CB Radio Query

My kind brother and occasional green laning buddy, roberth, has very kindly bought me a cb radio for use while out and about.

Before I went to all the trouble of doing a permanent install, I thought I would have it on the dash for a while and see what was going on.

First day out in london, managed to get a radio check from a guy about a mile and a half away, so confirming I had it set up ok.

Then weeks and weeks pass, with absolutely no radio traffic at all, I've been listening to all channels, and transmitting "Anyone on channel XX" messages at various times, but never had anything back.

Last week, whilst outside my house, managed to pick up someone a couple of miles away, and had a quick chat before I went in to bed, and he confirmed he could hear me ok, so again, appears set up right.

Other than that, nowt.

So is CB really as dead as it appears, or am I doing something wrong ? What channel should I be listening too for new conversations ? What channel should I be transmitting on to start a conversation ?

Any ideas ??

channel 19 was or is the mobile channel , but now days CB is dead other than some local twot playing music. the only time i use mine now is when im out laning or offroading, shame really it used to be a good crack...

afraid so CBs are not as they used to be, nowadays the only people you get on them is farmers truckers and off-roader and the odd QSL brigade, but still a handy bit of kit once yougot it working proper and you dont break the ariel ever time you go laning...

1dirtylandy said:

afraid so CBs are not as they used to be, nowadays the only people you get on them is farmers truckers and off-roader and the odd QSL brigade, but still a handy bit of kit once yougot it working proper and you dont break the ariel ever time you go laning...

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not many truck drivers use them now,,now days everybodys got a mobile phone . found the best place for the ariel is to mount it on the front bumper im useing a old base loaded modulater its got to be 15-20 years old but still works a treat.

Could be that you got your squelch turned up too high, turn it back down until you hear static, then back forward a touch to remove the static hiss ....??

If your not aware, and sorry if you are, the squelch is basicaly there to trim out the static, the less squelch you use the further away you will be able to hear people ( within the limits of your set ), the more squelch you use the closer people will have to be to get through to you.

alot of the vw t4 people use them now when they go in convoy to meets.

I'll be fitting my old C.B. rig in my Landy soon but I doubt if you'll ever hear me transmitting from the wilds of North Yorkshire.

have you checked the swr (single wave ratio) on the twig(ariel) if you have'nt just key your mike and if the the meter dose'nt go all the way up then you should get it done .
cheers
paul

Phantom_Mark said:

Could be that you got your squelch turned up too high, turn it back down until you hear static, then back forward a touch to remove the static hiss ....??

If your not aware, and sorry if you are, the squelch is basicaly there to trim out the static, the less squelch you use the further away you will be able to hear people ( within the limits of your set ), the more squelch you use the closer people will have to be to get through to you.

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cheers for that, that's what I thought and had done, so seems to be that really no-one uses them in day to day use, but maybe useful for travelling with someone else.

The set I have doesn't have a swr meter on it, just on/off/volume,squelch,channel up,channel down,channel 9

Thanks for your help guys, not sure it warrants a permanent install, specially as someone might have a smash and grab cos it's on display

Thems cb radio's used to be good on my oul fellas boat, planning on gettn one for the disco. just out of interest - does anyone ever mount the arial on the A bars with the tip tied down to the roof? would this work or be legal? just im always gettn stuck outside parkn places over vehical heights

pics of where ye mount the radio itself anyone?

oh and just taught id mention those idiot boy racers are startn to use them over here now, use them for thier stoopid illegal rallys ect.. kinda funny lookn actually whith the big fook off areal mounted on top a "souped up" micra
Garda are confiscating them as they are used as accessories to organise joy rides or whatever they call them

Tied down int gunna make it work as well as it could. As high up as poss is best. Get one with the big spring affair at it's base. They are designed to bend to the horizontal. Mine does regularly out laning & I never used to remove me old one in car parks (me current motor itself dun't fit in most car parks, but me old'un did, just!) It used to make a lot of noise rattling across the ceiling, but never did it any harm.

If you're bothered about it they're easy enough to unscrew & take off of the mount.

an I thort it was a bumper car.

as to ariel placement for all around range /good receiption its best in the middle of the body.
ie; if you locate it @ the front of it you will get better performace directly backwards if you put it @ the back it will be the best forwards plus it will affect swr too the swr meter is a seperate bit of gear you put in the ariel line you adjust the swr by lengthening or shortening the ariel length
i am old enough to say i was there at the start of the legal cb radio era
(before someone else says it i'm a bit of a coffin dodger )
when i said about keying the mick you should have a signel meter on the cb (or a line of led's)
hope this helps

Mines mounted on my dash via the bracket that came with it, but the bracket is velcro'd down, so if I'm in a "nice neighbourhood" I can just whip it off no probs. Got a mag mount on the roof and the 2m antenna just unscrews.

TheVengefulElephant said:

Mines mounted on my dash via the bracket that came with it, but the bracket is velcro'd down, so if I'm in a "nice neighbourhood" I can just whip it off no probs. Got a mag mount on the roof and the 2m antenna just unscrews.

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Great, so if anyone wants advice on fitting a CB into a nissan while on a Landy forum, you're the man then.

PJL said:

i am old enough to say i was there at the start of the legal cb radio era
(before someone else says it i'm a bit of a coffin dodger )

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Oi, I was using CBs before they were fekin legal, in fact they wuz positively illegal & I int dodging no fekin coffins yet!

Grippa said:

Great, so if anyone wants advice on fitting a CB into a nissan while on a Landy forum, you're the man then.

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100%

Grippa said:

Oi, I was using CBs before they were fekin legal, in fact they wuz positively illegal & I int dodging no fekin coffins yet!

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same Ere but i wurnt goin to say..................

Grippa said:

Great, so if anyone wants advice on fitting a CB into a nissan while on a Landy forum, you're the man then.

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pmsl...........................

Grippa said:

Oi, I was using CBs before they were fekin legal, in fact they wuz positively illegal & I int dodging no fekin coffins yet!

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i was around before too but did'nt like to say so
dodging coffins maybe not but spring chickens we aint!