CB Radios

[silatman]

Is there anybody on this site who knows anything about CB UHF radios?
My company wants me and my boss to have a CB in our vehicles to reduce mobile phone bills but what we know about CB's you could write twice on the same postage stamp.
Any advice about brands or wattage would be appreciated as well as any thing else you know like noise suppressors would be appreciated.
Something about electrical salespeople I just dont trust.
Cheers people.

 

[PatMunk]

Well one thing it's a violation of the FCC Rules to use CB Radios for business. They are for private use. Plus the fact that everyone in the area that has one and is using the same channel will hear everything you say.

Also the range would be only a couple of miles at best ...

Nextel with the two way radio feature would be better ....

Just my 2 cents worth...

 

[Bigshadow]

I agree! The max legal wattage I think is 4 watts. This in a vacuum should yield 4 miles range. On planet Earth however, it is 2 miles at best. As stated earlier, CB use for business is illegal.

You may want to consider a different cell phone plan. Something that best fits your usage pattern.

My opinion of nextel is not good. I find the "walkie-talkie" everyone is so enamoured with is very annoying. I don't care to have to try and filter out someone else's conversation in public. In addition to this, a couple that are friends of ours uses them and they consistently have coverage problems.

 

[OUMoose]

My opinion of nextel is not good. I find the "walkie-talkie" everyone is so enamoured with is very annoying. I don't care to have to try and filter out someone else's conversation in public. In addition to this, a couple that are friends of ours uses them and they consistently have coverage problems.

I have a Nextel and find that feature useful. The thing to remember is you can use the direct connect feature in "privacy" mode, holding it up to your ear like a normal phone. Really haven't had any coverage problems either, though I do live in a major city. YMMV.

 

[hemi]

I work in Downtown Dallas in a 40 story building. In my normal day I am everywhere from the basement to the roof of the building. I am able to use my Nextel 2way and cell phone all over the building but have a hard time when I’m on the roof. I guess I am over the repeater towers at the point. As for a CB it’s been a few days since I played with one. I like the Conax 240 and a Wilson 1000 antenna with side bands. The legal limit is 4 or 5 watts max but a lot of people use amps that can and do push 200- 500 watts but after a few minutes of that you will have black vans with dark windows driving around your area. LOL. I would recommend the Nextel’s they work very well and you can turn off the speaker and use the ear piece for privacy.

 

[theletch1]

The CB radio that most of you are talking about is an HF transmitter/reciever and yes all of the negative statements that have been in this thread are true. I use one for work daily (I'm a truck driver) and can tell you that even with a "foot warmer" the range is still only 6 to 10 miles. A UHF radio is a different critter all together. Range is much better and is legal for commercial use. They'll work just like a regular push to talk type HF radio. Depending on where you are the Nextel things aren't worth the circuits they're printed on. My company issued the nextel for us and out of the 300+ miles a day that I run I may have a signal for about 75 miles.

 

[silatman]

You guys were freaking me out with the illegal bit until the last post clarified it for me, alot of people here use cb's commercially.
What I'm trying to find out at the moment is can an American built and bought cb be used in Australia, do they operate on the same frequencies an band width. I talked to a salesman today and he said that here we operate on 400 - 512 hertz and something called 30 band
Im looking at Uniden units that retail in Australia for $300+ online from uniden dirct for $80 US, even with conversion rates and shipping its still below half price. Just need to know before I buy that they will do the job when they arrive.

 

[theletch1]

If a salesman in Australia is telling you the freq range there is in the 30 band then just make sure that the radio that you order has the crystal (or chip) installed for the 30 band when you order it. You can also have a good technician "tweak" your radio to make sure that it's putting out maximum power for best range. I run a cb daily in my work truck (26 megs HF) that came from the factory pushing around 3 watts...I had it peaked and tuned and it will now put out 40 until I turn on my foot warmer (linear amp) and then it's puching around 250 watts. Yes, anything more than 4 watts is illegal BUT unless you're making a nuisance of yourself by transmitting around a hospital or intentionally interferring with others who are trying to use the same frequency no-one really bothers with you. Good luck with the 2 way radios Silat.

 

[Bigshadow]

You guys were freaking me out with the illegal bit until the last post clarified it for me, alot of people here use cb's commercially.
What I'm trying to find out at the moment is can an American built and bought cb be used in Australia, do they operate on the same frequencies an band width. I talked to a salesman today and he said that here we operate on 400 - 512 hertz and something called 30 band
Im looking at Uniden units that retail in Australia for $300+ online from uniden dirct for $80 US, even with conversion rates and shipping its still below half price. Just need to know before I buy that they will do the job when they arrive.

I you could reasonably say that the US made CB will have the crystals for the US frequency range/Band which may not be the same as your country has allocated for CBs.

You could probably google it and get the frequency bands for both Australia and the US. I would wager they will be different.

 

[theletch1]

Ok, Silatman, since I'm a long time HF CB radio user this thread piqued my interest. I did a little search and found something you may find useful. Australia has a lot of open spaces to cover and cell towers are few and far between in some areas. UHF radios seem like a good idea to me.

 

[Grape Ape]

I would take a good long look at you cell phone options. Here in the States there are a number of carriers that will give you unlimited (free) calling between phones on the same contract or even on all phones serviced by that carrier.

 

[Gary Crawford]

There in Canada CB's would be a decent,low cost option. First ,keep in mind, your range is going to be about four to five miles in worst case(depending on geographic locations). This is something you ought to experiment with a bit before deciding on for sure. The quality of you basic cheap radios is good enough to get an idea. Try a couple mobile radios(mounted inside your vehicles) with some decent quality magnetic mounted anteneas.

 

[bignick]

Also great for starting a convoy...or making sure that the Bandit delivers his cargo on time...

 

[lonekimono10]

Well one thing it's a violation of the FCC Rules to use CB Radios for business. They are for private use. Plus the fact that everyone in the area that has one and is using the same channel will hear everything you say.

Also the range would be only a couple of miles at best ...

Nextel with the two way radio feature would be better ....

Just my 2 cents worth...

now hold on a sec, the fcc does not have anything to do with CB radio any more, there was a time when you would need a fcc lic. not any more
i have one in my truck and its a ranger with alot of uppers in it and its got fm also (not music radio) but i also have nextel for me and my wife, in fact when i go and teach around the county i use mt 2 way or the CHRIP it works great.

 

[theletch1]

Lone kimono, the FCC can still shut you down if your transmission is interfering with comms for an airport, EMS or others being able to communicate. Having said that...what type of radio are you running? Right now I'm running a Cobra 29 classic LTD, peaked, tuned, 225 watt linear and center load K-40 antenna. I get some pretty good distance out of it in the hills of Virginia and West Virginia. I'd love to have a Galaxy but can't sink that kind of money into a mobile right now.

 

[lonekimono10]

well i have a ranger- RCI-6300 am-fm with amateur bands, i go up to the 29's
and i talk to alot of you guys where you live (only on the upper) with out skip
and on the lowers with skip i have 2 firesticks(cofaze) and i run barefoot,give me a call my # is 856-229-5697(cell) and we can talk more, i stay on 19 when i'm running, if we where to talk i would go high, ( i have a freguency counter built in)