[uravan]

Has any other radio service taken over what was the role of CB's and interstate highway travel a few decades back? It's be great to give and get a head's up regarding hazards up ahead.

Has any other radio service taken over what was the role of CB's and interstate highway travel a few decades back? It's be great to give and get a head's up regarding hazards up ahead.

GMRS & FRS are out there, but probably not as extensive as the old CB family.
Ham Radio is the Granddaddy, but involves licensing. About as hard as getting a drivers license to get started. You could be traveling down the road and be talking to another, a state away , a car away, or even across the country. Ham Radio Repeaters act like cellphone towers. Picks up your signal and rebroadcast it onwards, then think of linking up one repeater to another, just like cellphone towers do.

 

[pgg00]

 

[Glock&Spiel]

Share yours. Looking for some ideas for fiberglas antenna mounting with minimum damage to the truck. Ram1500

Ram1500 and assuming it's CB? I'd Get the Firestick SS294A
Stake-mount, mount a 106" SS whip in it, and feed it with high quality, low loss Teflon PL259's and coax.
I see the linked source has them "on back-order", but I'm sure you'll find them on feebay, or HRO.
EDIT: I have used this exact mount when I had my '02 Ram1500, but mounted a Sierra HF "screwdriver" in it. The CB antenna was an old school Wilson 5000 in a center roof mount (kicked arse locally, and also into the UK with 100Watts on 10Meters!). But that mount wasn't stock. I had to back-plate it inside and outside of the truck's thin sheet metal. It's the way to rock, though.

Advise not to mount it in the front stake holes, but the Left Rear... Keep it either away from, or on top of the cab.

 

[jmohme]

 

[uravan]

View attachment 1038486

Work vehicle?

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

Here's my NMO mounted ants.

 

[jimcorbin]

View attachment 1038486

We went with portable radios and a charger. No more holes in the roof for antennas. The new Explorer we got has 4g in it and it will support the MDC.

 

[pgg00]

Work vehicle?

Yes.

We went with portable radios and a charger. No more holes in the roof for antennas. The new Explorer we got has 4g in it and it will support the MDC. View attachment 1038590

They wouldn't be able to hit the repeaters that way. We have separate vhf and uhf radios. Then i also have one to talk to border patrol up here. Then the unit for the MDT to get signal as well.

 

[jimcorbin]

Yes.



They wouldn't be able to hit the repeaters that way. We have separate vhf and uhf radios. Then i also have one to talk to border patrol up here. Then the unit for the MDT to get signal as well.

We are 800 digital P25 and have repeaters all over the greater Cincinnati area. Now when I worked in Indiana, that was sketchy on vhf. And no cell signals at all.

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

Yes.



They wouldn't be able to hit the repeaters that way. We have separate vhf and uhf radios. Then i also have one to talk to border patrol up here. Then the unit for the MDT to get signal as well.

Like riding around in a Farady cage. Even digital needs a good antenna to reliably work. Maybe even more so with digital as you are going to get everything or nothing. At least with analog radios you might get part of the message if you turned your squelch off.

 

[Trucker3573]

Has any other radio service taken over what was the role of CB's and interstate highway travel a few decades back? It's be great to give and get a head's up regarding hazards up ahead.

I think the smart phone has replaced most all of it. The CB is full of garbage. My experience (granted it was 20 years ago) with 2m and 440 was on the total other end of the spectrum. Completely stuffy and being a young adult I felt totally un welcomed. Let my license expire long ago.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[uravan]

Like riding around in a Farady cage. Even digital needs a good antenna to reliably work. Maybe even more so with digital as you are going to get everything or nothing. At least with analog radios you might get part of the message if you turned your squelch off.

Like riding around in a Farady cage. Even digital needs a good antenna to reliably work. Maybe even more so with digital as you are going to get everything or nothing. At least with analog radios you might get part of the message if you turned your squelch off.

My one digital capable VHF can work both analog and digital, but for true digital through a repeater, the repeater must be digital as well.

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

I think the smart phone has replaced most all of it. The CB is full of garbage. My experience (granted it was 20 years ago) with 2m and 440 was on the total other end of the spectrum. Completely stuffy and being a young adult I felt totally un welcomed. Let my license expire long ago.


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The cell phone never replaced CB for early warning and conditions. It's still quite viable here in Florida though you are correct in that you have to deal with a fair amount of idiots.

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

My one digital capable VHF can work both analog and digital, but for true digital through a repeater, the repeater must be digital as well.

Yep. mine as well. I'm guessing the folks using 800mhz and P25 are single band, digital only. Much like my EF Johnson.

 

[uravan]

I think the smart phone has replaced most all of it. The CB is full of garbage. My experience (granted it was 20 years ago) with 2m and 440 was on the total other end of the spectrum. Completely stuffy and being a young adult I felt totally un welcomed. Let my license expire long ago.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

stuffyness is more a particular club or a particular person within the club. In all my years, I knew of only one stuffy person and he is now dead.
Trucker, reconsider the hobby
Smart phones have replaced mobile communications. 95% of the people practically live/work in cell phone coverage, if not immediately, very close to.
Ham Radio has become an ol gizzer hobby, but friendly. Youngster just want eazy communication and are willing to pay $100's for phone and monthly fees. Ham fills a small nitch in the communication world.
The price to get started can be as low as $30 and thousands if you go full out with HF. Price and size in hardware has dropped tremendously in the last 20yrs

 

[uravan]

Yep. mine as well. I'm guessing the folks using 800mhz and P25 are single band, digital only. Much like my EF Johnson.

People running 800mhz are government agencies with very deep pockets and their repeaters and sites are connected into fiber optics or internet so they can talk across the state or where ever. Problem is, they have few sites so there are alot of dead zones, but one digital repeater in a dense populated city does very well.

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

People running 800mhz are government agencies with very deep pockets and their repeaters and sites are connected into fiber optics or internet so they can talk across the state or where ever. Problem is, they have few sites so there are alot of dead zones, but one digital repeater in a dense populated city does very well.

We've got a lot of repeaters in Polk County and my EFJ 800mhz P25 struggles when indoors, they all require LOS to a repeater.

 

[uravan]

We've got a lot of repeaters in Polk County and my EFJ 800mhz P25 struggles when indoors, they all require LOS to a repeater.

Not necessarily LOS, I have seven VHF repeaters and monitor other repeaters that are not LOS from me to base or mobile site. Some of the locations are in deep cayons and 25miles from repeater. On second reading, if you were talking 800mhz needing LOS, then yes, I agree

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

Not necessarily LOS, I have seven VHF repeaters and monitor other repeaters that are not LOS from me to base or mobile site. Some of the locations are in deep cayons and 25miles from repeater. On second reading, if you were talking 800mhz needing LOS, then yes, I agree

Beyond exotic propagation all UHF and VHF is LOS, UHF more so than VHF. That doesn't mean it just stops at the horizon. You can still work non-line of sight stations but it will be a reduced signal.

 

[uravan]

Beyond exotic propagation all UHF and VHF is LOS, UHF more so than VHF. That doesn't mean it just stops at the horizon. You can still work non-line of sight stations but it will be a reduced signal.

I don't care about reduced signal, just that it works and can be easily listened to and used.