Getting CB peaked and tuned

[tjv189]

Hello all, long time no see. I just finished my 6 weeks on the road training. I recently got myself a brand new CB radio and my trainer said I would need to get it peaked and tuned at a CB shop for it to really be an effective radio. My question is, if I have to get this done at a CB shop, how will I have the time to do this on the road? Does it take a few hours to get it done if they get you in right away or what? I don't want to attempt to do anything to it myself because I don't know anything about CB radios. Any suggestions on how to find the time to get this done? How did you guys do it? Thanks in advance.

Tom

[Fredog]

a good shop can do it in about 30 minutes or so, but you can get along fine without having it done.

[red12]

it doesnt take long some truck stops have cb shops in them or just right across the street.

[Fourcats]

It pays to know your radio is "getting out" well. Have it set up at a shop you will be by once in a while. They should tell you about what they do and answer your questions also. "Talk back" a "power mic" and "echo" are things you can add. After messing with every setup out there, I wound up with a single antenna...found it to work the best and keeps it simple.

[TK THE TRUCKER]

It pays to know your radio is "getting out" well. Have it set up at a shop you will be by once in a while. They should tell you about what they do and answer your questions also. "Talk back" a "power mic" and "echo" are things you can add. After messing with every setup out there, I wound up with a single antenna...found it to work the best and keeps it simple.

Don't forget a "Roger Beep", so you can annoy the crap out everyone!! I really hate these things. Not necessarily when they are getting used in a normal fashion but when drivers just sit there and key up continuously just to be annoying, it makes me want to find them and rip their radio out of the truck and smash it into a million pieces. :twisted: :twisted:

[kc0iv]

Hello all, long time no see. I just finished my 6 weeks on the road training. I recently got myself a brand new CB radio and my trainer said I would need to get it peaked and tuned at a CB shop for it to really be an effective radio. My question is, if I have to get this done at a CB shop, how will I have the time to do this on the road? Does it take a few hours to get it done if they get you in right away or what? I don't want to attempt to do anything to it myself because I don't know anything about CB radios. Any suggestions on how to find the time to get this done? How did you guys do it? Thanks in advance.

Tom

Best advice I've seen.

Great way to transfer your money to the CB shops pocket.

Very few of these CB shops have neither the knowledge nor the proper equipment to CORRECTLY tune a CB.

Best advice is the old adage -- If it ain't broke -- Don't fix it.

kc0iv

[uglymutt]

what a joke, getting your cb peaked and tune will not transmit any farther than it does stock from the factory... when they tune it at your local ack shop they open up your mod circuit which will over mod the radio causing it to splatter across the cb band which will in effect loose power on the one channel your on, all that power is lost splattering across the band, whic all the power is no gain at all really its just your over mod will will cause tte radio to have a early death from over heating parts, only real professionals can modify a radio and them people are not in a local cb hack shop... for the price you pay them to destroy a good stock radio you could by a linear amp online and have more output power than 200 of them peaked radios and have clean modulation and not hurt the radio..

some say oh its bettter to make sure its getting out, well from the factory they made sure its getting out, getting out a good clean signal thats not over mod... but if you want to waste your money and your time to be like everyone else then thats your own doing, but if you do I will have to call you stupid... so please don't be stupid.. besides everyone else beat you to it, why follow them anyway, go your own way.... if you want power to be loud then get a linear amp and kick some but..... and sound good while transmitting too... thats better than what the rest of them did..

[homer]

i always figue out these coaxial cables short between the body and the door before long and i wind up with a single antenna and coax thru the wing window til i get a new truck.these new trucks dont got wing windows and they wont like me drilling holes. we we will see what next. i get a new mic a couple times a year as we short them by the cb plug pretty often. we swap trucks every time one gets serviced and we got to have a cb at most mills.always patch something together

[tjv189]

So you guys are saying don't bother having it peaked or tuned by a CB shop, lets say I take it right out of the box, besides connecting the wires and antenna in the back, what do I have to do to get it to work?

[devildice]

So you guys are saying don't bother having it peaked or tuned by a CB shop, lets say I take it right out of the box, besides connecting the wires and antenna in the back, what do I have to do to get it to work?

Turn it on....

Sorry, couldn't resist

[repete]

AND THEN TURN IT OFF WHEN YA HEAR ALL THE CRAP ON IT

[Fozzy]

Go to a garage sale, pick up the best CB worth the price.. and then when you want a "real radio" just listen on the cheap radio for these dimwits who drink or screw (pardon my french) their second or third payroll advance away and pick up a "good radio" with all the bells, whistles and the Tarzan yell, for a fraction of what it cost the super truckin goober..

[golfhobo]

So you guys are saying don't bother having it peaked or tuned by a CB shop, lets say I take it right out of the box, besides connecting the wires and antenna in the back, what do I have to do to get it to work?

Turn it on....

Sorry, couldn't resist

I got a novel idea..... why not open up and read the directions. There IS a step called calibration, for what that's worth.

Best of luck.

[uglymutt]

So you guys are saying don't bother having it peaked or tuned by a CB shop, lets say I take it right out of the box, besides connecting the wires and antenna in the back, what do I have to do to get it to work?

Turn it on....

Sorry, couldn't resist

I got a novel idea..... why not open up and read the directions. There IS a step called calibration, for what that's worth.

Best of luck.

did you meaan SWR calibrtioin man I cant spell, figner to fat for ttis laptop

[serbie]

Don't see the point personally with the peak and tune.

The setup I have right now is simple as simple can be.

Stock Cobra 29LTD. My model doesn't even have the night-watch or weather channels. The radio in the truck takes care of the weather channels. Connected to a Firestyk antenna. Via generic co-ax. The only thing I'd add to my set up is better quality co-ax. Though that maybe over kill.

Before I switched antenna(bought the firestyk last week) Barely could get out or even receive anything much more then a mile. Since the swap, Talked to a a guy and kept track of mile markers, and was losing him when we were almost 5.5-6 miles apart.

Total cost
Radio $85 (used my road miles to offset cost)
Antenna $20

total out of pocket cost
$105

personally I think my radio sounds better then most of the big rig echo/talk back/roger beep/sound effect/over modulated radios you hear on the road. And I get out nearly as far as they do.. sounding better in the process


you could have the best radio in the world, but will only work as good as the antenna you've got. Don't neeed anything super expensive. Check out http://www.firestik.com/ they have tons of info. If you feel like you need a billy big rigger radio after you get a decent antenna, knock your self out, but would just be a waste of money.

[red12]

I got mine peaked and tune but the tuning is easy to ge tit out of wack. But I can get out to 10 miles on mine with wilson 5000 ant.

[serbie]

I'm sure the peak and tune when done correctly works great. Problem I'm finding is depending on who does it, you may end up with an over modulated radio, then end up having a raspy, dirty sounding radio. Sure it's LOUD, but doesn't sound clean.

Antenna, co-ax, and getting your SWR correct is key. I've heard great things about the wilson, Just felt better spending $20 then $40+.

Either way, in the end it's your money. Just keep in mind some people wont even respond to a radio they can't understand. :wink:

[tjv189]

I just want to keep it simple. I'm not looking to "soup up" my CB, I just want it to talk to shippers/receivers as needed, and talk to drivers within about 2-3 miles max of me. Nothing special. I just want the simple stuff. I have never had a CB or used one very much, so I don't even know how to set up the antenna or anything. I didn't think I would need an antenna because I was told that some Volvos and Freightliners come with antennas equipped, even sometimes with them wired internally for a CB.

[Hat Rak]

I just want to keep it simple. I'm not looking to "soup up" my CB, I just want it to talk to shippers/receivers as needed, and talk to drivers within about 2-3 miles max of me. Nothing special. I just want the simple stuff. I have never had a CB or used one very much, so I don't even know how to set up the antenna or anything. I didn't think I would need an antenna because I was told that some Volvos and Freightliners come with antennas equipped, even sometimes with them wired internally for a CB.

With that in mind, keep your radio stock. Don't waste your money having a P&T. As the others responders said, the Standing Wave Ratio [SWR] means the most because the lower the ratio, the less reverse power reflecting back into the radio, which will ensure that your one CB radio purchase is your only and that your radio won't die an early death.

If your radio doesn't have an onboard SWR meter, you can buy a radioshack SWR meter for $40 with a short coaxial jumper cable. One Firestick II for $18 with a tunable tip makes the SWR tuning on your antenna easy because all you have to do is turn the screw on the tip to lengthen or shorten the antenna (which changes the resonant frequency of your antenna up or down.) If you use a whip antenna, a hack saw cutting at 1/8" intervals does the same job.