CB Radios

Flatbed Chick says, "get one and keep it on."

I have a friend who is into cb's and stuff like that. he said he is going to give me a nice cobra 29, but not the basic one apparently. it has some other stuff on it as well.

in the past, ive heard that you can take your cb to a shop and have it peaked and tuned. is this a real thing or just a gimmick? ive heard it's supposed to increase power. is this legal? as Brett said, im under the impression that you are only allowed to transmit with a low wattage, anything above that, you have to have a license. What is that wattage cut off?

Maximum legal output power is 5 watts which most over the counter rigs ( radios ) transmit at. No license can be applied for to operate at higher in the frequency range CBs operate in and is illegal. A Single Side Band Radio (SSB) operates at I believe 12 watts but is of no use to you unless the other person also has a side band radio. A low power feature that kicks the output power down to 1 watt or less is a nice feature to allow operation with someone close to you like in a shipping yard truck stop or a truck maybe 1 mile away.

Courteous radio operators always use the minimum amount of power required to get the job done. A pre amp that amplifies the incoming signal is nice. As we say in amateur radio " If you can't hear'em you can't work them" No need to have tons of talk power without being able to hear what the other person is saying. Filter features and noise limiters are a nice feature to get rid of all the incoming static.

No need to peak a modern radio you buy today. You do want to get the Antenna(s) tuned to your radio once it's totally installed on your truck. SWR short for Standing Wave Ratio is like back pressure in an exhaust system. Too muck back pressure ( A high SWR reading) limits the amount of output power getting to the antenna(s)

The link below is a good resource for those who are interested in learning more about CB radio theory, product reviews etc.

cbradiomagazine.com

Amateur Radio is a great hobby to get into as well. Very little to no obnoxious behavior and a good source for local information like directions good places to eat areas of a city you don't want to be in etc. Most of the good operating frequencies don't require you to learn Morse Code anymore but you do need to learn a little bit about radio theory to pass the test to get a license, which is pretty easy. Tons of neat projects to build yourself. Here's a good link to get started with:

http://www.arrl.org

loads of fun to talk with people anywhere in the world when conditions are right. I heard some people talking in German once on my way into work in my pickup truck and had a nice chat with them. They were actually located in Germany. Kind of a dying art now that the internet has grown so much. Radio operation is a challenge i.e. work and takes a little bit of skill and knowledge but is not that difficult to learn if interested. The hobby lends itself well to confined areas like a truck or boat. Lots of small equipment that's easy to carry on a hiking trip or into the wilderness. A great tool for emergency communication. Tons of good cheap used equipment to buy at swap meets called "hamfests". Don't buy anything though until after the free beer is gone. Prices plummet and the sellers are willing to deal once they loosen up a bit, hahaha