Whips are OK.Im a magnet mount guy myself.You could tune it yourself.But since you want it peaked and tuned.For 25-30 a good experienced shop will do both and send you on your way.I have heard of all gemtronic radios.It is a 40 channel mobile right?

 

dual whips will make it more directional... useful to the hiway chatter. keep that in mind. the SWR is when your tuning the antenna to the radio IIRC, the higher your output number the more power your putting out. what your doing is matching your antenna output to the radio output. It's been a long time since I've messed with it and I might be wrong

If your ball busting your making enemies... which might not be a good thing to do so you might want to re-think your posts before hitting the post button...

 

that is correct. do you know why im havin trouble finding anything about this radio?

yea right now i have the magnetic antenna. i might stick with it.

 

it may be that they only made that radio for one year or something.I cant find anything on it either.But I have a uniden trucker series radio.Cant really find any info on it myself but I know they made a ton of them.Yes a good SWR is 1.1 Anything under 2.5 is ok.3+ and you can burn up the final amplifier in your radio.CB's come with modulation limiters,When you clip them(eliminate them) it boosts your modulation,Not your watts.When you tune it,Your turning Pots inside the radio up.Therefor cranking it up.Most stock radios can be effectively tuned up to 22-28 watts.Depending on the radio.Most lower end radios will get around 12-18 watts.But with that done,A tuned and matched radio and antenna.Your setup should get out as well as any other out there.But "Getting Out" is all dependant on geographic,Atmospheric location and condition.For instance if you have a blanket of snow on the ground.You may be able to talk to someone 40 miles away.Next day maybe only 2-3 miles.Its all in the weather so to speak.

 

sorry this turned out so long. just trying to give information that will help.

the right answer depends on what your expectations are, how well does the current equipment work, and how much money you want to spend.

i'd recommend hooking everything up and trying it out. if you can hear/talk to your buddies within the distance you expect to use it, then you're good to go and don't need to spend any additional money. if its a standard 4 watt radio, don't expect it to work over 1-2-3 miles, depending on terrain, etc, etc.

if all you want to do is chat with friends at close range, almost anything will work. if you want to talk out to 5-10-15+ miles, then you'll need some good equipment and mods.

if what you have doesn't work like you want it to, and you feel like spending money on it, then take it to a shop and let them check it out. i once wasted a lot of time and energy working with a $%$#@ radio that had some kind of internal problem. that's why the prev owner gave it away.

setting up a radio for the first time requires a little bit of knowledge and/or experience. the outside of the antenna has to be grounded. so don't mount it on a tool box that is not well grounded due to bedliners, line-x, etc. also 'ground plane', 'swr tuning', 'antenna coax type and length', 'antenna quality' are all important. it took me several tries to get mine right.

it will probably cost you $15-20 for a meter. i wouldn't buy one unless you know that the radio is good, the antenna is good, your reception/range is not meeting expectations, and you can't find anyone's to borrow...

antenna choice is a compromise between how much range you want and what height you will tolerate. one of my friends has a really long whip on top of the cab of his truck. he has the best reception/range of anyone, but it bangs every sign, tree limb, garage and drives me crazy. I have a 2' firestick mounted to the front of my truck bed and it clears my garage door by about 1", so i'm happy. there are also very short 'through the glass' mounts that get poor reviews, but again... what are you expectations.

after giving it all some thought, i bought a used cobra 29 NW WX (nw= night watch, all lighted controls (nice for night), and wx= weather. i bought it on ebay for about $70 and it looks and works like brand new. what's nice about the cobra 29's is they have an integrated swr meter. i thought that was handy. i think they are also very common, and modable. i added an 18' mini-8 coax, radio mount, antenna, antenna mount and spring, elec noise filter (about $130 total) and i'm cb'ing. my swr started at over 3, and by shortening the antenna, tuned at 1. if you have to buy an antenna buy a TUNABLE antenna, with a threaded tip. don't get the cheap ones that you trim. if you trim them too far, your screwed, especially if you are building antenna mounts like i was. the weather channels bring in your local NOAA channels and are handy for camping. its a continuous loop of current conditions, forecast, and warnings. Each channel receives a defined AM frequency from towers scattered about every 50 miles, with the forecast geared to the region. so although mine receives 6 channels, i can never get more than the 1-2 that i'm close to at that moment. i like having them.

if you want to save space and money is no object, look at the new cobra's. you mount the box anywhere out of sight, and ALL the controls are on the mic.

here are some links to get you started.
http://www.walcottcb.com/index.php
http://www.wilsonantenna.com/swrg.htm
http://bobscb.com/ant_acc/coax.htm

 

I would say for his situation is to stick with a magnet mount.The little wil or Wilson 1000 are perfect.The little wil is 36" and the 1000 is 48.Size of the antenna doesnt matter all that much.I assure you a properly tuned antenna and tuned radio will work equal to or greater then any huge Whip antenna out there.The Cobra All in one units are not the best unit to get.They have poor modulation,Limited recieve capabilitys.and they are best used for close quarters.To each his own but I have used them all.Any other Cobra like the 29 mentioned are far superior then any rat shack radio and they have weather,The onboard SWR meter is nice.But are prone to failure.If you feel you are going to make this a hobby.Get an SWR meter,Have somone show you how to work it properly.You will find yourself upgrading your CB stuff daily and having fun with it.dhvaughan great advice,and I agree with you.Im just giving my opinion to a few things mentioned that I have personal experience with.

 

I agree. I have a Cobra 29 WX Classic with the weather channels and all. Mine is peaked up to 25 watts. I run a K-40 antenna mounted on my toolbox and grounded to the frame. I can routinely talk and receive 5-10 miles in the city, and it is on all the time. Can't tell ya how many times it has savedme from being late to work - if there is a back-up some where I hear about it far enough in advance to go another way.
Some info on antenna's: the long whip is a 102", which is a "quarter wave" antenna, meaning that it is 1/4 of the length of the ideal "full wave" antenna. Shorter antenna's have "coils" or "wrapping" in the case of the fiberglass ones, that equal the length of the "quarter wave" antenna. The antenna output and receive is realized along the entire length of it - as it creates a magnetic field. You don't have to run a 102" whip for good results. The K-40 I run is 51 inches long with the rest in the coil. I love it - low swr's, the antenna is a twist-lock so I can remove it easily in garages and car washes.
muddy blue - just get to a shop and have your stuff set up correctly - and you will be fine....

 

Read your cb fcc rules, not beeing smart but it is 155 miles your not allowed to talk. Anything over is skip

Look here: #9, This is a copy from the rules.......................
RULE 13 - Illegal Communications {A} You must NOT use a CB station-
[1] in connection with activity which is against federal, state or local law;
[2] to transmit obscene, indecent or profane words, language or meaning;
[3] to interfere intentionally with the communications of another CB station;
[4] to transmit one-way communications, EXCEPT for emergency communications, traveler assistance, brief tests (radio checks) or voice paging;
[5] to advertise or solicit the sale of any goods or services;
[6] to transmit music, whistling, sound effects or any material to amuse or entertain;
[7] to transmit any sound effect solely to attract attention;
[8] to transmit the word "MAYDAY" or use any other international distress signal, EXCEPT when your station is located in a ship, aircraft or other vehicle which is threatened with GRAVE AND IMMINENT danger and you are requesting IMMEDIATE assistance.
[9] to communicate with, or ATTEMPT to communicate with, any CB station more than 155.3 miles (250 kilometers) away;
[10] to advertise a political candidate or political campaign (You may use your CB radio for the business or organizational aspects of a campaign, if you follow all other applicable rules);
[11] to communicate with stations in other countries, except stations in Canada (on General Radio Service).
[12] to transmit a false or deceptive communication.
{B} You must not use a CB station to transmit communications intended for live or delayed rebroadcast on radio or television. You may use your CB station to gather news items or to prepare programs.

 

BTW, for offroading I would look into a radio with SMT or "surface mount tech" Although they are harder to mod they hold up better to beeing bounced around. With normal rigs you can get cold soler joints but can simply be fixed with a soldering iron in a few minutes.

I have one of those illeagle radios in my truck. Ranger 6900f25 it has SMT on a Wilson 5000 with something under the seat that acts like a seat warmer. I have yet to talk 155 miles on it, although I dont try to.

My above post was before I read the entire thread. Sorry

 

Here is a page with some more info on antennas:
http://signalengineering.com/ultimat..._antennas.html