I want a big CB radio! Where do I start?

[Rob Roy]

I've been reading a lot about the Connex 3300, people seem to happy with them as well, the President that you tout is attractive. I'm not sure of all the functions, whether I will use them or not.

[jessejamesdallas]

You may or maynot have a use for all the features of the McKinley, and the McKinley is not a power house of a radio...BUT, I think I seen where you don't want all your eggs in one basket (so to speak) meaning if one part of the system go's down, you wouldn't want to be left with nothing...

The Connex 3300 is a nice radio no doubt about it...But, a McKinley with a 1x2 amp behind it will walk all over a 3300 any day of the week along with just about every radio made with a built-in linear...Not to mention, paired with a even bigger amp like a 1x4, or even a 2x6 the McKinley with all it's features will come out on top every time...

For as that go's, you could go with something like the Uniden 520XL with a 1x2 and walk all over the 3300 and most other radios...(just won't have SSB or any of the other features the mcKinley offers but you will have the watts)

Another thing about the McKinley that no other small radio it's size has, is the filtering...Most small radios like the Cobra 19IV, Uniden 505,510, and 520xl don't have much if any filtering, meaning you won't have very good channel rejection, so people close by will tend to bleed over more, and you may have more noise in your recieve from engine noises and just plane ground noise...

The Export radios do give more power, and have all those extra "funny channels", but just a little "FYI", most of those funny channels your not going to be able to talk on for the simple reason your antenna won't be tuned for them...You maybe able to get your antenna to tune good enough for the 40 channels above the 11 meter band, and 40 below, but go any farther than that and your SWR will be well over 2.0 and pending on the antenna may even be over 3.0 SWR...(not good) So unless your going to keep a couple extra antenna's with you to change out every time you switch to a different band, or plan on re-tuning the antenna you have every time, those extra channels are a bit of a hassle...

Lot's of good radios out there tho besides the McKinley, just for the money, and the more options available by going with a regular 4w cb radio and adding a amp, rather than going with the Exports, in the long run your going to get more bang for your buck...

Staying with a 4w cb, you can add any amp you want with it...meaning you can start out with any small amp for starters and later go bigger...with a 40w (or bigger radio) you start to get a limited starting point with what amp will work with it without burning up the amp...With a 40w radio the smallest amp I would run with it would be a 2-pill (would not recommend using any amp that had a driver stage with a 40w radio) ...not saying you can't, but you would have to have the radio turned way down to run one, so what's the point of the 40w radio if you have to turn it down?

[MDYoungblood]

Well now, this is exactly what I need....I am starting almost from the ground up. I have an alder 'hot shot" Ford F Super Duty that had a CB installed. It came equipped with dual mirror mount antennae. I want an attractive looking radio that I can add power to it. I will be one of the those guys that want to shoot ducks with a 50 cal, but don't need to get there all at once. I like the idea of building a system in case one component fails I don't have to replace the entire system.

In the 80's when I was on the air I ran Cobra 19 LTD. I like the looks of the Cobra 148 or 149 but not stuck on anything, First thing is I need a radio and then I need to know if my existing antennae set up will work. Who wants to jump in and offer some info up?

Sounds like you are on a good start. First thing is to check the antennas and coax to see if anything would need replacing and readjusted for proper SWR.
The antenna system is the heart, changing out a radio takes minutes compared to changing the antenna system taking hours. It is best to buy quality at this point, cheap junk will only give you headaches and empty pockets. This goes for a base setup as well.

Radios are to me the easiest, if you get one and find out it's not for you, sell it and move on to the next. You say you are just starting out but want to be a "Big Dawg", be prepared to open that wallet, if you just want to get your feet wet a nice starter radio is the Uniden 880 or 980SSB. If you want just a tad more and you are at reading directions/instructions, the Anytone AT-6666 (there are more). Want more power, any straight pill amp will work fine behind this radio as long as the antenna system can handle the wattage.

3's

Greg

[Rob Roy]

Greg, thanks for the heads up. I use to have a lot of experience on the radio but it's been 25 years. Knowing myself and how I approach life I always go big, so I will want to have a premium system. It is way I ask for information so I can do my research. I will go with an amp/radio combo and just am looking for advice on which system works best for experienced operators. The antennae set up is going to be a little more in depth as my truck would have clearance problems with a whip on the roof. Just looking for sound advice that I can use to do my own research.

[MDYoungblood]

Clearance problems on a Ford F series?? Regulated height is 13' 6". I would recommend antennas 4ft or over, shorter than that adjusting is a pain and bandwidth is narrow.

3's

Greg

[51]

a BIG radio is tram titan, royce 642, browning golden eagle, dak mark 2x, etc.. those are big radios. what you are looking for is a high power radio. not trying to be a smart **Censored** but thats more cb jargon that sounds ridiculous. big radio, high power radio, two different things. anyway 2 big questions that need to be answered first are how much power do you want to run and how much money do you want to spend. answer those questions and the recommendations on what to do will be alot easier.

OMG! i just noticed this is a 12yr old thread. wtf lol

[MDYoungblood]

a BIG radio is tram titan, royce 642, browning golden eagle, dak mark 2x, etc.. those are big radios. what you are looking for is a high power radio. not trying to be a smart **Censored** but thats more cb jargon that sounds ridiculous. big radio, high power radio, two different things. anyway 2 big questions that need to be answered first are how much power do you want to run and how much money do you want to spend. answer those questions and the recommendations on what to do will be alot easier.

OMG! i just noticed this is a 12yr old thread. wtf lol

This topic started 12 yrs ago, everyone wanted a "Big Radio" back then. I still hear that being shouted out these days.

3's

Greg

[Rob Roy]

You may or maynot have a use for all the features of the McKinley, and the McKinley is not a power house of a radio...BUT, I think I seen where you don't want all your eggs in one basket (so to speak) meaning if one part of the system go's down, you wouldn't want to be left with nothing...

The Connex 3300 is a nice radio no doubt about it...But, a McKinley with a 1x2 amp behind it will walk all over a 3300 any day of the week along with just about every radio made with a built-in linear...Not to mention, paired with a even bigger amp like a 1x4, or even a 2x6 the McKinley with all it's features will come out on top every time...

For as that go's, you could go with something like the Uniden 520XL with a 1x2 and walk all over the 3300 and most other radios...(just won't have SSB or any of the other features the mcKinley offers but you will have the watts)

Another thing about the McKinley that no other small radio it's size has, is the filtering...Most small radios like the Cobra 19IV, Uniden 505,510, and 520xl don't have much if any filtering, meaning you won't have very good channel rejection, so people close by will tend to bleed over more, and you may have more noise in your recieve from engine noises and just plane ground noise...

The Export radios do give more power, and have all those extra "funny channels", but just a little "FYI", most of those funny channels your not going to be able to talk on for the simple reason your antenna won't be tuned for them...You maybe able to get your antenna to tune good enough for the 40 channels above the 11 meter band, and 40 below, but go any farther than that and your SWR will be well over 2.0 and pending on the antenna may even be over 3.0 SWR...(not good) So unless your going to keep a couple extra antenna's with you to change out every time you switch to a different band, or plan on re-tuning the antenna you have every time, those extra channels are a bit of a hassle...

Lot's of good radios out there tho besides the McKinley, just for the money, and the more options available by going with a regular 4w cb radio and adding a amp, rather than going with the Exports, in the long run your going to get more bang for your buck...

Staying with a 4w cb, you can add any amp you want with it...meaning you can start out with any small amp for starters and later go bigger...with a 40w (or bigger radio) you start to get a limited starting point with what amp will work with it without burning up the amp...With a 40w radio the smallest amp I would run with it would be a 2-pill (would not recommend using any amp that had a driver stage with a 40w radio) ...not saying you can't, but you would have to have the radio turned way down to run one, so what's the point of the 40w radio if you have to turn it down?

Jesse james, thank you once again for some real solid advice. I see that you're a big fan of the President and there must be a reason for that. I did watch a youtube on the very radio you're referencing and it came across as a very good unit. Also, I find it interesting that the head unit should stay at 4 watts instead of having one already tuned up. This is something that I would not have known. As with everything, the amps must make a difference as far as clear and clean out put. I also remember a friend of mine had what we called a pre-amp, one that boost the signal coming into the radio. Are you familiar with what I am talking about?

[jessejamesdallas]

Yes...However, most pre-amps just amplify the noise...And you can get the same effect just turning up the volume knob...Some work real well, but most don't.

I hate sounding like a broken record pushing the President McKinley so much, but of all the radios I have had over the past years, I'm just really impressed with the McKinley, and I have had allot of expencive radios over the years, just not one in a long time that I got more compliments on than I do the McKinley...

Main reason I bought the radio was because I wanted a decent radio that I could mount in the dash. The McKinley worked out great because it's a single DIN size radio like the after market stereo's, so if you have one of those large 2-DIN size radios like most car companys put in their cars and trucks, you can take that out, and replace it with a single DIN stereo, and have room to mount the CB in the same space with little or no modifications to the dash.

Never been a fan of radios with built-N amp's, they get hot, and cost a arm and a leg for one that will do less than 300-400w's...You can get a $39 radio and a 1x2 amp and see more watt's out than these $500 radios with built-N amps...

One thing that needs to be done with the McKinley (if you decide on one) is the modulation pot and SSB pot needs to be adjusted on the inside of the radio for maximum performance...There's a youtube video made by "CB Magazine" that shows you where the pots are at, and how to do the adjustment...(very simple) "Don't Pay a shop to peak-N-tune" the McKinley! They will charge you $20-$25 to do what I just said to do with those two pot's...just need a small eye-glasses type screwdriver, and a watt meter to do the adjustments...

As for the staying at 4w's...What I meant to say is stay with a 4w radio (cb radio, not the exports that have all the funny channels and do mega watts)...If your going to be running a amp with a 4w cb, depending on the amp, in most cases you want to turn down the RF Gain from 4w's to around 1 1/2 to 2watts and let the radio swing from there into the amp...The McKinley lets you adjust the RF Gain on the front of the radio.(lot's of radios have this feature too), and some you have to adjust the RF Gain from inside the radio by adjusting a pot or adding resisters.

The regular CB Radios like Cobra 29's, Uniden 880,980, 520xl, Midlands, and the McKinley's just give you more options when It comes to later adding a amp...

[Rob Roy]

Now that I've done my research I need a supplier of radio gear. Somebody that can set up a radio right the first time and can ship out the items in short order.

[51]

just google cb radio sales. there is literally only a handful of sellers left to choose from. as far as them going in your new stuff and messing around, good luck with that. every cb store owner is an electronics engineer / technician, hahaha. just learn to set up your radio equipment yourself, its not hard and its a chance for you to learn about electronics, your equipment and how to maintain and fix it.

[jessejamesdallas]

Greg, thanks for the heads up. I use to have a lot of experience on the radio but it's been 25 years. Knowing myself and how I approach life I always go big, so I will want to have a premium system. It is way I ask for information so I can do my research. I will go with an amp/radio combo and just am looking for advice on which system works best for experienced operators. The antennae set up is going to be a little more in depth as my truck would have clearance problems with a whip on the roof. Just looking for sound advice that I can use to do my own research.

Antenna height issues is something everyone has to deal with, and lot's of people don't like the idea of drilling holes in the roof either. 102" whip on the roof IMO is just too tall for practical use, since you would be whacking everything that's 10' off the ground. I'm not a fan of short antenna's under 5' either just because your not going to get the distance as you would the 102" whip...I have had the best luck with the Predator 10K single-coil antenna...It tunes at around 7' and IMO is the best CB antenna out there...light weight, and lifetime warranty...IF "ANYTHING" ever happens to the antenna Kale Cavel (owner/builder) with replace the broken part/or the whole antenna on his dime...regardless of whose fault it was it broke...His personal phone number is on the shaft of every Predator 10K antenna made.

What I did was mount a 1" square tube steel pipe and mounted it to the front of the bed to where when I stuck the antenna mount on it, it put the antenna at roof-height...I've read on several forums where these expert-antenna theory guys say's "that won't work"...Well...I'm here to say it does work as long as your extension rod (pipe) has good ground....My SWR is as flat as it can be, and on my antenna analyzer all the numbers are about as good as you can get. Plus, with the McKinley and the 1x2, and my Predator single-coil 10K antenna I can talk almost 30 miles across town to guys I know...sometimes even farther, so telling me by using a riser to mount the antenna instead of mounting to the roof is a bad idea is non-sence, it can work just fine, and no-holes in the roof!

Here is a picture of my Tacoma with the antenna mount...Although the antenna is NOT a Predator 10K, but rather a Monkey Made "Big John" that I bought to try out...(I just liked the looks of the giant coil) a Predator 10K is a open-coil antenna that looks similar, but the coil is not as large, and the Predator is not as heavy.

[Rob Roy]

Jesse James, I read reviews on both the Preditor 10k and Monkey Made by CB radio magazine and he said they were both excellent. He did say that the customer service on the Preditor was outstanding.

[jessejamesdallas]

Jesse James, I read reviews on both the Preditor 10k and Monkey Made by CB radio magazine and he said they were both excellent. He did say that the customer service on the Preditor was outstanding.

Both work and cost about the same...What IMO gives the 10K the edge is it's modular design...Most of these open coil antenna's are all welded together in one piece...The Predator's are screwed together so if you brake something, (like say the coil gets squashed) then you can just unscrew the part, call Kale, and he will send you a new coil! or if you whack something hard enough to break off the lower shaft, you can unscrew that, and get a new one...Plus the 10K is lighter in weight vs. a MM.