I am looking for a good quality CB and antenna for my 4th gen rig. Does anyone have any suggestions from experience which brand to use?

 

Honestly, and I know others may jump all over me on this, I bought a $40.00 CB from Radio Shack, a firestick II antenna, and its worked like a charm. I had some trouble with it recently due to a bad connection at the antenna, but I respliced it, tuned it with an SWR meter and it runs like a champ now. Nice thing is its nice and small. Is it something you'll use alot, or just on offroading runs now and again?

 

i have 2 wilson fiberglass antennas. both wilson and firestick are great brands so you can't go wrong with either.

good luck

 

Thanks guys.

 

This is an especially good page to do some reading.
It is off of Firestik's site so it is a little biased but good to read nonetheless.

It'll answer a lot of questions you might have now and some that you will have later.

EDIT:
oops, here it is

http://firestik.com/Tech_Docs.htm

 

is it this one:
http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...5Fid=21%2D1703

 

I really like the one's with NOAA weather stations. Here in Texas it comes in handy.

 

Where can I get a firestik attenna?

 

Never mind Taco Dude, I found it.

 

Can't go wrong with a Cobra 75 WXST and a Firestick 2.

 

Cobra, really tough radios with clear audio output. Single final radios (most low end ones) are all really tough. If you buy anything over 200 bucks chances are it's a dual final and those are finicky when it comes to a rough environment. My galaxy hates offroading. Get a cobra, ground the antenna to the truck good, check your swr, and run power direct from battery. I feel naked w/o my CB when running the interstates.
hammer'down

 

Yup! Not the best, but better than nuttin'!

 

me and FirstToy both use the removable Wilson 1000 magnet mount antennae and Midland 75-822. It's a great setup if you don't want the equip in/on your truck full-time.

 

So where do you run the antenna cable, DealMaker?

 

Magnet nount the antennae just in front of the rear crossbar of the roofrack, then tuck the cable into the rear hatch jamb and along the recess down the side (tucks away rather nicely between the weather-stripping and the rear running lights assembly, never had it "untuck") and down to the rear cargo floor area, then run it under the rear cargo mat, under the rear seats under the rear floormats and between the drivers seat and the tranny tunnel to the CB connector. It may sound mickey mouse, but it actually tucks away extrememyl nicely and never came undone for me, nor did it get in the way of anything. It took me about 5 minutes the first time to route the line. My Runner is white and the antennae cable is white so its not very visible.

I gotta give the credit to FirstToy. He had his hooked up first and shared with me this way of running the cable.

I don't like my ride to be full of accessories. I also don't like alot of cables and crap all over the place. I only use the CB on an occasional basis, so the setup works pretty excellent for me. It also allows for the antennae to be mounted up high and on a flat metal surface which supposedly improves reception greatly. Downside may be if you go into low-hanging trees and such, though I believe FirstToy hasn't had a problem yet. The whip is pretty flexible.

 

I drove up to Sacramento this last weekend and saw this cb mount in a trucker stop:

 

First question should be what do you want to use it for? On the highway, off-road, or just look like a hillbilly

 

Just FYI, I've had some poor experiences with Cobras recently. The last two I've bought (a 14x WSXT and a 75 WSXT) have both had the squelch pots go out on me and are TU on my workbench right now. For non-radio guys, the "pot" is the potentiometer that allows some kind of adjustment in a knob. In the case of the squelch pot going out, you basically can not squelch out static, weak signals, someone playing Flatt & Tubbs over the air, etc. It is wide open all the time

EDIT: ...and no, they were NOT refurb units to start with

 

I bought a $40 midland from walmart and a firestick II with a hood channel mount and it works great and takes large amounts of abuse. Definitely happy with it and very happy I didn't spend much money on it.