CBs CBs CBs

[LGR]

its never going to all sink in. i'm see what i can do with the radio shack man. prolly get my radio there and antenna. i'll keep ya'll posted

 

[graewulf]

Since I have a fiberglass tub, I opted for a marine antenna which does not require a ground. Marine antenna's can be purchased at any Radio Shack.

point of interest.. the marine antenna DOES require a ground.. it relies on the jacket in the antenna cable for its ground....

 

[graewulf]

one more thing.. if you can, get a longer whip antenna, it'll get you better range.

 

[Tug-n-pull]

Something to ponder! If you are just going to be useing the CB for trail ride conversation you really do not need a great CB like a comex or gallexy. The chance of getting your CB stolen out of a Jeep is a real conern too. On the trail you are on top of each other all the time. For my jeep now I have a 5 year old Radio Shack Special "cheap" and a basic bolt on mount and a fire stick. Pawn shops are a good sorce and eBay has many good deals on CB's to boot. tug

 

[X_Factor]

I agree with Tug. It's not the quality of the CB radio that matters the most, it's the antenna and making sure it's tuned correctly. Radio Shack is a good place to be a CB radio. They have a few models ranging from simple, no frills radios to the top of the line get your kicks off models. Don't expect them to know too much about installation and SWR unless you get lucky, most of them just sell the stuff, they don't know how it works. Yes, a nice tall whip antenna would give you great reception, but who wants an antenna that's over 8 feet tall sticking off the back of their ride? The fiberglass antennas work just as well if not better because of their compostion. But do try to mount it to where it is transmitting over the top of the vehicle, not just behind. That's why the spare tire mount is ideal.

 

[TwistedCU]

transmitted beautifully only when the SWR was still connected, when I disconnected the SWR, i couldn't transmit 50 feet... i discovered that the difference was the 9' SWR cable (came with the meter)

I said tuning the antenna would compensate for the cable length, if you use a 9' patch cable, of course it will throw it off. I used a 24 inch cable @ the shop to tune antennas, and if you would have, your cable length would have been fine. If your current setup was tuned with a 9 foot lead, you can probably tune it in even better with a short one! Some CB's (i.e.: cobra 29ltd) have meters built in, eliminating this factor :wink:

 

[LGR]

so the CB is now picked up..i snagged me one with all the goodies on it. It'll be a big part of my jeep rides now..just palying with it...talking to random people on the 30 minute ride on rt.80 to the girlfriends house.
i'm now the proud onwer of a Uniden PC78LTW. its now antenna shopping and stuff. looks like a 4' one on my carrier will be best. still have to fully understand how to ground the antenna....i'm still really lost on that whole thing. mayhap the desctrucions of the CB will have it in there.

 

[Inspector-Gadget]

Hello LGR,

Rather than throwing my $00.02 into the above debate and likely further confusing and over-complicating the antenna/ground issue -- not to mention re-inventing the wheel -- I will supply the following link:

http://www.wilsonantenna.com/generalq.htm

Lots of good info on the associated pages too. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find the links to FAQs, installation guidelines and a page specific to CB antenna installation on Jeeps.

Before posting this, I looked at the web pages of a couple of "name brand" antenna manufactures. The web page hyper-linked above seemed the best.

For those who really want to get into the techie details of antenna and transmission line theory, if only to dispel some of the many canards associated with this topic, try the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Handbooks: reliable source material available in most public libraries.

Regards,

Gadget