Beginners guide to CB radio,everything you need and what to buy 

No problem and if you have any other questions while you are hooking it up leave a comment i’ll try to help you 👍

Yes and I would recommend anyone to buy something from a local business and support their local economy rather than feeding Amazon Amazon was simply used as a information source for the video

Man i loved my cb shop owner his name was mr nl he sold me my uniden with a power mic and tuned my cb and amp and got me talking to texas

Yeah they were absolutely needed back then!

Awesome! there’s not too many women I’ve met that are as interested in CB radio as guys Thats really cool to share that as a couple

@@JohnnyNJones Thank you very much, there are a few women out there who into talking on the cb, They're just hard to find that's all.

I have only heard a few myself but it’s got to be hard to be a lady on the air. Simply because you’re like a unicorn everyone wants to talk to you it must seem pretty overwhelming

Now that’s some skip talking right there 👍

Thanks and You’re welcome!

I’ve got a buddy on RU-vid that works 27 MHz SSB in Australia as well. You guys can use the standard AM/SSB 40 channels that we have over here too and there’s plenty of other channels you can use which is great. Oddly enough you cannot use frequency modulation over there on 27 MHz like the United Kingdom. But you can use FM on other frequencies as well as on certain ham frequencies. Thanks for commenting.

GREAT. I hope you enjoy it. Everyday right before sunset check channel 6 and 11 and you may hear people talking across the country!!

@@JohnnyNJones I will let you know how it goes! I’m sure I’ll be in your comments and videos asking questions

@@JohnnyNJones what kind of range do you think I could get with the firestik mounted to the roof of my pickup? I know it’s hard to figure and there are tons of variables but just a ballpark estimate would be awesome

Well with a fire stick your range is a little bit more limited than having a Whip or something But it also depends on the person you’re talking to With antennas we have a law called reciprocity and what that means is the better you receive the better you transmit So someone with a really wonderful antenna could talk to someone with a really small antenna from a long distance But if I were to estimate the range I would say 10 miles Like I said it’s hard to tell because it depends on the other antenna as well, But I have talked 20 miles just using The antenna on my ceiling which is made out of a steel tape measure which you will find in some of my early videos So 10 miles without obstruction will be pretty easy,

Also I think it’s important to touch on the subject of cities and rural areas CB radio is dead in very large cities usually because it’s just not as popular as cellphones to urban areas But as you come out further into rural areas You’ll find a lot more people to talk to. I guess you could say the “country folk” all across america keep CB alive It’s more of a cultural thing really, all the cb radio movies and shows like Dukes of Hazzard, smoky in the bandit, and convoy were very “country” so it became an ingrained part of our heritage down here in the woods That’s not to say that people in the city don’t use CB radio but it’s certainly not as popular And that could be because trying to talk on the radio in the city is very difficult there’s a lot of reflections from buildings and a lot of electrical noise which brings the noise floor or the “static” up really high So depending on where you live you may have trouble getting a lot of contacts If you feel discouraged don’t worry, turn your radio on channel 19 and take yourself a drive down the interstate, You’ll be surprised at how many people are using it to communicate weather conditions and road conditions Just remember messing with a CB radio while driving can be a bit of a dangerous thing so make sure you get used to all the settings and buttons that way you won’t be too distracted while you’re driving Also if you would like I can make a video as a beginners guide to getting your first CB radio contact because there’s a specific way of doing it and a bit of lingo that we use to talk to each other that I think is a little different than how people usually talk to each other

It sounds like your buddy knows what he’s doing. I appreciate you sharing your story on here it always makes me happy when people reminisce about their first experience with radios. A walkie-talkie with a trunk mounted antenna is still a good set up in a pickle but I’m glad you moved on to something more permanent.

Thank you I appreciate it 👍

Thank you for your comment, I really couldn’t get into a lot in this video. I wanted to make it fairly simple so people didn’t get bored with it or too confused.

That’s pretty cool man, I’ve always liked those little wils I think the farthest distance I’ve ever gotten on my tape measure die pole in my room on the ceiling is 20 miles I was able to technically be heard 30 miles out but I couldn’t have a intelligible conversation at that range

President radios seem to be very good. As long as it has an SWR meter either build in or you buy one separately you should be good my friend

Yes I do know that there are some areas where CB is much less popular. But to give you a little hope, There’s probably several people just like you scanning the radio waiting for someone to talk and all you have to be is the first one to say something. people don’t like taking the first step but if you do it you might actually start your own little CB radio group YOU can grow it in your area and get more people interested That’s what I’m doing I’m gonna bring it BACK By the way keep that Wilson hooked Up It’s a damn good antenna. It’s hard to get anyone on a duckie A good place you might want to start is on channel 28 people like trying to talk skip on there before just before sunset but you don’t have the competition of the big boys at the Super Bowl I’ve talked 660 miles on a Wilson antenna on channel 28 running nothing but a cobra 29 with no amp Another common channel especially around my parts is 15. If you work at it for a couple days I promise you you’ll get someone, And you might even be surprised how many people are happy to talk to you. You might find a buddy and start talking regularly, Then you’ll start hearing people asking for a break. Anyways long reply but I just want people to know that CB radio won’t die as long as we keep trying.

That’s true I’ve used the same set up with my Cobra 35 handheld, In this video decided to stay away from that. Since it's for beginners and they’re learning A lot of new information I highly doubt they would know what a BNC to PL259 connector would be. The best skip for side band is on 38 LSB, At least that’s where people love to talk. But if you’re Ever on a standard AM radio and it’s getting dark outside try channel 28. 28 is where a lot of people try to talk skip with an AM carrier, And if you land in the gray line you’ll get good propagation Because the F layers are still highly ionized But the D layer disappears. That’s when I was able to get a contact with a barefoot radio, 660-680 miles full carrier. That was a fun day.

@@JohnnyNJones Will do. I'm pretty techie, but honestly a newbie to the radio world. It all started when I got a 4x4 and wanted to go ride trails with some groups and everybody had a cb... so I got the handheld and started messing around with it. Now I got the President radio... who knows where it'll go from there. I've been watching a lot of farpoint farms and mower junkie videos, and then just stumbled on yours this morning.

@@Mike.D.843 Yeah Farpoint farms and mower junkie are great channels, I have talked to mower junkie he is an acquaintance of mine and I’ve heard them on the radio down here as well. CB radio is still alive in fact it’s better off than it used to be because the people that are talking on the radio now are genuinely interested in the hobby itself. So there’s a lot more people out there to talk to that have the same common interest. A president radio as far as I’ve seen have always been nice upstanding radios, People seem to really like them and they go for quite a bit of money. Most president radios are great out of the box but some people like taking them to a radio tech and having them improve it further If you go that route be cautious about who you get to work on your radios don’t let some golden screwdriver jockey start spreading harmonic choke coils and claiming he made the radio more powerful. By the way welcome to CB radio, what handle do you go by?

Hey thanks! You can look for an SWR guide on my channel to make sure you get your antenna tuned. and if you can’t get your antenna tuned you may be having trouble with the connection or if the antenna isn’t connected to a metal roof you’ll have problems.

yeah this will definitely help with trips, just don’t flip over and break the antenna!

@@JohnnyNJones haven’t yet. 🤣

If you still have trouble leave another comment on this video, RU-vid doesn’t notify me if you respond to this thread but if you make a new post I’ll know about it. You could very well be getting engine static I wouldn’t get another antenna just yet however, hook up an SWR meter and see what it is first. Hopefully you got the cobra from a reputable dealer, I know Cobra electronics sells used 29s as well

I was looking at that at one time, just don't get it off Amazon. It's around $100 more expensive for some reason.

@@Hathorr1067 There is a 980 and a 980 SSB (single side band), you might have been seeing some of the extra price bc the Amazon one was the SSB version. IDK but just a thought. I'm close to getting the Bearcat as well. Have you gotten it yet?

The 980 sucks,the face will go blank

@@waltsmith6515 I did replace volume control but no issues with face

Thanks a million!

Well honestly that’s more of a personal opinion. Cobra 29’s used to be really great until they started manufacturing them in China. Uniden used to make the boards for cobra and that’s why I suggested the uniden radio in the video As far as the little wil goes, It’s not anywhere close to the best antenna. It’s electrically shortened which makes it less effective, But its still better than fiberglass sticks. I would say the best CB set up would be A triple stack of 36 yagi uda antennas pointed in 10 degrees away from each other Making a circle of propagation for a hundred miles And ran with a really clean radio like a Ranger fed through a speech processor But even that probably isn’t the best ever set up. You just have to compromise and go with what you have, There’s no possible way to get the best antenna ever on a vehicle. But the best antenna you could ever get for a vehicle would be a quarter wave which is basically 102 inches tall

@@JohnnyNJones i have an antenna i got in 1976 its fiberglass and works on the big chrome springwith bakelight base my uncle who was a total cb encyclopedia said it was a 1/2 wave antenna unlike most peoples 1/4 wave ant. All i know is it picked up other cbers in nebraska about 100 miles from me on a clear day i guess my question is... is it 1/2 wave or 1/4 wave with a huge spring that equals 1/2 wave? I used that set up for years and i went to trunk mounted and various magnetic mounts but they never had much reach and i still have that whole set up but im going with a new 40 channel uniden radio or even a bearcat 980ssb whats your thoughts on this hot mess im planning to jump into?

@@bloodybillanderson9294 I will respond to this in my next video so stay tuned.

Yes there are many places to get these things cheaper. This video is only guide for the setup needed.

Damn now that is a hell of a CB story!

Hey thank you very much, i’m sure glad you enjoyed it! If you know about electronics and amplifiers then CB radio shouldn’t be difficult at all for you 👍 It’s very good to be prepared! Thank you for your comment my friend 😎

@@JohnnyNJones thanks John, I appreciate your getting back to me. I’m gonna order up this week. I look forward to watching more from you and if I have any glitches, I’ll send you some questions 🤓thanks buddy! Chris.

@@christoFlair777 Anytime Christopher! Drop it in the comments and let me know and I’ll try my best to help you out! If you have any questions I don’t get to (which is unlikely) then my subscribers will surely help you out Good luck I hope you have a good time with it 👍

@@JohnnyNJones thanks man!!

@@christoFlair777 No problem 👍

Absolutely. Any CB radio will work With a standard CB antenna. Just make sure that you have an SWR meter or your radio has one built in. If you don’t go on any incredibly rugged trails the magnet mount would work fine I would not recommend a magnet mount antenna for a four wheeling on rugged terrain because they can fall off if the vehicle bounces a lot. I would actually recommend a fiberglass rod with a clamp that can attach to the body (or roll cage) of the Vehicle Look up the term “fire stick CB antenna” That’ll be a great one if you like doing a lot of off-roading and your vehicle does a lot of bouncing. Just make sure to get the fiberglass antenna with the clamp base and a coaxial cable to attach it (Can find these three items in kits)

But then again I'm no expert or even experienced in this cb stuff, I only put one in my truck so me and my friend can talk when we go off roading

Lmk if the cigarette lighter method works well or if it's kinda distorted

That has been a sort of debate for a long time. Some people say hook it directly to the battery and don’t ground the radio to the chassis Some people say ground the chassis and hook the negative lead to the body and the positive to the battery (but then people argue about resistance and voltage drop through the car body) My word of advice would be to use the cigarette lighter plug-in and if you have any distortion or noise from the engine then seek another method The good thing about using the 12 V cigarette connector is that you don’t have power constantly available to the radio But if that gives you trouble then: I think the best way of doing it would be putting a fuse on the red wire. Running the red wire to the positive battery terminal and the black wire to the ground strap bolt from the negative battery terminal (on the body side so that if the ground strap bolt comes loose the wire falls down instead of remaining attached to the strap) But you have piqued my interest and I think perhaps I should make a video on localizing the system via dc/ac/dc inverter and grounding the radio body. Could work very well, but thats yet to be tested

If your truck has sliding glass windows on the back of the cab you can run the coaxial cable right between them. Just make sure you do not squeeze or pinch the coaxial cable or you could end up with serious issues Then you can run the coaxial cable under the seat to your radio

A standard CB radio uses amplitude modulation for transmitting. Amplitude modulation is a bit wasteful in power because a lot of energy is wasted in mirrored sidebands and a carrier. Lets explain this with an analogy OK imagine you’re a famous tv star You’re being Chauffeured down the road in a hummer, The speed limit is 20 miles an hour and your in the back reading two identical tabloid magazines about yourself Let’s get Rid of one of those, because we don’t need another copy of the same magazine We throw one copy out the window And then Let’s say you’re smarter than most TV stars and you realize you’re just wasting gas money going 20 miles an hour in a big hummer and paying to be chauffeured when you could just drive yourself in a Prius and get media brownie points on how Earth conscious you are. You’re still going the same speed without wasting extra gas and you don’t have one useless copy of the same information. So the FCC comes along and says you know what Since you’re using a single sideband radio(ssb) and you’re not carrying useless information that could disturb the other channels we’re gonna allow you 12 watts of power over 4 watts So the simple answer is if your radio has an SSB mode you will be allowed 12 watts in that mode resulting in longer range contacts. However the caveat is that the other person has to be using SSB as well You’ve piqued my interest and I think I may make a video talking a little bit more about this for newcomers

Think of a gardening Hose... Water comes out @ "X" amount of water amd pressure... Now fix a nozzle on it same water amount same water pressure in tje hose. But the nozzle is condensing the water (in this case you signal) and making it more efficient. In am mode. You radio has 12 watts running through it but only 4 go out into the air waves.. SSB allows ALL 12 WATTS running the radio to be used LAWFULLY and TX to the air waves

That’s a real shame my friend because around here every day of the week there’s people on the radio even up until 12 or 1 o’clock at night

NO PROBLEM!

Oh yes you can definitely use a battery pack. But if you keep it in your car you’ll never have to worry about that because in the case that your power goes out you can use your car battery. And of course If your car is running you won’t have to worry about draining the battery because the alternator will charge the battery. However you can also use this with several Solar panels and a small battery

Charles Wills Yeah mobile to mobile I have talked 20 miles before legally using a 5 foot whip. I once talked 660 miles legal power via ionospheric propagation off that same whip Depending on the antenna you have on your walkie-talkie determines how far you’re going to talk so if you have an extendable antenna that is about 3 foot long you’ll actually talk quite a good ways but those little rubber ducky Coil Antennas Are just the worst antennas.

@@JohnnyNJones Ya I know skip is awesome i live in Southwestern Ontario Canada and i talked to Mower Junkie from my truck. It was awesome.

WOW nice! Next time you roll skip his way tell him Johnny Jones says HELLO!

That’s great! Just remember to make sure your SWR is under 2 and you’ll be all set 👍 Now, if you hear loud, booming voices, those are going to be people talking over long distances it’s called skip Those people won’t be able to hear you most of the time. Try to find a channel that has people that sound very clear and close. If there’s only two people talking, you can ask them for a radioshack by saying “break for radio check” Or just the word “break” Depending on how far they are away, they may or may not hear you just be patient with it and you might find some friends It took me several days to figure out what channel people are talking on and at what time I can talk to them, so try not to get discouraged if no one answers immediately.

@@JohnnyNJones ok Johnny!😎thanks so much for responding. Yes , I was just reading the manual,as I always do😎. Will try to find a location in truck 🛻. Then hook up and mount antenna and calibrate. Thanks for the quick start up info!! I appreciate that very much 🤓. I’ll check back with you soon!! Thanks again dude!!🙏

Ps: I’ve let some close friends know about your channel and sent them your start up video for beginning cb operators!!!

@@christoFlair777 No problem and good luck!

@@JohnnyNJones thanks man! I’m all charged up!!😎

Yes indeed it would, but I don’t often make videos where I need to record a screen Plus shaky camera phone is a part of my channel, it’s wholly me.

Side band will give you a little extra power but it’ll be a very finicky If you’re using it for highway use don’t worry about sideband just stick to a standard Radio Most people who use sideband are trying to talk hundreds of miles

Thanks!

I’d love to, I talk barefoot though so it might be a difficult

@@JohnnyNJones You can join in the chat area on Old Radio Night. No radio needed. Everyone is welcome. 21

Oh I see, Sure that sounds like a good idea

@@JohnnyNJones 10-4

Absolutely, I would recommend that everyone should get one of those

Well you can always remove the SWR meter. Some people leave it just in case there’s Something that goes wrong They use it to check the antenna regularly so that they know there’s nothing grounded or shorting out However if you don’t want to keep the meter hooked up you could easily check your SWR once a week and remove the meter until the next week By the way the 520xl is a really nice radio It’s very solidly built Last I remember

@@JohnnyNJones thanks for the fast reply,that’ll work well for my set up,planning on getting a magnetic antenna like the one you showed or similar. Also seen similarly priced “luiton”brand cb’s,are these any good?

@@JohnnyNJones one last question,in Most of the cb radio videos i have been watching i noticed there is a loud static like sound when no one is communicating,both with at home or in vehicle set ups. Is this normal for all cb’s or was something done incorrectly?

I’ve never heard of Luition, It must be some off brand. I would stick to original brands like Uniden and President because they actually have to make decent radios with quaility control testing. Otherwise they run the risk of damaging their reputation Whereas offbrands can sell a really bad device and just change their company name when people start realizing it’s poor quality You could also get yourself an old cobra New Cobra radios Are pretty damn cheap and They’re not made very well. But they should do in a pinch until you find out if you like CB radio enough to get something better. In regards to noise and static; CB radio uses AM modulation, Which is susceptible to man made noise. FM modulation Is used in walkie-talkies and people get used to not hearing noise However FM has a shorter range than AM There are various noise levels depending on how well your radio is made. If you ground your radio and if you have a quality radio system with a noise filter circuit then you can eliminate quite a bit of noise. But the noise itself is coming from your surroundings so it sort of depends on where you are in the world If you watch my radio reviews you can get an idea of how noisy a system can be when you are right next to a cell tower Which is why the squelch function and the RF gain function are very useful settings I may make a video on this subject for newcomers

@@JohnnyNJones yeah that makes sense about the off brands. I have been looking for used ones in my area with very little luck, i found a cobra and an older radio shack model. I think i kinda get what you mean about the noise coming from surroundings or obstructions. I have seen rf gain ,squelch, and ANL(forgot what’s that an abbreviation for) in settings for radios I’ve seen,settings i have yet to research and understand. I think making a video for new comers would be great, explaining the different functions on the radio and how to adjust them, perhaps more in depth on hardware. A beginners/rookie video playlist would be awesome, there are many videos out there but are too technical in explaining, in this video here it was very easy for me to understand what you were saying with no prior experience. Well in these couple comments you sure have helped me out a lot, thanks again for taking the time to reply.

Yes, mirror mounts can often be an issue The mirror itself may not have good contact with the rest of the body So it’s definitely good to get an SWR meter in this case

Oh yeah absolutely! people like to get on channel 38 lower sideband and talk skip. Go to my channel and I have videos of listening to channel 38 lower sideband during heavy skip

There are water resistant cb radios out there but there’s not too many you could submerge On the other hand there are radios that can handle rain there’s a cobra sport radio thats water resistant but they don’t make it anymore So I don’t think most CB radios would work for you in that case Maybe look into getting a marine radio, I’m sure they have some waterproof options.

Thank you for watching it 👍

It very well could be your metal rack. Let’s first start off with the basics so we can get that out of the way. Make sure all of your connections are fairly tight Then put the radio in transmit calibrate the SWR meter to the set position and switch to the reflected power Make sure your antenna is centered to the best of your ability If all those bases are covered then it may be your rack Instead of taking your rack off you need to adjust your antenna height There is a screw on the base of your antenna Adjust that and move the antenna all the way down and see if it changes the SWR If it does, adjust the antenna height by 1/4 of an inch up or down and then check your SWR until its under 2 on every channel If you’re still having trouble post another comment on this video

Thanks buddy!!!

Depending on if your roof is ferromagnetic you can just install a Wilson 1000 up there. Or other equivalent magnetic mount antenna. That would be the easiest to install and remove. I would get at least a 3 foot magnetic base antenna, if you can get a 5 foot antenna it will be even better. And if there’s any possible way to use a clamp you can install the best quarter wave monopole antenna, which is a 102 inch steel whip.

You said your SWR was good right? It could be either the Radio or you could have coaxial cable so bad that it is eating all your power up You should be able to talk for 15 to 20 miles depending on your antenna with a standard cobra 29 in my experience Definitely try the Little wil AND make sure that the dynamike setting on your radio is all the way up Because it could be your mic or mic settings

@@JohnnyNJones I set it in the radio system but not with an external meter yet. This was more of a test of the system. The radio seems to be okay but I’m new to this so don’t know what I’m looking for. I got it for pretty cheap, the entire set up. I was thinking the same with the coax too. Would you recommend a little will or another k30? Right now mag mount is about all I can do

Either one of those antennas would work I’ve had a little wil before and it performed well. I know the K30s are about the same Most companies use the same antenna design with just small variations really The biggest difference between a cheap magnet mount and an expensive magnet mount is the build quality But like I said make sure your mic is working and that the mic gain is all the way up. Keep your RF gain at the max for testing purposes (otherwise you could have people trying to talk to you can’t hear) I will warn you that cobra 29’s are very often messed with and people like to screw driver them I just hope you didn’t get one that someone had already messed up trying to tinker with it If you go through all that and you still have problems just comment again and I will give you more pointers And I can probably ship a Radio myself that’s guaranteed to work if you need one cheap to see of that helps

Also if you get an SWR meter make sure you get the one that I showed in the video Otherwise you’ll have to make sure it comes with a patch cable (it’s a little antenna cable) You can also check that antenna by removing the cover off the bottom and make sure the connections arent corroded And you can unscrew the top of it and clean any corrosion off the screw as well But if you’re SWR meter said the antenna was fine Honestly I would consider that being an issue with your radio, so here’s how you check that Take the covers off your radio, check the bottom and top of the board If you see any modifications burn marks or things that look like they arent supposed to be there chances are someone has messed with it Specifically look in the back of the radio near where the antenna connects and where the transistors are I know you’re new at this but believe me you’ll know if someone has messed with it bad enough If you need any help with this you can always send me photographs on twitter @JohnnyJathome

You’re unable to get them online?

@@JohnnyNJones yes I can order on line but I can't get what I had the antenna yes I can find but the radio.the only place is the U.S but they want an arm and a leg for them unless you know someone State side . ?

The johnson viking 40 ch ssb here in Melbourne Australia last year sold $ 390.00 used and the cobra 138 sold $ 400.00 au for radio that old do you think its worth it. ?

Well there’s no antenna that’s going to be perfectly matched to every situation The electrical length of your antenna will change based on your surroundings So you may have to raise or lower your antenna by sliding it in and out of the base which effectively shortens it or raises it SWR meter is very important as well if there’s an issue with your antenna such as a short or a grounding issue For instance if you don’t have enough metal under your antenna your SWR can vary greatly It also comes in handy when you want to design your own antennas later which are much more effective than car mounted antennas Plus SWR meters are very cheap you can get them on eBay for $7 to $10 You just have to make sure you get a patch cable with it I like the one I showed in the video the people that get on RU-vid and complain about how bad CB radio is and they can’t transmit very far are the ones that didn’t bother getting an SWR meter because they have no idea what it is and they think CB radio sucks when in fact they just didn’t have the right tool I just talked 500 miles last week from my radio and I didn’t need an amplifier or anything like that just a decent antenna with a good SWR I made a video of it as well

The SWR meter that I was showing on the video had a patch cable with it but I probably should’ve clarified just to make sure people knew I appreciate it thanks for your comment

Ultimately my friend that depends on what your use for it is. CB radio is not dead especially in my area at any point in time I have at least 20 people to talk to Many people use GMRS to have a little more privacy and talk to family members or friends by use of CTCSS tones Problem is if you want to use GMRS you’re going to have to spend $60 on a license that covers you and your family for 10 years Citizens band radio is more for meeting new people and getting highway reports I say have the best of both worlds and use CB and GMRS/FRS

Just make sure whatever antenna you buy is made for the CB band that’s all you need to worry about. CB band can also be called the 11 meter band or the 27 MHz band Keywords like this can help you in determining which antenna to buy

There are several waterproof radios out there by different companies. but I haven’t had much experience testing them. You’ll have to read some online reviews. And an antenna that would go well on the bumper of the jeep is probably going to be a clamp style antenna bracket You can probably use a mirror mount bracket just fine as well. Usually these are common with fiberglass “firestik” antennas But you can use them with all kinds of antennas If your bumper is more flat than rounded they make through hole brackets for that I will honestly say that putting it lower on your bumper will Cut most of your signal range down by a large amount This will still work over a few miles but if you can try mounting them higher If you cannot mount it higher you can get a 102 steel whip which is an 8 foot tall quarter wave antenna It will still work decently being placed low on the bumper

@@JohnnyNJones I love the looks of the 8 anyway. Thanks man

No problem 👍

Thank you 👍

To a point yes, when you’re talking about a monopole the absolute best length is a 102 inch steel whip. This is a full quarter wave without any coils.

I don’t claim to know anything about solar panels because I’ve personally never used them. So make sure you study up and research other places in case I happen to be in the wrong here. But if you were to hook up a radio straight to a solar panel you could have issues with voltage loss in shady areas As well as power fluctuations that can cause your radio to spaz out So what I would say is that as long as you have a battery connected with your solar panel and a control charger which has IC controlled dynamic charging (Many solar panels come with that set up but I don’t know what the exact details of your situation is) Then you should be entirely fine, Having the battery in line will help smooth voltage ripples and give you overall a way better experience. As far as the SWR is concerned there shouldn’t be any issues.

Oh and another thing if you are worried about over driving your CB radio and giving it too much power (this goes for any power set up) Simply make sure that in the power cable to your radio you have a fuse rated at 2 A max So if you blow the fuse then there’s an issue but your radio will be unharmed.

Thats tough, the range of a cb is limited without power. Your best bet is to get your technician license for ham radio You may be able to contact her through a repeater If this doesn’t work you’re going to have to use HF If you wish to know about these things a lot of research is needed to be done but it is very possible to do Go find a ham radio technician licensing manual, you can study it and then go take the test. In order to transmit with a ham radio you need a license but it’s very cheap (sometimes free)

@@JohnnyNJones hmmm 🤔 well at least you have me a starting point and some advice. I really appreciate it very much. I will be looking into that ASAP 😉 THANK YOU AGAIN AND HAVE A GOD BLESSED DAY 🙏🙏🙏

No problem, don’t worry it’s not as complicated as you may think You may be able to buy a cheap bapfeng handheld ham radio and talk through a repeater for only 25 bucks (cost of 1 handheld)

Sorry hit send wires may attach to calibration pot not sure cant find schematic. Any idea?

@@joepacheco4038 Without the schematic I couldn’t really tell you what you needed to do. Instead of searching for the exact model try searching for an SWR bridge or an SWR a calibration meter schematic Or you can try attaching the wires both ways and see what works Experiment with it, if there are two loose wires find two connection points and give it a shot I can tell you this though the calibration meter takes a sample from your carrier to calibrate the meter with a variable resistor Then when switched in the SWR position the returning energy passes through the same resistance and causes the needle to move a certain amount depending on the reflected wave If the reflected wave is just as powerful as a carrier wave then it will go right up to the calibration point again which is obviously horrible SWR

As long as your SWR is OK then you have nothing to worry about Yes it will transmit further and have a higher gain if you keep the antenna in the center of your vehicle on the highest metallic portion but we have to make some compromises

@@JohnnyNJones thank you. Would using a longer whip help. I honestly have to have a CB when I am wheeling with a club. I know I won't need it for more than a mile in that situation.. I will use it in the road.

A simple rubber ducky will get you out several miles easily when mounted on a vehicle however if you want to talk for 10 to 15 miles I’d go with a 3 foot steel whip at least Fiberglass fire sticks won’t be quite as effective at that length but still a good choice nonetheless

You can do either of those things, If you want to use a mobile radio as a base station the get an AC to DC 13.8V power supply rated at 2 Amps or more. A commonly used brand is “pyramid” power supplies However personally I prefer using base stations at home. They look better because the power supply is contained inside them and There’s no wiring to worry about shorting out.

Yes you can absolutely use the same antenna SSB Means “Single side band” This is something a little bit esoteric to explain to someone who doesn’t know a lot about radios but essentially you’re still using CB radio frequencies you’re just concentrating your power more into a tighter frequency span On side band you can have 12 watts to talk to people however they have to be on an SSB radio too So the antenna will work just fine

Yes, more expensive handhelds have a BNC connector You can get an adapter from BNC to SO 239 and use it with a standard antenna

Ricky I thought you were Jose You can either try a “no ground plane antenna” Or you can run a wire to the body of your vehicle It won’t have the best radiation pattern but it’s the only way you can do it without having a high swr

Yes my name is Jose but my nick name is Ricky, thanks for the advise.

No problem buddy

No problem 👍

No sir, Having a license is not required

What do you mean by signal exactly? Are you not picking up anything at all? I would suggest using a different radio and see if that is an issue, I’d also like to know all the gear that you’re using. what antenna what radio and what SWR meter etc. Also if I could know your location that would help as well I don’t worry things can be frustrating for a newcomer but it shouldn’t be too problematic to get things fixed

Try the solarcon IMAX or A99 It’s not impossible to talk 30 miles on CB radio people do it all the time but they often use amplifiers I’ve done it without using an amplifier but it’s easier when you have an amp

@@JohnnyNJones thanks !

Most magnetic antennas are based on the same thing, The quarter wave monopole. So it really comes down to build quality and antenna height when comparing loaded quarter wave monopoles As far as I have seen the build quality for K 40s seems to be desirable but personally I’ve never had one. However I’ll go out of my way and say that a K40, from what I’ve seen is going to last a lot longer than a cheap $20 antenna K 40 also makes speech processors built into certain radios and mics which improves performance and range. I don’t know how well they work but that’s a definite advantage for CB user

No you don’t have to take it off 👍 The magnet mounts usually have a piece of plastic or rubber on the bottom of the magnet to keep it from scratching your paint.

Yep 👍

If it is a magnetic base or a clamp on base yes. you need a ground plane (metal surface) unless you have a dipole which is two pieces of wire going in different directions. Chances are you’re talking about a monopole antenna. Do a web search on a monopole antenna vs dipole. You’ll see the difference If you are subscribed I can answer this question in a video to better clarify what I mean.

@@JohnnyNJones Yes just subscribed. As you can tell I know nothing about this stuff thank you !!!

@@paulwatterson5992 OK well I suppose I will have to make a video on it, I need to prepare some materials maybe I might address it in the next week or so depending on all the stuff I have to drag out. I appreciate your subscription and don’t worry I’ll help you out with whatever you need.

@@JohnnyNJones Thanks Johnny. I want to set up a base station at home and monitor CB radio traffic. I live about a mile from Interstate 25 in Colorado Springs area. The main thing is what type of antenna and how to install it for best performance. Thanks for the help.

That sounds like a great idea, I think you’ll have a lot of fun with it. I will reply to this thread Once I address it in a video. Things have been a little hectic lately so my uploading has slowed

If your antenna connector and your power wires are already available to you Then You should be okay It’s probably a 75 ohm co-phased cable So your SWR should be about 1.5 to 1 after the math 75/50 Having said that I would recommend hooking up an SWR meter and checking it Because if anything is not connected properly it can hurt your radio If you want to know about how to use an SWR meter I have a video on my channel

Which type? A handheld trunking scanner or FM/AM scanner? Well either way I suppose I’d ho with the uniden bearcat scanners. They are built well. And I’ve dropped them on multiple occasions without breaking them 👍

@@JohnnyNJones hey Johnny!! A good scanner for a shtf scenario,, something to monitor, police, fire, air, military if possible,, weather .. thanks buddy!!

And I don’t mind spending money 💰 on a quality one 🤓😎

Could you recommend a specific model?? I trust ya!!!🤓😎

@@christoFlair777 well, buddy, it depends. Most police are using trunking methods of communication. EMS and fire mostly still use FM radio. The price difference between regular FM scanner and a trunking scanner is usually $200 So what’s your purpose? Are you wanting to listen to police?

Good! thank God someone’s going to be!

It’s possible to do that yes lots of people have base stations But 50 miles requires a little bit of work You’re both going to need a side band radio and two solarcon a99 antennas. Or you could do it the illegal way and just use amplifiers (A lot of people do) But amplifiers can be tricky to set up and cause a lot of issues if you’re new to CB radio So you’re both looking at around $250 each for a 50 mile set up You can build your own antenna to lower the price but since you’re new I would suggest not

@@JohnnyNJones hey thanks man appreciate it. If something happens and phones go out I want to be in contact with my boy. Thanks.

Sure you could get a 102 inch steel whip for cb as for HAM It would depend on what band you’re using, You’re not really gonna be able to get a big whip for 2 m because it’s such a short antenna anyway

@@JohnnyNJones that steel whip will work with both of the radios you recommended? I am leaning towards the one with the build in scanner

Yes just make sure you get a 102 steel whip for CB radio and it will work with any CB radio The best way to search these online is to search full quarter wave cb antenna or 102” whip for cb radio As long as you don’t use the antenna for any ham frequencies and you only use it for CB radio then you should be entirely good just remember to check it with your SWR meter every once in a while to make sure everything’s fine and making a good connection.

@@JohnnyNJones awesome thank you man

No problem bud

Not a specific brand but a specific type I will recommend. You would want a walkie-talkie with a fully extendable antenna. Yes it may look a little silly to have a 4 foot antenna but it works a lot better than any stubby antenna!

You’ll probably need a realistic five pin microphone (radioshack mics are the same thing) These can be found on eBay or at flea markets very easily.

If the handheld radio comes with an antenna then no Just make sure whatever antenna you have on your handheld that it is fully extended if it is a telescopic antenna But if you’re hooking your handheld radio up to a regular CB antenna then yes you still need an SWR meter in fact I would recommend getting an SWR meter and a regular radio and staying away from handhelds Handhelds don’t talk very far with the built in antenna A standard mobile or base radio will give you 20 miles fairly easily with a good antenna

Nope, They are tuned at the factory. Now you’ll have some CB shops out there claiming that they can make it so much better But there really isn’t much more you can do as far as tuning it Most the time what you end up getting is a loud radio that sounds like crap because they’ve cut limiters (Basically took a pair of wire cutters and clipped stuff out of your radio) This kind of sneaky stuff makes your radio look like it’s putting out more power but really all they’ve done is spread your coils(weakens your radio on desired frequency) and clipped your diodes (and made you splatter all over channels where the top end of your voice is being clipped off) But this looks like high power on a meter You can tell if someone has had a CB shop mess with the radio if they sound really scratchy and too loud on a radio. It’s actually harder to understand them at range. Then they will hook up a linear amplifier which only further enhances the distortion If you’re going to use an amp make sure the radio that you’re using is a very clean sounding radio with very low carrier output power You want your radio to put out 1 watt to 2 watts max Which means you have to reduce power in your radio to use an amplifier without distorting or blowing the amplifier up I know I have made this comment a bit too long-winded and there’s a lot of information but hopefully I’ve helped you Not all cb shops are like that by the way, but many of them are preying on truckers by selling them snake oil. Just remember the next time you go into a CB shop just say “don’t spread my coils or clip my limiters” And they will say oh shit he knows what he’s talking about let’s not mess with his radio

@@JohnnyNJones thanks bro I really appreciate this.

Well that would depend on if it has an SWR meter built in it should say SWR/calibrate under a switch on the front of the radio. If you do not see the letters SWR then you need an external SWR meter

Johnny Jonesathome I won't be able to check for a while... it's in the repair shop

Uniden PC78LTX

There’s only two connections in a lighter plug, a positive and negative. So you should be fine buying any lighter plug even if it has more than two pins you should be good Usually they use two pins on the outside of the cylinder for a better contact but it’s not required. Short answer is any cigarette plug will do

@@JohnnyNJones okay thanks

@@nxbvlaa557 No problem, good luck!

Best damn gaming mouse I’ve ever had

Nostalgia really, it’s a fun hobby to play around with, build antennas, modify radios ect. They can still be used for plenty of situations. If you are on a road trip they come in handy if you have multiple vehicles. It’s much easier to radio someone that there is an interstate exit coming up then to call them and wait on them to pick up It’s also useful during hunting season when you and your partner may be several miles from eachother It’s also a great way of meeting new people. But of course that depends on you and if you would be interested in the idea.

That’s a good point 🤓

No that is the power measurement of the incoming signal and outgoing signal. Now some meters have Multiple settings to measure SWR and power and modulation etc. Just make sure whatever meter you get it has SWR as a setting on it

Thank you sir for the quick response. I had bought that cheaper uniden black you showed. Returning for the other you showed. Thanks again

You can always get an SWR meter off eBay for a relatively cheap if you would rather do that

I don’t want to jack with another unit. Simply the most I can. Beginner here but parents had one as a kid. I know it will be needed one day.

Yes It will be needed, I think people are realizing that again.

I agree 100%