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Hooking up a CB Radio

i can help ya what do you need to know? also if you google it,they have very nice detailed photos about it, and very good info
 
Well, it's very complicated. You need the very important part in the box that the CB came in. This part is called "instructions". Just kidding, its really simple. Constant power, ground and antena lead. Or do you have a specific question like antena placement and or make and model of antena?
 
agreed..
 
Find a place that is convenient to mount it.

Either supply power direct from the battery, or though the the fuse block radio circuit.

Find a place to mount your antenna and run the wire to the radio.

Tune the antenna.

There are so many variations on this theme, it crazy. There are many, many threads here on NAXJA just this subject alone. Here is a list of topics assembled by Firestick ( I hate their antennas for off-roading, but I like their website for these kinds of questions.) http://www.firestik.com/Tech_Docs.htm

I'm running a little Uniden I picked up new for around $50 and into a fender mounted bottom load antenna on the drivers fender. The radio was attached to the side of my transmission housing in the passenger side and tapped into the fuse block with some clips from RadioShack, but I moved it to the FM radio location ( I built a bracket ) and for power, it's just tapped into the FM radio connector.

Ron
 
I was looking at the cheap little $35 Cobra 19 CB at the local walmart today, with the same questions in mind. There are a lot of old threads about CBs on this forum, but few pictures :(
 
The lil' cobra at Walmart is good if your looking for a cheap "throw-away" style radio.... Basically that meant that if you ever have a problem with it, just throw it cause it cant be repaired. If you're looking for a simple set up, Uniden makes a nice little unit here that you can find for around $30-50 will fit right between the drivers seat and the console. For an antenna, for this radio, I'd recommend the k40 which you can find for around $40-50. Use a magnetic roof mount and your all set. If your looking for a bigger rig/better setup, pm me and i can make a few recommendations....

Ex-Out
 
Hammered said:
what about the Fire Stick antennas that have a tuner built in the top...
The problem I have with all loaded fiberglass whips is that they are heavy and don't bend. They are great on an 18 wheeler that never sees a garage, or drags low hanging trees over the roof rack.

On an Jeep that is used off-road, the catch on everything and I have seen them on the trail where they got hit, or just fatiged the mount and fell off.

There are a lot of base/bottom load antennas out there. Barjan makes 2 or three, K40 makes a nice setup, Wilson makes them, Larsen makes them, etc.

Ron
 
Zuki-Ron said:
The problem I have with all loaded fiberglass whips is that they are heavy and don't bend. They are great on an 18 wheeler that never sees a garage, or drags low hanging trees over the roof rack.

On an Jeep that is used off-road, the catch on everything and I have seen them on the trail where they got hit, or just fatiged the mount and fell off.

There are a lot of base/bottom load antennas out there. Barjan makes 2 or three, K40 makes a nice setup, Wilson makes them, Larsen makes them, etc.

Ron

i put a spring on mine and saved it from all the above - makes a huge diff.
 
I have an old uniden that i tested and works, but it didn't come with any antenna or cable. I looked at radio shack and it looked like they had a pretuned shorty antenna, and then cableing for a couple of bucks more. But, I have a gift card to The Sportsmans Guide and they have an magnetic mount pretuned antenna with cable. But its made for corba, but I think it would be the universal 3/8 antenna mount on the back of the cb.

So I just need a ground a 12 volt power source, something that would turn off when I turned my rig off.

Also I am having a hard time figuring out were to mount it, any suggestions would be great. Thanks.
 
I've got a small one and mounted it to the bottom plastic trim panel in front of my right leg and have plenty of room without touching it at all. For the power I used the power and ground from the cigarette lighter since it's right above it.
 
Pre-tuned antenna is a myth. It may be close but don't bet your output transisters on it.

The antenna system consists of your antenna, the coax cable and your vehicle. How did they know what sort of vehicle you would be putting it on? Again, it may be close but is the match close enough? Best to know than to trust to Chinese manufacturing tolerances.

Also, the shorter the antenna, the narrower the tuning window. Meaning, you can tune the antenna for a good match at channel 19 but by the time you move up in frequency to, say for this discussion, channel 34, the match has become so bad that you are risking damage to the output transisters. Also, by the time you move down in channels the same amount, the match has gone bad again.

A short antenna can restrict the number of channels you can safely use. If such an antenna maintains a decent match over only a 12 channel spread up or down from the tuned channel, you effectively have a 24 channel CB.

As you move away from the channel the antenna has the best match on, the match becomes worse. How far you can go before the match becomes too far off is the "bandwidth" of the antenna. Short antennas generally have a narrow bandwidth. Taller antennas generally have a wider bandwidth.

Buying a cheap, short antenna may well be cheating yourself. If you only need a few channels that are clustered together, then its gonna work just fine as long as you remember the restriction of the SWR match. If you need the whole 40 channel spread offered by your CB, then be certain the antenna is up to that demand.
 
Well, for trail use, you are going to be on just a channel or two. In this case, a short antenna would be ideal. Tune it for the channel you will be using and you're good to go. Everyone will be close together so optimum performance isn't needed.

Any decent, shorty antenna is going to give you several channels to choose from (all relatively close together on the dial) so you move to a different channel if the one you wanted to use is busy or noisy. Just don't expect a little antenna to cover all 40 channels and don't expect it give you much range.

You can always have a longer antenna for everyday use and the shorty for the trail. Just figure what the radio is going to be used for and select the style of antenna accordingly. One size doesn't fit all.
 
What if you have a 3 foot antenna and it is on the roof rack. do you get any more range because it is up higher up?
 
SKIM said:
What if you have a 3 foot antenna and it is on the roof rack. do you get any more range because it is up higher up?

Yes, because the roof becomes an excellent ground plane.

The problem is your 3 foot antenna becomes a magnet for every branch, tree or stick on the trail. It will break or it will break your mount. Ask me how I know . . .
 
99SJ_Ex said:
The lil' cobra at Walmart is good if your looking for a cheap "throw-away" style radio.... Basically that meant that if you ever have a problem with it, just throw it cause it cant be repaired. If you're looking for a simple set up, Uniden makes a nice little unit here that you can find for around $30-50 will fit right between the drivers seat and the console. For an antenna, for this radio, I'd recommend the k40 which you can find for around $40-50. Use a magnetic roof mount and your all set. If your looking for a bigger rig/better setup, pm me and i can make a few recommendations....

Ex-Out

SPOBI:
And why can't it be repaired?
The cobra 19 can be fixed by anyone with the knowledge and a good soldering pencil.$35 is alot of money to throw away.....
 
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