Question about CBs, from a HAM.

They clip or remove the modulation limiter and then retune the transmit to be loud and they bump up the power. Then the radio splatters all over the place if not done correctly. There is also the "whack-pack" mod where they bypass all the voltage regulators and the radio actually gets warm while transmitting.

 

If your only able to talk 3 miles on your stock CB...You need to work on your set-up some more! (I would start with the antenna!)

P&T is where a Tech will go in and basically "Peak and Tune" your radio so it will do all it's capable of doing. (in a nut-shell)

If the Tech knows what he is doing, they can get more power out of your radio, than it was set at from the factory. They will also check the aliment of the channels while they are at it, check and adjust the modulation, and more or less go over the radio to make sure every things working as it's suppose to. Average price of these services is usually between $20-$35...

Now...OK, getting a CB to do more power is not exactly legal. So trying not to get all the Hams wound-up, I'll say it's up to you on what you want to do...

There's more to installing a CB Radio than just hooking up the Ground and Hot wires to get one to talk across town 20 or 30 miles...Which a stock Cobra 29 should be able to do...(pending on your surrounding's)

 

big C.B. fan myself, I hope you do get a chance to try trucking, just do me a favor and don't base your opinion of trucking and truckers on what you hear on 19

 

Why not ? is the true reflection of our current society
not to your liking?

 

I agree that it is a sad state, but I like to encourage young/new drivers to get a taste of the real joy that I still get from trucking before they hate it, call me naive but I still think trucking can be fun and profitable if you enjoy it

 

I have never been a big fan of SSB. It's true you can talk farther with a SSB radio on stock watts, than you can on the AM channels, but it is also harder to stay on frequency with everyone else on the channel...Plus, allot of the CB Radios that has SSB tend to drift off frequency, so your always having to fine tune the radio...This is a hassle when your also trying to drive!

SSB is sorta like your car stereo...You have AM...and FM on your car stereo.

On the CB you have AM...and SSB...and some even have FM.

On a CB, if you get on channel 19 but on SSB. Then the guys talking on the AM side will sound all garbled. And if you talk, then the guys on AM-19 will hear you all garbled-up...

The channels mostly used for SSB are channels 36, 37, 38, and 39. (38 being the most popular)

 

Nothing wrong with SSB I run it even of 432 mhz now in the car I use FM on bands from 28 - 440 mhz if i can but have made many contacts on 28 and 50 mhz over the years.

MANY of the problems with SSB on CB are traceable to the cheap radios and export sets not the mode .... but not all CB sets are a problem either.

Im set up for AM but AM is is not used much on the ham bands .....