I'm looking for a decent portable CB radio. I don't want to go through the trouble of buying a big one, mounting it, running the cable for the antenna and mounting a big antenna on the truck. The reason for this is I will only use it every now and then, when on a long trip.

I'd like something that gets good reception (I understand the range is limited by the small antenna on the portable) and is self-contained, plugging into the cig lighter or something. It does not need to have all the bells and whistle (I'm not even sure what's available).

Anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks,
Chris

 

Radio Shack has one for $100 and eBay has about 90 of them listed (search "handheld cb).

Hope this helps
Wayne

 

Chris,
Ive got a portable, works pretty good. The only down side is that the antenna is about 4' long!! Hard to use in the truck. You could just leave it short but it cuts the range pretty good. Okay if your following or leading someone with a CB.

 

I just checked thier site and this one has an external jack for an antenna. Pick up a magnetic mount base antenna and put it on the roof when/if you need more range.

 

I know lots of places to get them. I was hoping to find some opinions on brand, model, etc., hopefully from ownership experience.
Thanks for the info on the antenna. I will look into getting one I can attach an external antenna to.

Thanks,
Chris

 

I've got a big CB, but it's borrowed and I'll have to give it back and I was thinking about the hand held one's. I only use mine for trips so it would be nice to have something small. If you can hook up a set of normal CB antennas to a hand held one, that's awesome. I got twin fire sticks on the truck and I love the way it looks with them on and I'd hate to get rid of them.

 

Sorry Chris, guess I sorta misfired on your question. I've only used a handheld once. It wasn't mine and I didn't like it. All of my CB's have been the regular ones...about 6-8 of them, including a big ol' base station. Brands of choice would be Cobra, Midland, Uniden, GE, Realistic, more or less in that order. I'm sort of curious about the "why" behind the handheld. They have almost no battery power so you have to plug them in to a cig. lighter and they have very little range without an outside antenna and with that kind of set-up you may have SWR problems. Besides, with that many wires connected, you just as well have a regular CB like a Cobra LTD-29 with a couple of firesticks. Because they are am radios, sometimes you can't even talk to someone right beside you anyway. If you were thinking of a short range system, you may want to look at FM ht's. I've rambled enough. PM me if you need/want more info.
Wayne

 

I have a Midland, model 75-810, that runs on batteries, and has a 12 volt jack. Works very well. You can also remove the 4" antenna, and plug in an external one. I use a magnetic base.
BIG MIKE

 

Chris,

Here is one, CB, it has a removable antenna so you use an external one and you can also us a seperate mic so you don't have to hold the big thing.

You could also get something like this and just mount it and only use it when needed.

Depending on what you decide to install, if you need help just let me know. I have all sorts of antenna analyzers and other test stuff.

 

Thanks Butch. Those are right up my alley. As I said, I want decent, but not necessarily spectacular because I will only use it on trips, and I don't take that many of those.

I should have thought to ask you in the first place.

Chris

 

Look at the Cobra line --they have a unit that has everything in the handheld unit volume controll , station selector , auto station scanning , and a myriad of features, it even gets weather stations. I put a cigar plug on mine, and hook it up to a glue on antenna mounted on the back window. I just hang it on a vent or lay it on the dash. shop around it should be availaible for $98.00 it transfers easily to the van where I have a magnetic mount antenna. It works Good !

 

I also have the midland. it works great. I like the fact that I can put an external magnetic antenna on it and put it in any car in just a minute. I sometimes drive several different company cars in the same week so it is handy to be able to move it around.

I originally bought mine for use while jeeping. You can plug a headset into it and lay it down under the seat or somewhere safe. With a hands free headset I could use both hands for driving. It also works good to talk to your group when you get stuck behind another group and have to walk the trail to see what the holdup is.

 

Radio shack sells cigarette lighters adapters with 10 amp fuses and + and - leads on the end. I would buy a REAL radio and just hook it up to that. The CB will come with a wiring harness with + and - leads too, just hook it up and go. The antenna that you want is a Wilson lil'Wil or better Wilson magnet mount unless you end up permanently mounting one?

If you're trying to talk to trucks on a handheld, they will have to be next to you.

Cost of the most basic Cobra CB: $40 (I forget the model # but Flying J truck stop sells them)
Cost of Radio shack cig lighter adapter: $7
Wilson little Wil antenna: $20

And then either borrow or buy an SWR meter ($10 or maybe $15-$20 at radioshack), because that is the most important thing. People often buy nice radios and not tune them. Your 4 watts will easily turn into 1 watt if you just hook it up without tuning. It takes about 5 minutes to do.

The wiring won't exactly be the neatest, but it'll be completely removable and the radio will GET OUT.

 

What's involved in "tuning" a CB setup?

Thanks,
Chris

 

It's really easy. What you're doing is tuning the length of the antenna to the wavelength of the signal(?). The best SWR is 1:1 but most anything under 2:1 is good, and anything over 2:1 is not good, 3:1 is terrible. Basically, the lower the SWR, the less power loss you have. A 4 watt radio with a 3:1 SWR will probably put out less than 1 watt (?).

You hook up the SWR (standing wave ratio) meter like this CB -> meter -> antenna. You key up the mic, and calibrate the meter by turning a ****, and then switch the meter on reflect mode, and key up the mic again.

If the lowest SWR reading occurs on channel 1, the antenna whip is to long and must be shortened.

If the lowest SWR reading occurs on channel 40, the antenna whip is to short and must be raised.

On some antennas, the main piece of fiberglass, and theres a small piece of whip at the top (about as thick as a clothes hanger) that can be lengthened or shortened. Other times the entire whip moves up and down. You tighten/loosen it with a small allen key. It should be pretty obvious how to move it up and down.


I tuned mine for 19 because its pretty much the only channel I ever use but if it is tuned well, you will have a low SWR on all channels.

Here is some more info:
http://www.firestik.com/Meas-SWR.htm

The Radio shack SWR meter has good directions -- http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...ct%5Fid=21-534 They have a cheaper one in stores that doesn't also measure power maybe 15 bucks. But even at 30, I think it is worth the money.