Adding better antenna to CB?

How do brotha??? Hope things are well???!!!

 

CB is alive and well with OTR trucking. It is also prevelant among RV'ers. Besides "chatter", which some may or may not find entertaining, traffic information shared between users can be invaluable when traveling. I have used mine on numerous occasions pulling my RV to get road coditions, avoid traffic jams, and get directions. I use a Cobra 75 WX ST and Wilson mag mount, which allows me to easily move the radio between vehicles.

 

Antenna is key, swr setup is so crucial, and don't forget how many outlaws there are with wayyy more than 4 watts, gets u out sooo much further

 

^^^ THIS ^^^

I've used my CB setup on numerous occasions during traffic conditions!!! Truckers can be some of the most valuable information when it comes to it.

A lot of them use apps nowadays, but in conjunction with CB. I know, because I happen to talk to one one particular morning during a traffic jam at about 3am or so on the 10fwy.

Anyways, CB is still very useful, it just ultimately depends on what and how you're using the comms...

and they ALL have PROS/CONS as this is something to keep in mind!!!

 

I don't mind some renegade...

 

Also, the FCC should increase the CB max wattage to, at least, within the range of 10W-25W... 15W at the very least???!!!

Stepping on the 10m band I can't see that being all that big of an issue really?

 

Seems like a simple step as long as you have the SWR Meter (anyone have one on here they went to rent out??)

 

This is great info, thanks for taking the time to put this together! I was not prepared for the sharp learning curve and all the different avenues one can take when it comes to radio coms. Good news though...I have plenty of time on my hands these days to get schooled up.

Question, What is it about GMRS that doesn't require tuning the system/antenna?

 

Yea, it has been a while. Apocalypse is going well. Wife and I are hunkered down. How about you?

 

Doing okay. Same with the hunkering down.

Btw, HAHAHA, I originally texted "apocalypse" as well, but deleted it???!!! You AND "I" apparently have the same brain wavelengths going on???!!!

I finally got around to drilling holes into my antenna mast pole. I'll post a picture here fairly soon. My simple 2m homebuilt. I got a tripod from a TW member for free that he had just laying around his work and needed to get rid of it.

But yeah, it looks pretty decent. I might need to drill more holes to make it so that it has more different "height adjustments"?

Anyways, trying to get ready for "Field Day" and test out my setup.


I don't care for the number of contacts and boast about it, I just want to utilize that opportunity and day to see how well my setup is.

But yeah, doing good and taking the time to work on my truck as well.

Good to hear from you brotha.

Take care, you and your wife, and stay safe!!!

 

I'm glad it helped, hopefully?

Not a problem with putting that info out. Glad to pass along the information brotha!!! We all learn from somewhere.

It's a set of fixed frequencies. I guess the same question you ask can be applied to other bands like say, the HAM 2m (i.e. 144MHz-148MHz).

Now, I COULD be wrong, but the main difference is that for FRS/GMRS, the "users" are not "modifying" or experimenting with making their own antennas, experimenting with freq bands to develop something, etc etc etc.

Hence, the antennas are "factory fixed/tuned" to get the most optimal use.

I have never heard of anyone having to ever bother with tuning a FRS/GMRS setup? But, then again, I don't transmit, if you will and/or belong to any group.

I do know how to and what to look for when building ones own antenna. Definitely concepts and such. So, just like my simple homebuilt 2m, I can make a very simple FRS/GMRS antenna as well.

It CAN GET a bit complicated when building your own antenna as there are MANY I have yet to experiment with in building them.

Anyways, if there are tunable FRS/GMRS antennas out there, "I" have never heard of any? Not saying they don't exist, just saying I've never heard of any.

With that said, if a FRS/GMRS tunable antenna does exist, you would use a UHF SWR meter and just time it similar to how one would tune a CB, for example.

 

Btw, @Freeheelbillie if you ever happen to get a Baofeng HAM radio, for example, you can TX/RX to a FRS/GMRS radio if the Baofeng has its freq bands "opened" or, for the lack of a better description... "hacked".

For example, on the Baofeng radio, you would type in the freq 467.5625, which corresponds to ch8 on your typical FRS/GMRS walkie-talkie. Keep in mind that the walkie-talkie radio is set at 0.5W compared to 1W to about 5W, pending settings of the Baofeng, So if the Baofeng is set to 5W, then the person with the Baofeng will have more "reach". The person with the FRS/GMRS radio will be able to hear the Baofeng, but not be able to transmit (TX) that very same distance the farther out one gets.

Hope that makes sense?

 

I recommend buying one. You’ll need it again in the future and they aren’t that expensive and personally I’ve found buying older “vintage” used ones on eBay work better than the current made crap.

My $0.02

 

You do have more than 4 watts. The rule for CB is 4W average carrier power on AM (that's the normal use) and 12W peak envelope power (PEP) SSB. Using AM with a carrier of 4W if you modulate with a perfectly symmetrical sine wave you'll peak at 16W PEP. In reality an off the shelf CB is probably going to leave some power on the table so that a range of users can operate the radio without overmodulating, which causes adjacent channel interference and distortion.

 

Good suggestion, SWR is more for Tx efficiency to make sure you can radiate as much of that 4 watts am or 12 watts ssb as possible. It doesn't matter much for receive. Depending on your antenna setup you may have to tune for the channel you plan on using the most. anything under 1.5:1 should be good enough.

 

This is true. My first CB was a 23 channel Toshiba unit given to me while visiting the USA from England. While here I bought a cheap antenna that was about two feet long. Got back home to England. Wired it up in my car and sat on a hill listening to people in places like Kansas and Georgia. I was blown away by this, I couldn’t talk to them but I could hear, thank you ‘Skip’ Later when CB became a bit more available in England I started DX’ing and was talking to China and Australia, freaking amazed, I was hooked.

 

Hopefully Providing a little relief Randy!
Done any metal detector lately?

 

No licensing required for CB

 

What he said lol

 

I have a HAM handheld that I've been wanting to get licensed for, but where I live, licensing test are far and few and happen at inconvenient times for me