keep me going in the right direction

[Warhawk77]

I need someone with experience with CB to keep me on track.

I have a very entry level understand of the CB radio. I know how to run the power make sure its all grounded and the antenna will have to be tuned but not much else.

Goal:
I want to be able to talk to a friend 11 miles away from my house and be able to talk with my kids from my car to the house while around town.

I know I will need a base station with a high antenna. So I'm thinking of putting one on the roof of my house(2 story with attic) so about 30-35 feet off the ground. I understand CB need LOS but at 11 miles I can't see my friends house but the area is very flat (Indiana) and from his house I can see the down town sky line and I can see the same sky line very easy. That is a long way and I know I won't really know until I try it but some feed back could save me a lot of time and money.


I also will be mounting a CB in my car so I could talk to my house from my car.

Here are my questions
Does anyone know much about the K40 CB radio? All I know is it is black with the K40 in red, has 2 small knobs, 1 large knob, 40 channel, came with a car antenna(magnet) 20 feet of wire, and it was $5 in a yard sale so I bought it.

I'm guessing I can't use my old style TV antenna for a CB radio? Would make setting up easy as it is already mounted.

The GE emergency help radios worth using? I got it from a buddy for $10 last summer.



My first though was mount the K40 as my base and put the GE emergency one in my car. But I hear the Cobra 29 might be a better option for a base unit. Then I guess I could put the K40 in my car if its any good and put the emergency one in the trunk of my wife's car

I think that is everything so if you have any advice please let me know. And if what I am after is not possible say so. I would rather not go to a HAM radio but it would be cheaper then I would rather go that way.

[MDYoungblood]

Hi Warhawk77,
Welcome to the forum. First thing you should do is go to "Welcome to the Forum" and post a small intro like this post, a lot of members read it and like to say welcome.

Okay , lets start with your base antenna, you should go with a good ground plane or a fiberglass type. I emphasized a good antenna because after you are bitten by the CB bug you will want to upgrade so your antenna is already to go. Check out the antennas on the sponsors sites. If your TV antenna is no longer needed than take it down and mount the CB antenna there. Look at some of the posts on grounding the antenna. A good antenna will get you the range you are looking for.

A Cobra 29 and around a 6amp power supply would make a nice starter radio for a base. It can be installed in your car later when you do the upgrade to a base radio.

The K40 is not a bad little radio but picks up a lot of engine and other noises. Not sure about the antenna you got with it. The GE radio I would but in your next yard sale.

Mobile antennas are in my opinion the most important part of the cars system, if you want the 20+ mile range (that is when skip isn't running) you will need good mobile antennas. Again check out some antennas on the sponsors sites. Also check out your local classified ads, you never know what you may run across.

3's

Greg

[Warhawk77]

Thanks for the info. I posted a small I to in the new section but I didn't want to cloud to much info there.

I will keep looking at antennas. There is a local shop that carries this stuff but I would like to have enough knowledge to not waste money. I will do as you suggest and replace the house antenna with a good CB one.

I found a guy selling a Uniden pc78xl and it looks like a good option. The k40 might just us it until I find something better


I know the antenne I have isn't the best so I will be replacing it also

Thanks again

[tulmkr]

MDY speaks the truth. The first thing you need is a good antenna. A good antenna can make a mediocre radio do well. 11 miles isnt as far as you think, and most barefoot radios with a good antenna will make that trip as long as you dont have alot of other people on the channel. I would suggest a "power mic" in both your car, and at home... modulation gets you heard even with a smaller signal. Dont forget about sideband radios either, when talking on sideband you will easily make that 11 miles, and more. Sideband radios cost a bit more, but are easily found at a reasonable price. There are no special rules for using sideband, just the normal courtesy... use channel 16, or any other above 30. You can always flip back to the normal 40 channels of the am side as well. Like MDY said, a cobra 29, or even a 25 would be a great place to start for am only. If you are interested in using sideband, then the cobra 148, or any variation of it would work equally well.

A good starter base radio would be a cobra 139xlr. It has 40 channels, and sideband. 50-60 bucks in decent shape, and can be found without a problem. Whatever you decide to use, make sure you put more effort in the antenna than the radio. It is the biggest factor in hearing, and being heard.

[MDYoungblood]

Opps, I goofed, you had already posted in the Welcome to the Forum and the funny thing is I said Hello, my memory is not what it used to be, lol.

One little suggestion is if you buy off of an auction site for used equipment make sure they have a return policy , that way you are more likely to a working radio. My best suggestion is the CL or local classifieds.

You said you have a local shop too, going in with prices in your head can give you some bargaining power, the price shown is not always the bottom line. Works for buying a car too, lol.

3's again,

Greg

[231]

Welcome to the forum Warhawk.

You've come to the right place. Keep it simple. The stuff you have (short of the K40 radio) would probably not do you allot of good. But the group tells you the truth, antenna is the key. Next is modulation (aka 'audio'). But make no mistake about it, if your friend doesn't do similar, unless you plan on making some serious investment in gear it's going to be a challenge sometimes. That is assuming you have local interference like many of us have (both mobile & base station).

I would recommend not buying anything without running it by the group here first. That's the best way to get the best bang for the buck. The Cobra 29 is a good radio, but so is the Uniden Pro510xl which is a $40 radio. Concentrate on your antenna systems first. Neither need to cost allot to work well. The devil is in the details though. I'd probably consider the simple to use Imax 2000 antenna to start for the base. It's just a straight stick that is literally plug and play. They can be had used sometimes for cheap and just don't get easier to install.

For the mobile, you need to give us more info' on your rig, what you are thinking for an antenna and mount. Allot of guys like magnet mounts but I'm not a fan of them. Sure they work...but limit you to what antenna you can run usually. And more often than not, going to cost more by the time it's all said and done. So once we know what you have we can address the mobile.

I would highly advise reading through the Radio 101 section of the forum to help you get up to speed some. There are some very basic things in there to absorb...but make no mistake, it takes time and most of all, having fun.

Enjoy the forum and allow us to help you get the best bang for the buck.

231

[dirtyjob]

The GE emergency help radios worth using? I got it from a buddy for $10 last summer.

no, ide want my 10 bucks back frankly


as im sure others have already advised, get a nice little am/ssb mobile or base, a decent mobile antenna like the wilson 1000 or k40 magnet mounts "cant go wrong with either for mobile use" and for a base antenna with ease of instalation might i reccomend either the a99 or even better the imax 2000 "i sugested those 2 simply because they perform well and are easy to install/maintain and will last a long while in the wind/weather"

After you get set up i would then invest in some decent power mics for both your mobile and your base, after that your well on your way.


good luck in whatever you decide to get and most of all have fun while doing it

[Warhawk77]

Thanks for info guys.

My buddy is going to do pretty much the same set up so we should be ok. He might pick a different radio


Doing some reading I found some instructions where you take a 102"whip place it on the roof of your house then run two 6-8 gauge copper wire as ground plans 108" . It has to be tuned but sounds like that should work. Has anyone tried it?


On my radio I found a deal in a uniden pc78xl for $50 and what I'm finding those are pretty good and just like the cobra 29 I was after.

[dirtyjob]

do yourself a favor and simply buy an imax or antron, no muss no fuss.

[231]

do yourself a favor and simply buy an imax or antron, no muss no fuss.

I agree with the above statement 100%. A mobile antenna (even the 108" whip) can be used on a base...but it's still only going to have the performance of an elevated mobile. The 108" whip with radials is just a 1/4 wave ground plane. They certainly work, but not NEARLY as well as an Imax or even A99. Trust me, it won't be the last antenna you ever buy (or make) if you enjoy it anything like the rest of us do. Over time as you get more knowledgeable you will want to try other things...but in the mean time you'll have something to gauge your results to.

Another thing you'll need is coax. Both the antenna and coax are not the place to get cheap. These are in fact the most important two pieces of the entire system...so cutting corners comes at a high price. If you are under 50' from the radio to the antenna connection, you can get by fine with RG-8X (aka 'mini-8' ). More than that just invest in good quality (NOT from Radio Shack!) RG-8U, RG-213, or LMR-400 coax. It's twice the size but well worth it. From there just about any radio can be used with great results.

I'm a Uniden radio fan...so you can't go wrong with just about any of them you get. But buyer beware...when you buy CL stuff sometimes people have gotten in there with their golden screwdrivers and hosed things up. Then again, allot of times you can find good deals there where nobody has been into the radio, too. Again, probably won't be the last radio you buy.

Best of luck.