Radio FAQ's

 What is the best CB radio under $100? That's a great question. There are some excellent radios under a hundred bucks. Namely, I think of the unit in five 10, the unit in five 20 series radios. Those radios, they don't have many frills, right? But they are known for being very reliable. In fact, I have a, here's a five 10 right here.

You'll see functions on this radio. Squelch. It has a it has a. Noise filter. And that's about it. We have installed these radios in hundreds of front end loaders, skid steers, excavators, and they handle dust and abuse very well. So we really like both the unit in five 10 and five 20 for that other great radios under a hundred bucks.

The president, Ted President makes next on radio in a small package. And those radios, yeah they work well in heavy duty environments as well, so I, that's probably what I would go with something like the unit in 5 10, 5 20, or the president, Ted.

 How do I tune my CB antenna? We have full videos dedicated to this, which you can click. I'm just to go say, click here. I let my editor do his magic. We have full videos, the collect dedicated to how to tune your SWR on your radio system. But essentially what you're doing, these are tuning the length of the signal you're gonna be raising or lowering the whip on your magnet antenna or tuning.



Screwing in and out. The tip on your top loaded CB antenna. So you're gonna be adjusting the signal length by raising and lowering really lengthening or shortening the CB antenna signal. But again, check out our full guides on exactly how to do that.

 What's the difference between magnet mount and permanent mount antennas? A magnet mount has a magnet on the base, and that magnet then sticks to your vehicle. And that, that magnetic connection is what allows that antenna to ground to the body of your vehicle to create that ground plane. Here's an example of popular magnet antenna.



This is a Wilson 1000. In the packaging, it always comes with these metal rings to hold it secure, and you can see. Obviously has a magnet that sticks the antenna to the vehicle, and then it comes with a whip that extends out. Magnet antennas, generally speaking, are all base loaded. You can get magnet mounts that will receive a threaded antenna, like a fire stick as well.



But, so here's, this is a magnet antenna. And a permanent mount antenna, something you mount permanently. You drill holes like this ball mount here. This ball mount requires, see the back plate here of the CB ball mount. This mount actually requires a significant amount of drilling. It actually requires a hole for each of the screws.



And then there's the, this is a roof mount antenna. It would require one larger hole to be drilled in the roof. So what's the different between a magnet mount and permanent mount antenna? If it attaches to the vehicle via a magnet sticking or not.

How do I install a CB antenna without drilling holes? Well, a couple easy ways to do that. Uh, obviously you could use a magnet mount antenna. So mounting, putting a magnet somewhere on your vehicle, well, primarily on the roof of your vehicle. You don't have to drill any holes. You do need to find a way to get that coax cable though into, uh, route that into the cab of your vehicle.



Most people will do it. Um, you could actually do it through a door, often through a vent. Um, a lot of people will go. Um, under, under the car and maybe up through the, uh, coax pass through. What we're gonna do on this one, the coax, were magnet intended there, so using magnet intended to avoid drilling holes or, we have all kinds of mounts that are made specifically for different makes and models of vehicles that don't require drilling bowls.



Let me show you one of those many fender mounts that we sell, or hood mounts, fender mounts. They will have holes that line up specifically. With the bolts on your hood rail or they'll have, um, you'll see a little slit here and that will, uh, line up with a bolt on your hood. On your hood rail. You just remove the bolt and then slide in the mount retti the bolt, and that will support a, um, lighter weight CB antenna.



A lot of times those mounts, they do come with extra holes if you do want to drill some holes and add some supporting screws. So to answer, how do I install? A see the antenna without drilling holes. Either use a mag mount antenna or use a bracket that's designed specifically for a your vehicle that does not require drilling.

 Do I need a spring or a disconnect for my antenna? No, you do not. However, they're really nice. Springs are nice. They give the antenna additional flexibility when, you're hitting low hanging obstacles. And a quick disconnect allows you to quickly remove the antenna on and off the vehicle. Lemme show you how they work.



For instance, if you have an antenna. And you drive under a lot of low hanging obstacles branches, it can be really helpful to have a spring at the base of the antenna so you don't damage the antenna, your mount or even your vehicle. So if you have an antenna contacting lots, it low hanging obstacles, you want that to be able to bend over.



quick disconnect is very helpful in similar scenarios. quick disconnect just allows you to push down and twist and the antenna removes. And this just installs at the base of your antenna as well. Very helpful for, taking your car into your garage, going to the car wash or anywhere else where you want to remove the antenna.



quick disconnects in springs. Have standard three eights by 24 threads and just thread on to the base of any top loaded, top loaded antenna or really any antenna that has standard, CB antenna threads. So the other question we get. Then I'll just answer what order do I put the spring and the disconnect in.



So what order, what goes on top, what goes on bottom? the answer is it doesn't matter. Whatever makes most sense for your use case. Typically what I like to do, honestly, a lot of times I'll put the quick disconnect at the bottom, but you could do the same thing. You could put the spring at the bottom, should you.



Desired. the only times, I suppose the reason I like to put the quick disconnect at the bottom is that when I take everything off of my vehicle and only the little nub remains, but here you go, push down and you can see there's a nub for the quick disconnect threads right into the spring. The spring would thread right into the antenna is dead on your mouth.



And when you want to put the antenna back on, just push down and click it in.

 What is SWR and why does it matter? That's a great question. Obviously, when you are installing a CB system specifically, you need to tune your NMS, so your SWR or standing wave ratio is low. What is standing wave? Standing wave is essentially resistance, on the inside of your antenna system. You want to have, as little resistance as possible.



Essentially. Think of it a, if you have a lot of resistance. Then the, it's almost like a clogged pipe or something like that. The signal cannot get out of your system if there's a lot of additional SWR. What affects SWR the most? First off, is proper grounding of your, antenna equipment specifically.



So if you're using a fender mount like this, let's say up on the front of your vehicle, you need to make sure that this mount has bare metal to metal contact with your vehicle. Body is properly grounded. If you're using a magnet amount like the Wilson 1000, then the magnet on the Wilson 1000 is what is going to stick to the body of your car, the roof of your car, ideally.



And that provides the ground, which will lower the rest. WR The other thing that will lower your SWR is, changing the length of the signal. And you do that by tuning, your antenna With a negative antenna like this, you would. Raise and lower the whip to either shorten or lengthen the antenna signal or with a top loaded antenna like this one, it has a tunable tip and you either thread the tip out or in to either lengthen or shorten.



That's what SWR is. Standing wave ratio. Why does it matter? It's because that's the measurement of the amount of resistance that's in your antenna system. A high SWWR over three, a reading over three. Means that you have your, system is just not gonna operate properly. A low standing wave or SWR of around, let's say between one and one and a half, means that your system is gonna operate excellent, and really anything.



For most vehicles, anything below two will give you a proper operating CB system.

 Why can I hear but not transmit? One common misconception with radio users is that if they hear somebody else, they should be able to talk to them. However, that's not always the case. You don't know what equipment the other person's using or where they are. So for instance, in the United States, CB Radio is limited to four watts.



Of transmission power. However, there are a lot of known offenders who are using large base stations with a truck studio, the DTI, the radio investigation service, and later on Miles, you could be hearing somebody like that. Maybe you're trying to transmit to them and they're not getting back to you. CB is open source communication.



If you transmit to somebody they have, they just might not get back to you as well. So a lot of I'll, talk to a lot of people who assume maybe their system isn't working properly. But they don't necessarily have somebody to talk direct with. If you want to figure out your system's actual capability, I recommend getting together with a friend who has a radio system, have somebody sit stationary while another person drives an opposite direction.



Measure your working distance and that'll give you, an idea of what your system's range is, and also confirm that your system is indeed working as intended.

 Wilson 1000 versus the Wilson 5,000, which should I choose? Well, both I can understand that question because the antennas are very similar to each other. Wilson 1,005,000. Both come in magnet versions and trucker antenna versions, but here's a magnet version.



The 1000 has a 1000 watt capacity, which if you're running standard TV equipment is no big deal at all. The 1000 and 5,000 are gonna perform very similar to each other. If you ran running a standard, uh, standard radio, the uh, 1000 has a power handling of 1000 watts, and the 5,000 has a power handling of 5,000 watts.



The 5,000 is gonna come with higher quality, uh, componentry in inside the antenna and a thicker coax cable as well. While the other difference being the Wilson 5,000 comes with an antifreeze coil and the Wilson 1000 does not.. One time I would definitely go with the Wilson 5,000 over the 1000 is if you live in a cold climate and you want to be able to transmit, so think about, you know, driving the, through the winter in, you know, New York, Montana, Canada, Alaska, any places like that where the coil could freeze up, you're gonna want to go with the 5,000 and if you are anywhere where it's not getting that cold and you're not worried about the antenna coil freezing up.



If the 1000 is gonna treat you well, specifically when you're running stock equipment.

 Will a dual antenna setup really improve my range if you're driving a semi-truck? Absolutely. The way a dual antenna system works is the antennas work together. They create, they change the, pattern, your radiation pattern to give you more range in front of and behind your vehicle. And also get a round that long trailer if you're in a pickup truck, probably not gonna have that big of a difference, unless you're pulling a fifth wheel or something like that for.



I guess your typical vehicle. I normally recommend a single antenna system. However, a lot of people like how a dual antenna system works. So in those cases, maybe you install one antenna that's actually working and then you install a dummy load on the other side just for aesthetics, but dual antenna system I recommend for semis or anybody pulling long trailers.



Other than that, generally going with a single antenna system.

 Fiberglass antennas versus steel whip antennas, which is better, as we've discussed many times. That just totally depends on what your setup is and where you're mounting the antenna. If your antenna mount is down low, let's say it's on the rear fender of a vehicle, it's on maybe inside the pickup bed, well, you're gonna want to use a top loaded antenna that has the coil at the, at the, um, well at the top so that you transmit.



Over the top of the vehicle and you don't get reflection if you are mounting the antenna high on the vehicle, well then you can use, this is a steel whip antenna with a base load on it right here. This is what you're gonna want to use if you're mounting the antenna on the roof of your vehicle, uh, so that, um, you know, you're transmitting from the coil and you're transmitting over the roof line.



So it just completely, completely depends on where. Your antenna is mounted on your vehicle, kind of what your configuration is at the end of the day, you wanna make sure the antenna coil is clearing the roof line of your vehicle.

 Do I need a ground plane for my antenna? All standard CB radio vehicle had a beautiful COBRA 19 in it, COBRA 19, sort of with friction push the radio and then the antenna uses a metal on that vehicle to create a radio ground plane for transmitting and receiving. If you have, you know, we've talked about this, if you, if you have a RV or motor home, something that's fiberglass and you need to use a no ground plane, vertical bars as well to create that.



This is a no ground plane coax. We have a hole. Series on that, which you can look up for, but at the end of the day, yes, uh, your CB antenna mount needs to be grounded well so that you are, um, the system's using the metal on your vehicle to create that radio ground plane. If you do have a poor ground plane, that's typically what causes highest WR and there's other indications that that's not working well.

 What's the difference between the Fire Stick FS and the Fire Stick KW series antennas? Well, the KW is an older antenna made by fire stick and it does not have a tunable tip. Wow. Most newer Firestick all have tunable antenna tips like this. This is the Fire Stick Fs, or also known known as the Fire Stick two, which has the adjustable.



Tip, the KW does not have an adjustable tip, and if you want to, uh, adjust, really reduce the signal length on that antenna, you actually have to unwind a wire from the top of the antenna and trim it that way.

 Cobra versus Uniden versus President radios. Which brand is best? Well, that's a pretty subjective question. Obviously a lot of people have different, um, opinions about different brands and radios. Cobra has been making iconic radios for the last 50 years, thinking of the Cobra 29, Cobra 25, Cobra 75, which we sell a ton of, and has been, you know, very popular all in one hand unit for Jeeps and off roaders for years.



So Cobra makes excellent equipment president. Really kind of came to the states in 2016 and started selling radios again. They make great radios with excellent value. All their radios have automatic squelch control, and they come from the tiny president bill all the way up to the full featured, packed, you know, president George that has, uh, privacy codes and in kind of every feature under the sun also.



President has great support stateside. Uh, they're located in Florida. They're easy to get ahold of and they, you know, when you buy a president radio and a president and 10 at the same time, you get that five year warranty, which is very valuable unit and also known for making great radios like this five 10, which we've installed in tons of equipment over the years.

 Where should I mount my CB antenna for the best range? Lots of questions about, uh, CB antenna mounting. Well, uh, ideally that depends on the, again, on the antenna you're using, but you wanna mount your antenna and the coil of the antenna specifically as high as possible to get the best range. If you're driving an SUV, that's gonna be on the roof pickup, truck on the roof.



However, if you have something else on the roof, or let's say if your roof isn't metal. Then maybe you wanna use a top loaded antenna, like one of these that's gonna sit up high, um, where the coil's gonna be nice and high clearing your roof if you have to mount the antenna. So if you do have to mount the antenna down low, use a taller, um, top loaded antenna to really get that coil up nice and high from the best range.



So where do I mount my CB antenna for the best range? Wherever the highest. Uh. The highest possible mounting location on your vehicle is that will get you the best range and make sure you match it with the correct style of antenna.

 My CB radio has too much static or noise. How do I fix it? Well, there can be a bunch of reasons why your, your radio has static. Now, if you're communicating on a am, uh, channels on cv, you're gonna have static anyway. That's what you're using your squelch for is a squelch that's static out. Um, president, most president radios have automatic squelch control, which is really nice.



Also, if you're getting electrical noises like hums. And burrs, things like that coming through your radio. What I recommend you do is of course, use the radio's, uh, electrical noise filters, which basically every CB radio has use those. But if you still experience. Noises coming through your radio. Um, make sure that the radio, the black wire coming off your radio is grounded to its own independent location.



For instance, take it to its own bolt on the firewall that doesn't share any other connections with other electrical components, and you can reduce the noise coming through your system drastically by doing that.

 Can I use a CB radio in a small car? Absolutely. In fact, we have a lot of equipment that works well in a small car. Typically somebody's gonna use. A smaller radio like a President Bill or a Cobra 75, something that's all in one or the Midland 75 8 2 2 unit in Pro 5 38. Those are all nice small, compact setups that you can put in a in a small car, and then you pair that with an antenna like the President Virginia, the Magnet President, Virginia antenna to mount on the top or the Wilson little will.



You're gonna have an excellent setup for your compact vehicle.

 What are your CB antenna recommendations for semi trucks? Typically recommend a dual antenna system for most semis because with a dual antenna system, you expand that radiation plane in front of and behind the truck, and it allows you to transmit and kind of get around that long trailer that you're pulling.



For antenna recommendations, I really like the Wilsons two thousands. I really like the Stryker, SRA 10 twenties. The St Strikers come with both a 10 and 20 inch lower shaft. When you are installing a center load antenna on a semi-truck, on the mirror bar, you want to make sure that that load or that you know, the, the CB coil gets above the roof line on the vehicle.



Also, four foot fire sticks are very popular. For those and are a little bit less expensive, so a little bit less expensive option. And a good option is a four foot fire stick Fs for a semi.

 What's the best CB antenna for my pickup truck? Short and sweet. The short and sweet answer is, um, the best antenna for your pickup truck is what's gonna fit your unique setup the best. So we have a lot of mounts that are made specifically for different year make and models of trucks that fit on the front fender.



Um, there are a lot of people who like to mount antennas behind the cab, and then there are a lot of folks who like to mount an antenna on the top of the roof. So. That completely depends on where you wanna mount the antenna. I will say the most popular place to mount an antenna on a pickup truck is gonna be the front fender.



It's also one of the better performing places. We'll put a top loaded fire stick antenna, something like this. Fire stick firefly here. This is a four foot fire stick firefly antenna. The reason we installed this on a lot of pickup trucks is it is a top loaded antenna, meaning the coils in the top. So when this mounts low.



On the, on the front fender of the truck, the coil will be over. The reason, uh, we choose the firefly often is you can see how the firefly, the coil is, ti is tighter at the top. Then, uh, let's say we'll compare it to the fire stick FS antenna, which is right here. You can see that the wine of the coil is much longer, so you can get a bit more reflection off the cab of the truck when you use something like the Fs.



The Firefly is very easy to tune in. So we use this antenna quite a bit on the front fender. So let's say if you have 2020 F-150, where we have a a mount specifically for that truck, it mounts without requiring drilling on, uh, the front fender. But if you wanna mount an antenna behind the cab, behind the truck cab, um, let's say in a steak pocket or just direct heater truck, uh, truck bed rail.



We would recommend a four foot top loaded antenna, like one of these fire sticks. Again, you wanna get that coil nice and high. If you wanna mount it on the top, uh, of the cap of your, of your truck, go with like a Wilson 1000 Wilson little will President Virginia. There's just a ton of different options, and that would typically be a magnet mount on the top of the truck cab.



But so to answer the question, there's a lot of different options. Would you want to choose the one that's best for your truck and best suits your needs, how you're gonna be using your vehicle? If you're going off-road in it a lot, you're not gonna want to put a magnet on the top of the cab. Um, but if you want the absolute best, uh, reception, transmission, then mounting on the top of your cab is gonna be ideal.

 What CB Antenna works best on RVs and motor homes for RVs and motor homes. You absolutely want to use NGP or no ground plane antenna equipment because CB radio systems require a metal ground plane or a reflective ground plane, uh, to work properly. This is with standard CB equipment. A a fiberglass motor home or RV isn't gonna provide that essentially.



What the fiberglass does is, I like to think about it like this. If you have, let's say you have your antenna system here, the fi, that fiberglass body on the vehicle just acts as a cap over. That antenna system doesn't allow it to really transmit. That's why you use a no ground plane antenna. This is one you can tell it's a no ground plane 'cause it has a little yellow band on the bottom.



But the way an NGP system works is the antenna and the coax cable work together to create an independent ground plane. One that doesn't need to be grounded to the metal vehicle. Of a body or the medical metal vehicle body. So I recommend A NGP setup for any RV or motor home. We have NGP setup, set, attach, uh, you know, with a three-way mount so vertically to the side or to a vertical or horizontal bar.



Also molded side mounts and roof mounts for no ground plane systems.

Why is my SWR different on channels one and 40?

essentially, the reason that they're different in, and part of tuning the antenna is trying to get those as close together as possible, but they're different just based on the signal length, um, of your antenna system.

So, that's why you tune your antenna, raise and lower, um, the antenna.

You want to try to get the same signal length and get, um, a- essentially there's, there's just a, there's a frequency band that you're tuning for and you wanna have, um, the antenna the right length so that your SWR is as balanced as possible in, across the entire frequency band, because each channel, one through 40, is a slightly different frequency.

What is the best CB setup for Jeep r- Jeep Wrangler off-roading?

Okay.

We have helped tons of Jeep customers over the years, and I will say there's 2 different setups that stand out for Jeepers.

First off is mounting the antenna, uh, behind at the back of the Jeep, either for the, uh, CJ, YJ, um, and TJ, using that rear taillight mount with a 4foot top-loaded antenna is very popular.

For the JKs and, uh, JLs, mounting on the spare tire carrier, uh, with, like, a 3foot or 4foot, um, FireFly antenna is also really popular.

What SWR reading is acceptable Uh SWR readings between one and 2 are ideal Anything around 2 will work Anything over With a SWR reading over 3 is indicating that you have a major uh problem with your installation And anything over 3 actually can damage your radio because you're having When your SWR is that high you're actually getting a lot of resistance back into the radio and can cause it to heat up and actually burn out components inside the radio itself So if you have SWR of over 3 do not be transmitting with that radio Figure out the problem and address it But anything between um an SWR of one or 2 is gonna be ideal The closer to one you can get the better and the better performance you'll get out of your equipment

How far can I talk on a CB radio Uh this seems like something that we've gone over many many times and in fact we have full videos dedicated to this But it completely depends on what equipment you're using whether you're using a handheld radio a mobile radio like in a vehicle or a base station radio Uh you're gonna be able to talk a lot further on a base radio than you are gonna be on a small handheld radio Also completely depends on your location If you're on top of a mountain you're gonna be able to talk about talk a lot further than if you're in a dense forest or low in a valley I would recommend that you check out our full video talking about CB range and the different things that impact it But generally speaking you'll be able to talk for as low as a half a mile all the way up to 30 plus miles depending on what equipment you're using and what time even what time of the day in your location uh of when you're transmitting and talking