CB radio help in St. Louis

My JMCB-2003 CB radio has had very limited range in spite of antenna-tuning. It's impossible to find a qualified technician in my area and the Ham radio guys want nothing to do with CB's.

Does anyone know of a CB guy in the St. Louis, MO area?

chris.erkmann@charter.net

For what it's worth you might check at some larger truck-stops.

erkmann said:

My JMCB-2003 CB radio has had very limited range in spite of antenna-tuning. It's impossible to find a qualified technician in my area and the Ham radio guys want nothing to do with CB's.

Does anyone know of a CB guy in the St. Louis, MO area?

chris.erkmann@charter.net

Click to expand...

Chris, to have an antenna resonant/efficient on the 27mhz cb band, ur gonna need abt an 8ft long antenna and the same amount of ground plane(counterpoise). What ur using is probably a coil loaded antenna of a much smaller size or a handi talkie, in which case there is no way to make efficient.

The Citizen Band falls in the HF Radio Spectrum, you would be better off using a system in the VHF-UHF Spectrum(ie:FRS-GMRS or 2m/70cm Ham Radio).

Sorry, hope this helps.

What he said. In matters of antenna, all other things being equal, bigger is better. Of course in real life all other things are never equal. In a car, for example, a large, 1/4 wave antenna mounted to the bumper may do worse than a smaller antenna mounted to the roof of the car due to the larger ground plane provided by the roof.

Use the biggest antenna you can comfortably fit on your bike. Try mounting the antenna different places on the bike. Don't expect miracles. Last time I helped a friend mount a mobile antenna we selected the Wilson FGT-2. At 2' tall it was an acceptable hight for his bike. Performance was acceptable for his use.

// marc