Avoid the Exit 163 CB Shop on I-40 in Dickson, TN!

I would go with a single antenna. At the spacing you have, there is no benefit to dual antennas.

Personally, I would go with a single 102" white fiberglass whip, mounted where you want to put the Firestiks.

 

Yeah he still in business good man I hear noting but rave reviews. All the old cbers around me go to him even now that they are into Ham radio as well.

 

had the old crabby fellow with the beard work on my Galaxy 44, and rewire a mic, did fine by me.

 

i just bought a connector from Chuck. didnt hang around too long.

 

The property has been for sale.
http://www.teamcobalt.com/mls-1388642-0_Hwy_48_I_40_Dickson_Tennessee.html

Who knows if it will sell or how long radio shop's lease is for. Just sayin' things could change.

 

I know years ago the 163 shop was owned by the same guy who had the shop on top of Mt Eagle, but I dont know who ran it after the original shop owner died, his son took over the Mt Eagle shop & he died a few months ago so its closed up now.


The 163 shop used to do some good work but its been at least 10 years since I've ben in, actualy suprised its still in biz.

 

I was just there yesterday, chatty Kathy was a great help and talked my ear off. Strech put in my new General HP 40w and got everything wired up quite nicely! Very reasonable prices, very willing to work with you. GREAT CB SHOP if you ask me! Plus ive talked to quite a few old timers that have said they wont go anywhere else but there.

 

I bought a Galaxy DX 44HP from CB World at the TA at exit 109B off I95 in Elkton, MD. I had it tuned & the CB worked awesome. I got nothing but good feedback from other drivers about the sound quality. All brand new coax was installed with this radio and a 15" long shaft Brownie antenna on a mirror mount on my Freightliner Cascadia. I was going down I40 west in TN when I heard a lady shouting about a CB shop off of exit 163. I had to turn around at the next exit & go back because I was already passed that exit. I figured I would turn around & check out this CB shop so I went down to the next exit & turned around and went back the 12 miles. I brought my radio in and asked the guy to basically just check it out and make sure that the tune ups and mods were done properly to it & to let me know how much power it was pushing. He told me that I was only pushing 35 watts and that he could get the radio to 45. He asked me if I wanted to get it retuned, so I said yeah sure & while you are at it can you do the talkback squeal mod. The guy retuned the radio & added the talkback squeal mod & I left with a bill of around $45. I reinstalled my radio, started driving west on the highway again talking to another truck driver & I noticed that my antenna warning light was coming on when I keyed up. I checked my SWR & it magically rose from the 1.1 it used to be before I walked into the shop to a 7. So I got off the next exit, turned around & went all the way back. I took my radio & went back inside & got ignored for like 30 minutes. Finally they ask me what is the matter & I said that my radio was not working right anymore. Every single time I key up & talk into the mic my antenna warning light is coming on. The guy instantly blamed it on my antenna & said it's not the radio. So I argued with him in front of everybody that it wasn't the antenna system, that it was brand new & was professionally installed and tuned not more than 1 week ago. So he left my CB sitting on the counter & told me that I had to get my antenna checked. So I stood around for the next hour waiting while the tech worked on somebody else's truck. Finally another tech comes in to do the antennas but he does another truck driver before me that just wants to have his antenna simply checked out. So that truck driver walks out with the tech & about 30 minutes later the truck driver comes back in with an end to his coax cable which he throws on the counter. When they ask him what's wrong he says the tech ripped his coax apart. He said that all he wanted was to simply have his radio checked out. He said that the tech told him that he needed all brand new coax cable but it was already brand new. He told the tech that he didn't want new coax cable. The tech told him he would install the new cable for $50. The driver said he was all set & he didn't want to spend $50. Then the tech dropped his price to $25 & again he declined the offer saying he didn't need new cable he just wanted a simple antenna tuning. I guess that was when the tech grabbed the coax cable in his truck, yanked on it & ripped it out of the connecter. Then he told him he needed new coax cable, again. Now it's been around 2 hrs that I have been sitting around waiting & I am growing impatient & I start hollering about calling the law & that my radio is screwed up. So the tech grabs my radio & hooks it back up to the Dossy Meter, keys up on the mic & that's it. He didn't even say anything into the mic. He gives me back my radio & tells me everything is fine that it isn't my radio that it is my antenna system. So I make the decision that I can't wait any longer to have this figured out, that I am out the $45 I just paid & I can't use the CB until I can get to another CB shop to have it looked at. When I got to a truck stop & shut down for the night I opened up the CB to check it out for myself & I found all the pods turned to the max & I found the coils spread apart which they were not before. So I decided to pinch the coils back together myself (we all know that you don't spread coils) and I backed off all the pods knowing that I wouldn't get it correct but that I would be bringing it to a CB shop for a retune and that it wouldn't hurt to just back it down some. Guess what, no more antenna warning when I key up! Needless to say I can guarantee with 100% certainty that I will not be stopping there ever again.

 

And the above post is my belief, what the truck stop CB shops thrive off of....the truck driver who doesn't know any better, and the CB hacknician who hopes you aren't planning on coming back anytime soon...and they know you are on the move, so they'll get you in and out as fast as they can, corner cutting and all