which CB antenna would you recommend

80 and 40 both require ham licenses. Not a problem for me but not an option for my pilot and police escorts. And yeah I feel a little better, still just mad because that driver with his garbage 10 meter clipped and running on 11 was spewing all over the entire 11 meter band making it pretty difficult for those of us needing to do our job to get anything done.

 

My brother is a heavy hauler so he also uses pilot cars to safely transport loads, it's important that he communicates with his pilot cars so he uses Nextel, each pilot car he uses he gives them the two way Nextel. To operate safely and not be a detriment to others it is very important that he be able know conditions in all directions. A CB radio is not the type of equipment any one transporting these loads should use. FCC rules are that a CB radio should only have a output of 21/2 watts but these radio shops tune the out put of some radios to over 15 watts and the signal pass band becomes very wide then they put a amp inline and this becomes a bigger problem. Radios tuned by people that don't know what they are doing will cause harmonics meaning the signal output at harmonic frequencies will cause interference with other communications. For example, a broadcast signal at 27MHz (CB band) will have a second harmonic at 54MHz, a third harmonic at 81MHz and a fourth harmonic at 108 MHz and so on. Some or all of these harmonic signals can disrupt activities in other wireless services such as police radios that operate at at frequencies that is actually on the second harmonic of a CB signal. If a police car is close he will hear the CBer on his radio. To give you an example of how bad it is, airplanes trying to land at Charlotte NC also hear local CBers and this interferes with their radios. The FCC find these base stations and close them down really fast. I am a Ham so I am allowed to run 2,000 watts but my radio does not interfere with anyone on the second or third harmonic. Now if I were to pass you and key down it will cause what we call inter-mod. You ever pass a radio tower and your truck radio will hear that stations inter-mod? A lot of truckers are running unlawful radios that's why I don't use 11 meters. I can tune my radio to 11 meters but it's single side band and I could loose my license for doing that so it's not worth it. I have an advance class ticket and live on final approach to Charlotte's airport so if my radio is not tuned right I could disrupt a airplane's radios. I think it's important to help drivers set up their radios and antennas but I never tune one pass 2.5 watts. If this guy is interfering with your safety you can call 911 and report him and they are allowed to do what ever they need to do to allow you safe operation but Nextel is the only way to get away from these guys.

 

Those antennas are good but it's so simple to put a K-40 on your truck. A K-40 Trucker will make a 2 dollar radio good. A amp does you no good if you can't hear the other party. The FCC knows that CB is out of control and maybe one day they will do something but for now it's just a mess.