Shoot me straight

Hand held portable C.B. radio, for that budget. Add fifty dollars more and you can get a better set up. Cobra 29 and a Francis antenna.

 

Try Craigslist or even Ebay. You might get lucky.

 

Sometimes pawn shops have "big", as in size, radios for cheap.

 

What's it going in? That makes a difference.

For the radio, pick up a Uniden PRO 520XL. The best of the cheap compact radios, bar none.

Antenna will depend on application.

 

http://m.ebay.com/itm/221997670946
Bracket and stud
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001JT0CGI/ref=pd_aw_fbt_23_img_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=15RWA10A3AYCX1R4H01E
Cable
http://www.amazon.com/Francis-300-CB26B-Black-5-5-Antenna/dp/B007QXLS82
Francis antenna
http://www.walmart.com/ip/10603635?...38443112&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=77934653007&veh=sem
cobra 25
about $125.00 minimum including junky stud and bracket

 

For a $100 budget, go to a TA truckstop by the end of February 2016 and buy the Cobra 19 on sale for 40 dollars. Next buy either a Francis CB25 4 1/2 foot antenna or a Firestick 5 foot antenna for a single antenna setup. Finally, buy a length of RG58 coax that will connect the radio to the driver's side antenna mount and bypass the factory cable setup. Ignore anyone who tells you that you need 18 feet of coax because you don't. Shorter lengths of coax have less signal loss and that is a very good thing.
.
.Now if you can up the budget, use the above but substitute the Cobra 29 Classic on sale for $80 instead of the Cobra 19.
.
.For short lengths of coax the performance difference between RG58 and RG8 is minimal.

 

With a Cascadia, if you can't find at least a 5.5' Francis, don't bother buying a shorter antenna. The 5.5 Francis is the shortest antenna that will work decently on a bird perch mount on a Cascadia. If you can, get to Bob's CB shop in PA (I-80 exit 70) and pick up a 7' Firestik. That's the best antenna you can put on these trucks. Get the stainless steel mount he sells for that truck as well. The Wilson one the truck stops sell is overpriced junk.