Recommend a good CB

[CycleJay]

re; Recommend a good CB

Hi guys,

Speaking of getting a CB peaked, tuned, etc..

Does anyone know of a CB radio shop in the Marietta, Atlanta, Ga. area?
So I can add something like this to my want to do list.

I have a cb radio & antenna now, but I would like to upgrade, and/or
have tuned what I have.

So locating a shop locally would be helpful.

Thank you,

 

[CycleJay]

re; Recommend a good CB.

Hi guys,

My apologies, this is an accidental duplicate, please delete.


Speaking of getting a CB peaked, tuned, etc..


Does anyone know of a CB radio shop in the Marietta, Atlanta, Ga. area?

So I can add something like this to my want to do list.

I have a cb radio & antenna now, but I would like to upgrade, and/or
have tuned what I have.


So locating a shop locally would be helpful.


Thank you,

 

[17 Legion]

Guys,
Thanks for the replys to my questions. I'm going for it with a Cobra 29 and one spare MILSPEC antenna I have out of my pile of goodies. Listen for me. I'll be ready for the NC rally. See you, and hear you there.

 

[oilcan]

I have a cobra 29 XLR. I have not used in over 10 years that I am considering putting back into service. Was this a good unit, would it be equal in quality to a new unit, or have CB's improved so much that it just bettter to upgrade to a new one.
It turns on but I don't know if it transmits or recieves.

It wouldn't hurt one bit to use that "old" radio. Just hook it up and test before you need it.

 

[deuceaid]

on T. Highway , about the power, ALL mobile Ham radios come with power leads long enough to go directly to the battery to get rid of noise and voltage drop, and they have both a power lead and a matching ground wire and BOTH are fused at the battery.....

 

[Psywarrior]

Hi guys,

Speaking of getting a CB peaked, tuned, etc..

Does anyone know of a CB radio shop in the Marietta, Atlanta, Ga. area?
So I can add something like this to my want to do list.

I have a cb radio & antenna now, but I would like to upgrade, and/or
have tuned what I have.

So locating a shop locally would be helpful.

Thank you,

Go to the Petro truck stop on the west side of the loop. I believe exit 12. It's one of those, I know where it is by seeing the terrain kind of things.

OK, some guys have mentioned some things without explaining them.

Peak and tune are adjusting the frequencies on the transmit and receive tuners. Since the channel knobs work on set increments, changing the channel moves a specific amount. It does not work like the antique AM radios where you fine tune in the radio station by adjusting the dial. During shipping, the radios get bounced around and the tuners can be knocked out of whack. This merely recenters the frequency settings.

Big finals... Basically, they take the final signal amplifier from a HAM radio and install it in your CB. This increases the power output for longer range communication.

Conex board/talkback. The Conex board is an echo/reverb control board. It alows you to adjust the tone of your transmission as a radio DJ may do. You can add an echo or adjust a vibrato effect on how YOU sound transmitting. It does not have any effect on reception. If you use this, don't crank the stuff up too much because it gets annoying. A very low setting on this will actually clear up your transmission as compared to a barefoot (unmodified) radio.

Toys/noisemakers/roger beep. All this crap started because of HAM radio. Just like in the military, you were required to say over at the end of your transmission and out at the end of the conversation. Some genius decided to come up with a beeper that beeped when you let off the mike key. Guess he was too lazy to say over or got annoyed by everyone saying it. Well, another genius decided to put them in CB's, probably from the advent of converting 10 meter HAM radios to A** wipe.


The Cobra 29 Army edition. It is merely painted green and has the Army star (Army of one) logo on the lid. Internally, it is no different than the standard, Chrome, Black Chrome, Nascar or any other edition they have come out with to justify a higher price for the same thing. You can accomplish the same thing by removing the knobs to pull the face plate off, removing top and bottom covers and using a can of OD spray paint.

SWR meters. Most quality CB radios have them as part of the radio. The Cobra's do. Set your mode knob to SWR CAL, key your mike and adjust your needle to where it is in the notch on the right. Then set the mode knob to SWR and key your mike to see what the setting is. Check it (recalibrate the meter each time) on channel 1 and channel 40. Balance the reading between both channels and you will have the best all around signal across the band. Instructions are usually included.

Antennas. Although the Wilson loaded coil antennas are pretty good for non commercial use in a POV, I recommend an external coil or straight steel whip antenna. Check the power rating on the antenna. The higher it is rated for, the cleaner the signal will be due to lower internal resistance.

If you want to look really cool, take a small fluorescent light tube and tape it to the antenna near the base (so wind resistance won't bend the antenna). Every time you key up, the bulb will light up. This will cut your signal a little bit, but looks cool as ****.

 

[unaffiliated]

I heard a long time ago that the old 23 channel CB's are better than the more modern 40 channel units. I think it had something to do with the wattage before the FCC limited it to 4 watts. Any opinions on this? I have an old Royce 23 channel that my mom bought back in the mid '70's when CB radios first became popular. My sister and I would sit in the driveway in mom's '70 model Olds Vista Cruiser wagon and talk to the truckers passing through Marietta on I-75. I can still remember our FCC call letters, KSI-4081. I may just have to dig it out and see if it still works.

 

[Matt65]

I heard a long time ago that the old 23 channel CB's are better than the more modern 40 channel units. I think it had something to do with the wattage before the FCC limited it to 4 watts. Any opinions on this?

http://www.shadowstorm.com/cb/CB_Myths_Exploded.html


15) Old 23 channel CB's get out better than 40 channel CB's.

The number of channels has nothing to do with how well the radio will get out. There are some 40 channel CB's that will out perform some 23 channel CBs,and there are some 23 channel CB's that will out perform some 40 channel CB's.

 

[deuceaid]

Toys/noisemakers/roger beep. All this crap started because of HAM radio. Just like in the military, you were required to say over at the end of your transmission and out at the end of the conversation.

I hardly ever hear any ham radio person say over , or out. we do say things such as clear on Your final, clear, or monitoring. But otherwise we just talk normally for the most part. Most repeaters have a roger beep, that way we know the thing is working.

ORIGINS OF HAMSPEAK, CQ, 73, DX, etc.

 

[OPCOM]

Please do not have CB radios peaked and tuned. What this does is remove the modulation controls and crank the power up beyond the radio's ability to produce a clean and distortion-free signal.

This causes interference to other channels. When you are listening on 18 and some idiot with a peaked and tuned radio is on 19, you will hear the garbage from his modulator splattering on 18, and it is often not just one channel away that it splatters, but many. So you are trying to talk to your brother 5 miles away, and you can't hear him because of the trash splattering for 6 channels in either direction from some nincompoop with a radio that was worked on by another nincompoop.

It is just as illegal to use an amplifier, but that is a better solution (if done right) that making the radio sound nasty and splatter like a piece of junk. It is a diminishing return though.

"If done right" does not mean taking the amp out of the box and hooking it to a stock CB. The input of the amp in many cases requires only 2-3 watts to get near maximum output (don't believe it? look up the datasheets on the RF amplifier transistors the amp uses, they are online). A radio makes 12 watts peak power and will overdrive the amp and it will splatter all over the band. This also slowly destroys the transistors in the amp. The amp needs modified to attenuate the signal from the radio so that the key-down power actually getting to the amp's input (inside the box) is no more than what is required to make the amp produce 1/4 of its peak output power rating. An engineer who works in a legit RF employ will build an attenuator for that purpose. A good tech might know how to design that.

These things can't be done properly by the wizard at the truck stop. Said wizard will insist that he can do them and has done hundreds of them, even though he has not have the calibrated test equipment necessary in 90% of the cases, which includes an oscilloscope as a minimum and also various signal generators and meters.
The screwdriver jockey's CB power meter is also likely some cheaply made junk brand, not a professional or ham or military one. (even if he paid $200 for that big 5KW DOSY meter, if it is not the proper design then it does not matter) Many/most CB radio shop power meters will show your radio now has 25-30 watts 'swing'. In reality, no it does not. Those meters are purposely designed for this bootleg peak/tune/linear-amp industry.

Sadly, truck drivers don't really know anything about this either and that is why they get the peak and tune, and their radios splatter. Too bad they listened to the CB salesman for that '$20 peak and tune special' and let the screwdriver jockey get his claws on the set.

meters: If you put inline a CB wattmeter (Dosy, workman), a ham wattmeter (Daiwa, other 'ham' brand), a commercial wattmeter (Bird), a military wattmeter, and a dummy load, and then key the transmitter, guess which three meters will agree? Guess which three will not fly upscale to ridiculous false power indications when the mike is whistled into?

Here's a nice article about the errors of CB wattmeters, techs, salespeople, and linears:
Research: Tube Type "CB" Linear Amplifiers
It also applies 100% to modern transistorized/FET ones.

CB radios are designed to be as effective as possible as-designed, within the constraints imposed by the regulations for the service. If the radio cost more than about $100 up to $200, you can be sure it will do as good, loud, and clean a job as technically possible, bone stock.

Please keep the CB radio stock and do not use an amplifier unless you really know exactly what you are doing. (and are willing to break the law too which likely falls on deaf ears). OK add a power mike, but don't have some wizard open the radio and mess with it.

Distance: Multiplying the power x10 only gets twice the range. x100 four times the range. An experiment I know of firsthand showed that the maximum CB range (non-skip) was about 40 miles with a 1100 watt amplifier. That is a big amp consuming up to 150 amps from the car battery. The signal quality was just like from the stock CB at 8-10 miles. Not too great. It is the same for any radio service using the same modulation method -ham radio, etc. the distance is a root of the power relationship and there are formulas for that. It's science.

Don't be fooled by cheap workmen. Engineers know what they are doing and would not fix CB for the meager living. A really qualified technician would not waste his life working at a CB shop unless he has no need of the real $$ that other work would bring. Screwdriver jockeys do not know enough, but that is why they do that work and there are bazillions of them. They go in and cut a wire on a diode to destroy the modulation limiter and crank up the power while whistling into the mike till that cheap lying meter goes up-scale. Radio is then ruined. I'd never waste my time fixing CB for a primary living. ugh. $10/hr plus commission maybe. a way to be poor. I guess this might tick off some folks but I've seen it and worked with those guys therefore the advice to at least find one that knows what he is doing.

There are exceptions to the screwdriver jockey - the technician or engineer who is retired and wants a little hobby for some extra $. Find that guy and use him if the radio is broken but please do not turn the set into a piece of distorting junk.

I can rant on this "CB peak and tune" stuff because I owned an electronics repair business for 11 years and worked with a local CB shops and car stereo shops - -they sent me the car radios and I sent them the CBs. During that time I saw several techs come and go at each place. the good, bad, ugly.
I have also built and repaired receivers, transmitters, and RF amplifiers of all types fro 10 to 6000 watts, some from my own designs and others from older tube type units to military equipment and relatively high end commercial rigs like Harris gear and I also own an AM broadcast transmitter.

I guess I am spoiled on pleasant-sounding and easily understood sound of good-quality communications audio. Which the CB radio can be, if the set is left alone and not defiled.

 

[OPCOM]

I heard a long time ago that the old 23 channel CB's are better than the more modern 40 channel units. I think it had something to do with the wattage before the FCC limited it to 4 watts. Any opinions on this? I have an old Royce 23 channel that my mom bought back in the mid '70's when CB radios first became popular. My sister and I would sit in the driveway in mom's '70 model Olds Vista Cruiser wagon and talk to the truckers passing through Marietta on I-75. I can still remember our FCC call letters, KSI-4081. I may just have to dig it out and see if it still works.

For consumers it has always been 5 watts DC input to the transmitter's output stage, meaning about 3-4 watts out when keyed down (and in theory anyway 12-16 watts peak), except in the distant past when some units were allowed more power for business use. I had a couple of those in my shop for repair once, they had vacuum tubes in them and made about 20 watts, but i don't remember the regulation power. Once SSB mode became inexpensive, the peak power was set to 12 watts in that mode.

As far as older sets sounding better, many feel that they do. They do sound different because those were not cost-reduced to death and has a component called a modulation transformer. Many people feel that the sound from a push-pull circuit used with a transformer sounds better than one where the modulator is an IC that directly (or through a DC amplifier) modulates the power supply voltage to the transmitter's output stage. I prefer the older transformer coupled type myself but I confess to using a cobra 148GTL which is of the modern DC-coupled type.

Here is a paste from W on this, only briefly mentioning the business band. That link does not have much technical data behind it.

If you find an old business band unit, it would be great. Also illegal to transmit on today and won't have 40 channels and is big and bulky. Those were licensed strictly, not for consumers, and might have a selection of 1-6 channels. Makes it inconvenient.

If the Royce works, use it! It is a keeper.

Initially, the FCC intended for CB to be the "poor man's business-band radio", and CB regulations were structured similarly to those regulating the business band radio service. Until 1975,[12] only channels 9–15 and 23[13] could be used for "inter-station" calls (to other licensees). Channels 1–8 and 16–22 were reserved for "intra-station" communications (among units with the same license).[14] After the inter-station/intra-station rule was dropped, channel 11 was reserved as a calling frequency (for the purpose of establishing communications); however, this was withdrawn in 1977.[15] During this early period, many CB radios had "inter-station" channels colored on their dials, whilst the other channels were clear or normally colored (except channel 9, which was usually colored red.
It was common for a town to adopt an inter-station channel as its "home" channel. This helped prevent overcrowding on channel 11, enabling a CBer to tune a town's home channel to contact another CBer from that town instead of a making a general call on channel 11. Single-sideband (SSB) users commonly used channel 16, to avoid interference to those using AM (SSB stations were authorized to use 12 watts, as opposed to 4 watts for AM stations) and to more easily locate other SSB stations. With the FCC authorization of 40 channels, SSB operation shifted to channels 36–40. Channel 36 became the unofficial SSB "calling channel" for stations seeking contacts, with the subsequent conversation moving to channels 37–40. CBers with AM-only radios were asked to not use channels 36 through 40. In return, SSB stations stayed off the remaining 35 channels so they could be used by AM stations.

 

[Bulldog 4]

Opcom, you have hit the nail on the head brother. The only thing I might add to what you have said here is that over-modulating an RF signal actually produces LESS RF power output on the transmitted frequency not more. By producing the "splatter" onto the frequencies above and below the carrier frequency it spreads the power output of the amplifier over a wider spectrum and not only sounds bad and ruins communication on adjacent channels but actually reduces your power output. I am a retired RF engineer and operations manager from the cellular telephone business and have held an Advanced class ham radio license since 1978. My personal choice for a wattmeter has always been a Bird. Given the fact that all CB radios are solid state unless you have a really old one they shouldn't need any adjustment out of the box unless they are defective.

 

[Bulldog 4]

Now I also have to put my vote in for some older radios sounding better too. My 1958 Hallicrafters SX-71 receiver had the best sounding audio of any radio I ever owned. Of course it was all tube, American made, and sold new for around $350 in 1958. That was some big bucks in those days.

 

[tx399999]

I finally got around to getting a cb put in. The radio shack 102" whip works great on my deuce. I made an adapter plate to mount it to the sugar scoop. After I got the antenna on I did a quick radio check. I picked up the cb shop transmitting from eight miles away and the SWR meter barely twitched when transmitting. All the pieces are in place, now it's just a matter of getting everything wired up.

 

[Bulldog 4]

Excellent! Ground plane is very important for a mobile antenna and your mounting position looks like a good one for a deuce.

 

[SouthernSteel]

I have a NorthStar 330 which is the original Northstar Before they came out with the NorthStar 3000 Is identical to the super star except the face plate i also run a wilson 5000 magnet mount Awesome set up the wilson 5000 and radio sounds awsome by them selves however when out four wheeling i have some help :] i can reach out and touch someone if i need to i so love the 24 volt system on the m1008