Optimizing my cb legally

For the most part, a single antenna is all a person needs. But get a quality antenna. I perfer the stainless whips such as the Wilson 2000 or wilson 5000. For your needs, the 2000 would suit you fine. Make sure the coax is the best you can possibly find. The factory Feightshaker stuff sucks. I have seen 5 pin pics at some of the TAs around. If nto check out some online CB shops such as Sparkies CB shack etc. They might beable to hook you up. Personally, I perfer the Astatic mics such as the 636 niose cancelling mic. They sound better on the air, well to me anyway, then the Road King 56 etc. But that is a personal prefrence I guess.

Now here is the hard part, getting the antenna system to work the best it can possibly work. Ie grounding. The Columbia has alot of plastic and fiberglass body parts which makes antenna grounding a pain in some of these trucks. The antenna mount has to have a proper ground to the body of the truck or any metal in the truck. There is a bunch of technical knowledge about grounding etc but it is easier to just say, make sure everything is grounded together or bonded together. It makes the antenna happier and a happy antenna gets out farther and hears better. You also need to get the antenna tuned for the lowest possible SWR. For this you need an SWR meter or you can go to a CB shop and have it done.

Another thing, no two radios are the same, you can have two box stock radios of the same model etc, hook them up in the same exact truck and one will outperform the other. This is why I like to have my radio gear run through a competent shop to make sure it is doing what it is supposed to be doing. I refer to this as a Peak and Tune. Some think a Peak and tune is basically opening up a radio and hot rodding it till it becomes an over achieving POS.

Finding a shop that will P&T the radio without chopping things up in it might be the greatest issue these days. Just don't fall for the claims of big power out of a stock cobra radio.

 

Why do you not want to increase the out put of the radio.

just asking

 

I had the same radio when I first started. I loved that radio.

Just go to a CB shop and have it peaked and tuned. I'm not into all that big radio stuff either. But a peak and tune will get the most out of what you already have.
The radio's are actually built to put out around 20-30 watts. But they go down an assembly line and are quickly adjusted to 4 watts along with other rough adjustments.

A CB tech will carefully adjust it to where it performs it's best with maximum output and minimum distortion.

The same goes with a TV. The are roughly adjusted at the factory. You can put one in a TV shop and have him tune it by the schematics to exact numbers and you'll get a noticeably better picture. I've done two older TV's like that before. I haven't tried it on a flat panel yet. But that's one reason you see some big differences in stores. One is tuned better than the other. Factory workers are rushed and don't always get things adjusted exactly right.

I've always liked Astatic noise cancelling mics and the shielded cord on them never gets all twisted up.

You can buy one at Pacetronics.com or other places and they'll wire it in for a 5 pin for you. I'm sure any CB shop can change it to a 5 pin also.

 

The 1969/1307 final will get very hot at that level .....

As far as peaking The FCC does not care if you work over the receiver AKA make it better .... that is legal as long as you don't put it outside of the Part 15 rules ..... and i doubt you can do that.

The best way to get more out of the radio is with your antenna,

As for TV's its been 40 years since i was in that line of work they were still tube then ...

 

He can turn it up to 10 watts or so. There's a happy medium over 4 watts. Right?

I have a little Cobra 25 I used as a backup. I watched the tech and he was playing with it and said, "wow, this one puts out 30 watts". Should I have a concern?

 

Rat speaks the truth. There are probably 2 million CB shops out there; unfortunately, out of all those shops you could probably count the ones who actually know what they're doing on one hand.

Some people say "Peak and Tune", but I prefer to say "Alignment". There is a definite difference between getting a radio "Peaked and Tuned", and having one properly aligned, and this is what I think Rat is actually saying. Tweaking a radio to run "wide open" will basically turn that radio into, as Rat says, "an overachieving POS", overmodulating and splattering all over the band. But aligning a radio is pretty much like getting a top-notch tune-up on your engine; you can definitely tell the difference in the performance on both ends.

 

FIRST On a am only radio to get 100% modulation you have to have 1/2 watt of audio for each 1 watt of output.

Since SSB radios use low level modulation this does not apply.

The diffrence between 4 and 10 watts is about 1/2 "S" unit and your final is running at near the rating for most used in CB sets.. IF you need power go get a amp and give your radio a break........

 

Had a Cobra 148 years ago. Had it peaked and tuned. Hooked it up with twin antennae. I remember talking to a kid one night in Zapata, Texas from Laredo. Unfortunately, foolish people made my CB useless. It wasn't long until it ended up in the bottom of a closet at home. It was eventually sold to a friend's Pawn Shop for $20.00.

Incidentally, That 148 was purchased new "On Sale" at a 76 Truckstop in California for $169.00. They sometimes sold for $180.00, usually for $195.00. For some reason the price hasn't changed in two decades. The Pawn Shop price is the real value of a CB. My friend eventually sold mine for $45.00.