Ham or CB?

Anyone else running a CB or Ham radio in their ride? I've got a Cobra 29 CB and tri-band Ham radio. Show me watcha got?

The ham radio

I just have a busted old radio shack CB. Good enough to listen to the truckers for chuckles or info on long trips.

Don't talk much unless it seems fun to engage somebody who doesn't know there's a little four wheeler somewhere around looking at him.

Cool. I find the CB to be entertaining and helpful regarding road hazards, or bear reports. I got my Tech Class ham license last summer and I've had lot of fun with that so far. The ham antenna is mounted between the top lights and the CB antenna is on the rear tire mount.

I used to keep my antenna on top so it looked like a little remote control car. Good way to get truckers to talk to you (and also good for getting it up high on an omnidirectional ground plane). Typical magnetic bottom 1/8 wave thing.

Not sure that I use it enough to justify permanently mounting something that's going to be big and conspicuously always there though. I've seen guys put an 1/8 wave on the rear bumper which is nice and out of the way but obviously a compromise for range. And then you're "that guy with the antenna on his bumper" all the time.

You are spot-on with the ground plane comment. Unfortunately my top is not made of sheet metal so, that wasn't an option. I'm the nerd with three antennas :)

Nerds with big antennas all over their cars are cool though. That's exactly the kind of person you'd want to have pull over to see what's up when you're on the side of the road, or go bantz with at a gas station or whatever.

Just get a mount that will fold and lock into place so you can put it down in case you need to go into a parking lot or something

Ham and swiss is pretty good, better than CB (cheddar bacon)

Giggity

A buddy recently gave me this for doing some electrical work. I really know nothing about CB or radios in general, but I just bought an '89 Bronco and I would like to mount this and learn more.

How do you guys route the wiring for the antenna? I have the magnetic base but I guess the antenna is broken off/missing?

I would like to place it near the rear of the roof, what do you guys use to stop water leakage around the penetration from interior to roof?

>forgive me for my phone-posting sins

Here is a pic of the magbetic base, look like the antenna got broken off? Again, I know literally nothing about radios, I just know where I'll be mounting it on the dash and thats about it.

What circuit should I steal from to power it? I removed the AC so maybe I'll pull power from the AC/heater fuse location?

Does anyone have a link to a trustworthy seller so that I can get a new antenna? I also need mounts for the unit and the handheld microphone.

I could google it and find shit on ebay or amazon but I'd like to learn from someone with experience.

Yea. Use it on road trips and general fuckery

Cool noodles. Now, man up and get your Tech License. It’s not hard. I studied for a couple of weeks at a slow pace, found a tester close by and voila, I can now legally use a some of the radio spectrum allocated for amateur radio. My next step is “General” which opens up a whole lot more.

I recommend a car audio shop for the install. A good shop should be able to do a professional install without any leakage worries AND do a SWR adjustment on your antenna after the installation. $100 sounds reasonable.

Lolno, I drill holes and run wire for a living dude, I just wanted to know what you guys use for all-weather sealant, and where you pull power from.

Truck was $750, I'm not gonna spend 13% its worth on something so simple.

But thank you for the suggestion, and what is an "SWR adjustment"??

Again, I dont even have the antenna, it is broken off the magnet mount.(see above pic)

LoL, you driller of holes...Google is your friend. Also, 3M 5200 sealant.

Nah. I'm good. I use radios enough at work.

Cb is easier. Not a whole lot of people use it though

I heard you like long thin pieces of metal

Very nice!

What cheap Amazon-available CBs do you all recommend? I’m looking to put a small setup in my off-road rig but don’t want to spend more than $300.

2m ham. I monitor 146.52 and local repeaters. Pic related.

What’s the difference between a cb and a ham? What purpose does each serve in a car?

CB ("citizen's band") anybody can transmit on, it's common for chatting or monitoring by emergency services, and it's limited to short ranges by law even though a lot of people run amps to boost it some anyway.

HAM in the US requires a license to transmit on, is more of an enthusiast thing, and covers a broad range of frequencies that can go around the world depending on the setup and weather conditions and atmospheric conditions. I have a little short wave receiver in the closet just in case of the HAPPENING because that's one of the obvious ways HAMfags and others will be trying to maintain a communications network.

Finally! Another ham. I won’t post my call sign for reasons of anonymity. I use the app, RepeaterBook to program in repeaters for the areas I’m passing through on my endless road trips. 73s...

But why would you put a ham in your car? Just to talk to people randomly?

>It’s not hard.
>I studied for a couple of weeks at a slow pace
There aren't many questions in the pool, you can have it memorized in an afternoon.

It's a different crowd. If you're into that hobby then you might want to keep in touch or meet new friends or just monitor what's up while you're on the road.

Did I hear correctly that you don't even need to know morse code anymore these days?

>it's limited to short ranges by law even though a lot of people run amps to boost it some anyway.

The fact is on the 10m amateur-11m CB bands, depending on the mood of the atmosphere you can talk Canada to Mexico with 5 watts, or you may not be able to make it 100 miles with 500 watts.

I had lightning and disconnected my antenna one night and then made multiple contacts from Iowa to Texas on 10 meters before I realized I was operating off my tuner and didn't even have an antenna connected.

Yeah, they got rid of morse years ago unfortunately.

>Did I hear correctly that you don't even need to know morse code anymore these days?

Yes. I'm an extra class and I can do a little code. But it is not a requirement for any amateur class license anymore.

Nope, dont need to know more code anymore

No, not randomly. Not usually, though that can and will happen. If you are rooted in your community as most people are, you’ll want to join your local ham radio club. Or not. Either way, you can get on your local radio repeater towers that push your transmission out for 20-30 miles, sometimes more. There are nets wherein hams check in with their call sign and location. This may sound mundane but, let a weather event happen (tornado, earthquake or hurricane) and these spotters can give you very important first hand info well before any news crew arrives. The real fun begins on HF (High Frequency). Talking around the world, old school style.

Just buy a used one off fb it something. Is what I use in my truck. Got everything for 25$

Yeah even with a cheap CB rig you never know if you're going to have trouble making it down the road or getting a few towns over. I have no doubt a well-sorted setup could go quite a ways under the right circumstances.

That’s pretty neat, actually.
I’ve always had an interest in Civil Defense, maybe getting into ham would be a good way for me to contribute to my community a bit.

Any halfway decent short wave receiver and a little bit of looking in to which frequencies to try first in your area and you can at least get a sense for what's out there.

F@k that, get on Broadcastify and listen to some amateur chatter for free on your cell phone.

Didn't even have a cell until a year ago. Hate it and leave it on the shelf unless I'm on the go and need to incessantly text with idiots to figure out if you're at the grocery store yet or whatever. That's legit tho.

I'll stick to the dedicated receiver I can still use after the cell network and the internet goes out. Not particularly planning on getting in to the scene enough to want to transmit.

I run my CB in the same spot in my jeep as your ham.
>Midland some kinda janky shit with a 3' firestick on the tailgate
>Longest confirmed range was nearly 10km which is nice
Accessible yet out of the way. It only really gets used on road trips to talk to truckers for traffic info or on the trails to keep in contact with other rigs.

I'd eventually like to upgrade to a Cobra one of these days but its not too high up on the list consider the amount of use it would get.

>what is an "SWR adjustment"
Dials in your antenna so you don't fry your radio out during use. Google will tell you more mr electrician

Electricians aren't necessarily EE guys. So he might not know that if reactance of the antenna and the cable feeding it are tuned close enough to the transmission frequency, then the resonant system will wind up with such that the power put out by the amplifier backfiring in to the amplifier rather than being radiated out of the antenna.

So poor adjustment also means less transmission power.