What CB Radio range can you get?

What CB Radio range can you get?

One of the questions that often gets asked when talking about cb radio is ‘what sort of range do you get?’ and to be honest it’s not a straightforward answer.

CB Radio was developed over 40 years ago for short range communications.  It operates on a low frequency and the legal limited for all FM CB radio is just 4 watts. 

The other thing with CB Radio is it usually involves a big long aerial on your vehicle or rigged up on a mast on the roof of your house.

It is also critical to tune your antenna to make sure the maximum power from the radio can be transmitted.

As well as the amount of power you are able to output the other critical aspect to what sort of range you are likely to achieve is your location.  More specifically your relative height.

If you are down in a valley you won’t get as good a range as if you are up on a hill. 

Also if you are in a built up area surrounded by buildings you won’t get as good a range as if you are in an open area like a park.

The other limiting factor is about the amount of power you can transmit at. All legal changes radios are limited to 4 watts. Since cb radio was developed for short range transmissions and is at a relatively frequency they are limited by the amount of power they can produce. This is also to help the risk of interference with other radio and television equipment which may be in the local area. 

There are other types of radio equipment most noticeably SSB radios which can legally produce 12 Watts and hence have an increased range when compared to standard CB rigs. 

With all radio transmissions we must consider aerials being in 'line of sight' to be able to communicate with each other. So the importance of getting up in to higher ground since this increases the amount of sky you can see relates to how many successful communications you are able to achieve. 

The size and type of antenna used are also critical to the range of your signals. As well as how correctly tuned the aerial is.  So the basic rule is the bigger the aerial the better the range you will achieve. 

There are other conditions which also dramatically effect the range of signals you are able to send and receive.  These are broadly known as skip conditions and are highly variable and there fore difficult to predict when you will start to receiving signals from a particular part of the world.

This really is the basic interest in all types of radio.  The ambition to be able to send a readable signal in some remote distant part of the world.

So in real terms what types of range should you expect?

Handheld / Walkie Talkie

The Walkie Talkie although very portable would generally have a very small aerial and therefore have a much reduced range.  Range would be effected by being inside a building or in a built up area and particularly from inside a car.

Up on high ground in open areas the expected range could be much further (+ 10 Miles)

Expected Range - (1 Mile - 3 Miles)

Mobile Aerial

Mobile aerials tend to be the preferred choice for many since as they are attached to a vehicle are highly transportable.  Deliberately driving up to high ground in car without making any other changes to a standard mobile set up in a car can produce very good results.

Mobile aerials tend to be kept to a particular height to prevent issues when driving so although a reasonable size lack the overall size of a home base aerial.

Expected Range - (5 Miles - 15 Miles)

Homebase Ariel

These tend to be much larger than their mobile counterparts but require a sturdy location preferably at an elevated height to be truly effective.  As these tend to be a more static set up the physical location of the aerial will play an important part in the range achieved by a Homebase aerial.  Many CB Users add burners to a Homebase set up to improve the normal range of their aerial.

Expected Range - (5 Miles - 25 Miles)

Portable Aerials

For the guys who really take things to the extreme there is a favourite type of aerial for really long distance radio communication especially amongst those who love to get up on mountain tops with a portable set up.

The benefit of these types of portable aerials are that they usually can be homemade and therefore extremely cheap to produce, highly flexible and therefore extremely portable and can be packed away into very small spaces.  The major part of these types of flexible aerials is the mast or poles which are needed to elevate them appropriately.

That said, for the guys who do venture up on to seriously high ground with portable rigs and battery packs, the rewards are high.  In the right conditions ranges of over 100 miles are regularly recorded.

Expected Range - (15 Miles - 85 Miles)

YouTube Video

What CB Radio range can you get?

Other Posts

CB Radio Etiquette
How to use a CB Radio
The Rules of Citizen Band
CB Radio Lingo

Why is SWR Important?

Why is SWR Important?

Following on from the series of posts I have been doing about getting set up on CB Radio I have talked a lot about SWR and why it is important to tune your aerial to your CB Radio in order to get the best from the radio and to prevent possible damage to either yourself or your equipment.

Now in no way should I be considered an expert and I am only relaying what I have learnt in the most basic of terms and would direct you to someone with a much better understanding of radio should you require more than the most rudimental knowledge of SWR.

SWR Stands for 'Standing Wave Ratio' and is to do with the wave form when you put power into an aerial which is obviously what happens when you transmit a signal on a radio.

The basics of it is that there is current running down the coaxial from your CB or HAM Radio.  This runs along the length of the cable and IS emitted from the length of the aerial.so that the radio waves come out of the aerial.

A big part of a successful radio transmission is to keep as much of the power which is being transmitted by the radio is delivered out of the aerial during a transmission.  Part of that and this is where the theory around standing wave ratio comes in to it is when it reaches the end of the aerial it is reflected back on itself so there is a kind of return wave back from the aerial.to the CB Radio at least if the SWR on the aerial is high.

What that is doing then is passing power back to the CB Radio which can be dangerous.  It can burn out the internal components of your CB Radio and will also result in very poor performance in terms of transmitted range since the reflected power isn't being properly emitted from the aerial.  What needs to happen with SWR is that the amount of power returned to the radio is minimised.

The quality and design of the coaxial cable which connects the CB Radio to the aerial is also  important.  Obviously the job of the coaxial cable is to deliver the power to the aerial as efficiently as possible and it is designed in such a way to deliver all of the power possible without loss of leakage from the cable itself.

Any poor connections or shorts on the cable connections can effect the SWR of a set up enormously and could create dangerous conditions if used to transmit with such a problem.  Problems can also occur if you run higher wattage through the use of an amplifier as this would push higher amounts of power to the aerial and with a high swr would reflect back higher amounts of power back to the radio possibly causing devastating effects.

 So this is why we do take the time to set up an aerial properly not just for performance but for the protection of the equipment and no less ourselves.  If you are thinking about 'running a burner' and you have high swr it could really damage your equipment.

A standard legal CB Radio transmits at 4Watts but if you are running say a 100 Watt burner and if perhaps 10% of that power is reflected back into the CB Radio I'm pretty sure that could do some damage to the cb radio itself.

 Its important then to get your SWR as low as possible before adding any sort of amplifier and you really should consider if you really need to be pushing extra watts especially at the risk of interference to others and ultimately the enjoyment of other radio users.

YouTube Video

Why is SWR Important?

 Other Posts

Tuning a CB Aerial

Setting the SWR on the CB in the car
CB Car Set up

Setting up a Homebase CB Aerial
Getting set up on CB Radio

Setting up a Homebase CB Aerial

Setting up a Home base CB Aerial

Setting up a home base aerial can be a much more involved project than installing an aerial in your car.  As well as the aerial itself you will need the various D clamps, mounting brackets and poles to enable you to safely fix your aerial where it will give you the best reception.

The aerial should ideally be higher than the roof tops of any nearby buildings and are best suited to being attached to a chimney stack or raised up on an aerial mast.  Special attention should be paid to how the aerial will be fixed as in high winds and storms it needs to remain firmly in position and not be at risk of falling or breaking once it is in position.

Assembling the Aerial

 Lay your aerial out connecting each of its sections into itself using the jubilee clips provided.  Each section is likely to be marked with a line telling you what length it should be set to.

Once each section is added and the assembly is complete we can begin to add the clamps and posts needed to put the aerial into its final position.

Using the D clamps provided we can now secure the base of the aerial to its supporting pole and add the remaining sections of the aerial to it.

Now we can raise the whole aerial into its final position.  Remember before raising it to any height you must first attach the coaxial cable before you raise the aerial out of reach.

 This counts double when swring in the aerial by making adjustments to the overall length of the aerial.

The final height of your aerial is very important to the range you are likely to achieve when using your radio.  It may be useful to invest in additional length of mast to elevate your aerial to the best possible height as this will help improve its performance.

Now that everything is in its final position it is worth doing more tests to check the swr of the aerial before attaching any radio equipment especially if you plan to run radios with higher outputs or running any signal amplication equipment. 

YouTube Video

Setting up a Home base CB Aerial 

 Other Posts

Tuning a CB Aerial

Setting the SWR on the CB in the car
CB Car Set up

Setting up a Homebase CB Aerial
Why is SWR Important?



Setting a CB radio up in a car

Setting a CB radio up in a car

To set your CB Radio up in a car you will need a number of things:-

The CB Radio
The CB Aerial & Mount
CB Radio Power lead
Coaxial cable to (connect the cb radio to the aerial)

For Tuning the Aerial

SWR Meter
Patch Cable

Setting up your Aerial

Start by installing your aerial in the position it will stay on the roof or trunk of your car.  Run the cable through a gap in your boot and down the side of the passenger footwell to the front of the veichle.

Install the power cable

Depending on if you are hooking your cb radio up to the car battery or using a power lead that plugs into your cigeratte lighter yu should wire everything in now.

Tune your Aerial

If you hae not already adjusted your aerial you should do so now.  Connect the SWR meter to your CB with a patch cable temporaily and complete the adjustments to your aerial.

See 'Tuning a CB Aerial' for more information on how to adjust your aerial.

Once completed remove the SWR Meter and patch cable.  Connect the aerial cable to the back of your CB radio and install the CB Radio to its desired location.

Test Your Radio

Once everything is installed to its final location it is worth scanning the channels for any signal to check if your CB radio is ecieving correctly.  Alternatively you could ask for a radio report on Channel 19.

YouTube Video

CB Car Set Up

Other Links:

Getting Set up on CB Radio
Tuning a CB Aerial
Setting the SWR on the CB in the car

Setting up a Homebase CB Aerial
Why is SWR Important?

 

 

 

Setting the SWR on the CB Radio in your car

Setting the SWR on the CB Radio in your car

You'll need to connect everything together in the car before you put things in their final locations just while you adjust the swr reading for your CB Radio to be able to work most effectively.

You'll need the CB Radio connected to the cars power supply with the swr meter connected between the Aerial and the CB Radio using a patch cable.

Follow the instructions here to get a reading for both Channel 1 and Channel 40 on your CB Radio

Adjusting the height of your aerial

Depending on what type of aerial you have, you can make small adjustments to the height of the aerial.  Use the Allen key supplied with the aerial to release the grub screw in the base of the aerial to loosen it off.

Raise or lower the aerial in small increments as required until you achieve the lowest possible reading  on both channel 1 and channel 40.

Once this is done you can remove the patch lead and swr meter, connect the aerial directly to the CB and finally put the CB Radio in its desired location ready for operation.  

Keep your CB Radio on whilst driving around and keep it set to channel 19 and hopefully at some point you'll start hearing other CB Radio users in your area!



YouTube Video

Setting the SWR on the CB in the car

Other Links:

Getting Set up on a CB Radio 

Tuning a CB Aerial

CB Car Set up

Setting up a Homebase CB Aerial

Why is SWR Important?



Tuning a CB Aerial

Tuning a CB Aerial

If you're reading this, you are probably already ready to install your CB Radio.  Before you get started though there's something else to do that can make or break the success you have with your radio and that is to tune in your aerial.

Tuning your aerial means adjusting it to the correct height so that the radio puts out signals as efficiently as possible.

That varies, according to the specific vehicle, the place on the vehicle where you've installed it and the ground plane that it has.

First, you measure how the radio is performing currently with an SWR meter, and then you adjust the antenna length or location to improve the signal output.

CB antenna tuning means that you're trying to get the lowest SWR reading possible. You do that by increasing or decreasing the length of the antenna (depending on the SWR meter readings) in very small increments of about 1/4 inch, then retesting.

 how to get started

You'll need to run your swr meter between the cb radio and the aerial using a patch lead.  Connect the patch lead between te cb radio and your swr meter and connect the aerial to the other end of the swr meter.

1. Turn on the CB Radio.
2. Set the CB CB Radio to channel 1.
3. Set the SWR meter to the FWD position.
4. Key the microphone by pressing the talk button and turn knob on the SWR Meter until the needle hovers on the "set" position. Unkey the microphone by letting up on the talk button.
5. Flip the SWR meter to the "reflect" position.
6. Key the microphone and look at the reading on the SWR meter. The lower the reading, the better. If the meter reading is in the red zone, DO NOT operate the CB. Recheck your connections.
7. Turn CB to channel 40. Follow instructions 7-10 again.

How to adjust your aerial

• If the reading on channel 1 is higher than the reading on channel 40, you need to lengthen your aerial. Alternately, if the reading on 40 is higher, your aerial is too long.
• If the meter reading on channel 1 is 1.2 and the reading on channel 40 is 2.3, you'll need to shorten the aerial to get better efficiency. You can do that by turning the tuning tip or the adjusting ring, or you can take the aerial mast out and trim it about 1/4 inch, and place it back firmly against the coil. Remember, it's easier to cut a little more off the aerial than to have to add some length.
• If your reading is 2.6 on channel 1 and 1.3 on channel 40, your antenna is too short. The solutions are to add a spring, raise the aerial, or reposition the aerial.
• If any adjustments are needed, they should be made in small increments. Re-check after each adjustment. Be sure to have all components on the aerial when testing, including the tip if there is one.

YouTube Video



 Tuning a CB Aerial

Other Posts

Getting set up on a CB Radio

Setting the SWR on the CB in the car
CB Car Set up

Setting up a Homebase CB Aerial
Why is SWR? Important

Getting Set up on a CB Radio

Getting Set up on a CB Radio



Most people will remember CB Radio from the eighties.  At the time the channels were packed with thousands of people constantly chattering with other over the airwaves and more and more people appear to be coming back to it later in life as a hobby.

It may be that you were either too young to remember or you may not have even been born in the Eighties so may not yet know how to ge set up on a CB radio.  It is a very easy hobby to get into and won't cost you a lot of money to get started.

With a few quid and some basic knowledge you can be up and running on a cb radio and enjoying conversations with other cb radio enthusiasts in no time at all.  So here are a few things you need to know to get started.

The CB Radio

You can pick up an old 40 Channel FM CB Radio from Ebay for less that £20 if yiou shop around.  |It doesn't have to be an amazing radio just something simple with volume and squelch will be enough to get you started.

Your Aerial

Depending on whether you plan to set up your CB Radio in a car and run it mobile or set it up permanently at home you will need an appropriate aerial.

Mobile Aerial

There are a number of different types of aerial available for use in a car.  There are also a number of different ways to mount them in your car.

Whip Aerials

Whip aerials tend to be longer, more flexible and give a good range depending on where they are positioned on a vehicle.  People can get a little carried away with the size of thier whip aerials. 

Springer Aerials

Springer aerials are shorter and less obtrusive than the larger aerials and have a tight coil at the base of the aerial.  Springer aerials give a much shorter range than thier larger alternatives but at the compromise of overall size.

Magmounts

Magnetic mounts which stick to the roof of your car are by far the easiest and most convient way of fitting a cb radio aerial to your car without the need to drill or damage your veichles bodywork.  They can be removed and added at will.

Homebase Aerials

A smilar array of homebase aerials are available and come in a variety of specifications.  You will need to consider how you will attach yur aerial to the roof or side of your house and need the appropriate poles and fixings to be able to do so safely.

Power Supply

If you are setting up your new CB Radio at home then you will need a power supply so that you can power the cb radio from the mains. 

 If you are setting up your cb radio in a car then you won't need this item but you might want to invest in a power cable for your cb radio that connects to the cigeratte lighter in your car as this is easier than running directly through yur veichle to connect your cb radio directly to the car battery.

SWR Meter



An important piece of equipment you will need is a SWR Meter.  This useful piece kit helps you to set up your aerial correctly so that the correct amount of power is transmitted theough your aerial and not reflected back into your new CB Radio. 

If you do not set up your aerial wit a SWR meter correctly then this will seriously reduce the range of your transmissions as well as running the risk of perementantly damaging your CB Radio.

YouTube VIDEO

Getting Set up on a CB Radio 

 

Other Links:

Tuning a CB Aerial

Setting the SWR on the CB in the car
CB Car Set up

Setting up a Homebase CB Aerial
Why is SWR Important?





Welcome to my Blog!!

 

Welcome to my Blog!

 

Hi, my call-sign is 26CT1994 and I have been a member of the Charlie Tango DX Group since 2016.  I bought my first rig after a break of over thirty years off the air and have since become very interested in CB Radio as a hobby since joining the group.

 

Find out more about the Charlie Tango DX Group at :- www.charlietango.co.uk

 

 

My YouTube Channel

 

Since it was the videos of CB Radios on YouTube that got me back into the hobby, about a year ago I decided to create my own YouTube channel and have been uploading new videos on a weekly basis ever since.  There are quite a few videos of me getting set up on CB Radio both in my car as well as rigging up a home base aerial and setting up my radio shack (The Garage!)

You can find my YouTube channel Here


My Facebook Page

I enjoyed making videos so much that I decided to make a Facebook Page to go with it.  I post all sorts of CB Radio related news and funnies on my facebook page as well as links to other people's videos and posts.  Facebook is a great way to in touch with other radio users from all around the world and I've met some great people online.

My Facebook Page is here :- https://www.facebook.com/26CT1994



My Ebay Shop

I've been buying and selling on Ebay for many years.  I've sold nearly 100 rigs on Ebay over the years as I buy and sell them to review on my YouTube channel.  I also list C|B radios for sale on my Facebook page so if you are interested in picking a radio for yourself |I always have items for sale in my Ebay shop.


Click here to get to my Ebay Shop