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CB Radio just may be one of the best hobbies or past-times I have had over my many years. While on the road or tinkering at the work bench in the ol' garage, I have found a home feeling on the CB Radio.

The CB Radio time that is most useful today is still Mobile CB Radio. Whether a professional driver, a convoy of Gung-ho hunting pals or retired RV buddies all going to the same destination. A warm voice and camaraderie on a cold road is Golden!

I still provide a section on Base stations, which is often the next step, but more serious step, for us hardcore Radio-heads!

Once you fully educate yourself with the below, learn more by going the my CB Links for even more (there is always more) info from my online pals and then for online resources for CB Gear procurement.

A disclaimer: The following is based on my opinion and 10 years of personal CB radio experience. This opinion may change based on new information I receive thru new adventures. Just a radio fan sharing information. Talk soft with a big mic!

#1 Advice: Take your time. Research and learn before you purchase anything.

Road Info: For road trips or the professional driver, the CB Radio is an extremely valuable tool and has been for 30+ years. On long distant trips I routinely leave my rig on with the squelch and volume up. I can hear near by 10-42 and 10-43 reports and Smoky reports. If you are in a new area and need directions, most truckers will glad help you out or often a base station in that local town is tuned in to the trucker station and they may help too. Talk plainly and be polite, break channel appropriately and so-forth... have patience.

Convoys: I don't think I have ever had more fun on the road than when you are taking a road trip with your pals and each truck or car has a CB Radio. I even keep a hand held unit available for someone who does not have a rig or no time to install. Pick a free channel and key-up! You can give road hazard conditions to your group, organize rest stops, keep track of your convoy, and joke until you can't talk anymore! Better than any music CD in my personal opinion. Before you know it, you're at your destination and everyone made it safely.

How much, How Big: To each his or her own, as they say. But... if your going to do it; don't get cheap on yourself. Be prepared to spend at least $150.00 to $250.00 on the CB radio unit and antenna. I recommend you start with a simple unit, but ensure you have RF Gain and Mic Gain controls. It may seem like an extra expense for bells and whistles you don't even know how to work yet, but you'll be glad you did later. Plus the resale on the unit is worth so much more if you ever want to trade up. I also recommend you don't go too far, you can easily drop over $500.00 or more on a mobile set-up and find you never use it.

Consider your driving locations and needs: There are high tech units that are more sensitive to heavy vibration and would not be as suitable in a 4x4 you take on hunting trips (RCI Radios come to mind, great radios - I have owned two, but sensitive). Some radios are more robust and sturdy units. Be sure to include these variables in your purchase decisions.

Installation: Be prepared to pay for an install. Don't do it yourself, have your brother in-law or anyone else do it, unless you are 100% confident of the results. Radio electronics are sensitive and the newer cars are even more complex. The radio could be ruined or costly damage to your vehicle could happen. Play it smart! If you or no one you know is qualified, seek out help before you buy your set-up. A local radio dealer may professionally install on a package deal, better than any mail order special you may find.

Oh yea! Never-ever key-up the mic without the antenna connected to your radio.

Ok... I guess your hooked now. First piece of advice on base stations... read up! Educate yourself! People spend years learning about radio equipment, antennas and all the gear that goes along with base stations. The term base station simply means a stationary non-mobile unit, usually with more capability. It could be set-up in your garage, the back room of your home or in a shack in the back yard. I have seen some very creative set-ups. It depends on your resources and what your "environment" will allow (if the wife has any say in the matter, you may be in that shack in the backyard).

Why a Base Station: You can hear more and talk to more people farther away with a properly set-up base station. This is not because of more power necessarily, but simply more capability. This capability is mostly related directly to the antenna. Since CB radio waves basically work on a "line-of-site" principal, the higher and bigger your antenna, the stronger your signal gets out and the better you can listen. An example is that if you're set-up on a hill over a valley, the whole valley will hear you over the top of anyone else down in the valley. There are limits and laws that guide antenna height and placement. So again, Read Up!

This is a technical as I'm going to try and get here, I am not an expert. For more see the CBMW site

How much, How big: You can set-up a mobile rig with a power supply and an antenna wire in a tree or go with a full blown base station with a tower and motorized directional beam . I recommend the former to get a taste, see if you enjoy and really use your set-up. You can always add a base antenna on the roof (i.e. an A-99 with a ground plane kit, will run you about $100.00) and get a feel for the big waves. A lot of base stations are no more than a quality mobile unit and a good antenna set-up. A big 10 meter, 11 meter CB base can cost a few hundred hard earned dollars. My base station was over $700.00 with mic and antenna when I was done (and one is never really done), but a reasonably good mobile unit, a power supply and a good antenna will run you as little as $300.00 if you shop smart... and even less if you can buy used.

High quality radio units simply have higher tech, more features and more efficient electronics. These differences allow cleaner and more efficient capabilities and flexibility, thus better clean sound in transmissions. Clean listening can be controlled by good connections and a quality antenna, then antenna set-up and access.

A quick note on power supply units: (To power those mobile base units) You need consistent, solid and reliable 12 plus volts of power. Spend the money and get a good solid unit to meet your needs. Plus, put a fuse between each unit to be powered. You'll be glad you did not get cheap here. A good unit will have a power adjustment on it and a built in fan to keep it cool for long periods of operation.

Sideband Option: A extra bell and whistle that may be worth your dollars is sideband capability. Most base stations have sideband, it's an extra cost on mobile units. This feature provides extra power allowances for channels 24 thru 40. These channels are reserved by FCC rules for sideband use, Lower Sideband and Upper Sideband.

Serious CB'ers use this Sideband feature for long distance talk, really comes into play during "skip" times. Be careful if you get out there in SSB land, these guys are serious radio people in most cases and would like you to be serious also. Get ready to talk code including Q calls.

SSB (Single Sideband) feature which is mostly used for longer distance communication. Here I can try to explain SSB: Suppressing the carrier in an amplitude modulated (AM) waveform produces double sideband (DSB), which will increase the efficiency of the transmission since only the sidebands are amplified. Some inefficiency still remains, however, since the transmission bandwidth must still be twice that of the message bandwidth due to the transmission of both the upper and lower sidebands. These two sidebands are redundant since all the necessary information can be conveyed by only one sideband. When only one sideband is transmitted, the transmission is called single-sideband suppressed carrier (SSBSC) or more commonly SSB. When the upper sideband is transmitted the transmission is called upper side band; USB, and when the lower sideband is transmitted it is called LSB. This reduces the bandwidth of the modulated wave by half and makes it equal to that of the base-band signal. All of the transmitted power then goes toward transmitting the base-band information.

Installation: Most of base station work is nuts a bolts stuff (unless you tear into the radio gear). Some of it is high tech related when you get into such things as meters, filters and so-forth. If you are handy, with some skills in wiring and solder work, then apply common sense - you got it. Oh yea, there's always those darn books, if all else fails of course.

Don't forget a ground line for that antenna way up in the air. Lightening is a powerful thing! It will smoke a $500.00 radio in a millisecond!

And do it right; use solid connections with a heavy #10 copper wire and drive a separate 8ft ground rod of solid copper into the ground (Don't use another pre-existing ground connection such as a water pipe).

Antenna: Your antenna is everything and then some. Height, placement, design and engineering are key elements of the modern antenna, it can make your communications work around the world under the right circumstances . Take your time and educate yourself, read everything you can find! There are simple Omni Directional units like the A99 like I use and then big Directional Beams like the drawing below, some of these units are huge. The beam units require some serious set-up work and other equipment to control turning and tune the antenna unit. The set-up work will require additional manpower help especially if a tower is going to used. Planning is important and prior experience is very useful.

SWR: or Standing Wave Ratio, of an antenna is a measure of how efficiently your radio is radiating the energy it produces when you transmit. There are many good reference books on the subject if you want to know more, but you don't need to know what it actually is in order to measure it. You simply need an SWR meter. An SWR reading of more than 3 is hazardous to your radio. For any given frequency there is a corresponding wavelength and one ideal length of antenna whip. The ideal number to aim for is 1:1 or 'flat line' in the trade. This means all the energy is being radiated and none being 'reflected' back into the radio. An SWR of 2:1 or less is OK. Less than 1.5:1 is very good. Grounding the antenna is probably one of the most overlooked steps of setting up an antenna. If the antenna does not have sufficient ground, then achieving a low SWR will be next to impossible.

Base Microphones: You will definitely want to add a Base or a Desk Microphone to your Base Station Radio set up. The Base Mic of all Base Mics is the Astatic D-104 (This unit came in many models). Unfortunately these pups are not readily available any longer, Astatic quit making them for some reason. However, you may be able to locate one if you try hard enough and price is not an issue.

Anyway, a base mic is typically also a power mic, usually powered by a self contained 9 volt battery. These mics will amplify your voice modulation and give you a cleaner sound on the air waves. They will also pick-up every little sound around you, a TV, other radio sounds or someone talking in the back ground. The base mic or desk mic sit on a table and operated by large press bars, thus easier to use than a hand mic.

First, I do not use an amp for transmitting or condone such use, it's against FCC rules!

However, That said... In some cases of high traffic areas or when the skip rolls in, the only way to be heard is over the "mess" is with a Linear amplifier. Amps like this are for transmitting only in most cases, some models do have a receive amp, but it simply makes the incoming louder. You may hear some powerful voice out there and you try to respond - then this loud radio may act like they can't even hear you - the facts are, it may be true. This loud radio you hear like it's next door ready to blow your roof off - could be many, many miles away with their Linear amp turned up high and a beam antenna in your direction. If you want to go there and get a "big radio" as they say, again - read up, educate yourself.

There are plenty of resources out there for Linear Amps, just do a search accordingly and you'll find plenty of choices.

You will not find links to Amp providers on my pages, I have no real experience with them and as I say, I do not condone such use. I do understand that they must be installed correctly and certain precautions must be used to protect your equipment, including non-radio related equipment in your home and possibly your neighbors equipment. So beware, I don't like to hear about smoked equipment!

Be wise about who you deal with, there are some real characters out there, most that have done wrong, don't mean to take advantage of you, they can just in over their heads and too proud to say otherwise. That said... A few more, are just plain thieves and don't care.

I bought my first 3 radios and other equipment second hand, I always knew what I was getting into and what to expect. I was rarely disappointed.

There are many known, legitimate, good radio tech people and great vendors out there. Let me know about the good ones thru your own adventures, and I'll check them out and list them on this site.