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CB radio options?

muckleroy said:
A ham fest, convention, or eBay. The ham fest/convention would probably be cheaper, but less convenient.
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I scored an FT-1500 off ebay for $100 shipped. Works great. Good 2m rig for the trail.
 
muckleroy said:
That was one of the best XJ off road videos I've seen.
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Search for kevin3151 on youtube, he's done quite a few. This is what we do on weekends around here. :) I'd probably have to sell my jeep if I moved back home to Iowa, no where to wheel. :) There's a reason why the socal chapter is very busy....
 
ECKSJAY said:
Yeah, looked at that a little closer. I thought it was only big emergency stuff. Cool. :D
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L or D situations are BIG emergency stuff......

Its been quite a while since I actually read that part of Part 97.. But the code goes something like 'in an emergency situation you are REQUIRED to use whatever modes or frequencies needed to make contact to get help.'

It's what actually protects the average citizen that picks up a police radio and uses it to get help for a downed officer. Even though 99.9% of LE officials out there wouldn't do anything to a person in that situation, there is always one asshat out there....
 
Generally UHF trunking radios. Think ham with fancy frequency switching to make use of their spectrum. No one relies on CB. :)
 
Most places don't use UHF or trunking, rather they use simple VHF but I guess it depends on where ya live. In the city, UHF and trunking is common, but in rural places you won't find either generally. Usually, trunking and UHF goes hand in hand and is used in places with lots of traffic and/or several radio networks.
 
PurpleCherokee said:
Most places don't use UHF or trunking, rather they use simple VHF but I guess it depends on where ya live. In the city, UHF and trunking is common, but in rural places you won't find either generally. Usually, trunking and UHF goes hand in hand and is used in places with lots of traffic and/or several radio networks.
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Yeah, rural would be on VHF, similar to the 2 meter rigs we use on the trail. It's been so long since I've lived in Iowa, I just assumed everyone was in the city. :)
 
megabyte5689 said:
wait so law enforcement uses CB? or Ham?
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In my area... the County Sheriff and the State Police often equip their cars with CB's... more to keep an eye on the interstates than anything.... Their actual police radios are UHF rather than noiser VHF...

But my original comment was aimed at Ecksjay as an explanation to his question about needed a ham ticket when its an emergency. I was using an example...
 
I have a Cobra 29LTD Black Chrome and a 4' firestick 2, just havent installed it yet. How is everybody mounting theirs to the roof?
 
I'd highly recomend a permanent mount. Not only will your signal strength be much better, but you won't ruin your paint. And it's really not hard to mount one up. Looks better too... more professional :rolleyes: lol
 
markw said:
I usually try to steer CB threads towards ham radio. It's a much nicer solution especially for what we do. There's a thread on pirate from when Remi and some other NAXJA guys saved some guys life on the rubicon when a samurai rolled ontop of him crushing him. CB's didn't work, and I think it was remi who was able to call for help on 2m. I'd rather not wait for an emergency to think wow I should've gotten a ham radio. I've been licensed since 91, and my dad since the 50's. As much as I push it, I never had the patience to learn morse code, so I had to wait until this year to get my no-code extra. :)

edit: Here's why I recommend ham over/in addition to CB.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=369569
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Wow, reading that Pirate thread brought back memories. I was there that day and saw firsthand the value of ham radios.

It was a good thing that Remi had his ham that day. And Dan Turner had a marine radio in his rig. So he was able to talk directly to the helicopter pilot to coordinate a safe landing spot.

I plan to get my HAM license soon. But a CB is still a good tool to have on the trail, just to communicate with the group. Question though - is it okay to "chit-chat" on a ham as you would on a CB?

That said, I have a Cobra 75WXST. Very compact and unobtrusive. And contrary to what you might think, you do NOT need a PA. :)

IMG_2110.jpg
 
xjohnnyc said:
Wow, reading that Pirate thread brought back memories. I was there that day and saw firsthand the value of ham radios.

It was a good thing that Remi had his ham that day. And Dan Turner had a marine radio in his rig. So he was able to talk directly to the helicopter pilot to coordinate a safe landing spot.

I plan to get my HAM license soon. But a CB is still a good tool to have on the trail, just to communicate with the group. Question though - is it okay to "chit-chat" on a ham as you would on a CB?

That said, I have a Cobra 75WXST. Very compact and unobtrusive. And contrary to what you might think, you do NOT need a PA. :)
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You were leading the pack at big bear, didn't you hear us talking to guys in Escondido? That's all hams do is chit chat. :) I do recall them having to relay stuff to you about Troy breaking down, good use of CB. :) Kevin, Mike, Kyung, Josh and myself were all on 146.520 during the run. You don't know what you missed. Get your ham ticket soon, the test is EASY. I did mine back in 91 or 92.
 
PurpleCherokee said:
I'd highly recomend a permanent mount. Not only will your signal strength be much better.....
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How so? How would a permanent mount antenna get a stronger signal than a mag mount, say in the middle of the roof? Not saying that you are wrong, but I just want to learn.
 
Maz said:
How so? How would a permanent mount antenna get a stronger signal than a mag mount, say in the middle of the roof? Not saying that you are wrong, but I just want to learn.
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Straight off I'll say, I don't know for sure that the mag mount won't perform as well as a perm. mounted antenna. Here is why I think it could be this way.

The minimum length transmitting antenna you can have is 1/2 wave. Longer is fine, shorter isn't.

When you install a CB antenna on your rig it needs a good ground point. Why? Because the antenna (usually) is 1/4 wave length. The metal of the XJ acts as a mirror, or reflector that makes up the other half of the antenna.

gpimage.jpg


When you use a magnet mount 1/4 wave length antenna the magnetic field couples the ground side of the antenna to the metal of the XJ. The paint basically acts as an insulator.

If you think of your XJ as being a mirror for 1/2 of the antenna you are installing I think that you will understand why it works best when the antenna is mounted in the center of the metal mass. Up to, because in line of site communications higher is better.

In my personal experiences I do not think you would notice a significant different between an antenna mount ground to metal, and the magnetically coupled ground, but I've never compared them side by side.

Oh and one other thing. Due to the reflection of the antenna in the metal of the XJ, you can make your signal (receive and transmit) directional. Back driver's side and your signal would be best forward passenger side.

Rear passenger side roof, front driver's side. This is usually the preferred position for people driving the interstate roads because it directs the signal forward to your left, which would be the on coming traffic. The on coming traffic are the ones that have seen the police ahead of you. ;)

An antenna mounted in the center of the metal mass will transmit and receive in a more "circular" pattern. Equally in all directions. It will "seem" to work better because it won't matter which direction you are going, or where the other station is located.
 
xjohnnyc said:
spot.

I plan to get my HAM license soon. But a CB is still a good tool to have on the trail, just to communicate with the group. Question though - is it okay to "chit-chat" on a ham as you would on a CB?
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Absolutely, its okay to chit chat on a ham radio... We call it rag-chewing. The main difference is that you use plain language, no stupid ten codes or CB handles. You simply follow the same rules you would about purposeful communications, i.e. I,D,'ing correctly, allowing others to use the frequency, etc.

Rag chewing is the main reason I am adding an amateur radio to my DD...
 
w_howey said:
Absolutely, its okay to chit chat on a ham radio... We call it rag-chewing. The main difference is that you use plain language, no stupid ten codes or CB handles. You simply follow the same rules you would about purposeful communications, i.e. I,D,'ing correctly, allowing others to use the frequency, etc.

Rag chewing is the main reason I am adding an amateur radio to my DD...
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HF (High Frequency) bands will be opening up soon, so "chit-chat" will be common all over the US, Central and South America, and even into Europe and the middle east. The further away generally the shorter the conversation as there are many others waiting to make contact with them.

You can receive awards for talking "working" all countries, states, counties, to name a few.
 
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