Cobra CB radio for contact

TimeFlipper

Senior Member
Messages
13,705
Nearly all come with chargeable batteries, and the charger is plugged in to the wall. CB has very little range, a mile at most, so they are carried by families, hikers, outdoor sports events, construction workers, drivers in convoy, etc. for safety and for convenience. When you want more power, join your local Ham radio club abd look for an "Elmer", a seasoned veteran to show you the wonderful things amateur radio can do for you and others.

Not all CB radios come with rechargeable batteries, only the small amount of "hand held" CB radios which you carry around with you ...
CB radios can transmit much further than 1 mile, especially when in ClassicalFans position of having his antenna on top of a building..

During certain times of the 11 year sunspot cycle, every HF band for amateur radio operators including CB users can facilitate long distance communications, that is impossible outside of the sunspot cycle....

Most of the truck drivers you mentioned wont use handheld CB radios, because they use the standard type of CB radio which is powered from the trucks batteries, and their signals can travel further due the amount of metal the truck has that acts as a "ground plane", better known as the reflective area, which helps more to push the CB signal into the atmosphere..

I would have suggested to ClassicaFan using amateur radio frequencies, but i know he is not interested in becoming an amateur radio operator, and if he did use those frequencies without a licence, he could be prosecuted....I have been a "Ham" radio operator for several years and my interest stretches back to the 1950s when i started building simple crystal sets, and then modifying the transistor sets of the early 1960s to cover the Ham radio"top band" frequency (1.8 to 2.0Mhz)..

May i also welcome you to Paranormalis, and i hope you enjoy being with your new family members, and i look forward to reading your future comments :)..
 

Classicalfan626

Visionary
Zenith
Messages
4,025
@Einstein, @Mayhem, & @TimeFlipper - Very good news: we're expecting a delivery for a magnetic mount complete with coax cable to be connected to my antenna, this way my antenna will finally be tested on the CB radio!

My dad and I were thinking of putting the antenna with magnetic mount onto my air conditioning unit outside my window on the side of the house. (I put the CB radio is on my dresser.) We were thinking this will work out just fine. All we'll need to do to get started is tune the antenna and find out how to tell if a channel has much use or not. Also, I will still consider getting a stronger power supply for the radio if I need one.

One question: to detect activity on a particular channel, should one simply be able to hear voices on another line?
 

Mayhem

Senior Member
Zenith
Messages
6,713
Maybe another could clarify would the air conditioning unit pose a problem for transmission? , better to find out and ask than have it installed and there some problem.

But yeah good to see you getting it done man.
 

Classicalfan626

Visionary
Zenith
Messages
4,025
@Mayhem - I wouldn't think it should cause a problem with the transmission as long as the air conditioner is not on, although there may be a problem if it's on, due to the vibration of the AC.
 

Classicalfan626

Visionary
Zenith
Messages
4,025
Update: I got my magnetic mount, with coax cable attached, in a delivery yesterday. I attached the coax cable to my CB radio without a problem, and I was able to fit my antenna onto the mount. The antenna fit the mount like a glove.

There is now only one issue at the moment: the antenna is a bit wobbly since it is 7 feet long. We do have an idea of how to keep it sturdy when it's outside and on top of the air conditioner, but I'm wondering if you guys had any better suggestions, that way it might give us a better idea of what we're supposed to do. Any help?
 

TimeFlipper

Senior Member
Messages
13,705
Update: I got my magnetic mount, with coax cable attached, in a delivery yesterday. I attached the coax cable to my CB radio without a problem, and I was able to fit my antenna onto the mount. The antenna fit the mount like a glove.

There is now only one issue at the moment: the antenna is a bit wobbly since it is 7 feet long. We do have an idea of how to keep it sturdy when it's outside and on top of the air conditioner, but I'm wondering if you guys had any better suggestions, that way it might give us a better idea of what we're supposed to do.


There are 2 possible reasons for the wobble, firstly the AC box might NOT be firmly attached to the wall, or there is insufficient metal in the AC to keep the antenna rigid...Or perhaps, both reasons i have given you would more than likely cause the wobbly antenna....A magnetic mount is essentially used for mounting on the roof of a car....

There is a lot of rigid metal on the car roof that keeps the antenna stable, even at speeds of over 60mph....I strongly suggest that you choose another amount of metal for mounting the antenna on....I did suggest to you in an earlier posting of mine on this thread, as to how you could make a suitable metal area within your own bedroom, to mount the antenna onto :)..
 

Classicalfan626

Visionary
Zenith
Messages
4,025
There are 2 possible reasons for the wobble, firstly the AC box might NOT be firmly attached to the wall, or there is insufficient metal in the AC to keep the antenna rigid...Or perhaps, both reasons i have given you would more than likely cause the wobbly antenna....A magnetic mount is essentially used for mounting on the roof of a car....

There is a lot of rigid metal on the car roof that keeps the antenna stable, even at speeds of over 60mph....I strongly suggest that you choose another amount of metal for mounting the antenna on....I did suggest to you in an earlier posting of mine on this thread, as to how you could make a suitable metal area within your own bedroom, to mount the antenna onto :)..
Your understanding of my situation is flawed. You see, I did not yet put the mount, with the antenna attached, on top of my air conditioner. I tested the antenna/mount connection indoors, and the antenna just seemed to be wobbly to me. I do apologize for not explaining my situation better. However, you could be right that the antenna isn't as wobbly as it seems to be.

Now, should I go ahead and mount the antenna, or do you have another suggestion that might work better?
 

TimeFlipper

Senior Member
Messages
13,705
Your understanding of my situation is flawed. You see, I did not yet put the mount, with the antenna attached, on top of my air conditioner. I tested the antenna/mount connection indoors, and the antenna just seemed to be wobbly to me. I do apologize for not explaining my situation better. However, you could be right that the antenna isn't as wobbly as it seems to be.

Now, should I go ahead and mount the antenna, or do you have another suggestion that might work better?

Ok, so i assumed that you had already fixed it to the AC unit...So what did you place the antenna/mount indoors onto or into?
 

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