Hand Held CB

One thought: you need an exterior antenna to pick up more than a few hundred feet.

 

I have the Midland 75-822 and it works well with a Lil Wil external antenna. The external antenna is mandatory as stated above

 

I like my handheld Cobra. Definitely use a DC power supply (it’s not a charger) if you’ll be transmitting. Receiving uses far less power but transmitting will drain those batteries. Cobra I know has a low TX setting you can enable to save battery. It’s 1 watt instead of 4. Exterior antenna is basically required. Rubber ducky antenna is a huge performance sacrifice. Buy the coax adapter to attach to an exterior antenna, maybe the truck has one installed already. Or get a mag mount. Rubber ducky antenna inside a vehicle is basically only capable of hearing engine noise. You can see further than you can get out or possibly hear. With an external antenna, you’re basically running a mobile, but with the two cables (coax and power) it’s going to be a messy set up!

 

The more I think about it, unless you run the handheld without an external power supply and antenna, it won’t be any more convenient to use than a mobile. Just get a cigarette power adapter, tie-wrap an external speaker to the CB, set it on the passenger seat, and you’re better off.

 

The selling point for me was portability. At the time of purchase I would often fly to an abandoned truck and/or take a truck somewhere and fly home. The handheld fit nicely in my carry-on. I would make an upside-down 'U' with the Lil Will and shove it into my backpack

 

A foam-lined hard case for radio, GPS, headset, chargers, etc makes sense (to me) to drop into carry-on.

 

That's actually a better idea, but with 3-4 days of clothes and toiletries, a big giant Garmin 780, Garmin dashcam etc etc, I have to practically sit on the backpack to get it zipped. And then comes a prayer to the lgood Lord above that TSA doesnt make me open the darn thing lol

 

Or don’t carry on. I quit that years ago.