Looking to buy first CB, any info is appreciated

Personally, I would go with the 2000 series or one of their toploaded fiberglass antennas with the tuneable tip.

 

thePUNISHER, since you are in Modesto, stop by 10-4 communications. They have quite a selection and Trace over there is pretty knowleageable.

 

10-4 Communications does not do much of a tune job. Definitely not worth what they charge. I think Ice Box up the road in Ripon does an ok job...never owned or opened his radios but I know guys that have them and they sound good.

 

10-4 is a good shop but don't let them tune your radio, I used to live in Modesto my wife was born there. I have ran CBs for yrs and was a radio operator in the army.
Now I tune my own radios and do my own mods, so its easy for me but the guy I learned from lived out towards patterson and he's long gone now (died) RIP old timer
here's my advice for what its worth.

Buy a Wilson ant, don't run duals at all they are hard to tune, they are bi-directional, a single Ant is omni-directional. and so much easier I'm not a fiberglass guy they are good but as you get more into it and start adding power etc stick with a Wilson 1000, 2000 5000 there is never to much ant. Coax is also important, RG8 mini is the only way to go. and length is also important, I always made my own Coax lengths... but I won't get into Freq, velocity, reactance, 1/2 wave 1/4 wave ect...you can search all this out on the web.
Radios goes right along with ANT selection, why buy a cheap radio just to have to buy another one a yr or less later. so your choice of a cobra 29 is excellent but if it was me I'd go with a Galaxy CB not a 10meter ham unit but a CB or 11 meter unit.
don't stick with the stock mic, if you were in your own mobile it would be ok but being in a cab of a big rig you want a noise cancelling one and the astatic 636 is a great mic. One of the most important thing is SWR as mentioned before the lower the better especially if you run any kind of power. aka linear amp.
When you have it tuned don't let them tune it so it dead keys over 4 watts what you're looking for is swing, my radios always dead keyed at 3.5 watts and swing to 18-20 but this is was done with mods to the modulation circuit (not for the faint of heart) with changing caps and resistors etc.
A good source of info if you want to wrap your head around it is

http://www.cbtricks.com/
http://www.cbradiomagazine.com/index.html
http://www.gijoesradioelectronics.com/
http://www.stu-offroad.com/misc/myth-1.htm


Have fun with it....hope this helped oh and if you're buying new as some else mentioned look at ebay... but also look at local too because if you have an issue a warranty is nice unless someones hand have been in it

 

If I was just starting out, I would wait and see what kind of truck you are going to get. If it has an antenna or 2, and the factory coax, I would get a good used Cobra 29 with a stock mic, and just plug it in. Should run $50-60 tops. If you slipseat, get, or make a box and buy a single 4.5 or 5 ft. fiberglass pretuned stick with a good coax and run with it. As you learn more, and start making a paycheck, you can upgrade. ebay is full of radios, as well as every truckstop parking lot. Just try it before you buy it.

 

I drive an assigned '07 Freightliner Columbia day cab. I have a like new 29 LTD Classic Nightwatch $15 used. Checked out, peaked and tuned, aligned-$25 more. Set of Radio Shack 4 ft. white fiberglass pre tuned antennas. Yeah, I know there are better ones, but these were $30 brand new and they are specifically tuned to a 29. SWR is near perfect. $5 checked at CB shop. Included mounts and good quality co phase coax. Total investment About $75 and a little time. I have since bought a Cobra M 84 mic for another $20. For less than $100. my radio talks about 3-6 miles and the ears are good for up to 15 miles. This setup has run trouble free for over 3 years. There are tons of better setups and bigger radios, but this one is legal, and gets the job done. Sorry for the long post, best of luck to you.