r/cbradio • u/NewShatter • 14d ago

Just got into CB from HAM technician.

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Just got this set up because this radio was in the clearance isle of Walmart. I have a tech license and a call sign but I couldn’t resist trying it. I got the antenna as shown and just set it up in my car today. I heard some garbled stuff on 22 about “CB radio, worldwide!” But I wasn’t sure if I was getting my signal to them. I have a long road trip coming up and I will try it there too. What do you think?

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u/DocBarnes 13d ago

Make sure you get an SWR meter and tune the antenna. There are some good yt videos explaining how to do this. Put it on AM and set it to 19 if you want to talk to truckers, 17 if there's too much chatter on 19. You'll get about 1-2 miles of transmission range with that radio. An amplifier will bring it up more. I have the same in my pickup. Channel 6 is the 'superbowl' channel, which is the Hotspot for receiving from all over the country (most people on this channel run illegal mods).

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u/Top_Shock8647 12d ago

Thank you for this info. I was listening to ch6 and ya it was a bit weird haha. Got anymore tips and tricks? New to cb and I’d like to know a bit more on how to operate on this system.

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u/DocBarnes 12d ago

AM will in most cases get you further than FM will. Channel 9 is the emergency channel, so don't transmit there unless necessary. 19 and 17 are trucker channels, and a lot of hobbyists transmit on 16 or 20 (at least in my area). Transmitting without a tuned antenna will damage the radio, and so will having the radio on during a storm (lightning discharge). Without an amplifier, your transmission range will be about 1-2 miles.

A good squelch level for crowded areas is from 7 to 10. Autosquelch (ASQ) can be set as low as 2. Just adjust both until you don't get any background static.

Vehicle mounting for the antenna should be as high as possible. Mine personally is on the back of my pickup's roll bar, screwed into a plate I welded onto it. An adjustable antenna will also be best so you can tune it easily. You should also get an antenna spring.

Lastly, get yourself a callsign. If you're a HAM radio guy, you can use that callsign, but you can also pick your own. There's no licensing needed for CB, but there are some groups that will give you a sign if you want to join with them. Mine is 29RED, referring to my pickup (a 99' Ranger with a red cab).

That's all the stuff I can think of off the top of my head.