GMRS Truckers/Highway Channel

Discussion in 'CB Radio Forum' started by russbrill, Apr 24, 2020.

  1. chris397

    chris397 Bobtail Member

    10
    6
    Nov 1, 2010
    0
     
  2. Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.

  3. chris397

    chris397 Bobtail Member

    10
    6
    Nov 1, 2010
    0
    These CB comments are laughable. I have a D-Rail tuned Galaxy 55hp running into a straight 8 pill amp. It has “Doc Made” on the front. A home made job. I’m assuming that it’s at least doing 1800 watts or so. Running into a Wilson 5000 mounted on a Hustler Ball mount drilling thru the side of the cab. Like the old Tennessee State troopers used to have. I’ve spent countless hours/days tuning and changing parts to get it right. It’s powered by a Maxwell 100 Farad super capacitor and 4 Optima yellow top batteries. I’ve even installed a 60watt solar panel to keep the batteries nice and charged.
    I can talk maybe 5 miles to another driver in good conditions. I can talk to base stations for a good while though. Enough to make good conversation.
    Add all that up in dollars $$$$$
    I just bought a GMRS 5watt walkie talkie and can talk 2-3 miles reliably to another walkie talkie. $22 No bull. (Baofeng UV5R) I didn’t believe it. That’s why I bought 2 so I could test it out. I’ve already ordered 3 more mobile GMRS rigs to hook up in my cars/truck. Theres no comparison: A 5watt GMRS walkie talkies can talk as far as a 100 watt Stryker radio hooked to the best CB antenna money can buy. For less than $100......
     
  4. Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.

  5. russbrill

    russbrill Medium Load Member

    325
    226
    Nov 10, 2017
    0
    Well, look at this way, you kept food on the table for a CB shop owner :)
     
  6. Meteorgray

    Meteorgray Heavy Load Member

    754
    596
    Jan 1, 2016
    0
    Quote: "...A 5watt GMRS walkie talkies can talk as far as a 100 watt Stryker radio hooked to the best CB antenna money can buy...."

    Wow.
     
  7. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

    20,662
    100,418
    Dec 18, 2011
    Michigan
    0
    I’m calling bs on this.
     
  8. Meteorgray

    Meteorgray Heavy Load Member

    754
    596
    Jan 1, 2016
    0
    Yeah, I think the post is demonstrating the fact that even powerful CB radios in a truck cannot talk very far if the "other side" of the signal is another truck driver with a mobile antenna. The ole "line-of-sight" rule is hard to overcome except in special cases, like ionospheric skip conditions. Or, like Rabbi's example, where there are hill-tops involved that allow the line-of-sight to bypass a lot of earthly obstructions.

    Of course, UHF radios like the GMRS are bound by the same line-of-sight boundaries. Some may be able to access repeaters in some areas, but the usefulness of repeaters for a working truck driver is about zero.
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2021
  9. Meteorgray

    Meteorgray Heavy Load Member

    754
    596
    Jan 1, 2016
    0
    I just listened to the famous hour-long-plus 74-mile epic recording made by Rabbi. I noticed that the signals kept going in-and-out with the hills-and-dales as the truck that was moving drove on. It was apparent that the elevation differential allowed such long-range talk, as aided by their illegally powerful CB signals :-0

    Even though there was "some" signals getting through at the very-long-distance marks, they grew to be so weak and garbled that they were only discernable in Rabbi's truck that was sitting still at the truck stop on a hill. Any noise in the cab, like there would be if Rabbi had been moving, would have cut into the usable communication distance. As such, the "74" mile distance might fall afoul of "truth in advertising" rules for two-way communication :)
     
  10. Night Stalker10

    Night Stalker10 Road Train Member

    1,575
    1,145
    Jun 26, 2017
    0
    I didn't watch the whole video, I fast forward through a lot of it. To me there are three advantages to this long-range communication. 1. Rabbi was sitting still acting like a base station, so you're correct since he didn't have that road noise or moving terrain to deal with. 2. He was high up on the mountain. I have no idea how high he was, but obviously the higher you can get your antenna the better. So that was another huge advantage. 3. At some point he had to go to single side band using more power to make it work. Nothing wrong with SSB, but most people have AM radios only. Still pretty good for mobile to mobile contact, even with the advantages. I think the impressive part, was the fact that a casscadia (I believe it was) was involved with this great feat.
     
  11. russbrill

    russbrill Medium Load Member

    325
    226
    Nov 10, 2017
    0
    The whole 74 mile debate doesn't take into account that it was most likely E-Skip (A.K.A. Short Skip) that facilitated the extended range.
     
  12. Meteorgray

    Meteorgray Heavy Load Member

    754
    596
    Jan 1, 2016
    0
    Yeah, that sort of thing occurred to me as well. No way to tell with transient conditions like that.
     
  13. russbrill

    russbrill Medium Load Member

    325
    226
    Nov 10, 2017
    0
    I agree, I don't think repeaters will be super popular with Drivers, 7 Simplex (5 Watt Channel) and 19 Simplex (High Power Channel) will work very well for Truckers just wanting to talk down the road..
     
  • Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.