So, what are your various setups?

I am looking at getting a Cobra 18WX for the weather stations and compact size.

Also, I don't know which antenna I want.

Just looking for ideas and pictures.

BK, I am looking forward to what you have, if you have it. You always seem to have the right tool for the truck/job.

 

Wow, they still make those? I haven't had one sense the early 90s.
My last one was a Cobra LTD29 I think mounted from the roof with dual antennas mounted on my west coast junior mirrors. The setup was real slick because I could balance tune the antennas across all 40 channels.

 

I wanna go with something like this to listen to logging trucks when I'm in the bush.

 

The newest 29LTD has bluetooth hookup and weather channels. The bluetooth I guess is real slick. Pair your cell phone to it, receive and stop calls. Talk through the mic and let the CB speaker talk back...

 

I run the old Cobra 40 channel with upper and lower sidebands, turned up of course........and for the antenna I have the Wilson 1000. With the swr's set, it does excellent for distance and reception.

 

I run a Stryker 497 10 meter on a pair of wilson antenna's.

 

I run a galaxy dx33hml with a little extra stuff in it with a 102" whip

 

I have a Cobra with a 102" whip...it will get me 12 miles on a good day.

 

I got high medium and low bands with am and fm, I can reach out and touch some people bout 17 18 miles or so

 

In the Dodge I have a Cobra 29 and a Texas Star 667v, with a Wilson 2000
In the Large Car I have a Stryker 497 and an X Force 4 pill, with a Predator 10k
Several others on a shelf.
As far as the Cobra 18wx, That was not one of Cobras better radios. If you want weather on a radio look for a Cobra 29 series radio w/ weather band. Some may not agree, but the 29 series(especially the older Philippines ones) are truly hard to beat for "bang for the buck"

 

COBRA 29LTD Classic is hard to beat.

The old 23-channel Midlands are good ones too.

The wife's truck came with a Regency that was mounted into a custom White-Oak over-head full-length console.

It was just a radio, nothing to brag about; BUT, the hole it fit in was made into a cabinetry-grade piece of work that would have required an act of congress to make a different radio fit there.

Of course, the REGENCY went dead a few days ago.

I sorted through my pile of CBs and an old 23-channel Midland fit the hole like a preacher's hat-band.

With a poorly chosen antennae location (previous owner), that old Midland will still reach out and get there.


I currently have a Cobra 25LTD in my truck for similar reasons; it is in an over-head switch-panel/dome-light/reading-light console.

I have a couple 29-LTD Classics and intentions are to revise my accomodations an inch or so to fit one in.


Be advised that many radios, especially the Cobras and Midlands, are offered in both side-mike and front-mike configurations.

Be sure that the one you carry out of the store has the mike mounting in the position you desire.



I hear good things about the Wilson antennae; I wish I had a pair.

 

Good thread. Interested in CB's as well, got to get one. And don't know much about them.

 

The absolute best place to buy CBs is at just about any of the big chain truck-stops; i.e. LUVs, Flying J, 76, PILOT, and the like.

They ALWAYS have unbelievable sale prices, usually about $90, on the COBRA 29LTD Classic, plus it's many versions; don't spend good money on anything else.

Buy a good antenna, or antennae, and co-ax, plus a standing-wave meter (ten bucks or so) to set the antenna to it's best performance.

Oh, and get an EXTERNAL speaker; another fifteen-bucks.

All decent CB radios will have a standard external speaker jack on the rear, right next to the P.A. speaker jack.

Better get a P.A. speaker too; they are very handy when you are trying to impress your wishes on someone not-in-the-truck.

You can simply flip the PA switch, key the mike, and say "Please get that bicycle out of the road, else I am running over it."; very handy and saves your voice from all that hollering.

Everything you will need, and the GOOD stuff, will be on display at the truck-stop.

 

The CB radio is the best thing to happen to driver's since the wheel.

Cell phones are useless, dangerous, and don't have a signal most of the time.


With a plain old discount-store CB, on Channel-19, you can instantly communicate with any truck within a couple miles, farther with better equipment.

You don't need to know their phone-number; it works the instant you key the mike; you don't have to look away from your driving, not even for a second.

You can constantly listen to everyone's conversation, the people ahead of and behind you, plus all of those that you meet that have just came from where you are going.

Just by listening, you know many miles before that you had better get into the far left lane before mile-marker 62, or be stuck sitting for the rest of the day; or, that you had better take the next exit and find another route around, on account of there has been a rock-slide and the entire road is blocked with traffic at a standstill.


Without a CB, you blindly follow the rest of the sheep straight into the bottle-neck.


Sometimes, the meerest scrap of information can mean the difference between an ordinary day and a night-mare.

 

I was researching this Cobra-29WXNWBT :

http://www.amazon.com/Cobra-40-Chann...5545665&sr=1-5

The regular 29-LTD-BT states that it has a special 6-pin MIKE for the cell-phone capability.

Whereas, this UPGRADE radio states that it has a standard 4-pin MIKE.

Is that true, or is it a mis-print ??


Several of the truck-driver reviews give this unit a much better rating than the 29-LTD-BT, plus this one also has the weather channels AND automatic severe-weather alert --- even when the radio is OFF.

I have never yet had weather capability on a CB; it might be nice to have.

I also like the instant 9/19 feature that lets you instantly switch to Channel-19 from any other channel by merely flipping a switch.


One more option that it doesn't state is whether or not there are EXT and PA jacks, which would be a deal-breaker for me.


This unit is about $70 more than a good old tried-and-true 29LTD-Classic.


Does anyone have first-hand experience with this same unit ??


I never thought I would have use for some silly BlueTooth device, but the wife is a weaker vessel and might be tempted to blab on a phone while driving, although she swears she doesn't.