What sort of cb radio to buy ? am or uhf ?

Question

I am after a reasonably priced cb for mainly listening and talking to truckies in the local area where ever I should be in my travels, should I buy an am model or a uhf and how much should I pay for a middle of the range unit and what brand would you recommend,thanks for your help.

p.s I am travelling in NSW Australia.

Answer 1

I would suggest a Uniden PC78ltw, or similar Uniden radio. Uniden is one of the better cheaper type accepted Cb radios out there. They listen great and talk even better. You can pick one of them up for around $100 new. You could always get a great Ranger but they are pretty expensive for what you get. I would stay away from Cobras because over the recent years their quality has declined since they moved their manufacturing prosses to china. Dont forget about the antenna, I use a Wilson 5k but that is way overkill and way to expencive. I would go with a Mini-mag or a Willson 1k. Or you could go the cheap rout and get a 109" whip and it will out-perform all of thoes for about $20 at the local Radio Shack.

Answer 2

What I am about to advise is techniclly illegal but the fcc quit caring along time ago and anyway you won't hurt anything anyway - Here is the hot ticket for bang for the buck in a mobile set up COBRA 29 classic(have it peaked and tuned at a competant cb shop) 4watts is the max legal output but a good radio guy can get yours to "SWING" as much as 20 with simple mods,then add a noise canceling (NOT a power mic) mic i like ASTATIC the best,then get the best anttena you can afford and have it tuned to your vehicle . This set up is the minimum I would use and if you shop good you can get the radio cheap or already modified as truckers trade up or leave them at repair shops alot.This will set you back $200.00 or less and is better than 50% of the truckers out there because they won't get the noise canceling mic or have the antanna matched they just buy the cobra 29 and call it good -don't do that ,have it done right and you will get respect from the drivers out there that you want to talk to-If you come on the air with a little radio and a poor mic you will be spotted as a four wheeler IMEDIATLY and either ignored or given the short shrift-BUT if your radio sounds clear(the good mic) and powerful(super tune) and they can stay in touch for more than 30 seconds ( passing vehicles draw away from each other at nearly 200 ft per second if traveling in opposite directions @ 65mph) you will be treated better and your radio will sound good to others listening too ,so they will WANT to talk to you . remember these guys listen to the cb 10 hrs a day almost every day! so a poser or pretender is easily spotted -but so is good equipment . you can have "TALK BACK" so you can hear yourself without feedback ,you can add "ECHO" to give your tansmissions some xtra smoothness,you can even add toys to broadcast a sound bite of your choosing when you hit a button on the mic- cb is fun and useful I hope you buy good stuff and enjoy it-

Answer 3

No,..you gotta the two shorten or postpone the whip of the antenna from the burden coil to get it to resonate at way down at around 27 Mhz.. Thats the place CB is. (11 meters) regardless of in case you have a RF amp (linear) maximum antenna's out on the industry will safeguard as much as 500w.