jhosgood

I know this isnt "tech talk" but i didnt know where else to put it. Im looking for a nice cb radio that wont break the wallet in price. I plan on using a fire stick antenna and i plan on mounting it under the passenger side dash. Any suggestions? Any help appreciated.

99rockies

I got mine at Walmart. Works fine. Radio Shack should have them to

razor02097

I bought a car adapter for my portable CB. I used an old GPS mount to hold it. With a cheap 3" antenna I can get about 1 mile (guessing conservatively).

I like the portable because when I go camping I can keep it with me.

K4LOG

Ive had a few CB's in the jeeps.. most now are very small and many brands share the same Boards anyways no matter whatever manufacturer case you do get. Just find what you want.. keep price competitive and you will be happy. I used to do radio contesting out of my 94 XJ voice and CW, we had all Ham bands in it, amps, switches and several antenna's and the logging laptop, it was a little tight for all that stuff.. Your type of radio would be like putting in a radar detector..

billulsund

I just went through this whole process. No matter what CB radio you get the reception should be relatively the same as they are Federally regulated to not exceed 4 watts, so all of them run at the same power. The main difference between cheap and expensive CB units is the inclusion of an SWR meter in the radio. Although technically you can just buy a radio and antenna, hook them up and it will work, you will not get the best signal possible without adjusting your SWR. I personally bought a cheap radio shack CB and SWR meter and after dialing in my CB, returned the SWR meter. Although CB performance varies depending on the weather, time of day, electrical interference, etc.. you should be able to get reception up to 3-5 miles. The main thing is to be sure you have a good ground for your antenna mount, good power to your CB (best to run straight from the battery), and that you use good CB cable and do not pinch or kink the cable. For more information about proper CB installation and SWR testing check out www.firestick.com. That is the best site I have seen about CB radios and how to install and troubleshoot them.

phillyxj570

go to rightchannelradio.com they have the whole kit with the uniden pro510xl a 3 or 4 foot antenna coaz a antenna tuner and a couple of antenna mounts to choose from its the jeep and offroad kit. it comes out to about $140 with shipping

Caish

I'm a jack of all trades.
Currently I own and operate a couple trucks, I drive one myself.
I've used every CB you can imagine from high dollar export Galaxies, to a cheap Uniden Pro 510.

All radios can be tweaked and tuned to perform and talk well.
For a bone stock CHEAP radio, Cobra 25 is hard to beat for about $90 from any truck stop, if you something even cheaper, it happens to be the one I currently use in the Semi. Believe it or not is the Uniden Pro 510 with a nice noise canceling microphone.

You can't get much cheaper less than $50 most anywhere and it will talk as well as any other other STOCK radio. Like I said though I would replace the mic with a good mic and add an external speaker if your running it under the dash.

Antennas: Remember height is important a simple stainless 102" Steel whip is hard to beat for mobile use. Its impossible to break it in trees etc. If can be had on over head lights if you have a low clearance though. Once in a while clean your whip with steel wool to remove corrosion to keep performance to the maximum.

Coax: I like the thicker gold colored RG-58 Coax, you want to the length of the wire to be in phase with your frequency range. CB band wave length is roughly 36 feet. So you want keep a devisable of 36, so 4.5 feet, 9 feet, or 18 feet of coax. This will help keep the SWR's low.

SWR, Standing Wave Resistance: This is the resistance generated by unequal wave length of the antenna vs frequency your broadcasting on. 1.1 is perfect SWR and it means your antenna is tuned perfectly to your radio, coax, and frequency your transmitting on. SWR should never be over 3, if it is you can damage the transistor in the radio that does the actual transmitting. AKA Finals. Any competent CB shop can set the SWRs. With the above Steel Whip tuning is achieved by actually trimming the antenna length. FireSticks have an adjustable tip that increases the length of the antenna to achieve SWR settings.

Theres lots more but thats a good primer on CB's and antennas in general.

Radios I own,
2x Uniden Pro 510
Galaxy 66
Magnum S9
Uniden Pro 530, and Pro 640.

The Galaxy I have has been known to talk over 20 miles on a good day without skip with a Wilson Trucker 2000 antenna, and I've done the same with a simple Frances also. The SWR is the key to good reception and transmit range.

rebel man

idk what exactly you are looking for, but i can tell u my setup. its a cobra 25 classic, mounted to the passenger side of the console and hard wired to an extra hole in my fuse block, and i hid the wire and ran the antenna out under the drivers side of the firewall, to a home made stainless bracket with a right angle connector and a spring, and a 3 foot firestick antenna. i have around 100 bucks in it, but it works great

roggom

I have several CB's in my vehicles from galaxy to Cobra. For the XJ a nice compact Cobra 19 or Uniden 510 will fit right under the passenger dash, using the supplied bracket and one of the dash mounting screws. For trails you can get about 4-5 miles of range. Just make sure your firestick is mounted with preferably 2/3 to 1/2 above the roofline. I use a 4' firestick and a cobra 19 (old school one). Also dont forget to pick up an SWR meter, gonna need to tune your antenna, also strongly suggest you get the tunable tip firestick. Good luck

EljayK004

The one I like and have, is the Cobra 75 WX ST https://cobra.com/detail/index.cfm?nPID=74

They run about 125-150 bucks and the thing is great. The mic works well, and the actual "box" is about 2.5" x 1" x 1" so its extremely easy to find a spot for it.

peep

Cobra 19dx is a good bang for the buck, in the Libby and the ZJ.
I run an older Cobra 29 for retro. We're all runnin different model Wilson brand antenna. All good for 2 to 7 miles from our experience dependent on terrain.