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

From what I've seen online, a shop can tune up a 29lx to about 20 - 25 watts for around $30. You wont be stomping on anyone but you'll be getting out better.

 

I drove a 2014 volvo and actually the stock attenna setup worked pretty good, however i did switch out the stock attenna for a wilson 2000 and got the swr down to 1.2. There are some shops that will perform a good transmitter alignment following the manufacture service manual, stay away from the shops that want to clip the limiter or spread coils and will promise 30+ watts out of a cobra 29, not going to happen, you will end up with a pos splatter box that sounds horrible. I have a cobra 29 lx that all I did was turn up the amc( modulation pot) inside the radio and added a ranger sra 198 mic and it sounds good.

 

got my 636L at a pilot. I think they are running a $10 rebate this month.

 

Astatic 636 is a good mic I just dont like the long droopy cord it gets in the way, the cord isnt so long on the sra198 or a roadking 56

 

If you do choose to run your own coax use the volvo bird perch on the driver side. Remove the bolt with the ground wire attached to it and put perch there, run 18ft coax down mirror arm , through door hinge, up along and across dash to passenger side, run up to top area and back to driver side where radio is at. If radio is mounted on dash you obviously dont have to run coax up onto overhead. To be honest with you I tried both attenna setups and really didnt notice much of a difference, the stock setup runs through a Rami multiplexor box so you just cant run alot of power through it, a cobra 29 will be fine, even some dual final 40 watt export radios are fine.

 

If the increased wattage is not on the fundemental frequency and splatters 2 to 3 channels either way , the performance of the radio will be decreased instead of increased, thats what happens when the limiter is clipped and coils are spread.

 

If you get a cobra 29 adjusted to the legal 4 watt deadkey with a pep swing to 16 watts and have the modulation turned up to 95% the radio will perform exactly the way it was intended to, afterall the final transistor is rated at 16 watts. If you can find a cb shop to do this utilizing the proper test equipment you will have a great sounding radio, loud and clear, capable of transmitting and receiving 5-10 miles with a good attenna setup.