You know you thought about it...

[DarkWolfTJ]

CB Radios! what info can you give me on them, i need it all, the radio, Cobra any good? oh and the antenna too, i've looked but cant narrow it doen, if you got one please let me know from where... thanks jeepers

[Materdaddy]

Spend your money on the antenna setup, NOT the radio. Almost any radio will suck with an improperly setup antenna. I have heard good things about Cobra. I have some cheapy radio that works really well because I have a decent antenna setup.

Poke around on here for some good reading on CBs:
http://jeephorizons.com/tech/cb_ant_basic.html

[Adam Q.]

I bought two handhelds from Fry's to use on my last Baja run and they suck!!! Total waste of money. I used to have a really good hand held that I got at radio shack but it was stolen. I was trying to go cheap with the new radios.......got what I paid for.

[sarah]

$30 Radio Shack CB ... it rocks!

[swbooking]

Firestik antennas are the way to go! and I have a Uniden and it works great. Got it at a TA truck stop. whole setup cost me like 80 bucks or so...
http://www.firestik.com/

[Old Fart]

Very little difference in the radios - basically they all come off of one of three assembly lines in Taiwan.

Good antenna, Firestick is one of them. Depends on how you want to mount it as far as what works best - make sure the antenna is adjustable for SWR (and no, there isn't a "magic number of feet of coax" that makes bad SWR go away). Good coax is as must - if it doesn't come with the antenna, I use RG8X for this level of power/frequency. Buy the best PL-259 connectors you can find, and solder them correctly.

Skip the powermikes, amplifiers, dual antennas and all that other stuff.

Wire the radio directly to the battery, both positive AND negative cables.

Find a good home for, and install a remote speaker if you ever think you'll want to actually hear the thing on the road

[swbooking]

Find a good home for, and install a remote speaker if you ever think you'll want to actually hear the thing on the road

SERIOUSLY The speakers that come in the CBs SUCK. Its so hard to hear sometimes. Im always like ,"what did he say?" haha

[Old Fart]

I have (2) remote speakers in my YJ, one for CB, one for the TM-D700A. Considering adding a third to split the 2M and 70CM output.

[swbooking]

I have (2) remote speakers in my YJ, one for CB, one for the TM-D700A. Considering adding a third to split the 2M and 70CM output.

What language is that? haha im guessing theyre radios.

[Materdaddy]

What language is that? haha im guessing theyre radios.

I agree... That's greek to me....

[Old Fart]

TM-D700A is a "dual band" Ham radio (two separate radios in one). 2M is 144 mHz, 70CM is 446 mHz. For reference, CB is 11M(eters), 27 mHz.

[swbooking]

sweet, sounds like youll never be without a radio that can conntact anyone on this planet.

[Old Fart]

LOL, I've had was worse than that. In 82, my '70 FJ-40 had full shortwave plus (4) VHF/UHF radios (6M to 2M). Occasionally still found no one to talk to

[swbooking]

HAHA so instead of a recovery box/tool box in your Jeep theres a radio station with pop out 8 foot antenna on the roof? haha

[Old Fart]

Acutally, in this jeep I've limited my radios to dual band ham, Forest Service and CB - too damn noisy to listen/talk on the highway, and that's all I use on the trail.

Recovery box has only the things I need. I figure worst case, I'll put a cutting rod on the onboard welder and carve the parts I don't have off someone elses rig