The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Rally! → CB Radios?
Does anyone here run a CB radio during the rally? I picked up a Cobra 19 Plus at a flea market this weekend for $5 and plan on installing it in the Escort. I know literally nothing about CB radios, but I plan on picking up a short 3' Fire Stik antenna and hooking everything up.
They're on the unofficial "you might want to have" list.
Not so much for communication uses, but for general hooptyness and shenanigans.
The Lowballers ran them for the winter rally. Resulted in some interesting conversations with the judges about missing turns due to Danger Zone karaoke.
The only time I really used our was for BS'ing with the teams we were working with, or letting everyone know I was getting pulled over
That being said, there's already one in my wagon
I picked one up at the walmart in Minneapolis on the way down. I wasn't really intending to, but I was wandering through the walmart after spending the night in the parking lot there while waiting for Napa to open, and I noticed they had one, but no price tags to be found. After it took three early sunday morning walmart employees twenty minutes just to get the display case open for a price check, it seemed rude not to buy it. Also got an antenna.
I wired it up at the hotel in Scranton around midnight. It picked some stuff up, but we were never sure we were ever sending anything. At some point I realized that the random key-on powered socket I wired it into was actually part of the dash light circuit, meaning reception clarity dramatically improved with the rheostat cranked, but we still weren't ever sure if we were broadcasting.
radio is more magicker than carburetors, but you can do a great job on just rule of thumb with 'em.
get the biggest damn antenna you can fit on the car. a good radio with a shit antenna won't be half as good as a crap radio with a huge-ass 102" quarter wave whip and ball spring mount bolted on your back bumper. which also provide a source of amusement/destruction when you forget it's there and it whacks into overhangs or takes out a parking structure's overhead flourescent tube. also they just look crazy now.
radio is more magicker than carburetors, but you can do a great job on just rule of thumb with 'em.
get the biggest damn antenna you can fit on the car. a good radio with a shit antenna won't be half as good as a crap radio with a huge-ass 102" quarter wave whip and ball spring mount bolted on your back bumper. which also provide a source of amusement/destruction when you forget it's there and it whacks into overhangs or takes out a parking structure's overhead flourescent tube. also they just look crazy now.
With a flag. Gotta have a flag.
Or bungeed to the front bumper....
The Chevette looks like an RC car with the Lil Wil on the roof. Still no actual CB though..
I'm about to pull the trigger on:
Uniden 40-Channel CB Radio (PRO505XL)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005ZLB0E4/
Tram 300 Magnet-Mount CB Antenna Kit
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008ZDBM10/
Never had a CB setup before, so I'm just going on reviews...
I thought you were supposed to just buy a few at the thrift store or at yard sales. The concept of buying a new CB from amazon...wow...mind blown
Wait until you see what I've done with the car... Opel GT Source, Summit, and Amazon have taken a lot of my money...
I live in a small town, my thrift store is eBay.
Can someone bring an SWR meter to tune my antenna, or do I need to spend $20 of my own money?
The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Rally! → CB Radios?