Anybody still use CB's?

[dj1701]

I was thinking of installing a CB radio in my Ford F150. I used to have a magnetic antenna for my car. The ford is all aluminum, and I don't know how to put it on without drilling holes. Anybody figured out a good setup?

Thanks
Dave

 

[5030]

Get a through the glass CB antenna. Have one on my F350 on the rear window. I have a CB in the truck, A Uniden and I use it to monitor truckers filthy mouths and talk to my wife (she has one in her Burb as well), through the glass antenna as well. We also have FM transceivers in the tractors and a base station at the farm for communication. They have some really dandy CB's out now with SSB and shortwave built in.

My best and most expensive buy was a SAT phone. They work anywhere and no dropped calls but you pay by the half minute and air time isn't cheap. I take it on out west hunts where there is limited cell service and the one I have has a built in emergency beacon too.

 

[Yogi05]

Can you get something to attach it in a stake pocket of the box?
It's been years, but I seem to remember Firestik (that's how they spell it) had a lot of CB install solutions

 

[Topzide]

X2 on thru the glass would be the way to go without drilling any holes. I have CB and GMRS in the truck. Drilled through roof for both. Did in last truck they were in and it never leaked. Every few years, pulled them off and revealed them!

 

[CH4Ohio]

The last one I had was on a Chevy pickup and it mounted on a bracket that used the hood hinge bolts to secure it. The antenna was about a 3' and the bracket was kinda S-shaped and brought the antenna straight up over the fender just outside the footprint of the hood. It didn't interfere with anything and it was out of the way -- very similar to the fender mounted AM/FM radio antenna.

It was something like this but mine was higher up near the hinge and pretty much hidden in the pillar blind-spot.

 

[arto98607]

I was thinking of installing a CB radio in my Ford F150. I used to have a magnetic antenna for my car. The ford is all aluminum, and I don't know how to put it on without drilling holes. Anybody figured out a good setup?

Thanks
Dave

Here is one model designed for 2015 and newer F150

There may be others.

 

[5030]

I'll stick with through the glass. All pressure sensative tape. You do have to tune the SWR for good transmission however. Mine looks just like an old style cell phone antennae

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

All my CB's went into the trash in the 90's. An utterly ruined comm band.

We went 2 meter handhelds and base stations. I put Motorola's with convert-a-comms in my off road and hunting rigs.

If you could hit a repeater, you could get almost anywhere.

 

[Oaktree]

Can you get something to attach it in a stake pocket of the box?

Do trucks even have stake pockets anymore?

 

[dodge man]

Trucks have stake pockets.

Not that I’d recommend it, it sounds like there is better ways, but they make a bracket that attaches to your 3rd brake light. It’s often used for mounting warning beacons.

 

[woody]

Yes I still use a CB.

 

[CH4Ohio]

I was thinking of installing a CB radio in my Ford F150. I used to have a magnetic antenna for my car. The ford is all aluminum, and I don't know how to put it on without drilling holes. Anybody figured out a good setup?

Thanks
Dave

Just curious why you're wanting a CB. I used to use CB for road trips but haven't had one on a vehicle for the last 10 years or so. I still have 3 or 4 mobiles and a couple antennas boxed up in the garage. Probably wouldn't sell for $5 at a yard sale. I wouldn't drill holes to mount one either.

 

[woody]

I use the one in my truck mostly at the rock quarry and the one on my motorcycle for group rides.

 

[masscity]

When I was living in an apartment in Detroit City one of my neighbors kids broke a bunch of antennas off of cars so he would have swords to play with. He didn't touch my junker work car, but broke the one off of my 70 Corvette. Of course the mother denied everything. So I went to the radio shop and bought Jensen stereo and a combo radio/cb antenna that worked great.

 

[Yogi05]

Do trucks even have stake pockets anymore?

LOL good point. Darn new fangled #*#&

 

[ultrarunner]

We use them when the car club tours to keep in touch.

Cell Phone wouldn’t work as no hands free option with a Model T or Model A.

 

[Hay Dude]

I think they will make a comeback when the realization that cell phones calls & texts are not private conversations.
Don’t know if CB talk can be “recorded” or monitored the same way as cell phones.

I have the antennas & mounts in the farm tractors, but I opted for some quality walkie talkies and they work pretty good For farming.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

We use them when the car club tours to keep in touch.

Cell Phone wouldn’t work as no hands free option with a Model T or Model A.

Speakerphone mode?

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

I think they will make a comeback when the realization that cell phones calls & texts are not private conversations.
Don’t know if CB talk can be “recorded” or monitored the same way as cell phones.

I have the antennas & mounts in the farm tractors, but I opted for some quality walkie talkies and they work pretty good For farming.

It was very easy to record radio traffic even in the 70's. All you needed was a reel to reel tape recorder (yes, old school, but I had one, lol) hooked to a "speaker out" jack on the radio receiver. FCC would have had a more elegant setup than one of us "garage guys" could cobble together.

 

[WinterDeere]

Get a through the glass CB antenna. Have one on my F350 on the rear window.

How's the range on those little things? A typical half dipole (aka "whip") antenna for CB radio should be about 9 ft long, if placed over a metal car roof (creates reflector / full dipole). You can shorten the required length with compensating coils, but these impact performance, and there's definitely a limit in how short you can go without blowing the whole deal.

It's been about 30 years since I've installed a CB radio, but I deal with antennae and radio circuits as part of my daily work.