Standard CB or SSB radio? What do you recommend for a newbie?

Not unless you have a Ham license. Truckers use CB and mostly only channel 19.

 

No ham license is required to transmit on cb ssb

 

Go with a standard CB. I'm a fan of Cobra 29s.

 

Seeing op is a new to this stuff,MY SUGGESTION is to keep it simple and do research...
Most radio manufactures make a radio that failrly simple and plug n play with very little set up needed....
DO NOT SPEND BIG $ ON A RADIO YET!!!!!

My suggestion is focus on antenna set up for the car/truck your gonna be useing this radio in..

Ant type,mount location,coax,stud all make a different in your trans/rec so dont just buy willy nilly....
Watch some youtube vids and do some reaserch from here and other sites before you buy...When it comes time and you are well verced in antenna set up then you can consider a bigger radio BUT at the same time your gonna be forced to learn more to take advantage of that radio...
A good antenna set up with a basic radio will do better than a good radio with a crappy antenna set up...
Good luck and when you have more question ask but at the same time you gotta do the work with a lil study time..

 

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SSB is really only used for long distance skip communication, which to me isn’t the point of CB radio in a truck. For short range communication with other trucks to find out road conditions or even just chat, any cheap CB will do. If you want to talk long range, get a ham radio.

 

High powered ######## shooting skip have pretty much ruined CBs, at least as far as the typical truck application goes. It's pretty sad when you can't talk across the median to another truck, but you can hear some jerk clear across the country talking incessantly and saying nothing.

 

If you want to use cb as a tool for work? No ssb necessary. If you want to use it for work AND to begin a hobby for entertainment? Go with ssb.

 

With the solar cycle on the upswing SSB could be interesting. Go with a simple radio like the uniden 980. Leave it alone, get your antenna system checked and go play. If you decide you like radio as a hobby you can take your time and research radio best for your interest. A great radio with a lousy antenna system will just frustrate you.