com/CB-Radio-and-Ham-Radio

 

nah don't really want...or need to talk long distance. Just curious...I have a amp for a cb that I used to use (pretty sure I didn't use it right)

now I need a new cb as mine is crapping out and started to research....very deep subject to me.

 

Aligment is to keep the radio on chanel. Have you ever hear someone on a CB talking and if you switch chanels (Up or down) you still hear them clearly. That is bleed over (devation). His radio it tranmitting off freq (chanel).

Think of your truck as a carrier and your butt and modulation. When you key the mike there is a signal being put out by the radio (transmit wattage + modulation). Your butt (modulation) rides on that carrier (truck).

Low modulation + low wattage = weak audio and short distance.
Strong modulation + low wattage = poor distance good audio.

What you want is a good balance of modulation and output wattage (remamber CB's can by law only have 5-12 watts)

 

Sorry I forgot ...The amp (linear)

Your radio must have a good amount of wattage output (through the antenna) to drive the amp. The amp will only respond (boost output) if it has enough in put wattage. Most amp's (linears) are for Ham radio and have been re-worked to function on the radio band that CB uses.

 

I have heard that...and watched a guy tune a radio with checking the frequency after turning the modulation up to 100%. He also showed the AM wave and it started to spike just past 100%. (instead of smooth waves)

the 5-12 law makes more sense to me after learning swing. Thanks

I was getting the incling that you needed a lower dead key to run an amp...just from cb reviews...like a power knob u see on some models to turn down. Almost like 4w DK was too much for an amp....