Looking for 50miles in a CB / SSB/ Export?

[Robb]

I think using SSB mode, a cheap push-up pole or 25 ft of masting, a $120 3 element beam, and a $80 ChannelMaster rotor surely won't break the bank.
It will save you all of the trouble of getting your license too.
Do you know if you even HAVE a 2m or 440 repeater in your area?
I'd find out first . . .

The terrain around is important too.
Is it flat or are you in a valley?

 

[mackmobile43]

OK guys,

I'm sure i'm gonna get a lot of flack for this newbie post

I grew up with CB's in the 70's and had them in my car till the mid 80s.

Now, I'm looking to get back in the game. Although i have an iphone and hi speed internet i know for a fact, that i am a flick of a switch away from being cut off should anything happen. So i have begun my research to relearn what i once used all the time.

I am looking for a reliable way to keep in touch with family that live about 60 miles away as the crow flies. Obviously standard 4 or 5 watt cbs won't cut it. So what i've gleamed from surfing the web, is that it seems to me that 'export cb' or export ssb in 10 or 11 meter is the tool that will get me that greatest distance. cbradiomagazine.com was touting a Magnum 350 that would put out 70 watts. How far will that transmit without a skip, i couldn't find out.

So I am asking you pros, without too much ribbing me ... what you would theoretically suggest as a cb radio system for two people who live about 60 miles away on relatively flat terrain. Some minor hills the terrain doesn't vary more than a couple hundred feet.

I see a lot of talk about the "export radios", but can't seem to get an idea how many miles one could get out of them. Also what is the best range one could hope for without a skip in a truck or car?

I don't think i want to get into the HAM radio with FCC licensing. I just would like to be able to have a link and communicate if the SHTF.

Any insight on radios, antennas, or amps would be helpful.

Now again, i've been out of this for quite a while so i'm starting from scratch.

All suggestions are of course theoretical as i fully understand that some of these options may not be legal if they were to be used in the once free USA.
Thanks for your hypothetical advice

J

I think using SSB mode, a cheap push-up pole or 25 ft of masting, a $120 3 element beam, and a $80 ChannelMaster rotor surely won't break the bank.
It will save you all of the trouble of getting your license too.
Do you know if you even HAVE a 2m or 440 repeater in your area?
I'd find out first . . .

The terrain around is important too.
Is it flat or are you in a valley?

It says it all right there in the first post Robb, flat as a pancake and does not want to do the hammy thing.

 

[office888]

So what i've gleamed to far from all your posts is that HAM would work for sure. I've noticed the price of units are easily upwards of $1k plus other hardware.

huh?

You can pick up a 45w 2m VHF for less than $150.

Couple it with a 5/8 wave magnet mount antenna, and you've got 35+ miles of solid comms in hilly terrain.

 

[towerdog]

I dont think reliable com with 50 mile range is too unrealistic with CB if you do it, its just costly. 70 watts on SSB should work in most places but I woulnt call it 100% reliable, now with a 200 watt amp I would trust it alot better.

2 things that I noticed kill the range of CB are cities and interstate highways. When I lived in BFE, 70 miles from the nearest interstate highway I could always get 5 miles of range on AM, as the band was empty. Once I even talked 12 miles on a old radioshack TRC-211 5channel handheld (mountaintop to valley).

Also, in any TSHTF scenario, those 40 channels will be jammed with traffic, I would strongly suggest radios capable of going out of band for such hypothetical situation.

You can spend a fortune, but your range is only as good as your setup. A good matching antenna with a cheap walmart radio is better than a cheap antenna that the impedance does not match. All this is also kind of useless if the wife becomes annoyed with the occasional foul mouth trucker using your channel and she turns the radio off.

If one of you is in a city, the other is going to need alot more than 70 watts to blast through all the crap and interference that cities for whatever reasons make.

A beam or yagi antenna is a great idea if you know where you are going to be but its so directional its useless if its not pointed in the right direction.`

Some sort of tone paging or tone squelch would be a great idea, unfortunately nobody manufactures such a device, except maybe a 10meter ham rig modified for CB but I really havent looked around much.

I think CB is your best choice for something that can be installed in a vehicle and used without getting out and setting up antennas, tossing ropes in trees,etc. CB is sort of in between HF and VHF, has characteristics of both, it follows the curvature of the earth like HF somewhat, but you can use an antenna small enough to mount on a vehicle and it doesnt have to look like some kinda telsa death ray coily thing like I see used by hams.

Thats my thoughts, good luck with it.

 

[gamegetter]

100 watts carrier on am cb

give it a try, get your antennas up as high as possible. since you know where you want to talk, two beams pointed at each other would be best. If it don't work then you don't have line of sight and spending money on raising antennas is a good investment before getting more watts, but if you have line of sight you should communicate with 100 watts carrier swinging to what ever it swings to. this is am cb i am talking here.

 

[guttapercha]

VHF ham gear is much less expensive than exports, not to mention the potential legal fees you could pay if you choose to operate illegal power from a fixed and thus easily triangulable position.

I suggest that you go to:

Amateur Radio Repeater database - Updated daily

to see if there are any amateur radio repeaters that are in your area. If you own a scanner, you can try to hear some yourself.

Getting a ham license is incredibly easy, and just because you get one doesn't mean that you have to become a nerd with poor personal hygiene and no social skills. (see Hamsexy dot com) If you have a girlfriend, you've already distinguished yourself from roughly 80% of that crowd (unless she's also a ham )

11M operation is incredibly fun, don't get me wrong, but it's not the most reliable or legal way to go for your intended purpose.

Thanks guys for all the crash course on explaining the realities of CB limitations and variables.

So what i've gleamed to far from all your posts is that HAM would work for sure. I've noticed the price of units are easily upwards of $1k plus other hardware.

So if i were to stay in CB world, what is my best reliable range scenario. Am i better off with a new "Magnum export variety, pumping out 70watts, or would a old school dusted off from 80's 4w CB or SSB with an extra boost amp work just as well?

So in a nut shell, which equipment would you go with for max range?

a new magnum export or similar brand? a standard CB with a good amp (how many additional watts?) , or an SSB with a good amp?

Thanks for the education and your patience

J

 

[Moleculo]

Many of the responses have given you ways that you could probably accomplish this using CB or freeband frequencies. However, most of these solutions will cost you a grip-load of cash. Compare that with the cost of passing an easy test and using VHF equipment and it seems to me like an easy problem to solve.

 

[Kamikaze]

Many of the responses have given you ways that you could probably accomplish this using CB or freeband frequencies. However, most of these solutions will cost you a grip-load of cash. Compare that with the cost of passing an easy test and using VHF equipment and it seems to me like an easy problem to solve.

And if repeaters aren't for you 50-60 miles on 2 meter sideband isn't hard to do.

 

[guttapercha]

And if repeaters aren't for you 50-60 miles on 2 meter sideband isn't hard to do.

Great point! 2M beam antennas are inexpensive and very easy to put up if you wanted to make SSB really work. - even on a TV mast. However, the rigs capable of 2M SSB are a bit more spendy than the average mobile VHF radio.

 

[Kamikaze]

Great point! 2M beam antennas are inexpensive and very easy to put up if you wanted to make SSB really work. - even on a TV mast. However, the rigs capable of 2M SSB are a bit more spendy than the average mobile VHF radio.

True but there are a lot of older ones out there for short money.

 

[gamegetter]

OK guys,

I'm sure i'm gonna get a lot of flack for this newbie post

I grew up with CB's in the 70's and had them in my car till the mid 80s.

Now, I'm looking to get back in the game. Although i have an iphone and hi speed internet i know for a fact, that i am a flick of a switch away from being cut off should anything happen. So i have begun my research to relearn what i once used all the time.

I am looking for a reliable way to keep in touch with family that live about 60 miles away as the crow flies. Obviously standard 4 or 5 watt cbs won't cut it. So what i've gleamed from surfing the web, is that it seems to me that 'export cb' or export ssb in 10 or 11 meter is the tool that will get me that greatest distance. cbradiomagazine.com was touting a Magnum 350 that would put out 70 watts. How far will that transmit without a skip, i couldn't find out.

So I am asking you pros, without too much ribbing me ... what you would theoretically suggest as a cb radio system for two people who live about 60 miles away on relatively flat terrain. Some minor hills the terrain doesn't vary more than a couple hundred feet.

I see a lot of talk about the "export radios", but can't seem to get an idea how many miles one could get out of them. Also what is the best range one could hope for without a skip in a truck or car?

I don't think i want to get into the HAM radio with FCC licensing. I just would like to be able to have a link and communicate if the SHTF.

Any insight on radios, antennas, or amps would be helpful.

Now again, i've been out of this for quite a while so i'm starting from scratch.

All suggestions are of course theoretical as i fully understand that some of these options may not be legal if they were to be used in the once free USA.
Thanks for your hypothetical advice

J

 

[guttapercha]

Yes, gamegetter, I saw that. It says "I don't think I want to..". Perhaps he was mistakenly under the impression that the the test is difficult or expensive.

Alternatively, maybe he is a tax-evader or a felon. Those would be other reasons to not try and get licensed.

 

[radiohobby]

I can being a tax evader being a reason not to get the ticket but what does being a felon have to do with it?

 

[Kamikaze]

I can being a tax evader being a reason not to get the ticket but what does being a felon have to do with it?

Felons are not allowed to hold a hamateur license. Poor moral perpitude. There are more than a few cases where people have had their tickets yanked over this.

 

[towerdog]

Although i have an iphone and hi speed internet i know for a fact, that i am a flick of a switch away from being cut off should anything happen.

You would be surprised if you saw how many repeaters are just a "flick of a switch" away from going down. Although some, especially remote sites have generators and large banks of backup cells, I have seen even more that have nothing more than a pair of car batteries. I have even seen one that consist of a car battery and a battery charger, as its power supply! It feeding some old motorola junk from the 1970s with water dripping from a leaking roof on top of it.

I cant help but to testify, that some of the worst installations I have ever when climbing up a tower were for amateur radio. PVC pipe (as a mount), shit held on with zip ties, antennas supported by rope, wood, bamboo, rusty bare steel, coax dangling down and flopping in the wind, etc.
Older installations tend to be worse, while newer setups tend to be put up by tower crews or professionals like me who volunteer, while years ago it was often 2 or 3 guys using old linemans belts doing all the work with one hand cause the other is hanging on for dear life.

The good news is that the WORST are not ham, but are wireless ISP's, dirty rotten little pirates who sneak their cat5 garbage up on the tower when nobody is looking.

So at least look at the repeater you would be using for anything important.

Point blank with a repeater you are depending on someone else.

Ham is cool, dont quote me wrong and there is really no reason I see not to get your license. The old guys I talked to on 2m nets all used to be into CB back in the day, and say that ham now is like what CB used to be before before morons and methheads took it over for their 1 way communications, often about how much power their leeniars put out or about their flatulence.

I actually knew several ham operators who used to be outlaw/freeband cb'ers, so its kind of a misconception that all hams are just wannabe underlings for the FCC who are out to report anyone whos rig puts out more than 4 watts.

But everybody is right about repeaters being the easiest way to go. I have talked 50+ miles through a repeater .......on a handheld. The tech licence exam is a joke if you have any knowledge of the most basic RF and electrical theory at all. You know your positive from negative, ohms amps and volts, impedance and polarization? There are several good websites that you can practice your test on even if you dont you learn fast.

I think with a repeater you could get set up for under $200 for this link if you shopped around a bit.

While such a setup with CB, freeband or even 10meters would set you back at least $800 to make this link.

BTW dont even try to use ham freq. or repeaters without a licence, you will get booed off the air and maybe worse.