CB Radios Handy For Emergency Information

Thank you all for the information and help understanding with how they work. It's fun getting a new project to do.

The only real good I get out of mine is when I am on the big roads mixing in with the big truckers. Never talk on it just listen...

It has the squelch turned all the way ON so I only hear what is real close to me.

We use the FRS radios when camping and wandering around the towns window shopping...

Roy Ken

CB is a pretty much dead medium. I wouldn't count on that fo emergency anything these days.
But as a former radio head from way back, I can tell you what woks and how well.
CB isn't necessarily line of sight like higher frequency FM is, but the power is low and the antenna is everything. The bigger the better, and the higher it's mounted the better.

The setup you're describing will be very poor. If you have a camper on, the best thing is to mount a CB antenna on top of it, at least a 4'. If you don't get the antenna up there, you''ll be amazed at how ineffective your radio is.

The air conditioner is a good place to mount a CB antenna, or there are mounts designed to clamp onto tubular mirror brackets that work well on camper roof racks. Use a spring on the bottom of the antenna so it doesn't break when you whack a tree branch.

4 watts on the CB freqs from a mobile antenna only a few feet long is never going to work that well. Just run it.

And yes, CB is pretty much line of sight.

covered wagon wrote:
Are there any channels that they are not allowed to talk so foul?

Nope. CB doesn't have a police force to police how people use it.

So it works mostly by line of site then? Thank you.

Probably pick up the direction that is away from the camper. I have used them before and if the antenna is blocked lets say to the rear the reception is almost nil if I recall correctly.