CB (cobra 19) / SWR ???

4375 Views 14 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Alec, Aug 17, 2010

Frontier636

Discussion Starter · Aug 16, 2010 (Edited)

hey all...

so i just got a Cobra 19 DX IV with a 4' Firestik 2 antenna. so i went to the CB shop to get a CB Speaker & PA Horn.. so when i was there i asked the guy how much to tune my cb he asked what i had and he tells me "oh that one cant be tune" ... i was like hummmm okay and took off with my stuff .... i have been reading here and on the net and there is notting that is tellling me that the 19 cant be tune...

so my question is you guys with a cobra 19 did u guys tune yours ???

is that guys full of B.S and did not want to deal with me ???

:hi:thanks for you help

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Mylt1

· #5 · Aug 16, 2010 (Edited)

davidapplewhite said:
Any CB can be tuned. Some more than others. The plan when you get a cb tuned is to get the lowest dead key possible and the highest swing the radio is capable of. You had swr??? but nothing about the swr. A 4ft fire stick probably will not get you the ideal swr's. You need 18ft of coax to start with and a 8 ft francis in my opinion. I firmly believe that I have one of the very best cb shops in the world here locally. The name of the shop is T.C's Radio in Watha NC just off I-40.His number is (910) 285-5841. He can answer any question you have and may allow you to ship your radio to him. Or allow you to purchase a tuned radio and he ship it to you. He deals cash only! If you call ask for "T" thats what his friends call him.

the "18ft coax" is a myth and has been proven as such time and time again. if your "very best cb shops in the world" told you that then i would find another shop, cause they aint.

davidapplewhite said:
Everything you said about tuning the antenna is correct. But a CB can be tuned. They are all turned down to meet FCC regulations from the factory. That radio could probably do around 20 Watts. A higher end radio like a galaxy for example can do just over 50 Watts. The trick is to have a good radio man that's knows what a CB was designed to put out and not turn it up past that.

highly illegal and comes with a VERY STEEP fine if caught. dont know about you but i really dont want to pay it nor lose my equipment to the FCC. there are people out there that WILL hunt you down and report you to the FCC. a "tune" is really a waist of time and money. if you want more power and better range then get your amateur radio license.

a "cb tune" is nothing more than a waist of money on new radios. older radios "might" benefit from it only because over the years they could have drifted off freq. but other than that there is no need to actually "tune" a cb. now, tuning the antenna is a different story. you want a SWR reading of between 1-1.7:1 on both ch1 and ch40 that will put it below 1.5:1 on ch20(or more correctly the middle of the band). SWR changes with the sweep of the band so having it set as low as you can on 1 and 40 gives you the best possible SWR across the band.

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Mylt1

· #10 · Aug 16, 2010

Vycor said:
Basically everybodys right here... i didnt say anything about "tuning" a CB because its not something i think hes gonna be doing. If hes putting a CB in for the first time and doesnt know how to tune it, hes not gonna know about putting an amplifier on a CB radio. Now for those who are curious, CB is mandated (by law, the FCC) to only allow a certain power output. Now its not a whole lotta power and will get you maybe 5-10 miles. What a lot of guys (and usually truckers who are always on the road) do is they hookup an amp to their radio (not yer regular amp for yer stereo lol) to boost the power. Its illegal because your using more power then your licensed for (CB requires no license, to get mre power you need a ham license then yer on a whole new set of frequencies and can talk all over). But they all do it anyway. Its tough for the FCC really to find someone unless a guys giving out exact info.

For your first setup, stay away from amps, you won't need it really. If you plan to use a CB allllll the time and really love it, then look into putting an amp in. Most guys who are into cbs in your area can help you. I dont know if a lot of shops will help you "on the books" because it is illegal. Its not something a cop whos pulling you over can/will right a ticket for, its outside their bounds... but hope that helps ya

linear amps on CB bans are illegal no matter how you slice or dice it. the problem isnt with any kind of license it has to do with:

The use of overpowered CB radios can cause transmissions to "bleed over" into other channels and bands. In a worst-case scenario, illegal amplifiers can bleed into TV, music radio and even computer signals. The uncontrolled distortion of other signals is the primary reason for the power limitations of legal CB radios.

NOW, that being said, you can get a SSB cb and run, i believe, 12w legally.

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Mylt1

· #11 · Aug 16, 2010 (Edited)

Alec said:
Where are these people? I literally know of around 100 people in my area who either have "illegal" cbs or have vhf radios in their trucks if not both and have never heard of anyone getting fined, warned, or have their stuff taken. Also if a radio is not set up correctly it can get burned out so I would say its a wise idea to get it tuned and make sure everthing is the way it should be.

VHF, as in marine band radios? if so there are numerous people that have been fined for that over the last couple of years. i know of a group of hunters not long ago got busted out in western Va for using marine band radios while hunting. usually, unless they are bleeding over and bothering the amateurs they usually dont get reported. but, some amateurs take this very seriously to the point they get a group together and do whats called a "fox hunt" and actively search for the offenders. as for the VHF, the local USCG has busted several locals for having and using marine radios on land. last year or the year before they busted 4 different groups by doing fox hunts. they actually train to do this about once a month.

davidapplewhite said:
I'm not wanting to start an argument here. If the 18ft is a myth why have I had a 2.5 swr with 12ft of coax and switch to a 18ft coax and my swr drop to a 1.2? I will admit its been about ten years since I was serious into the whole CB thing. So if I was wrong I apologize for mis leading someone. I will Look into the link when I get home and can use my computer. My phone is struggling today.

that could have been anything from a bad connector to even a bad piece of coax. it doesnt take much to through off a SWR meter. this is one of the reasons you want to use quality coax(not the cheap crap sold at radio shack) and use good solder on connectors for all your coax runs. the 18ft had nothing to do with it. my XJ i was only running about 8ft and had the SWR below 1.5:1 across the whole band.

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Mylt1

· #14 · Aug 16, 2010

Alec said:
Where I live a lot of the farmers use them. Even up toward the coast they still use them. I wish they were legal because they are so much clearer and go further than cbs.

get your ham ticket and enjoy the ability to talk around the world. VHF/UHF is good for local contacts and when propagation is up you can talk quite a long ways. last time i was on the air and prop was up i talked 178 miles on 2m(vhf) with 50w and a comet GP-9 antenna mounted only 10ft off the ground. HF opens up regional, national, and world contacts to you. its a simple test to take and cost $15. study for both tech and general for a couple of hours a day for a couple of weeks and find a test site. as long as you pass tech you can take general for free.

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