Deciding on a radio

I don't do anything peaked or fancy.

I have a Uniden Pc76xl that is basic, able to adjust to whatever vehicle or antenna it's in via SWR and so on. It's not a SSB radio. (Don't need it really...) it's probably worth 20 bucks after about almost 30 years since I bought it with poker winnings in the I-20 calhoun shop.

One thing I do is velcro a external speaker to the dash so I can hear the #### thing when it's worth hearing, when it's not turned down for quiet in a land of bla.

 

Can't add ssb to a radio...you would have to just buy another radio that has ssb... Best radio I've had in a long time is the President McKinley...Has all the features of larger case size radios, but compact in size...All I did when I bought mine was turn up the modulation pot and ssb pot (which is right next to the modulation) the radio came to life.. modulation was only at about 75% from factory, and ssb around 3w's. turned modulation up to 100% and ssb to 12w's. paired with a 1x2 and I can talk from one end of the County to the other...

 

just go out and buy what you want, but with the lack of cb'ers out there, you'd be wasting your money going full hog on updating beyond out of the box performance.

 

With the money you will spend getting your cobra de-tuned and $200+/- for say a 100w blue box amp. Put that money in to a great radio at around $400 - $500 with all those fancy bells and whistles you want and be done.

FYI running 100w means you will have to hard wire the radio or amp directly to a battery source. Think about that changing trucks every year.

 

My approach was to get a small radio (Uniden 520) putting a couple of watts into a small amp (Italy 203p). For less than $150 invested, it gets me 70 or so watts on AM and is quite effective.

The radio pulls maybe 2 amps and the amp about 10, so I plug both into 12vdc accessory ports in the cabin without overloading anything.

I need maximum mobility, so I run my little outfit without any permanent mounts. As a result, I can unplug my stuff from the 12v system and antenna coax in a couple of minutes, put it all in a hand bag I use to store them, and be on my way to another truck as needed.

I didn't get a radio with ssb because I only communicate with other drivers about road conditions and wrecks etc, and I don't need ssb for that.

The amp, however, is capable of and is reported to be a fine performer on ssb. Plus, it has a preamp for times you need to pull in a faint signal.

Lots of ways to talk well out there.

 

Stryker SR 955 hpc

 

SSB in a rig isn’t practical, but if it is a must, a great SSB rig is an Anytone AT-6666. If SSB isn’t necessary, go for a Stryker SR-447HPC2. Both are excellent radios and have more than enough power to be heard.

 

Screw the idea of getting a 10 meter super duper rig or an amp, get any radio, get it aligned right then focus on your antenna, power won't compensate for a poor antenna.

 

Sure it is. When the skip was rolling with GOOD conditions back in 2015, I'd spend all day on 38 LSB while rolling down the road.