I am new to this and don't have my license yet, but I do plenty of scanning.

I just got my cb hooked up and figured while i'm at it I might as well rig up a ham antenna as well.

I'd like a nice whip I can get decent range with that I can use with my ht for now but hook up to a mobile later down the road.
I want an antenna I can grow into.

What would e the most common bamds to use for a mobile rig? Should I just go dual band for 70cm/2m?

Or can I get something that will work with other common bands as well?

Idealy I'd like something I can reach out far with, but can you do that with a mobile antenna?

I've seen quad band radios. Is there a single antenna that can do that efficiently?

Also, do they use the same kind of coax and studs that a cb uses? Or it there a different kind of cable and mounts?

Lastly. Do you use the same swr meter as you would for a cb? Is tuning the same process?

Also,  This is the Field day weekend where all the Ham Radio clubs participate in the field activity and practice emergency communication.  Find one close to you and go to thier field event.  You will learn a lot.

Based on the questions, you are just beginning to learn the basics. I'm sure it seems to be overwhelming to you.

Start simple. Forget quad band radios and antennas. You will learn why, once you begin gaining experience. Start with a simple 2/70cm, 50 Watt mobile radio like a Yaesu FT-8800 or a Kenwood TM-V71A and a decent dual band VHF/UHF antenna like a Comet SBB5 (with an appropriate mount). A radio with a detachable face panel is a LOT easier to install in a vehicle.
This is a typical mobile setup. Radio brands and models may vary as well as antennas.

Usually an antenna mount comes with a coax, long enough to reach most radio installations in a typical vehicle. Usually a mount will include a 6ft piece of RG-58 coax. It's all you need. You can use the same cable and connectors as on your CB radio. A better quality coax will be required if it's longer than about 20 feet to minimize losses but you don't need t worry about it for a mobile installation.

Usually you don't need an inline SWR meter for VHF/UHF radios. You may need to borrow an antenna analyzer to check your antenna and possibly trim it to center on a specific portion of the band, if needed. You set it once and forget it. Usually a decent antenna will cover the whole band with an acceptable SWR.
A CB SWR meter will not work well on the VHF/UHF bands.

I'm not sure how you can grow into an antenna. If you grow, you will most likely get bored with VHF/UHF very quickly and decide to get on HF. IMHO, HF bands is where the real fun is. This will open a whole new dimension to you. You will have access to world-wide communication at your fingertips, in your vehicle too. A 100 Watt HF rig like a Yeasu FT-891a (or similar) coupled with a Tarheel "screwdriver" type antenna is one of the best combinations for mobile HF. You will routinely talk to stations thousands of miles away. For example, I don't even get excited if I talk to a station in Australia or in Africa from my mobile HF radio. It's a lot of fun and very addictive.

Hope this helps.
Also, like mentioned in one of the previous posts, find a local club or an elmer. There is a "Field Day" even going on this weekend. Find out where your local group is setting up their station, drive up there and join them.
Most clubs will be happy to introduce you to the world of radios and will even let you operate their station. It's probably the biggest even in ham radio community. Check it out.

Have you scanned the local 2M and 70cm repeaters, yet? If so, did you like what you heard?

Morse code and odd buzzing (often followed by morse code) on the local clubs 70cm repeater

Nothing but the occasional self identifying transmission on the 2m one...

It hasn't been too exciting.

The police, ems and fire keep me entertained though

I can even listen to the local Tyson plant (which I should have cause according to fire and the police there was a fire there earlier)

Pretty much what I expected you to say. Take a pass on the VHF stuff, save your pennies, study up and pass your General exam, then get an HF radio and dive into the much more interesting HF part of the amateur radio universe.

For mobile I would suggest 2 meter/70cm.  HF mobile opens up quite a bit of technical issues that have to be addressed to make it work.

And like the others have said, today is field day. It should be easy to find a club or several. Go talk to them and let them know your working on getting your ticket. If your on the west side of the state I know where a couple groups are setting up and can give you a few names to go and talk to.

Trailblazer? There are some mounts designed to mount the an antenna at the hinge point of the hood. IIRC, both NMO and 1/4" versions are around.

I've been running a JT-6188 dual band rig into a mag mount antenna on my TB. I can easily hit 30 mile distant repeaters with LOS to then, 60 miles not so much.

I like the JT-6188 compared to my Alinco or Kenwood rigs in the TB as the compact size maked mounting it much less of a challenge. Trailblazers really don't have a lot of room to hang a radio in unless you get one with a remote faceplate option.

While Local VHF/UHF may not be busy, it's still one of the best tools in your comms tool box- Here's my take on where to start.

I'm a fan of the front fender mount if you don't want to drill a hole in your roof.  My Diamond 7500 and Comet SBB5 antennas both work well, and out perform the earlier/cheaper antennas I had in service (you can grow into them).

I used my Wouxun HT with the Diamond antenna for almost a year (mobile) while I was saving for a mobile rig (kenwood).  I used the N9TAX roll-up antenna as a base antenna for about the same time.  When local repeaters got stale I convinced some like-minded buddies to get their tickets and we enjoy the on-air banter.  

HF is fun and very useful, look towards your General as you prepare to test.

#Bitx40_4_Cale

A picture is worth a 1000 words...
This Comet SBB5 antenna and a mount worked best for my SUV. I thought about drilling a hole in the middle of the roof (best mount and location) but decided against it. I plant to install a full size long roof rack sometime soon.




A Kenwood TM-V71A is mounted under the driver's seat but the control head is conveniently located overhead. The radio is used (99% of a time) for talking to a group of buddies on a simplex frequency. I also use it a cross band repeater for the same reason, when I park somewhere and take a small HT with me.
There is tons of activity on VHF/UHF bands here in the area (south of Charlotte). When I lived in Phoenix, AZ, the VHF/UHF bands were nearly dead. HF is where the fun is.
D-star can be another option if you have a D-star repeater in your area. There are some interesting nets going on at times. D-star is kind of complicated with too many "flux capacitors" to configure.
Check out Echolink as well. There is an ARFCOM net on Echolink every Friday night.



Don't be afraid of HF mobile. It's not as complicated as you may think. I've learned the hard way and wasted a lot of efforts on different antennas and radios. I'll be glad to share how you can get it done relatively easy and pain free. I'm sure others will chime in as well. You know what they say - "Many people learn from their own mistakes. Smart people learn from mistakes of others"

My uncle said the noise on the 70cm repeater is p24 or something like that

He said it's digital and my beofeng can't pick it up.
He said the morse code is the repeater self identifying.

to answer your questions specifically

rigging up a ham antenna at the same time is all going to depend on your eventual goals - vhf - vhf/uhf - hf/vhf/uhf - hf only - this will determine the number of individual antennas you install.

most previous answers were of course yes go dual band.. if you have the money to spend on a dual band mobile do it, I was the proud owner of a 2006 trailblazer that was hf/vhf equipped you can do a single band vhf install if you want the kenwood tm-281 works great and I installed mine directly over my left knee with a tram mag mount dual band - never had any issues

second.. something a few people over look is powering your radios.. how did you install your cb? as you learn in ham you will always want to power directly from the battery so once you start installing multiple transceivers having those power wires running through your firewall can get cluttered, I recommend the first thing you do in preparation is to build a secondary fuse block inside that is powered directly from the battery but relayed from a key on circuit in your engine bay fuse box.

there are tranciever options out there as you mentioned for quad band but as stated by other users don't waste your money, if you want to cough up a healthy chunk of change find an all band mobile, if not do as I did, 1 dedicated vhf rig and a second rig for hf and backup vhf or hf only,
once you break in to hf the quad band antennas are useless they don't cover the hf bands you will want

yes.. you can reach out far with hf mobile.. my current long distance contact is central Arkansas to western Russia but you will want to research and incest in a capable hf mobile antenna, the powered "screwdriver" types work great but I had all my luck on a "wander lead" type (look up bushcomm or outbacker antennas)

NEW USER CONT'D

the Coax used is they same type but you will be a bit more concerned with losses (though not as much when mobile as you wont have very long lengths of cable) but yes rg58 is the most common for mobile installs with the same connectors as your cb
the antenna studs may be different depending on exactly which antenna manufacturer, which frequency you are using.... many different factors here but yes some do use the cb style 3/8-24 stud

the swr meter you use for a cb is usually only good for right around the cb frequencies (27-29mhz) yes there is a ham frequency band in there so it would work for that but there are many others it would not work for, a decent hf rig will have a built in meter and you would want a separate one for vhf uhf but they aren't expensive

so.. now that field day is over if you didn't go out and try to test at a local site (which testing on field day is commonly free) start looking around your local area for a ham club (try facebook that's how we found mine and got me tested) get licensed.. look on your applicable app store for testing apps for practice testing but don't just memorize the test there is actually quite a bit of information in there you will want to understand so once you tie up with your local club make friends and learn what's actually going on, some do occasional classes with testing halfway though and at the end of the course. then after all that work your install you will actually understand everything in the previous answers and this one. good luck and hopefully we hear you on the air