CB Noob

There is a lot of information here on this topic if you use the search feature.

What happened to the deal you had on that PC78? If you can get it going for cheap, that would be a great radio for what you need. Cobra's and Uniden's are regular 40 channel, legal cb radios. Connex, in addition to General, Magnum, Stryker, and the two-digit Galaxy radios are "10meter" radios, which are not legal for use on CB in the US. They have more power and more channels than are legal, but if you stay on the 40 CB channels, you won't have a problem. I don't know about the Houston area, but for an online shop Sparky's cb shack has a good reputation. You might give him a call and see what he advises, he won't oversell you, and looking at his website he has a great deal on the General Lee right now, which I think would also suit your needs pretty well.

 

An amp does not exactly make you sound stronger, it just makes you heard farther away. What makes you sound stronger is modulation, or "swing". When you combine swing and an amp....look out!

How far your radio will get out will depend on a number of things such as how low the SWR is, how big the antenna is, what type of terrain you're in, I believe even atmospheric differences, etc. However they say a CB is good for line of sight. Your 102 whip will get you out better than your Lil Wil can.

Pretty much any CB can be ran thru a cigarette lighter except for the high powered exports that have a built in amp. However when you move from car to car you will have to recheck the SWR since you are going to be setting the SWR to the vehicle. If you never remove the antenna then you should be good to go.

Hooking the CB directly to the battery helps reduce noise which helps you hear better. One alternative I've considered is putting a cigg lighter outlet under the dash and hooking it straight to the battery. This would come in handy if you're always switching the radio between 2 or more different vehicles all the time, as long as they were the same vehicles you interchanged with.

The Connex radio you mentioned, has the punchy modulation that helps you get heard over a barefoot Cobra or a Uniden. However, just so you know, the Connex is not a true CB but an export and is not FCC legal/certified. However as long as you don't get on the ham bands with it, Uncle Charlie will most likely stay off your 6 o clock.

The Cobra and Unidens are certified CB radios, both of which are good radios. Sparkys sells a Cobra 25 with 100 + watts of modulation that is supposedly a good talker for quite a distance yet looks docile. This radio does not have an amp, but a final transistor mod that makes it strong.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amplitude_modulation

A radio with a 4 watt carrier (or "dead key") and 16 watts of modulation will sound louder on the receiving end than a radio with a 4 watt carrier and 10 watts of modulation. Having said that, carrier is what makes an AM signal go the distance. In other words, loud doesn't always equal long distance.

The final Turbo-T is talking about is the RFX75. I'm not a fan, but there is a long thread on here about it, read it and see what you think. I doubt that it would fit in/on your 520. A radio with one of those in it would be pretty borderline with a cigarette lighter plug. How many vehicles are you going to be switching this stuff back and forth from? If it's just two, I think TT's suggestion that you straight wire a dedicated cigarette lighter plug (FUSED AT THE BATTERY!) is a good one, especially if you leave the antennas on and just switch the radio. If you're going to be switching the antennas, you'll need to check/set the SWR every time you move them. If you're going to be switching antennas a lot, you might look into one of the Galaxy radios with the self calibrating built in SWR meter, they're easy to use and the two I've had were pretty accurate.

 

GASP .... Swing .... AKA Screen or controled carrer modulation.

Back 40 years ago Heathkit and Drake used this to run AM it sounded like junk and we were happy to see it go away ...... Look at all the ham radios that run AM and see how many run this mode ?

Now its back with people moding radios to swing 10 even 20 times the dead carrer output.

A well modulated radio held to no more that 100% negitive modulatio peaks is all you need...... If you want more power go get a linear ......

 

I don't think the conversation is related to HAM on this one.

 

Agree 100%

The theory is the same for amateur radio or CB.

 

But it IS I had both a heathkit and a drake and they sounded just like the swing kits on the air ........

They are not illegal just sound like junk ..... the heathkit 6 and 2 meter AM transmitter in this 1968 photo wouls swing your signal 5 "S" units on AM and are not even wanted today. The DRAKE TR-4 and T-4 radios did the same.

Nothing sounds better than a high level modulated AM rig with some audio clipping ......

 

I don't think Mike worked VHF but, did you ever work W2OY back in the 60's??

"CQ...CQ...CQ...No lids, no kids, no space cadets, no school bus riders"