SSB CB Usage?

Overpriced with a useless freq. counter and SSB you'll never use. Good internals made by Ranger. Outstanding S-meter that is durable, although the lamp behind it will burn out every 5-6 years. Very stable transmitter, excellent modulation and power swing right out of the box. Very good radio for what it does.

If all you're after is a decent, durable AM CB radio, consider the Galaxy 949 instead. The one I own is about 11 years old and is bulletproof. It's identical to the 959, but without the SSB and freq. counter, neither of which are of any use to most CB'ers.

If you're after full 10-12 meter coverage, Galaxy's V-series radios are a bargain. All can be easily unlocked to include 11-meter (CB) coverage, and have clarifiers that will slide up/down by 5 khz. and a

10-k switch. Copper.com carries an excellent unit (55V) that I like to recommend for $159; very durable, extremely good noise filtering, FM mode, and a decent freq. counter that works well. For the ham operator that needs CB now and then, this is a must-have. This isn't on par with a President, but it's cheap and will easily take a beating in a Jeep without complaining, and the black face hides well underneath the dash.

Good luck finding any AM CB that won't drift on SSB. I don't use SSB, AM or FM so it's a moot point for me. If we need more breathing room out where it counts on the road, we kick on the linear and move to the high 12-meter band where Smokey can't listen in.

Thanks for the recomendation.

If it's right in their faces, possibly, but CB's haven't been high-theft items in years. If a drugie can't get at least 50 bucks for something, he doesn't usually bother with it, and you haven't been able to fence a CB for near that in close to 20 years.

Dan

I've been using my Uniden PC-122 on a hump mount in my Jeep for some

16 years, with an Antenna Specialists 108" stainless steel whip antenna (that was also on my '65 Scout). I had it "peaked" and the squelch "tightened", but it has never missed a lick. I used to belong to a local SSB club. In town, I keep the antenna pulled forward in a "gutter clip" that Radio Shack quit carrying about 4 years ago. Even pulled down like that, it still far outperforms any shorter antenna I've ever used (center loaded, and even top loaded) regardless of where they were mounted on the vehicle (including the middle of the roof on the Scout). By that, I mean not only better range both ways, but also dramatically less noise.

Dan

Wow, that brings back memories. 108'ers were pretty popular in the

70's; I'm surprised they still sell them. Even with the gutter clip bend, the full-wave stainless whip kicks ass.

I knew a guy who wired one of these up to his AM/FM stereo. He couldn't believe the reception; claims he got stations from all across the USA, even in the daytime.

Unidens are great, durable radios. I ran a 68XL with the red LED display for years. My tractor was stolen from the yard one weekend, and when the stripped carcass was found 5 mi. N of Mexicali a few days later, I was disappointed to find they had also stolen the friggin' CB. Bleh...all thieves must hang.

Actually, that's (9 feet) a 1/4-wave whip. A full-wave CB antenna would be 36 feet long. Telephone pole, anybody?