i need some suggestions on a cb, something that is good but not too expensive, thinking about runnin a 4ft fire stick. im new to cbs and just want some suggestions. i am wanting to run a fire stick b/c i like the way they look not too fond of the looks of the metal attenna's. thanks for all of your help

 

man, cb's where to start. there is a load of decently priced cb rigs on the market.

Cobra, www.cobra.com, the best brand out there, IMO, has the 19 DX IV for $65.

http://www.cobra.com/index.php?page=...ct_id=417&id=1

Uniden, has the pro 510xl for $35.

http://www.unidendirect.com/itemdeta...tem=B-PRO510XL

Midland, has the 1001z for $45.

http://www.midlandradio.com/comersus...idProduct=4334

these are the most common inexpensive radios. in the end it all comes down to taste. the models with the chrome on them will generally run closer to or over $100.

 

as far as the 4' firestick goes, i would hard mount that (ie, to the bed rail) or put it on a 5" magnetic base. anything smaller than a 5" magnetic base will blow off, and possibly shatter the magnet (had that happen to me).

 

what kind of range will i have with the fire stick and one of the cbs listed above?

 

the cobra 25 ltd a good setup?

 

its hard to tell how far it will reach with the firestik. there are alot of things that affect it. like mounting location of the antenna, the higher up the antenna is mounted, usually the farther it will reach.

also the surrounding terrain, a signal sent in the city or in a very hilly area will not reach as far as a signal from a flat area, such as Oklahoma.

the way the antenna is tuned will also play part in how far it will reach. the Standing Wave Ratio of a radio is how far the signal has to travel up the antenna be for it is broadcast. a CB shop will be able to help with that.

weather plays an important part too. a signal could go farther on a cloudy day than on a clear day. this is what you would hear called "skip", cause the signal tends to skip off the clouds down to a reciever.

the power out put will affect it also. a standard out of the box CB is limited to 4 watts per channel by the FCC. now if you have a CB shop modify it it can go for miles. however a stock CB, again depending on the previously mentioned factors, i would expect about 5 miles at best.

 

the 25 LTD is a decent rig. i had one for a short time, and it did good. one thing to watch for, if you go with the 18 wx st II, i had one of those with a firestik and it did nice for CB 2 way, but the weather band (wx) reception was kinda sketchy.

 

thanks for the suggestions and help

 

I went through these guys. http://www.walcottcb.com/
Shipping was quick and great service.

I went with a Wilson FGT 4 foot antenna and the cobra 75 series all in one hand unit. A lot of people have said they hate it and some say they like it. I personally think it’s a great radio. I get CRYSTAL CLEAR reception on the weather channels and picked up some conversations from a couple of miles away with very good clarity. Money well spent in my opinion. Oh yea and i have not even tuned the antenna yet

Here are some pics of my setup:

 

I have uniden 76xl with a cobra 350 watt high drive linier, all peaked and tuned and it will talk pretty decent, but none of that matters if you don't have a good antenna. Your radio will only be as good as your antenna. You can have a cheap radio and a high dollar antenna and out talk a high dollar radio and a cheap antenna.

 

Keep an eye on EBAY... I recently bought a COBRA 19 DX IV for only 34.00 shipped !!! It is BRAND NEW ! Its a nice CB and will fit pretty much anywhere.

 

I got all of stuff from Radioshack as I used to work there but here are some pics......

Mounting of CB



If you look carefully you can the antenna mounted to my headache rack.