My newbie setup... Cobra 29LX & Wilson Antenna

What kind of truck are you currently in that you are using the stock attenna setup? The built in swr meter is not 100% accurate, but if you havnt already, it will be good enough to check it to give you a rough idea of what it is with stock setup. Cobra 29 lx is a good basic 40 channel AM only radio should have a carrier of 3watts pep swing to 10watts stock, modulation should be about 80-85% stock however I think you will be dissapointed with stock microphone, that would be the first thing I would upgrade related to the radio(excluding attenna ). You will probably get mixed views here on necessity of a peak and tune , and its value, but that is up to you.

 

my galaxy dx 47 hp bleeds over onto cell phones and peoples blue tooth they have jammed in their ear. so they can listen to my roger beep

 

Dont know how that relates to his initial thread and I get the impression you are happy your radio does that, I would hate to hear you on the airwaves.

 

Im pretty much a radio noob too. I've had stock cbs for a long time for the same reason as you but am just now getting into more power and trying to educate myself on how to get the most out of a radio so I'll throw in my 2 cents from one noob to another since no one else has chimed in. I currently run a stock 29lx as well.

From what I've read the Wilson 2000 is pretty much the go - to antenna for trucks and I see them on trucks everywhere I go. I changed my stock antenna to a 4 ft Francis Hotrod for $20 and it was a big improvement but the Wilson may be even better, I don't know. There's a lot of people online giving really high reviews on an Italian antenna producer called Sirio, basically calling them the Wilson killer.. They have a version of the 2000 but there's only one US distributor and you have to order it online unless you are near their California location.

I would say you are on the right track if you intend to get the radio peaked/tuned and I do like having my external speaker (Cobra S500 for $32.) But if you are going to keep it basic then just go to a good shop and have them tune your radio and antenna at the same time. They should have a good swr meter (if you aren't going to be fiddling around with your setup, you don't need to buy one) and they will be able to tune up your radio and antenna in one visit and you're good to go. They will also be able to tell you if you have any reason to run new coax, which based on what I'm learning here isn't always worth the expense, especially if you're not going to be pushing high power through it. That being said, ask around on the radio for a good shop or start a new thread here asking about shops. You'll get plenty of options/opinions, I'm sure.

One thing I noticed after getting my speaker is that through the talkback, I could hear my stock mic crackling just when I keyed up. I asked about it on the air and others could hear it too. I bought an Astatic 636L and did several on air radio checks, swapping the mics back and forth and unanimously got the Astatic as the best sounding mic between the two. "Cleaner and more clear" were the comments I heard most.

One last thing, and I wish I could say this to every driver out there.. Try to get used to having your radio on all of the time when you are driving. Even if you are listening to music on your fm radio, keep the cb on low volume so you can hear the "brake check southbound" or "watch that 4 wheeler hes driving crazy". No one utilizes it anymore and it can save you from so many #### situations. It can literally save lives. It will also save you a lot of grief by letting you know about back ups ahead of time so you can go around them.

Ok that's my 2 cents. Lol. Be safe.