cb question

We use them all the time and they work really well. We even had one Jeeper lost trying to find us on a summer run in deep bush and broke down with the axle falling back on the springs so the driveshaft is out, that heard us on the CB. One person had the strongest, so she sat on a hill and the rest of us fanned out until one other got contact too. We then chased him down by volume and had him back on the trail fast.

He only had one of those stick on 10" windshield antennas with a broken off mast and still managed a fair distance. 5 miles by road, likely 1 as the crow flies.

Most of us run with the 4' stick. A couple have hand helds. You are basically talking line of sight so it doesn't take super power to enjoy trail chat. I spot lots of animals and stuff and a CB call doesn't scare them away like hollering and pointing. LOL!

Mike

Now stop that Bill, that took an hour out of my day, now I know eveything there is to know about antennas.

And the coax and to power wires.

When the SWR is not 1:1, and the grounding is imperfect, some of the RF will flow on the outside of the shield. The hot spots will be at odd electrical quarterwaves of the operating frequency (234/Fmhz).

This is not to be confused with the false sense of security some see by trimming the coax! (hahaha, don't fall for that). Inside the coax, the electrical halfwave is 468/Fmhz*VF (velocity factor, .66 for solid dielectric and .77 for foam dielectric). This is frequency dependant, and any specific length is only for one frequency. The coaxial electrical half wave will reflect the exact impedance at the antenna feedpoint to the transmitter. Any other location on the coax will be a different combination of voltage and current lobes that will show the exact same SWR, but since most meters read voltage, the apparent SWR will change with the location of the meter in the coax.

If any of this doesn't make sense, post a reply and I'll try to clear up any point that are unclear.

-Scott, CB'er since 1977, HAM since 2003, electronics tech since birth!

And that is the most important one too! I have seen dozens and heard of a bunch more vehicles that have had severe onboard computer issues with an improperly wired transmitter including an automatic TJ (I think it was, or XJ) that went into neutral every time the owner keyed up his mic.

The GM specs are the same for Chrysler vehicles, I phoned and asked because installing systems was one of my jobs for a while. Fords can be a real bitch with their computer controlled trannys too. Anti-lock brakes go out 'real' easy too on most makes, but especially on GM's.

Mike

They also pointed out direction changes. Thge hand held should be okay for your first trip. Personally, I think it has overhead that you will learn is hugely problematic. A built in CB is much better than the hand-held models.