CB Advice

[desertgeezer]

Can anyone recommend a Phoenix area business that sells and installs CB radios. Also, any ideas on where to install it. There's not a lot of room in the Wrangler except on top of the dash but that's too open to theft. Thanks for your help.

[YJunk]

There is Apollo Communication in Phoenix and the CB Exchange in Mesa... I think you can google them and find the addresses. For a jeep the cobra 75 or Midland 75 are good unites... all the electronics are in the mic and they can be easily removed. I prefer the Midland unit because it slides right off the cord when you're ready to go. With a properly tuned antenna the little unit will get right out there and is excellent on the trail.

[ROKBITR]

Throw a wrenching party!!:D CB installs are generally fairly easy to install yourself. I had my Cobra CB installed and wired within about a half an hour. Just make sure you get your antenna tuned, or you can probably source one pre-tuned for a little more. A lot of radio communication places will probably tune it for free. I live in northern AZ so I can't direct you to any shops in Phx, unless there are any Niles radio shops down there as well.
By the way, welcome to the thunder dome!!!:D

Adam

[tomfooshee]

X2 on Apollo Communications. It's a family business. Dave went to Apollo High School with my son. He's the one to see for Jeep install. I've had my Cobra 75 for several years and the only problems have been operator error. If you don't have an antenna location yet dave knows several great places. Mine had a place on my ORFab rear tire carrier.

[Desert Dweller]

Ditto on the Cobra. It's easy to take out the mic with all the radio stuff thereby eliminating theft. Plus, you can get the extra plug in so that you can use the radio/mic in more than one vehicle.

I found an antenna mount on e-Bay that goes right behind the spare tire and gets the antenna up above the body for better SWR.

[tywilson88]

go to ORi. they sell em there... or you could go to a truck sto somewhere near you

[BeaterXJ]

go to ORi. they sell em there... or you could go to a truck sto somewhere near you

Yup, we got a couple in stock and we can install it if you want. If you got any questions or concerns feel free to pm me or Andy:D

[Desert Dweller]

Beater, do you guys to SWR matching on an installed radio? How much?

[rubicontrail]

The Cobra 75WX ST is good for hiding away but quality of it is a bit iffy. The speaker on mine drops out whenever it gets warm inside my vehicle (the rest of the unit functions properly).

Also, check out the CB mount on this page: http://www.kilbyenterprises.com/trail-boss.htm

[BeaterXJ]

Beater, do you guys to SWR matching on an installed radio? How much?

No, we don't have a SWR meter. We just intalled our cb's with basic 3' non-adj. antennas with 9' cord and they work great on the trail.

[rubicontrail]

Desert Dweller, I have an SWR meter you can use.

[AZG23]

You still wanna check the SWR, even with a non tunable tip...most times, they can be "shortened" to fine tune the SWR...even if you only use it on the trail...it can eventually burn out the radios' TX circuit.

[YJunk]

You still wanna check the SWR, even with a non tunable tip...most times, they can be "shortened" to fine tune the SWR...even if you only use it on the trail...it can eventually burn out the radios' TX circuit.


^X2 on that! You want to trim 1/4" or less at a time... When your doing this your actually balancing the SWR accross the bands and you would only do this if the SWR on 40 is higher than it is on 1 which is known as being "long". In a good setup you either want flat SWR accross 1, 20 & 40 or for 1 & 40 to be just a little higher (antenna length will affect how much higher it is - with a three foot antenna it will probably be quite a bit higher). Most non-tunable antennas come "long" from the factory because its easier to trim the antenna than try to lengthen it.

If your SWR on 1 & 40 or 1 or 40 gets into that 3 zone... all the trimming in the world won't help, the issue will most likely be in the grounding of the antenna and the area that it is mounted too...

The work around for this is, if your using a really short antenna that has good SWR in the middle of the band (19, 20 etc)... but poor SWR elsewhere, is to just stay in the middle of the band... Use 16 or something in that area when your on the trail. Your CB will thank you with a mucho long life.

[BeaterXJ]

You still wanna check the SWR, even with a non tunable tip...most times, they can be "shortened" to fine tune the SWR...even if you only use it on the trail...it can eventually burn out the radios' TX circuit.


Yeah, thanks for the tip. Since you said that i've been on the look out for a meter, not looking real hard but checking the radio shacks i see. Haven't found one yet but when i do i will pick one up and then we will be able to tune. :laugh2:

[rosshh]

Yeah, thanks for the tip. Since you said that i've been on the look out for a meter, not looking real hard but checking the radio shacks i see. Haven't found one yet but when i do i will pick one up and then we will be able to tune. :laugh2:

frys electronics has one for 9 dollars.

[BeaterXJ]

frys electronics has one for 9 dollars.


Cool thanks, just ordered one. :2thumbsup:

[marco122769]

Hey guys,

All of this is great info. I couldnt find someone in PHX to install and sell me my cb.

I still have a question: What about the speaker? Do you recomend getting an external speaker? or is it enough with the little one that comes with the cb? Im not even sure if ALL the cb radios come with an integrated little speaker.

Can you help me to make that decision?

Thanks!

[My Green Jeep]

Hey guys,

All of this is great info. I couldnt find someone in PHX to install and sell me my cb.

I still have a question: What about the speaker? Do you recomend getting an external speaker? or is it enough with the little one that comes with the cb? Im not even sure if ALL the cb radios come with an integrated little speaker.

Can you help me to make that decision?

Thanks!


Apollo Communications
(623) 939-2240
4322 W Northern Ave Glendale, AZ 85301-1648

Southwest corner of 43rd Ave and Glendale... by Sonic.

Take your jeep to them and get a price quote, the guy
there knows what he is talking about... he snickered
when I told him I have chewed up 2 antennas and needed
one that is flexible... cost me $30 but well worth it, he
also said he could tune the radio for $10 but Walt can
do that...

As for the external speaker... that would depend on what kind
of radio you get...

Hope this helps

[YJunk]

Hey guys,

All of this is great info. I couldnt find someone in PHX to install and sell me my cb.

I still have a question: What about the speaker? Do you recomend getting an external speaker? or is it enough with the little one that comes with the cb? Im not even sure if ALL the cb radios come with an integrated little speaker.

Can you help me to make that decision?

Thanks!

I would say yes on the external speaker; it made a big difference on both my midland 75-820 and the Texas Ranger 966 (still haven't decided wich one to keep in the rig - but the speaker will be there no matter what).

[Alex G.]

How about antenna placement?

I just got the firestick & universal mount from desert rat, i'm just trying to find a spot on the tub to mount it. I already have a VHF radio antenna on the rear/right quarter panel. I know the antenna should be higher than the roof.


sorry to steal the thread away!

[YJunk]

well the best case scenario is you want at leat 2/3 above the roof line... some of the performance depends on how the antenna is loaded; in your case its top-loaded so you can away with less than 2/3rds... if you can get half of it above the roof line you shouldn't have any problem on the trail... the location will affect the radiation pattern a little and make it a little directional, but again on the trail when you're only a couple hundred yards apart, it doesn't matter much.

[Alex G.]

Anyone close to 40th St & Chandler that can tune a newly purchased CB... we plan on heading out to ORI for the run at noon & would like to play w/ the new toy.

Thanks

[YJunk]

Alex, if I wasn't so cold and beat I'd run down, but I just got back from the BBQ a little bit a go and need to feed the pup and get her out for a walk and stuff... What kind of CB do you have; does it have a meter built in? You don't want to rely on it for the long term but you can often get a rough estimate on the SWR and weather or not your in a resonable level or not.

[Wayco]

If you're coming to the ORI BBQ, I will bring a SWR meter and we can do it there. Just did one so I might be able to get it right.....

[Alex G.]

If you're coming to the ORI BBQ, I will bring a SWR meter and we can do it there. Just did one so I might be able to get it right.....

That would be awesome, Thank You!!!

Just got a pretty basic 40 channel Cobra from Wally World w/ Fire Stick antenna.

Alex.

[Wayco]

Sounds good, we will see you tomorrow. :)

[AZG23]

Sounds good, we will see you tomorrow. :)



I was gonna say Ill bring mine...but Waynes gotcha covered...he's prolly better at it anyway...:D:kiss: