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| Ease of Installation: |
Piece of Cake |
| Product Usefulness: |
Couldn't Live Without It! |
I didn't really pay $129 for this radio; that's just the suggested retail price.
Actually, I got it FREE! I won it as a door prize at the 1997 Daniel Boone Jeep
Jamboree in Kentucky. If you ride regularly with a group of other 4-wheelers, a CB
radio is a must. I use it to give/get hazard reports on the trail, to
coordinate with the other driver in a tow/recovery situation, and for general information
(like who just got stuck or who has to stop for a potty break). Besides, unless you
have passengers, it gets pretty lonely on a long trail ride if you can't talk to
anyone! Since space is at a premium in a short Jeep, a remote-mount CB is really
nice. I mounted the tiny control module under the dash and the hand-held unit on the
center console to the right of the vent fan controls. The speaker is in the
hand-held unit, but it doesn't work very well. So I installed a pair of inexpensive
4 inch speakers in my sound bar and plugged them into the remote speaker jack in the
control module. I still can't hear the CB while driving at highway speeds with the
doors and windows removed, but it works great on the trail. Instead of installing a
separate CB antenna, I originally used a combination AM/FM/CB antenna. This unit
consists of one antenna with a "splitter": one end plugs into the stereo, the
other end into the CB radio. It doesn't provide as good a reception as a
dedicated CB antenna, but it works fine on the trail. However, see Part II of this
article below for my subsequent antenna replacement.
Here are some shots of the CB radio and speakers after installation. The speakers
are a little hard to see in this shot; they are the two 4-inch square ones between the
dome light and the round stereo speakers.
For more information about the Cobra line of CB radios and other related products,
visit their web site at www.cobraelec.com
 | FireStik II
FS4 CB Antenna, Cable, & Mounting Hardware ($53, Mar 99): As you
can see by the dates of purchase, I didn't add my FireStik CB antenna until almost a year
after I installed my radio. Man, I had no idea just how important the antenna part
was to the overall CB radio equation. I did know that I
wasn’t supposed to "key" the mic without either an antenna or a dummy load
connected. I also knew that adjusting the SWR would give me better performance, but I was
never concerned about it as long as I could talk to my buddies on the trail. I didn’t
realize that I could actually damage my transmitter if the SWR was too high! So I decided
to do some more research on "CB communications systems", which consists of the
radio, antenna, antenna mount, and coax cable. Here’s what I learned:
 | Actually, most CB radios are pretty much alike when it
comes to performance. By law, CBs cannot be manufactured to transmit at greater
than 4 watts. So the big difference between most radios is how many bells and whistles you
can get and, of course, how much those extras will cost you. FireStik recommends that you
get the best CB antenna system you can find, and then go out and find yourself a CB radio
to connect to it. (Yes, I realize that this sounds biased coming from an antenna
company, but it really does make sense).
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| It is imperative that you use a "transmitting"
antenna with your CB radio. Beware of splitters that allow you to connect both your CB
radio and your car radio to your stock car radio antenna. At best, you will
experience very poor CB performance with this set-up. At worst, you will damage your
transmitter! Even 3-way (AM/FM/CB) antennae will likely leave you disappointed. But
if you must go this route, start with a good CB antenna, then install a quality, tunable
3-way splitter.
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| Unless you purchase a special no-ground-plane (NGP)
antenna system, it is extremely important that your ground-plane (GP) antenna mount
is solidly "grounded" to the vehicle. Beware of mounting a GP antenna to
a swing-away spare tire carrier, which often have nylon bushings for smooth operation of
the swing-away feature! This will NOT provide a sufficient ground to the vehicle and will
result in a high SWR.
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| A high-quality coax cable in good condition
is critical to your overall CB radio’s performance. It follows the ole weakest link
theory. You can have the best antenna and the best radio on the market. But if you connect
the two with a poor-quality, damaged, or incorrect type of coax cable, your whole
system will perform poorly. Other than the obvious visible flaws (such as kinks, pinches,
and worn-through insulation), the only way to really tell if you have a "good"
cable is to test it for continuity, shorts, and opens using a multi-meter.
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| There are CB antennae and there are "tunable"
CB antennae. In reality, however, all CB antennae are tunable; some are just easier
to tune than others. Regardless of the type, style, size, shape, or brand of antenna you
choose, it must be tuned to your particular vehicle, in the
particular location that you’ve installed it, using an SWR meter ($20
at Radio Shack). An SWR of 1:1 across all channels is ideal (supposedly only attainable in
the lab); 2:1 is acceptable; greater than 3:1 could damage your equipment!
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Actually, this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as CB
radio and antenna know-how goes! For tons more information
about setting up a topnotch CB communications system for your rig, as well as
information about the FireStik line of CB radio antennae and other related products, visit
their web site at www.firestik.com
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