After reading a recent thread re cb’s I decided to dig mine out and fit it.
My question regards siting the twig. I don’t know the technicalities of cb, only that you speak in one end and “council house FM” comes out of the other! So I want to mount the twig, I drive a MAN TGX so a mirror mount or gutter mount is out. The truck is leased so I can’t drill holes into it. My though was to fit a mirror mount on the back of the cab onto the support for the air kit.
If I bought a long aerial and fitted it low down behind the cab to protect it from trees etc, would the fridge motor affect reception, or would I be better off with a higher mounted short twig that sits higher than the unit and trailer?
you could use a mag mount to side of the cab with an elbow fitting… so it points in the correct direction… use a sirio antenna good tx rx, or you can now get half decent antenna’s that stick to the window but how good transmit and recieve is i dont know… they look like phone antenna’s but a bit bigger… look on knights cb radio site it might help you make the right decision… hope that helps… 10-4 , shytalk.
Can you buy a good hand leld cb ? , I have not had one fitted for about 20 years but fancy having a handheld one for when i do long distance and I am on my own .
shytalk:
you could use a mag mount to side of the cab with an elbow fitting… so it points in the correct direction… use a sirio antenna good tx rx, or you can now get half decent antenna’s that stick to the window but how good transmit and recieve is i dont know… they look like phone antenna’s but a bit bigger… look on knights cb radio site it might help you make the right decision… hope that helps… 10-4 , shytalk.
Thanks for that shytalk, I’ll check out their site.
Hand held have a range of about 1 mile on a good day
As for the twig advice try and get hold of a twig with a long flexible whip like a Modulator, mounting it on a mag mount on the roof it should be ok. I used that set up for some time when I had a DAF 95 which was quite high and the only time I had to stop and lower it was at a 13 ft bridge.
shytalk:
you could use a mag mount to side of the cab with an elbow fitting… so it points in the correct direction… use a sirio antenna good tx rx, or you can now get half decent antenna’s that stick to the window but how good transmit and recieve is i dont know… they look like phone antenna’s but a bit bigger… look on knights cb radio site it might help you make the right decision… hope that helps… 10-4 , shytalk.
Thanks for that shytalk, I’ll check out their site.
Mag mount a no no, bloody cab is plastic!
big lump of steel stuck the other side behind the trim for it to stick to?
Sorry i did forget they were fibre glass…another way is to fit it to your upright on the back which is metal or if you have a stack for the exhaust stud mount with elbow, as the other chap said modulater antenna is a good one i have got both sirio and modulater but there is a price gap modulater is half the price of a sirio, as to hand helds i did run one for a long time… take battery pack off most hand helds come with a 12 volt fli lead with a ciggy conecter and pl 259 standard fitting, i had the midland alan 42 80 channel which is tiny bout the size of a ■■■ packet i put velcro on the back and on the dash it sat there no probs… easy to put in your work bag at the end of a shift or when you go home if your tramping… or you can go the whole hog and get hand held multi mode radio’s that cover 11 mtr’s and 10 mtr’s but your talking good money, hope this is some help… good luck , shytalk.
Slightly going off at a tangent, I had a CB radio many years ago but I’m wondering what it’s like on the airwaves nowadays? Do many people still use them?
I used to find them handy for getting directions in a strange town, it seemed that every sizeable town had a dedicated truck assister working well into the night, quite often somebody with severe physical disability, wheelchair bound etc who used CB as a way of communicating with the outside world.
My truck’s all wired up for CB so I might think about getting one if it’s worth the expense.
Harry, just to shed a bit of light on the subject, cb radio is nowt like it was… like you said and a lot of other mature drivers will remember shouting out for directions 9 times out of ten it was spot on… then you got the supposed friendly chap giving you directions down a dead end or worse, par for the course at the time , there are still plenty of drivers that use cb radio a lot use AM or side bands now i use side band more than any, there are still good folks on a circle at night up and down the country ive had a radio or two and back on for nearly 4 yrs, its not for everyone but its cheaper than phones once you have got the gear together. regards, shytalk.
lad who had truck i got now left his clamp on. its xxl cab but would be same on other cab fitted with the external sunvisor. where the clamps hold sun visor to cab he bolted the clamp on to there no need for any drilling
Just make sure you get a multi band one H. The local helpers are no more, I suspect they socialise through t’interweb these days You still get the local Jeremy Kyle type homebasers around certain areas like Brum, Runcorn, Crewe/Stoke etc
Mines always on and some still warn of things like the Battenburg, fender benders etc. Can still have the craic in traffic, road closures etc as well.
Reception in lorries is worse than a few years ago. I can be heard about 3 miles away, but I can barely hear some drivers half a mile away. When there’s nobody in our quarry, I use scan button but rarely hear anyone else unless another tipper firm are about. Taxis don’t seem to use cbs and I’ve not heard anyone on ch19 in ages. I understand AM is better for long range but our lot wont switch frequencies.
Muckaway:
Reception in lorries is worse than a few years ago. I can be heard about 3 miles away, but I can barely hear some drivers half a mile away. When there’s nobody in our quarry, I use scan button but rarely hear anyone else unless another tipper firm are about. Taxis don’t seem to use cbs and I’ve not heard anyone on ch19 in ages. I understand AM is better for long range but our lot wont switch frequencies.
AM is illegal. Your problem isn’t the reception in the lorry, its the way you’ve installed it all.
Harry Monk:
I used to find them handy for getting directions in a strange town, it seemed that every sizeable town had a dedicated truck assister working well into the night, quite often somebody with severe physical disability, wheelchair bound etc who used CB as a way of communicating with the outside world.
Yes mostly house bound people or retired drivers. They were brilliant, their local knowledge impeccable, directions almost by the lamp post. Good ones could run several trucks at once.
Very helpful to the drivers and the people doing it enjoyed feeling usefull.
More’s the pity they’re gone. The best satnav in the world can never replace them.
Muckaway:
Reception in lorries is worse than a few years ago. I can be heard about 3 miles away, but I can barely hear some drivers half a mile away. When there’s nobody in our quarry, I use scan button but rarely hear anyone else unless another tipper firm are about. Taxis don’t seem to use cbs and I’ve not heard anyone on ch19 in ages. I understand AM is better for long range but our lot wont switch frequencies.
AM is illegal. Your problem isn’t the reception in the lorry, its the way you’ve installed it all.
Muckaway:
Reception in lorries is worse than a few years ago. I can be heard about 3 miles away, but I can barely hear some drivers half a mile away. When there’s nobody in our quarry, I use scan button but rarely hear anyone else unless another tipper firm are about. Taxis don’t seem to use cbs and I’ve not heard anyone on ch19 in ages. I understand AM is better for long range but our lot wont switch frequencies.
AM is illegal. Your problem isn’t the reception in the lorry, its the way you’ve installed it all.
On the MAN air kit, there’s a whole which is the right size for an antenna mount then run the coax along the channel at the top of the door, it tucks in quite nicely. I’ve mounted my radios (CB & amateur) in the gap below the locker on drivers side. Alternative antenna mount is to use a mag mount on the sunroof which is steel.
Re the reception and installation, those with the sprung aerials and mag mounts tend to get out further than those relying on the standard issue fibreglass ones. Got mine mag mounted onto the shovels’ mudguard: Cat in their wisdom fit plastic tops to cab roofs now. Lose reception when close to stockpiles and under conveyors but out by the lakes it’s really good.
I’m just about to put one in a 2003 TGA, and have a couple of decisions to make:
There is a spare DIN slot just above my head, next to the tacho. If I use this (CB is DIN mounting), is the presence of a transmitter / antenna cable next to the tacho likely to cause any problems?
Does anybody know if there is a suitable 12v feed up there which I can use, or do I need to run one up from the dash area?
As for antenna mounting, I’m using a mirror arm mount, as it’s got metal tubular arms
