Who has a C.B. Radio in their vehicle?

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CZSteve

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What are some thoughts on having a C.B. radio in your vehicle.

I've bought a Dodge 12V Cummins Diesel that I'm having too much fun enjoying and have been hanging out on Diesel forums quite a bit.
Quite a few have CB's and have been thinking it would be handy to keep an eye on traffic and weather conditions.

But, more importantly...I think a CB would be very beneficial in a bug-out situation like what happened in New Orleans.

Funny, my wife did make the comment that if I put a CB in the truck that would be going to far 'redneck' and divorce me. I guess it's time to get the papers in order. :uhoh:
 
I have one.

Handy for traffic and speed traps on the interstates and weather can be useful as well. Mostly truckers and not real useful at night in my area. Don't expect much conversation, they use it as a business tool. And if you had one in years past, some of the same idiots are still on there as well.

If you get the basic rig, i.e. not single side band, remember that range is very limited as compared to VHF, FRS and GMRS handhelds. For bug outs, you might be better off with a few handhelds. Many of the truckers have illegal amps to help them "get out" better.

Get a good antenna. Let me know if you have any questions.
 
I just bought a '79 F-100 and am starting to restore it to original condition

This was one of my gotta haves in high school
So to make it a era correct as possible I need to put a CB in it

any sugestions on a good 40channel.

I have handhelds in my BOB but they don't have any real range
 
I think a CB would be very beneficial in a bug-out situation like what happened in New Orleans.
Click to expand...

Who are you going to talk to on it? You'd might be better off with a cell phone and a 2-meter amateur rig.
 
I have used portable CB radios in the past. They are quite useful.

I have never had enough room in the vehicle for a pmt mount.

I would say go for it.
 
Who are you going to talk to on it? You'd might be better off with a cell phone and a 2-meter amateur rig.
Click to expand...
Wouldn't cell phones be worthless in a Katrina type situation.
I know they are in the Ocala National Forrest
 
CB's have too short a range. I became a HAM years ago just for safety reasons while traveling. These days you don't even have to learn Morse code, just learn the rules and take a fairly simple test. Handheld amateur radios are as small as cell phones and much more powerful. Besides, we hams just live for the day we can help someone in distress. There are 2 meter repeaters all over the country. I've contacted operators while traveling on cross country trips and even in the Mojave Desert.

Don't get me wrong, I also have a CB in the car but rely mostly on the HAM radio for communication, especially for emergencies.
 
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Audio vandalism: tune in, get your ears spray painted.

I drive an eighteen wheeler for a living. The company provides a C.B. (children’s band :D) that I turn on only at need. The reason? Tuning into the road channel is like standing under a sewage pipe and opening the valve.
 
Ditto on the HAM thing. Knock the test out and get a used mobile 2m rig off eBay for $50. If you buy the right rig you can use it to talk worldwide later on (though you'll wanna use a real antenna, though some people do report multi-hundred-mile contacts while driving down the interstate...)
 
I've used them on and off for at least 30 years. Good for getting directions, weather reports, road hazard, and avoiding speed traps. Can help you stay awake on a long drive if you find someone travelling your direction that likes to trade small talk.

Not much good off the interstate and absolutely worthless in big cities unless you find gross insanity entertaining.
 
I have been thinking a lot about CB's. I am building my wife an OFFICE Bug Out / Bug In kit. She works downtown and I could forsee an incident that would force her to leave under less than ideal conditions or force her to stay in the office building for a few days.

Obviously I was going to put somekind of COM gear in it. She has a cell phone and a LAN line at the office, but there are situations in which those could be jammed up. During Hurricanes the local trunk gets jammed up and it is very difficult to get and receive local calls.

Anyway, I was looking at a getting a CB, because we can use it to communicate and if she did get stranded at work or something, she could use it to radio for help, which is something she can't do with the family radio service... At least I think... In reality I know jack about CB's...

Does any one know a lot about this?
 
I recommend a good Cobra 40 channel with additional weather channels. I have one in each of my trucks and a base-station back up at the house. This system works when I'm down working cows and they need to get a hold of me since cells don't work out here.
 
I dont have room anymore since I have 2 vhf radios, a uhf radio and a 6 meter radio! tho I do keep a handheld cb in the glovebox ( with a cig lighter power adapter, very handy)
Remember tho, if you do get a Cb, get a decent antenna, a good cb with a lousy antenna is no good! I used to use a Wilson 1000 trunk mount antenna, it was kinda tall, but it worked great!
 
COMM

Gotta have it period. No one I know used Cbs in katrina or rita disasters. I was not out in the field though. I was in the state emergency operations center. communications was this biggest achilles heel. In the first three days nobody was talking to nobody but a very few that had one of four comm types. 800 mhz, near radio, hamm and sat phones.

One particular dishearting story is I sent a sat phone to one of the parish eoc's and it took them over a day to figure out they had to be outside to use it. It was a laptop design and the antenea is in the screen.

A whole lot of comm to certain areas was done by hamm. The two meter might be the way to go because 800 mhz did not work at first because the antennas were down. Hamm was relaying messages from two meter to two meter until they hooked up with a bigger unit.

here is a cool pic i took
 

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I have one... Got a window mount antenna for it. It is usually on channel 9. I did put it on channel 19 when I drove to Akron - heard about the "polar bears" in the median...

Also, trying to figure out a way to mount the FRS station or someplace to stick the handheld inside the truck.

I mounted a couple external speakers on the visor. I need to get an extension so I can hook the CB up to one.
 
Wouldn't cell phones be worthless in a Katrina type situation.
I know they are in the Ocala National Forrest
Click to expand...

If you're too far out in the boonies for cellular, and you can't bring up an amateur repeater, you can always use NVIS (Near Vertical Incidence Skywave). The idea is to put up a low dipole for 40 or 80 meters, which sends the bulk of the signal pretty much straight up, to be reflected back by the ionosphere, giving you reliable communications with stations within a few hundred miles. :cool:
 
wdlsguy said:
If you're too far out in the boonies for cellular, and you can't bring up an amateur repeater, you can always use NVIS (Near Vertical Incidence Skywave). The idea is to put up a low dipole for 40 or 80 meters, which sends the bulk of the signal pretty much straight up, to be reflected back by the ionosphere, giving you reliable communications with stations within a few hundred miles. :cool:
Click to expand...


wdlsguy

Where can you get info on this?
 
Gunsnrovers said:
Have them in both trucks. Off road and on trails, the FRS radios were useless. No range.
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Plus somebody always messes up the channel and/or privacy code, so they miss out on the communication.

I used to have one in my Jeep. I still have it, but it bothers my wife if I turn it on with her in the vehicle so I pulled it out, and now I install it with a cigar lighter plug just for long trips. They are handy for traffic, for directions when trying to get through or around a strange city (although previous comments about "garbage mouth syndrome" are right on the mark), and my experience has been that when driving at night truckers are usually happy to have someone to chat with to help stay awake -- which also helps keep me awake.

If there's a truck stop near you, go there. Cobra has a bunch of decent ones. I like the compact (not the ultra-mini) units, like the two or three models in the 25 series. Easier to find space for in a smaller vehicle.
 
MBT - just replied to your PM.

For the benefit of the thread, I agree that the mobile ham units have greater range but won't give you the CB traffic/speed trap chatter and weather. If its just for private Comm (you and the Mrs) a mobile ham radio could give you the best range but its not really as useful as the CB on any day other than the one where the cell phones stop working.

Regarding CB vs FRS/GMRS - downside to the CB is it isnt portable in case you need to abandon the car. Upside is CB doesn't have batteries to go dead. (They do make CB units with batteries but they are very limited in range - transmitting at more than half a watt on battery would mean you'd have to carry a car battery with you.)

If you decide to go CB, consider something with SSB (single side band) transmit wattage is higher and you get better range.

Regular CB's transmit at 4 watts and have a MAX 4 mile range on water (ie no obstructions) Much less in the mountains or hills.

a SSB rig has your regular 40 channels @ 4 watts and then has another 80 channels at 12 watts.

There aren't any portables out there right now(I was looking for one recently) so you'd need to get two rigs installed. I have one in each truck - one for me and one for the Mrs.

SSB also eliminates some of the riff raff as the radios are about twice the price (you can get one for $200 and up)

I got two of these units: Midland 72-290

SSB with weather. Nice radio but the faceplate is a bit fragile if you are going to be removing frequently (I don't).

I got the antenna from http://www.walcottcb.com

Make sure it does weather band.
 
I've got a CB in both our cars, and I love it, have'nt gotten a speeding ticket since I got the thing :D


I definately recommend Uniden, I've got a BearCAt in the car and a Cobra in the truck, I took the cobra because it has the weather bands (also a very nice feature) and theres no comparison, the Uniden is a LOT better, so first chance I get I'll be replacing it with a uniden that has weather band capabilities.


oh, and make sure you dont skimp on the antenna, get a good one, and but a SWR meter from radio shack and tune it in.
 
get a ham radio license I have a bunch of ham gear in my truck and a CB also the CB is real good for traveling on the highway .I can talk all over the world from my truck.It makes the time go by fast when on long trips
 
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