Bad CB shop/Good CB shop

about a month ago i was heading north on 75 in GA deadheading home to chattanooga. i came upon a fedex wiggle wagon with the driver complaining about his poor radio reception and was pondering about getting a new antenna. i told him what i would run, and about this time we came across the 296 in cartersville.

one of those fly by night CB shops had the radio on and hearing the chance for a sale, they chimed into the conversation. he first told the driver it sounded like a bad antenna, which was what i was thinking. then fedex started asking what kind of antennas they had, and he started naming off prices.

fedex says well i dont have that much cash on me, so he asked what the guy would charge to check the SWRs. his reply was 15 bucks to check, 20 to set. fedex then asked what it would be for a certain antenna, cb shop replied 99 bucks plus tax and 20 to set the SWRs. man i went off the deep end.

i told that place what i thought about him and that shoddy racket of selling a customer an antenna then charging them to set the SWrs. thinking about that still pisses me off. fedex went on down the road.

i understand places have to make money. fine. that is the point of being in business. but there has got to be a line of making money and downright screwing the driver. there are many drivers out there who do not know a hole in the ground from another hole on the body, but still, preying on these people does nothing for the CB sales and service industry.

i have found 2 shops that give free SWR checks. that is the original 163 CB shop on I40 exit 163 in Tennessee and Bob's CB, I80 exit 80 in Stratton PA.

i was needing an antenna last year, happened to hear Bob on the radio, they checked mine for free. the end result was they sold an antenna and then set the SWRs for free.

the sad part of the CB industry is that ANY modification to an FCC certified transmitter illegal. there are trained repair techs for genuine problems, but for all the other garbage (echo toys, recorders, roger beeps) it is technically illegal to modify said certified radio. look it up, the law is the law but the enforcement is zilch.

point being, is there is no set guideline for anyone to have to abide by to open a CB "repair" shop. you really are risking your investment on the person saying they can do the work. other than word of mouth, there is virtually no way to verify the said technicians credentials.

keep that in mind next time you want someone to take a golden screwdriver to your expensive radio

 

Im not a big CB guy, I've been to more CB shops than i care to admit!, so far, not a one have been honest, I try and get a good radio and antenna good coax, bring to shop for peak and tune, adjusting the antenna's swr, and no matter what I do, cant recieve better than a mile, So every time, I go to a shop, they say bring me your radio and Ill look at it, and I always get ether, it you antanna, or it's the coax, and they say," Here buy this and this will be much better!", so I pay and get it set up, and low and behold!, not a bit of difference!, so what gives?, why cant I find a good place to set me up with a system where i can have something where i can at least have some sort of conversation with someone?

 

Rollin radios out in VA off of 95 just south of Richmond. Dont remember where exactly he is because I have always sent my radios to him not brought them in. I think he does excellent work and does it as a hobby. He knows what he is doing for sure, everybody on cbradioforum speaks very highly of him and they do know about radios and what is hack work and what is not.

 

As I said earlier, I'm not getting into a pissing contest with you or anyone else. When I see false information being told, I will call you on it, every time. Cutting componants and spreading coils does more harm than good when you key that radio up on the 11-meter band.

 

Ham haters........yuck....just go take your test already....

 

You might want to re-read AB7IF's post again. At least accept the fact that there might be another way other than yours. You are making accusations ("false information") and disrespecting fellow members here. If what you say is true, defend it with facts or logical explanations, as did AB7IF, otherwise all you have are opinions. And everybody has one of those! The proof is in the pudding as they say, I've had too many Cobra's tuned up, spreading the coil was part of the tune up, that did an excellent job and lasted for years.

 

AB7IF posted a good shop, I think it was in NM, that would be close to you. I forgot what post it was in. I would/do trust his judgement.

 

He cannot separate cutting limiters from spreading a loading coil so explanation is pointless. Extreme thinking calls for extreme tools. Someone needs to build a cutter spreader. Oh wait they did. It's called a golden screwdriver.

 

Common sence is no longer common but I have found integrity is still firm. Thank God for potassium!

 

NOT that every mod is bad but many like cutting limiters is asking for trouble ....