Anybody know anything about CB's?

[MCNorris]

I just got a cobra 37st today and all I can pick up on any of the 40 channels is static, I should at least be able to pick up the weather and police right??? but IDK I've never even touched a CB before today.

 

[abadk9420]

The Police is not likely, the weather maybe if it has a weather band on it, but mostly you will probably just pick up truckers, but I could be wrong....

 

[RC Addict]

The weather band is up at 162 mHz on FM. Police were around 165 mHz FM and up (some still are), however, most are now using trunked Apco 25 (digital) or Motorola systems that only very expensive Trunking scanners (digital for Apco 25) can pick up.

Your handheld CB is only good in the 27 mHz area and only on AM.

 

[MCNorris]

It only has 40 channels, it doesn't have mhz or am/fm

 

[Rolex]

If you need to test it to make sure it works, go to ch 19. That's the most active channel for interstate truckers. Adjust the squelch knob just to the point where the static stops. Make sure you have a properly connected antenna.

 

[Skwerly]

Make sure you have an antenna hooked onto that thing, or you could damage it! In some areas and channels, there will be nothing but static for most of the day, but keep tracking through them, you'll either pick up a trucker or a CB club locally.

Google SWR tuning and all that once you get her going, that's a pretty good CB!

 

[RC Addict]

... it doesn't have mhz or am/fm

That is not correct, sir. Take channel 19 for instance. That is 27.185 mHz AM. You are, however, correct that it doesn't have FM.

Please take my info to heart as I am a licensed Amateur Radio Operator and hold a General Class license--license KT5CCM.

Here is the band plan for the Citizen Radio Services (Class D--Unlicensed 11 Meter). It is measured in mHz in the AM band.


26.965 CB Class D Channel 01
26.975 CB Class D Channel 02
26.985 CB Class D Channel 03
26.995 CB Class C
27.005 CB Class D Channel 04
27.015 CB Class D Channel 05
27.025 CB Class D Channel 06
27.035 CB Class D Channel 07
27.045 CB Class C
27.055 CB Class D Channel 08
27.065 CB Class D Channel 09
27.075 CB Class D Channel 10
27.085 CB Class D Channel 11
27.095 CB Class C
27.105 CB Class D Channel 12
27.115 CB Class D Channel 13
27.125 CB Class D Channel 14
27.135 CB Class D Channel 15
27.145 CB Class C
27.155 CB Class D Channel 16
27.165 CB Class D Channel 17
27.175 CB Class D Channel 18
27.185 CB Class D Channel 19
27.195 CB Class C
27.205 CB Class D Channel 20
27.215 CB Class D Channel 21
27.225 CB Class D Channel 22
27.235 CB Class D Channel 23
27.245 CB Class D Channel 24
27.255 CB Class D Channel 25
27.265 CB Class D Channel 26
27.275 CB Class D Channel 27
27.285 CB Class D Channel 28
27.295 CB Class D Channel 29
27.305 CB Class D Channel 30
27.315 CB Class D Channel 31
27.325 CB Class D Channel 32
27.335 CB Class D Channel 33
27.345 CB Class D Channel 34
27.355 CB Class D Channel 35
27.365 CB Class D Channel 36
27.375 CB Class D Channel 37
27.385 CB Class D Channel 38
27.395 CB Class D Channel 39
27.405 CB Class D Channel 40

Please note that Class C "channels" are not numerically identified because they are "Licensed 11 Meter" frequencies.

 

[Skwerly]

Correct! AM stands for Amplitude Modulation, and is not just used by radio stations that play old country or spanish music .

Like has been mentioned, as long as you have a decent (not busted) antenna and a mic, it should be OK. You can go to a truck stop and have it freq'd (they dial in the frequencies to best match the correlating number, for strongest signal), but aside from that, they rarely just "go bad".

My best guess is that you simply aren't in range of a lot of other CBs. Try it out on the highway, or if you have a truckstop or rest stop nearby, pass it with the dial set on 19 - if still nothing but fuzz, I might consider that the unit is bad. Was it used?

 

[RC Addict]

Remember too that the MAXIMUM range of ANY legal-power 4 watt CB is going to be 4 miles. And that is in clear conditions and with no hills or buildings to serve as an obstruction. As your 37ST is a headheld ( I am assuming that you are using the stock "rubber duckie" antenna) you will be lucky to transmit much over a 1/2 mile and receive much past 1 mile.

Try it out on the highway, or if you have a truckstop or rest stop nearby, pass it with the dial set on 19 - if still nothing but fuzz, I might consider that the unit is bad.

Not true! The fact that you hear "fuzz" or noise means that your radio is at least receiving in the proper frequency range. If it were not making any noise at all then either 1) your antenna isn't properly connected or 2) your receiver is shot. An improperly tuned antenna will not pick up ANYTHING. PLEASE remember (and this goes for our RC transmitters and receivers) the antenna is tuned BY LENGTH to the frequency range that it is intended to be operated in.

Correct! AM stands for Amplitude Modulation, and is not just used by radio stations that play old country or spanish music .

While CB's do operate primarily in AM (some are FM, some are single side-band too) that really has zero to do with it. It's NOTHING like a radio station. CB (and any other non-broadcast AM transmitting station) uses side-band. In CB's case it uses three "bands". One is a carrier that does nothing but carry a signal for the other two bands. If you were to hold a CB mike keyed on but not making any sound then all you are transmitting is the "carrier" (referred to as a "dead key").

The other two bands in CB are the upper and lower side-bands. This is where your transmitted and received signals are carried.

Broadcast AM has no carrier, and is single side-band (transmit only) so your analogy is incorrect.

 

[RC Addict]

Thought I would add a little text to furthur clear the air about AM in a non-brodcast radio:

Bruce L. Clark: "The selection of the Lower Side Band (LSB) or the Upper Side Band (USB) concerns the transmission mode. SSB is a derivative of AM. In an AM signal you are actually transmitting a carrier signal and two side bands (one just below the carrier signal and one just above it). In the early 1950's amateur radio operators experimenting with different modes of transmission observed that the 'intelligence' or 'voice' signal is actually contained in the side bands. The carrier is just a waste of power. Both side bands, the lower and the upper, are identical and contain the same 'intelligence' or 'voice.' So really, you only need a single side band to communicate. These hams found that if you suppressed the carrier, and selected either the upper or the lower side band, the result was a signal much narrower in bandwidth that also had all the power concentrated into one side band signal. That is why the FCC allows CB radios to have 4 watts of AM power, but up to 12 watts of SSB power.

If you want to talk farther with a more efficient signal, Single Side Band is the way to go! It also gives you a 'poor man's encryption' on the CB band, since an AM-only CB radio cannot decipher a SSB signal. It just sounds like Donald Duck talking. But to take advantage of the greater range and power of SSB, both stations must have a SSB CB radio. All SSB CB radios also have AM capability. You can still select 'AM' mode if you want to listen to the truckers on CB Channel 19."

 

[MCNorris]

What do I need to be able to dial in police dispatch, I want to know where they are hiding on my way to work.

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Impossible. Thats y our radios run about $4500-5000 a piece.
You would need to have a 800k radio, and the encryption channels that we use....

Whoop Whoop commin to get ya.

 

[MCNorris]

Well hook a brotha up alpine!!! lol

 

[Rolex]

CBs no longer have the popularity they did back in the early 80s. Ch 19 was for the interstate, Ch 15 was for the Parkway, and I think it was 7 and 14 for the local roads. Ch 9 was the one you used to CALL the nearest cruiser in an emergency.
You would set the channel for the route you were on and others would warn you that there was a smokey ahead.
A police scanner would give you SOME of the police calls, but not the location of radar.

Woop woop woop!!!:whhooo::jittery:

 

[alpinehyperlite]

The scanners only work on 800 meg frequency's, but we are all currently switching to the 700's so they are all not going to work anymore.

 

[WoodiE]

What do I need to be able to dial in police dispatch, I want to know where they are hiding on my way to work.

In recent years I've found that easing off my right foot not only keeps the cops off my tailgate but also saves gas and thus money... more money for RC!

 

[RC Addict]

Impossible. Thats y our radios run about $4500-5000 a piece.
You would need to have a 800k radio, and the encryption channels that we use....

Whoop Whoop commin to get ya.

That isn't true, Trooper. All you need is the frequency assignment. In your case it would be:


Public Safety

Louisiana State Police

Frequency 39.50000
License Various
Type BM
Alpha Tag Description Statewide Law Enforcement
Mode FM

Then you need one of these:

http://www.uniden.com/products/productdetail.cfm?product=BCD996T&filter=TrunkTracker#

TrunkTracker IV (Motorola APCO 25 Digital, Motorola, EDACS, LTR)

Here is a link to all the frequencies you would EVER want to find.:
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/






When you need a tooth pulled see a dentist. When you need someone arrested call a cop. When you want to know about radios TALK TO AN AMATEUR RADIO OPERATOR!!! I explained this in my first post...

Motorola APCO 25 Digital, Motorola, EDACS, LTR These are the new modes that most state and municipal departments (and not JUST law enforcement) are going to. Used to be a simple scanner that could scan 165+ mHz would do the trick. Now everything is "trunked". You use a given frequency and there might be 1000 radios using that one frequency. But, that frequency is now divided into usergroups and then into individual "packs" of users. The sub-channel is always changing and are "trunked" together. Each radio is assigned a code that identifies it within the usergroup and/or pack. If you want to hear that radio, you need it's code. That is where the new APCO 25 digital trunking scanners come into play. They can decipher the code and assign your scanner each code within a usergroup. You pick the ones you need. You can even program your scanner to follow a certain car in a dispatch area--say alpine for instance...

I have over-simplified this. If you would like detailed info PM me and I will provide it.

 

[MCNorris]

In recent years I've found that easing off my right foot not only keeps the cops off my tailgate but also saves gas and thus money... more money for RC!

It's hard to control your right foot when it's prosthetic!!! but thanks for bringing it up......


jkjk, it's not that I speed that much it's just that I'm freakin paranoid :jittery:

 

[RC Addict]

Can't help but notice all my information has been passed over without so much as a "go screw yourself". Guess I will keep my knowledge to myself... *Sniff Sniff*

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Sorry, had to go wash the truck, but i stand corrected. I dont know if uniden has picked up the 700meg setup yet. That one is i believe for the 800 system cuz one of our officers has one to keep track of city police in his unit.