considering buying a CB radio...
Posted by Odd-Tangerine-257@reddit | Truckers | View on Reddit | 10 comments
is it worth it ? does anyone have any recommendations? there are so many to choose from amazon and now sure which one i should get. I just finished training and got my own truck and i'm trying to fill it up with things i know i may need. I'm going to get me a mini fridge and a microwave as well. If anyone has any recommendation i'd appreciate it i'm excited and looking forward to starting my trucking journey once again.
mike-2129@reddit
Mini fridge. Definitely a vassani from homedepot. The 2 door one. Had mine over a year. Works perfectly. And microwave. Gotta get the galanz. Airfry bake microwave and oven all in one
sparky_smegma@reddit
You got my interest with the Galanz - which model do you have?
Odd-Tangerine-257@reddit (OP)
okay i was looking at those online recently im planning on getting one! i was gonna get it off temu did its gonna take too long so glad home depot has them. 4.5 cu ft! where do i get the microwave though?
mike-2129@reddit
I didnt get the big one I'm only on the road week week and a half. I got the 3. Something. With the 2 doors. Microwave got it at Walmart.
Defiant_Network_3069@reddit
I have a Cobra. I leave it on when I'm driving. It's very useful when there are slowdowns caused by accidents. Also when you are traveling down the road and something you can't see is wrong with your load. Remember to turn it off when you are going to sleep at the truck stop.
EmperorsFartSlave@reddit
A lurker about to get their CDL, however we’ve got CBs in our trucks and if tune into different channels throughout the day I’m able to hear some arguments that are funny until the racial slurs come out. But aside from that they can be shockingly quiet nowadays.
TruckerBiscuit@reddit
If I'm rolling my CB is on. It's only useful about once a week but when it's useful it's very, very useful.
Get one on fuel points, take it to a shop to be peaked and tuned, invest in a quality antenna/mount, and either carefully adjust the antenna via a SWR meter (lots of modern radios have one built in now) or ask your shop to adjust it for you.
FWIW I had Chuck at Summit Radio in Commerce City CO work mine up. His shop is right across the street from the back exit of the TA. Guy's a total professional. 3y later my radio is still clear and powerful.
-purged@reddit
What's your budget?
CB is still the wild west, you will run into people being annoying on it, if you hear anyone at all on it these days. I see less and less semi trucks with one. They can be helpful to hear about road conditions or traffic slow downs up ahead. Some places will use a CB to communicate with drivers when their load is ready etc.
If you want a decent radio look into 80-100watt 10 meter radio. If you want to try and shoot skip while taking mandatory break, get a 10 meter that has USB/LSB.
All 10 meter radios needs to have mars conversion done to enable 11 meter (CB band). Some radios it's easy to do other ones you need to use soldering iron and connect two pads on the board. Radio shops can do that for you along with align/tune up on it for around $50 which isn't that bad.
I hear good things about https://www.bellscb.com/ . There's other shops out there, just don't waste money on "All the Way version" or "Truckerized version", it's a waste of money.
Most 10 meter radios are made in the same factory. Some just have better heat sinks to where they don't need external fans to help cool them.
Superstar SS-676 is a nice powerful AM/FM only radio. (needs mars conversion done) I like my Stryker 955HPC+ (AM/FM/Upper Side Band/ Lower Side Band/ Weather band) but it's not cheap ($500).
Solarisdevorak@reddit
No one uses then anymore. In a week I hear 1 maybe 2 drivers
Beneficialsensai@reddit
OCD is a part of trucking,choose what you can afford.