RadioBanter - New Truck driver & CB

(NNN0WAW) wrote in message ...
I have to feel sorry for you, because, well those 4/wheelers can't drive, and
give us that can drive a bad name, but that is not really what you asked for,
ok
ANSWER: A 4 watt CB is not much when you are looking at a recieve meter pegged
out with noise, and you have to turn your squelch control almost fully
clockwise to get the annoying thing to shut up, in other words 4 watts will not
do the job unless you are tailgating "drafting", the trucker ahead of you and
you are both on the same channel (frequency), otherwise if you want to be heard
by the oncomming truckers, you will be forced to put some: (" Fire in the
Wire"). Now I do have to tell you that amplifiying those 4 watts is illegal, by
the FCC rules and regs and sometimes the penalties are steep, but you are
swimming in a ocean of CB linears keying on you, thats what that scratch growl
roar is when you turn the squelch down, and to be heard, you have to x-mit you
signal to be more powerful than that for however far you want to talk.
Now for the rest of the story as" Paul Harvey", says: As a generl rule the
names and numbers labeled on these outlaw CB linears varies, in other word they
don't mean much, ( you can't get 300 watts out of a box with 2 pills say MRF
455's which are 60 watt pills under ideal conditions.), Say the average 2 pill
linear has a pair of MRF 455's, or SD1446, the 455 will do about 60 watts, and
the 1446 about 65, and is about to explode to get that out of it. By the same
token, a 2SC2879 will do about 100 watts, although they are rated at 120 watts
few will get close to that, and paying double price for matched finals is well
brainless,not worth the extra expence.
Now we get to the real question, what will meet your needs? You have a choice
between single pill, double pill, and quad pill configureations, the numbers
stamped on the front of the unit are meaningless, and do not give anything
close to what the capacity in output yeilds actually are, and yes you can make
some loops of wire on the inside of the unit to make it show more output on a
watt meter, but you are being lied too, all that is are harmonics, that fellow
tv viewers will scream bloody murder over. There is no actuall need for
anything over 4 pills, because the average driver out there does not have over
that, so he can't dust skip land's britches to make the trip back to you, so
anything bigger than 4 pills is a waste, and for the most part anything but
trouble free, stay away from liears with driver transistor to "drive the
finals", they drive too much usually, and cook the finals, and there is no
warranty either, so its your bill to pay to repair.
I would probably run either a two pill or 4 pill most likely a Boomer ( due to
the larger relay, and simple and proven design, some of the others are ok, but
remeber it is going in a truck, where it will be beat to death on rough roads
). The single pill is not enough usually, and stay away for the stinger board,
the garb where they take the speaker out of the radio and put a single pill
linear in its place, ( there is no way to get rid of the heat, and it will fry
both the stinger and your radio).
Another thing is your antenna, a 4 foot fiberglass does ok, anything shorter is
well not very effiecent, and usually harder to get the SWR in operational
specs. Don't waste your money on dual antennas either the SWR's are too tricky,
and you won't know the difference between a singe vs a dual antenna
installation, not to mention the cost. Try to use quality coax cable, ( RG-8M)
is just fine, they sometimes call it mini-8 coax, just make sure that it
doesn't get pinched or otherwise shorted out, bad coax will destroy your
linear, and your radio, so a cheap SWR meter is the best money you can spend,
check the SWR daily, an ounce of prevention is alot better than an "OPPS",
there goes the bank account.

You mentioned that you had a Cobra CB, I can't tell you if it will be ok, but I
can tell you that compact radios are not a drivers best friend, yes I know they
are cheap, and that is ok, the problem is all of the tiny surface mount
componets on both sides of the circuit boards, they will not withstand the
beating they will get in a truck, and they are not worth repairing either,
because they are junk by design.
Do yourself an favor, get a back up CB, so if your primary radio quits, put the
extra inline, and check to see if antenna or coax is the culprit for the
malfunction.

If you get tired of the filth and foul language on CB, there is VHF HAM radio (
have to have license for this), there are hundreds of repeaters all over the
country, and you are almost never out of range of at least one repeater, and it
is perfectly legal, as long as you are licensed, the ALINCO DR-135 does a great
job, and there will always be another fellow ham operator who would call help
for you at the drop of a hat, if you break down in the middle of no where.

Hope this helps, and remeber that CB amplifiers of any kind are illegal, 73's
NNN0WAW UNITED STATES NAVY-MARINE CORPS MARS.

well all the noise on 19 is forcing us to expand our radio operations.
and we will do it because it is our manifest destiny to conquer these
new unused frequencies......we are the backbone of the american
economy and we cannot be denied....we will perservere.......ten fo???