Choosing the Best CB Radio

....allow me to rant,you know how much a love to

....only for those who enjoy getting walked on by those of us that run that BIG AM carrier on AM!

That swing stuff is nothing but total crap. Sure you want a little swing on AM but you dont want to be swinging 40 watts from a 1/2 Watt carrier or you will sound like trash! That low key,mod kit,swing kit over modulation stuff you hear from CB shops is nothing but a way for them to get more money out of you!

To people that like to argue this ( not saying you are ) i always like to point out to them this. If swing was the way to go then why dont you hear the guys on ch 6 running a 100 watt carrier swinging to 50K+? And those that have tried to use a radio/amp set up that way on ch 6 always get BLOWN off of the channel! How many times have you heard a guy at a T stop talking that was loud as hell but yet you get down the road a mile or so and you cant hear him at all? That's what running a really low key will get you! Now if he had been using a higher key then he would have been heard much further!

You only need enough forward swing on AM so that the radio will produce 100% modulation,anymore than that is nothing but distortion ( seen as power by a Dosy meter ) and a way to please the Dosy Gods! Of all of my radios like the 2995 ( 50 watts key ) 2970DX (50 watts key) 2950DX ( 11 watt) 3300HP ( 11 watt ) and my few old Cobra 29's with mosfets ( 8 watt ) and all of my old tube radios like Tram D-201's and Browning Golden Eagles ( 6 to 7 watt ) I use a higher key and have outstanding audio and clarity with strong modulation.

 

Thank you !

Remember Screen or controled carrer modulation ? GOD WE WERE HAPPY TO SEE IT FAID AWAY ! Drake, Heath and others used it to make AM ... Yep a senica 2 meter radio would idle at 10 watts and swing to 50-70 same with the TR-4 .... It look great on a "S" meter as it bounced several "S" units but when you got weak it sounded a bit like very poor SSB.

Nothing beats a well modulated radio with a full carrer .....

 

I can understand what you're saying, and for the most part you are right.

If I am not mistaken, I believe a "good" sounding CB should have at optimum, a 1:4 ratio.

My understanding is that if two radios were keyed up at a truck stop on the same channel......radio a dead keys at 6 and swings to 24....and radio b dead keys at 10 and swings to 40....you would hear radio b over radio a.

 

Just mount it like I did in my ford ranger. Here is some pics. No problems and I don't have to use an external speaker with it either.

 

I could never do this because i HAVE to see the meter reading when someone is talking,LOL!

 

That's the way i do it. Peak power divided by four equals what your carrier should be for 100% modulation.

So on my RCI 2950DX.....48 (peak power) / 4 = 12 (watt carrier)

On my Cobra 29 with a Dave Made 5 pill on i use. 700 / 4 = 175. I have run the setup like this for years with the original finals and pills and it sounds great on the other end,i have heard it for my self!

 

LOL yeah I didn't like it at first either but now I really like having it out of the way and easy to hear for my deaf ears.

 

I installed a very compact and cheap uniden CB in tonight and it fits great. it's not detuned to use my palomar so i'm not using it right now. I think i am going to go with the magnum 257 that carolina mentioned earlier. I've been reading some stuff on them and like what i have heard so far. i think it might work out good with my setup.

 

Well, I ended up going with the Galaxy 979 today. so far I like it. I still have my Palomar 225 pushing it from behind the passenger seat. haha. I spent around 30 minutes or so talking on it today on channel 19 and am probably going to get on tonight and chat at some of the base stations. It sounds really smooth and has some pretty cool features. the only negative is that I don't think the stock mic is very powerful. I have a basic bearcat mic from my old radio that I think sounds better and i am about to switch them out.

thanks for the suggestion carolina thunder.

 

You guys are influencing me to take my little Cobra 19 GTL and attach it to a nice linear for some good talking.

As for the 1:4 thing, that little 19 GTL dead keys at 3 and swings to 10. So I'm not even sure if it's maxed out or if there's a little room to work with.