Starting to work on my HAM license and I thought about getting in the CB game just for local chatter.
Any recommendations on vehicle mounted & stationary cb radios?

As you are working on your ham lic, why waste money on a CB?

No ready they are crap at the best of time, and pretty much line of suite other wise.

Best to just get a hand held ham radio.

I have had this one for over 25 years
Uniden

Get a Wilson antenna mini or K40 depending on vehicle

BTW this setup will cost more than a Chi-Com Baofeng UV-5R Ham HT

11m is still worthy in many cases......

CB is the trailer trash of the radio hobby.  Just avoid it.

The best CB related story I have to offer:

Someone I know once shut down a CB'er who was running stupid power out of a badly tuned power amplifier that was interfering with everything in every direction for quite some distance.

How he did it:  He chained the bumper of his truck to the base of the miscreant's antenna mast. (A simple multi-section telescoping pole.)    And drove away fast.

While the miscreant was talking on the radio.

ZIP, there goes the tower, the antenna, the cable, the power amplifier, and the radio, out the window, all still connected to each other.   And it yanked the microphone right out of the guy's hand.   This string of gear was then dragged down the street and then abandoned a few miles out,  clearly no longer in any kind of usable condition.

I'm sure the look on the CB'ers face must have been absolutely priceless.

Don't, just don't. Unless you KNOW that you have a specific reason to communicate with someone on CB that can't be done any other way. Get your amateur license, learn what you are doing (start by not using the term "HAM") and don't look back.

lol....I'll just leave this thread alone.

Only reason to have a CB is if you are off-road with others that have a CB.  Just my opinion since you are working on HAM

Forget CB.  It won't be 'local chatter', just endless idiocy.

The only thing positive I can say about CB is having when travelling on the interstates. I have 2m ham as well but when there are major traffic issues ie..(complete shut down of traffic) CB seems to be a much better option for gathering info on the situation.

Just my personal experience....otherwise its useless.

There's a difference between normal use and "Survival Gear", this gets lost on the ham "enthusiasts" here.

Model suggested from a previous CB thread is the Uniden PRO520XL. Going one step up from the lowest price models to get an RF gain adjustment, such as that model, will be helpful. The Cobra 19 DXIV looks similar and in the same price range but no experience with it. The high dollar models with all the extras don't really get you much, and SSB is of very limited utility on CB.

Antenna setup is very important if you actually want a CB to work. CB is a very low frequency compared to other kinds of mobile communications, where vehicle dimensions become small fractions of a wavelength. Thus, where you put the antenna on the vehicle and lots of little details add up to big differences in performance. Try to get an antenna with at least a 4 foot whip, located at something resembling center roof will help a lot. Larsen NMO27 on an appropriate magnet mount base would be a good choice. Due to the frequency/wavelength thing, antenna tuning is sensitive to the specific vehicle and installation, so all CB antenna installations need some fine tuning. It would be ideal if you could find someone local with an antenna analyzer to give you a hand, but it can be done the hard way with an SWR meter.

Nothing different for a "base station" radio, other than you need a power supply to provide ~12VDC power from your 120VAC outlets. Something in the 5 to 10 amp range will be sufficient, larger is ok, main thing is to get one that doesn't have objectionable RF noise at the low frequency that CB operates at.  There are some pretty low cost switching power supplies on the market now that seem to do ok. For a base station antenna, there are about 1000 designs of snake oil garbage on the market, I'd suggest something like a simple 1/4 wave ground plane like this..

What you will find after doing all this is that the CB band is an utter cesspool of offensive noise.

This.  It's why I still have one.  I use one of these with a Firestik...  not great but very small footprint.  And in TX,  I like having a weather radio.

I spend 2-3 hours a day going to and from work.  CB can be quite entertaining at times and can make a boring drive a little more tolerable.

I just bought this to go in my truck.  79.99 and also has a 20 dollar rebate on it right now.

President Andy CB

I have a midland handheld hooked up to a Wilson 1000. I get pretty good range most days.

How do you like this so far?

Well, I ended up having to go a different route with my antenna...so I actually haven't installed it yet.  It looks fantastic though!

Ha, ok. Report back once you get it going.

I think if I were install a CB radio I would get one from a place where CB is more popular than it is here.

DIN mounting and other options....

I own one.

I keep it in the semi for hollering at the gate house/ scale house/ loader operator at places I go.

My normal QSO is something like “hey loader operator give me 23 1/2 tons.” He repeats 23.5 and loads the trailer accordingly. I thank him and turn that damn thing off.


33 bucks.

How about the Midland 75-822? Can be either handheld or vehicle mounted.

Isn't US legal, and not even capable of US frequencies. It's a nice concept if they would make it usable in the US.

It would be even more useful if carmakers would actually put DIN mounting locations in their vehicles, with extra slots for accessory equipment.

Your usage is the perfect application for the RF gain adjustment that I mentioned earlier. Turning the RF gain way down will reduce the noise level and distant signals and leave you with just the really strong signals you want to hear.

People typically use squelch as is common from FM, but with an AM system the RF gain is very useful, if less intuitive.

True

False

It is usable on the US freqs in AM or FM.  As mentioned, not legally.

I mentioned the other options.  You have to poke around the website for yourself.

I had a CB and a radar detector back in the '70s, both very carefully set up.  The Radar detector was hidden.  Both of them saved me from some traffic tickets.  Nowadays, I try to stay a tinch less than the prevailing traffic speed, for various reasons, tickets amongst them.  Try to keep to the right.

While radar (and laser) detectors are available, I find it far less expensive, and far less nerve-wracking to drive at prevailing traffic speeds, as opposed to speeds far in excess of the same.

I understand that cell phones, mounted atop the dashboard, and working in conjunction with one's on-board radio, have features that will give the driver some sort of "look-ahead" provisions that are very useful.

FWIW, my last traffic stop was about a month ago--I was slightly over the speed of prevailing traffic; It happens.  Once I told the Cop I was simply going to work, he ran my plates, and I went on my way without even a written warning.  Of course, I employed The Plan when dealing with the Cop.

Got into ham radio and never installed the old CB.
Ham radio > CB.
CB probably better on the road than ham radio but I don't have room to have both in the car.

I'll go against the grain here. I am a ham and think that CB is still a tool in your tool box. If the SHTF, you might be able to monitor CB and get valuable info.

I have a Yaesu dual band in my truck, and will be putting in a President McKinley shortly as well.

I concur with the advice of skipping cb if you are getting licensed. I doubt you will touch it after getting access to the ham bands.

If you are dead set on it get somthing with SSB (sideband) capabilities. It's much more efficient and can reach out further.

I have this one also, works good for what its intended for.

The only way to roll with a CB is not "legal"

We used to have a blast in the late 80s early 90s trolling.

I picked this one up, cant have enough comms. I have about a dozen handheld ham radios. I'll pick one more up like this one and then my comms are completed.