Beginners Guide to CB Radio , Everything You Need and What to Buy 

Thank you to everyone that showed up for the premiere of this video . I appreciate you watching the video , and enjoyed talking with all of you ... it was a lot of fun .

Wow, you sparked so many memories. I can hear my grandfather on the CB. We would pick up 20-60 fleet CBs from businesses, well let’s just say I spent many weekends with a soldering gun in my hand, get what I’m saying. Pre cell phone four of us moved from new England to Florida and installed CBs to stay together. I also had my ham radio license at the age of 8, 1980! Grandfather always had the biggest tower in town on his property, radio stations, local fire/police and others all rented space on it. Thanks for the flashback, good memories of different times😀

Thank you as a returning cb user I appreciate the information

Right now its the best time to buy all the mess what's going on in case communications be cut off so be prepared and thank you

I enjoyed your video. I am not really a "beginner" but have recently gotten back into CB's after a 40+ year hiatus and I've forgotten most everything. A suggestion for future videos "For Beginners" could be to explain some of the features that you list for each of these CB's, like what each feature is (e.g. RF Gain Control, Delta Tune Control, ANL/Noise Blanker, etc), what each feature does, why it's important/not important/relevant etc. I know I would find it helpful. Thanks for your videos and keep up the good work!

Thanks for an informative video! Very helpful and I’ll likely be shopping for my own set up very soon

Old reliable can always be upgraded with a final amp and a les com frequency expansion board. It's a good foundation that can be expanded.

Although I prefer older radios, I like the Cobra 29LTD classic more than any other new radio, due to it's looks and actual physical knobs and switches and knobs. Also it has no menus at all. Most decent radios come with built in SWR meters, but if you want an external one, one I don't recommend is the MFJ. They make a lot of ham stuff, and I have yet to see anything they make that works properly. There is a saying in the ham community that MFJ stands for Mighty Fine Junk, and after plenty of experience with it, I find that hard to disagree with. For a base antenna I like the Antron 99, though I have had even better luck with a 102" mobile whip and 4" spring mounted to the wooden fascia of my house vertically with part of a mobile mirror mount bracket, and a 106" piece of heavy gauge wire attached to the mounting bracket and run along the fascia board horizontally. This creates a dipole, and it is perfectly balanced. It can be fine tuned by varying the length of the wire by an inch or two. I get perfect SWR on channel 20 with that setup, but it does require a bit of fabrication. The A99 is fine for a total beginner. CB is a hobby, and once you get into it and learn more, you will be able to build a lot of your own stuff and maybe even work on you own radios, if they are the type that can be worked on. For mobile use I prefer a Wilson 1000 mounted right in the middle of my cars roof, but that will cause problems going through drive throughs, which is where I get most of my food. The Little Will and K30 work well, but if you mount any antenna on the trunk lid, it will be directional to some degree. If you use drive throughs, that's just something you have to deal with. You probably won't even notice it. One word of caution. Many accidents have been caused by people texting on their "stupid phones" while driving. Please don't get too carried away playing with your CB while driving. That's another thing I like about the old style radios with knobs and switches and no menus. They are not nearly as distracting. If you are going to use a 12V mobile radio at home, you will need a 12V power supply. Having been a ham for several decades I have a lot of them. For 4 watt AM CB use it does not need to be complicated. For CB use, I like the 5 amp Pyramid PS-9KX regulated power supply with a cigarette lighter type outlet. It has plenty of power for CB use, and it is easy for me to unplug the CB from my car, bring it into the house, plug it in, and connect the antenna to it. You won't need an expensive 30 amp plus ham power supply for CB. www.rightchannelradios.com/products/5-amp-power-supply-with-cigarette-outlet

I'm surprised you didn't list the President Andy II FCC. I have one of these compact little gems and think it would definitely fit into your criteria of "not two complicated, but with a decent number of useable features." The 2 amp USB charging port and WX channel are handy features. Plus it's only $90. There is certainly a large selection of radios and antennas out there. I'm glad there are guys like you providing us with no BS info that can be used to make a choice. I really thought this was a well researched, well edited and entertaining video. Thanks for all of your effort!

Hey thanks for this, really helpful. I just wanted a few tips, think you answered them all.

If you live in Canada on the west coast. A SSB capable CB is a must for a first CB AM only rigs are useless here since general CB use in my surrounding area is completely nonexistent.

I've been on the CB radio since I was a kid in 1971.. my recommendation nowadays for a CB radio would be to get a cobra 29 It has a noise blanker.. which cuts out engine static and other noises much better than the typical automatic noise limiter.. it also has a built-in SWR meter so you can tune your antenna without buying a separate meter.. it also has one of the best receives on the market nice and clear... Second choice would be the Cobra 25 LTD which has the noise blanker but does not have the built-in SWR meter so you would have to buy a separate meter and a jumper cable... I would eventually buy a aftermarket microphone like "astatic" brand noise cancelling microphone... For a magnetic Mount antenna I would go with the Wilson 500 or Wilson 1000... If you really need or desire a shorter antenna Wilson makes the"little will". Which has a shorter height but does not transmit quite as far... So that's my recommendation with all my experience hopefully I'll talk to you out there 10-4

Could you do a video explaining what the different things like srw and gain and all that actually are and mean?

Nice video bro thank you!

Awesome video racoon sorry I'm late

Nice video. BTW I bought one of your worst 5 radios. Cobra 19 IV. I connected it to my Wilson 1000. I had a 2 hours trip home and a good part was on I-40. Worked just fine. I even got some guy in Utah on Ch 30. Conditions were jumping. I almost wanted to stop and reconnect my Lincoln II+ but i stayed with the Cobra till I got home. I am going to post this on on of my FB CB groups. I am sure there will be people on there saying get the Anytone 6666. They always do and it never fails

I believe as a Base antenna the ANtron A99 is a must but for a CB Radio I recommend the President MC Kinley II becauuse if you pay that extra for SSB you will not need another SSB radio in the future! Also to pay extra for a Sirio Gain Master instead of the Solarcon Antron A99 is also a better choice.

Bro love your videos but you need to tone the volume down on your effect, it’s way to load compared to your voice, literally made me jump

You always need a good SWaRZ meter to see how many SWaRZ. when you get to many they clog up your coax then you have to empty them out or buy a new radio. To empty them out take the covers of the radio and undo all the little black screws. tip the radio upside down and shake out the SWaRZ. Then you can put the little black screws back in. Make sure they are tight to prevent SWaRZ leekage. Now you are set to go.

I'm just trying to get my set going again, I had nothing but tuning issues with the Imax 2000. I was running a Maco 5/8 absolutely love the Maco. However I'm in a place with a very difficult situation for an antenna unfortunately. I have my radio (Kenwood TS570D) and my swr meter is an old Kenwood AT200. With a Kenwood MC60 mic. The only hold back it the antenna.

Thank you! For the intro easy explanation 👍🏻 would U.S. Radio work for Europe?

Do your CB radio suggestions include the use of FM in addition to AM?

Do you always have to use swr meter to program the antana it's what I heard any info would be awesome.

👍👍😎

Out of curiosity, why did you exclude handhelds? I haven't been around a CB since I was really young in my dads old 70's chevy. But recently got the itch to put one in my car before our next road trip. I liked idea of a handheld I can use separate from the car, especially for the weather bands. But are they not as reliable or as strong? or just more complicated to get going right?

Radio Shack ❤❤❤

What do you feel is the best and clearest cb out of the box

😎😎😎

was given a 148 gtl it powers on but I get no sound . the meter does not move much at all and when I key the mike the little transmit lite does not light up

do i still need an SWR meter if the radio has one built in? confused about this.

How can a smartphone be used as a CB radio if there is no internet connection available (e.g. with which additional hardware equipment or adapter/converter)?

Yaesu ft-891 with a MARS mod

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Sorry I missed but I'm so far beyond beginner that it was not relevant for me best of luck Racoon.

Lol, no SSB? Good call, the less the better.

Mine is doo doo

I'm going to have to search through your videos do you understand all of this because it seems kind of confusing

Seems to me like you should at least touch on what to do if the SWR is too far off. Like do you cut the wire or add more, or replace the antenna, or what ?

What's the price of the CB radios

About the only thing I'm hearing on CB is a lot of garbage skip coming in from folks probably using a lot of illegal power. In many cases, they're just saying stupid stuff. Very little local traffic. Is this all there is to CB?

buy a sideband radio 1st off. (you will thank us later) as stated why waste money on something that will go to the dump!