This may not be a Suzuki specific question, but I have sort of a double question.  Does anyone have a CB in their rig.  I do a great deal of hunting and I have about a half dozen Motorolla talkabouts.  Can a talkabout  talk to a regular CB radio?  What is the range on a CB?

the FRS radios do not communicate with normal CB radios but i think i've heard that there is some CB's that are new on the market that have a feature that allows them to talk to the FRS radios
jason

A talkabout is a FRS radio and can not talk to a CB. You can however buy a handheld CB radio that works fairly well.

A CB's range will vary greatly depending on how well it is set up. If you get a good CB, buy a good antenna and have it properly tuned and get a few miles of range out of one. If you just buy a Walmart special CB, antenna etc... and just throw it together, I have seen them transmit less than 200 yards.

Zig

I have a GE HELP portable from the 70's that I bought on e-bay for $5.  It doesn't work great, but I get about 1/2 mile out of it.  That is with the magnetic antenae it comes with mounted upside down inside the cab. 

Any place to look to find out how to tune your CB?

I have put CBs on several of my 4x4s.  The best performance was with a 9' whip on a rear corner.  No tuning required.  A SWR meter is handy to verify the setup is working properly.

I got a CB from Wal-Fart, some antenna I stuck on a small mount I made on the rear corner on the drivers side, hooked it all up, and the sumbitch transmits and receiver freakin AWESOME. I can pick up all transmissions from a LONG way, but most can't pick up mine from a good distence. Only ones that are tuned well can pick mine up at a distance.

Just amazed at how well it turned out with ZERO tuning.

I got a CB from Wal-Fart, some antenna I stuck on a small mount I made on the Just amazed at how well it turned out with ZERO tuning.

You can be lucky with the set up and some modern CBs don't need to be tuned manually either. Its welll worth checking it with a SWR meter though, if you do have it wrong then you can get a lot of power reflected back into the unit which can blow the output stage when you're transmitting.

Where I hunt a CB is more of a novelty . Most people use a VHF radio , they have better range and you can tune into the radio channels used by the logging trucks . Good to know when to get out of the way . 

I have put CBs on several of my 4x4s.  The best performance was with a 9' whip on a rear corner.  No tuning required.  A SWR meter is handy to verify the setup is working properly.

The SWR meter is used for tuning the antena impedence to the radio.  It is important to tune the impedence, both for efficient transmission and to increase the life of the radio.

You can get an SWR meter at any CB shop, most truck stops, and Radio Shack.  They come with instructions that are straight forward.

Where I hunt a CB is more of a novelty . Most people use a VHF radio , they have better range and you can tune into the radio channels used by the logging trucks . Good to know when to get out of the way . 

Where I hunt, the loggers use CBs and there is a sign posted at the forrest entrance listing the channel they use.

I have a 10 year old cobra, no antenna, no antenna wire, I get about 350  yards, good enough when I go wheeling.

Quote from: reb on August 17, 2005, 09:40:40 AM

I have put CBs on several of my 4x4s.  The best performance was with a 9' whip on a rear corner.  No tuning required.  A SWR meter is handy to verify the setup is working properly.

The SWR meter is used for tuning the antena impedence to the radio.  It is important to tune the impedence, both for efficient transmission and to increase the life of the radio.

You can get an SWR meter at any CB shop, most truck stops, and Radio Shack.  They come with instructions that are straight forward.

What I said was not clear.  A 9' whip is 1/4 wavelength, which, when you use the proper cable, matches the output impedance of the transmitter.  No tuning is required with a 1/4 wavelength antenna.  Tuning is required with most other antennas.

I have a 10 year old cobra, no antenna, no antenna wire, I get about 350  yards, good enough when I go wheeling.

transmitting without an antenna is a sure fire way to burn the output circuits on a CB ...

interesting, I had no problems yet