To CB or Not CB...

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78Cruzr

78Cruzr

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Sep 30, 2009
Threads
14
Messages
402
Location
Evergreen, CO
I have completed all my mods with the exception of the a comm radio and I'm ready to get on a trail...

I have searched and read through a number of posts about whether to CB or not to CB. Most of the posts are a couple of years old and the general opinion seems to be headed in the HAM only direction.

So with the past couple of years as experience, what is your recommendation? Install a CB? Get a portable CB and hit the trail? Skip the CB and go straight to HAM? Smoke and Signal Mirror?
 
Easy question - Skip the CB and go straight to HAM. The exam is easy and you won't need to spend much time hitting the books so you can get your basic license. Some of the guys will lend you a book, or there are also websites to just hit the practice questions and you will do fine. The test is offered every couple of months.

The sound quality and versatility of the HAM is the way to go. I'm sure others will post up with more details on the study books and the testing options.
 
I don't see how we will ever completely get away from cb... I have both.. Hey onur, whats your call again?:flipoff2: ham is epic, requires a ticket to be legal, ahem... But is not as cheap to implement, well not typically... Trail com is nicer ham even if you just have a HT, but I am so happy to have my mobile rig after using my HT on a few long trips. Depends on who you wheel with as to whether you need cb... You can do a reasonable cb setup for sub $100, that is more difficult to do with ham, depends on how you want to get into it. My rig does APRS etc. Def not necessary, but dual side radio is great, ie yaesu 8800, or 8900... I have a ken wood tm-d710 and really like it too... It is pretty easy to do removable cb and mag mount if you don't want a ful install etc.

Ham range/versatility>>>>>>> cb. Cb availability >>>>>>>> ham

Our club has pretty good ham population percentage and we all have opinions ;) but only ham on runs is common with us (or just one poor guy or two on cb and another poor guy working two mics)

Lots of research is in your future guy....

And for the record I think string cup telephone is highly underrated.

-John
 
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My vote? Ham. Realistically, CB is not going anywhere in the near future. CB will also be needed for new folks that come into the club. At least until they get their geek ticket.
 
go ham or both. I have been seeing that most runs now have only 1 or 2 cb only users as John mentioned, and most of the chatter now is on ham. cb is kinda left out of the loop. there is a reason, range is king. there's just no comparison. however, most events you attend will be using cb (if you will be doing that kind of thing) and sometimes cb will be the main comms. with other groups. I have both in my 40, mostly because I got cb when it was all anyone had and then upgraded. I went simple with a FT-2900 single band. it's all I've needed so far. cheaper to set up. there's my .02
 
Thanks for the prompt replies... pretty much what I expected from reading the previous posts and where the trend is headed.

Are there any local businesses with HAM radio's and antenna on the shelf at reasonable prices?

I'll be at the Friday luncheon... does anyone have a study book?
 
78Cruzr said:
Thanks for the prompt replies... pretty much what I expected from reading the previous posts and where the trend is headed.

Are there any local businesses with HAM radio's and antenna on the shelf at reasonable prices?

I'll be at the Friday luncheon... does anyone have a study book?
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Marc has mine... Gotta twist his arm to take the fluffing test...

If you just want to pass and not know why you answered the way you did, you can go online and memorize the question/answers... The book will tell you why. But the practice tests have the exact questions and after enough, you have seen them all.

I'd buy radio online for price, there is experience in the club with various radios if you want firsthand opinion... Ali found a good local place for antennas and swr check... And no, no local radio source I know.
 
As always, it seems, expense, circumstance, and time have kept me in the CB camp. For $40 or less you can have an operating CB that is useful for rig to rig contact in a trail line. If you don't expect to do a lot of wheeling where long distance is a requirement then a CB is always a good entry level option. It should always be for people just getting into the "activity". That's my stance. Someday I'll "move up" if the reason exhibits itself. Of course, by that time cell/sat phones will reign supreme for cheap and access so maybe I'll get the last laugh at not going HAM. :-P
 
I'd go with a CB, for the same reasons posted above. Plus, if you ever wanted to go somewhere with a Jeep guy, they seem to only have CBs. ;) Also, skip the Cobra WX-75 thing. The speaker sucks--big time. Just buy a plain old CB radio box (like the Uniden 510 or 520).

But, I'd also absolutely go HAM. My never SWR metered HAM setup in the faux lux was able to get to CM base through the entire Elephant Hill trail this year, and one trail had a truck break down almost back to the highway, to the point that the trail leader was in town and had no idea. The only thing that got him to turn around was getting a call out on the HAM to someone else.

If you are in the Denver area ever, there is a HAM shop (Ham Radio Outlet) if you want to get your hands on radios and stuff. But really you can just try clubmembers radios and then order online.

Dan
 
I have both in my trucks, but never turn on the cb unless I absolutely have to.
 
pappy said:
www.hamcity.com
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the very interesting thing with hamcity. NEVER order 3day. ground gets here in 3day and they know it. they will charge you 3 day and ship ground. when i called them they were nice and refunded the difference, but a good thing to know nevertheless...

i bought antennas and mount from hamcity and bought my kenwood from gigaparts.com (they had a sale and free shipping) my cb was entirely amazon purchase i have the uniden 520xl, firestik mount and 4' tunable fiberglass antenna and am happy after i tuned swr (a few of us have cb swr meters and they make the biggest diff IME) my ham antennas were perfect enough when i checked them i made no adjustments... YMMV
 
For CB stuff I would consider Right Channel Radios. They give us a 7.5% discount. Shawn and I have the discount code.
 
I used the study tests at QRZ, QRZ Ham Radio. Studied for two days and passed the test. Only missed one. After enough repetition you just know the stuff. Why two days? John F. sent me an email about a test in ABQ in two days and leaned on me pretty much constantly. I never liked CB so HAM for me was a no brainer.
 
I have the most recent ARRL technician license book that you can borrow. Unfortunately, I will be out of town a lot during the next 2 weeks, but I do intend to make the next meeting. The exam questions came directly from the ARRL book's pool of questions which made for an easy 100% on the exam. I may purchase a cheap CB that can be taken in and out of my rig as needed; I will definitely not be doing any permanent CB install like I did with my new Ham radio.
 
78Cruzr said:
Once again, all good info!

I've been reviewing Study for your first ham radio license and will also go to QRZ. The material is familiar from the electrical and physics courses I took twenty years ago,,, time flies!

Decisions, decisions... :beer:
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getting a HAM ticket is a no brainer imho... it costs sub $20. then you just have to decide how much to spend on equipment.

and to be fair all i did was ask lynn at least twice a day how the studying was going and if he was ready yet. :D

eham.net is another place for online tests.

:beer:
 
sl33p3 said:
eham.net is another place for online tests.

:beer:
Click to expand...

THAT's IT! I've been trying to remember where I studied and drawing a blank. Highly recommend. I passed my general class using them.
 
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