What CB radio do you have?

[Volcano cruiser]

That's good to know. Our club has just gotten into the Northern Maine Woods Territory where it is very desolate. Comparable to some places in Alaska. Now with that said, couldn't a regular CB be amplified for greater range? Could a military SINGARS radio antenna be used/ modified to work for extra range?

The CB can not LEGALLY be tweeaked to increase it´s power and range in the USA. That said as someone here has mentioned there are places that will modify your unit under the table. Again, If I was rolling into desolate territory I´d study a little basic theory and get the Ham license. 2M seems tailor made for you guys. e.g.

ICOM IC- 2200H - CB Radios Plus

EDIT:
I just read the SINCGARS part of your post again. An interesting idea. The first caveat is of course why would you try to put a proven rugged multiband antenna on a low end signal strength radio unit? Leaving that aside the two are not compatible as they are. The vehicle mount SINCGARS antenna has a frequency range of 30 - 87 MHZ.:

http://www.rami.com/military/ground/antenna-info.cfm?pid=53

An 11M CB radio operates in a frequency range below that of the SINCGARS antenna, 26.965 - 27.405 MHZ.

http://www.smeter.net/spectrum/citizen.php

Assuming that you knew someone who knew how to reset the frequency range of your 11M CB to match the SICGARS antenna that radio "re-setter" bassically would have just made you an illegal 10M or maybe 6M band radio. Can you say FCC hunting down a pirate radio station. An even more complicated idea is trying to change a multiband mobile antennas charecteristics, especially the SINCGARS antenna as it was designed so that there would be no need to mess with it in order for it to pick up muliple bands.

 

[1911]

couldn't a regular CB be amplified for greater range?

Not legally.

 

[fieldsken1]

That's good to know. Our club has just gotten into the Northern Maine Woods Territory where it is very desolate. Comparable to some places in Alaska. Now with that said, couldn't a regular CB be amplified for greater range? Could a military SINGARS radio antenna be used/ modified to work for extra range?

1 question yes 2 question yes but not worth it

 

[bj70_guy]

The small Uniden radios are good stuff, compact, mount anywhere and durable. I run the PRO-520XL, check the Uniden site, they often have referb radios at good prices.

I agree - I've had a 520XL in my 70 for at least a dozen years... never a lick of trouble.
I use it with a Wilson flex 4' and it's just fine.

SSB is nice... if you have someone else with a SSB radio to talk to. In my club I think there may be 1 person with a sideband radio. Might be different in your neck of the woods.

BTW, 5 miles would be doing really well with a stock cb. Less than a mile is more likely, at least around here (we have lots of mountains...)

 

[craigwanderer]

Mine came with an old-spec 27MhZ AM CB installed - great for avoiding the Zombies after the Plague

In Australia, the old AM channels have less traffic and the unit has a greater range than the more modern UHF systems without a repeater.

But... what's the use of having an AM CB if there's very few people monitoring it? My main excuse is nostalgia.

I have a pair of Motorola Talkabout handheld UHF CBs in a hardwired charger (made from a 12V laptop power supply) in the glovebox. When I'm doing trips, one of them sits in a mobile phone holder stuck to the dash next to my ipod. Great for listening to truckers/truckies passing on info about radar traps (not that that's a problem in a BJ40). Transmit range is only 5km under optimal conditions, but the receive range is great.

After I rip out my CD stereo and replace its function with an amp which my ipod can plug straight into, I am thinking of installing a UHF CB in the empty slot in the dash.

 

[rusty_tlc]

That's good to know. Our club has just gotten into the Northern Maine Woods Territory where it is very desolate. Comparable to some places in Alaska. Now with that said, couldn't a regular CB be amplified for greater range? Could a military SINGARS radio antenna be used/ modified to work for extra range?

By the time you buy a better quality CB and modify it to get any range you could buy an entry level 2M radio, antenna, and pay to take the test. My son was an OTR driver for a couple of years, he had a nice CB radio and antenna system. I spent less on my 2M set-up.

It's not to tough to get 40 miles at 50W on 2M simplex (rig to rig). Repeater range is basically limited by the number of repeaters linked in a system. The linked repeater system around Moab is huge, other areas of the country have similar net works.

To answer the original question, I use the cheapest CB radio I could find at Radio Shack, I think it is the same as the Uniden units others have posted just branded for RS. In my opinion there is no reason to invest it anything more expensive. I originally got it to use on Club runs. Once a few of us got our Ham license and the others saw how well it worked everybody converted to Ham. I haven't used the CB in a year or two.

 

[MtnClimber]

So, it should be obvious that I don't know anything about radios, lol. But as a member of an Off roading club that ventures off in to the deep wilderness, maybe in the best interest of the club I should look into higher ranges? Say if I was to acquire all the system components to do so, but wasn't licensed. How could anyone know? Just asking due to curiosity, not planning to do anything illegal.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

So, it should be obvious that I don't know anything about radios, lol. But as a member of an Off roading club that ventures off in to the deep wilderness, maybe in the best interest of the club I should look into higher ranges? Say if I was to acquire all the system components to do so, but wasn't licensed. How could anyone know? Just asking due to curiosity, not planning to do anything illegal.

Any place that I have bought ham equipment from has asked me for a copy of my FCC license. Even online I had to sign up and provide my license number which is easily verified as current on the FCC website. While one is figuring out how to slide around sourcing the gear and avoiding detection you could spend a week with a study guide that you can get online. Learn the material over a weeks worth of lunch hours and take the test in less than an hour. You will get the results almost right away. As such for a couple of hours effort and study of very basic radio theory you could have the license and the right to spend your cash on yet another costly hobby. Again not a bad short project for you and a couple of guys to do as a club project, study together, take the test together celebrate together after passing.

Take the test, pass it and buy gear with gusto my friend.

 

[rusty_tlc]

So, it should be obvious that I don't know anything about radios, lol. But as a member of an Off roading club that ventures off in to the deep wilderness, maybe in the best interest of the club I should look into higher ranges? Say if I was to acquire all the system components to do so, but wasn't licensed. How could anyone know? Just asking due to curiosity, not planning to do anything illegal.

The tech test is pretty basic common sense stuff, if you can read and follow simple instructions you can pass the test. The cost for a license is negligible in the world of off roading, name a mod you can do to your truck that cost less than $20?

No real reason not to get a license.

 

[bsmith123]

radio

i agree the license is no big deal ---I have one and shouldnt stop you if that is what you want

I wouldnt agree that CB's are obsolete and useless though, I wouldnt mind have other radios but as basic cheap trail comm I got a CB first

 

[pappy]

I've been looking around for a decent CB radio set-up. I've thought about getting a Uniden PRO-510XL.

The small Uniden radios are good stuff, compact, mount anywhere and durable. I run the PRO-520XL, check the Uniden site, they often have referb radios at good prices.

Uniden 520XL in the 4Runner. If you want a 510XL, just spend the extra money for the 520XL.

I have a Uniden 538W in the FJ40 mounted in the radio slot of my Tuffy. Nicer radio, not much more money than the 520XL, but much bigger. Big advantage is the front fire speaker.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Good point on the external speaker. without one I found it very difficult to understand when on the trail. I got a deal on a Motorola external speaker works great.

 

[Kofoed]

I have an old Uniden Grant XL (old because it has a 5 pin mic connector), with some modifications.

The 510 costs a lot less, but you get what you pay for.

 

[Tools R Us]

...
The 510 costs a lot less, but you get what you pay for.

Exactly. In the case of the 510/520, you get a compact, light, durable radio, that does a great job at short range trail communication for a good price. What is not to like?

 

[shotgun12321]

Cobra 18WXSTII, it works great and looks cool the way I set it up.