![]() Don't get too involved with the Highpower CB stuff unless your well educated on matching and installing them. I used to talk regularly to England on CB SSB as well as AM with both mobile and base units. Your SSB and AM rigs can reach great distances during good skip propagation. At times, again depending on previously mentioned you may only get a couple miles. This will familiarize yourself better with how the system works and how you can check for problems if they arise further down the road.ĭepending upon your terrain, location and the current propagation your AM rigs "CAN" get much further than 5 miles. Purchase an inexpensive SWR meter and familiarize how to tune/match your systems (it's easy). magnetic mount antennas for easy removal and storage. Puchase some inexpensive, quality K40 or Wilson 1000 or equiv. ![]() To make it simple purchase a couple of AM units Cobra/Uniden as Ratch mentioned and maybe one SSB (single side band) unit for yourself. Unless your entire family (regardless of how small) is willing to learn electronic theory and Amateur rules and regulations and take tests (which i would highly recomend and sure you would enjoy) Then i would stick with CB. By your statement i think your intent for the most part is to stay in touch locally with your family, not necessarilly communicate across the globe. These are a given (licensed hams) for local emergency communications. ![]() Purely by luck or chance only.Īmateur (Ham) handhelds are basically VHF/UHF portables used to access repeaters as 73stallion mentioned. Unless you possibly have either defective or extremely cheap coax and by some strange chance it may have matched better by crunching it into a loop or ball. Ham will literally talk around the world on good nights that they can achieve skip.Ĭome on guys, you have to stop believing everything you hear and read. With that radio you will be able to hit some HAM frequencys and these are the true emergency comm guys. For emergency purposes though, I would look into a outlaw radio for long distance comm. The other feature when a 10 meter is reconfigured to CB, it basically becomes a side band radio allowing you to choose frequencys just off of the normal 40 CB is allowed to run. (A tuned CB will push 20 - 25 watts but eventuall will burn out the secondarys due to the excessive heat). A10 meter will push out 50 watts compared to a CB which is only supposed to run 12 watts. that being said does not mean they do not exist out there but most truckers typically run a 10 meter radio re-tuned to run CB (Citizens Band). Now I have not heard or seen an FCC officer in over 20 years. The best location is in the center of a roof so as you have seen guys mount them on bumpers, the side of the vehicle to keep height down, it downplays the true power of the antenna but even mounting it low on your vehicle it will be much better than someone running a fiberglass loaded antenna. ![]() This is a true quarter wave non loaded antenna, but the antenna is only as good as its base. The absolute best antenna you can get for any of them is a 102" stainless whip. There are still alot of devices that emit or transmit an AM frequency which kills the effective distance. Ī CB out of the box reaching 5 miles is only in ideal conditions. I am not a HAM operator, but I used to hang out with a few. HAM operators have always been involved in providing communication support of disaster relief efforts. If you are serious about this I would suggest getting a HAM radio license. Hand held CB's are ok if you want to flag down a passing trucker for roadside assistance, but for disaster communication I wouldn't expect much. I do not want to advise anyone to do anything illegal but there are amplifiers that can greatly extend range. Back in the day, I had a $20 wall mart Roadmaster 40 channel that I had tuned to a 102" steel whip that would walk all over an out of the box Cobra LTD Classic. If you have it tuned, it can reach quite a bit farther.Ĭobra and Uniden are both considered top of the line as far as commonly available brands.Īntenna choice is important, and having your radio tuned to the antenna is critical if you want to maximize the performance. An out of the box CB radio is good for 5-15 miles depending on antenna, terrain, atmospheric conditions, and amount of traffic on the channel.
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