cb radio

For a legal power radio, I would suggest a Uniden or a Cobra. I would advise not worrying about spending a whole lot on a radio. About a hundred bucks or less will get you a good one. I would, however spend what it takes to get a good antenna, coax and mount setup. Not sure what type of vehicle you are mounting it on, but a good antenna will make a less than great radio sound good.

 

I have a radio for sale if you're interested.

 

Well here goes with the opinions because every one has there favorite radio. If your looking for a straight AM radio then the old reliable cobra 29 is probably the most reliable. If you want SSB then the answer would be the cobra 148 or the uniden grant. Of course the uniden is a good copy of the cobra but either one is good. And as mentioned in the other post the right antenna and a good quality rg8x coax by belden if you can find it and remember the other thing about installs grounds are your freind and you need enough amprage to supply the radio with 13.8 volts constant. so make sure you use the right size wire for the distance you have to run the wire to get to the battery and keep the ground as short as possable. Oh and the other thing is don't let some CB butcher with a soldering iron and screwdriver get in it and (tune it) the factory has engeneers that are paid to design the circuits so cuttting this and jumping that is only going to mess it up. Now a good tech and a scope can realign the transmit and recieve side and make allot of differance to a simple radio because that is where the factory is weak. if its with in there tolerances its close enough so they don't spend allot of time with fine tuneing the transmit and recieve allignment hope this helps. Oh and anntennas i have found its hard to beat a francis and 18 ft of rg8x coax. any length francis the longer the better but they are a true 1/4 wave antenna and use the coax as a tuneing stub so make sure you use 18 ft of coax like the package says.

 

i would recommend the cobra 25. under $70 on sale at most Pilots. no need to go full bore for your first radio. then someday when you do spend more than the national debt, keep that cobra 25 for your back-up radio

 

General radios are nice. I have had the General Lee for a few years now, still works very nicely. Currently mounted in my pickup, but will be back in a rig once I go out on the road again.

 

If you can find a CB shop listed as a white hat shop, and you find other people to let you know they have used their services. Let them supertune the radio. One of the above comments is correct if you don't have a good tech working on the radio. I am on the other side of the country, so I can't recomend a shop to you. I now have four ov my radios supertuned and my son just had his Cobra 25 done. WOW what a difference. I also agree Cobra and Uniden are very good radios. But don't forget Galaxy My favorite radio is a Galaxy DX959.

 

I like the Galaxy DX959, but for your first radio I think I'd have to say a Cobra 25 or 29Ltd. Galaxy's DX919 is also a good radio, and the features on it are well placed and easy to use.

 

Whatever you buy you got to take it to a CB shop and get it peaked and tuned. I like my Connex 3300HP and the Viper antanae?? (I can't remember how to spell that word)

 

There was a rebate of $20.00 for the Cobra 29 Classic at the TA's in January bringing the end cost to $79.99. Not sure if still valid here in February.