100 Mile CB AGAIN!

All right, I'm starting to get tired of this.

Almost EVERY DAY I get 2 to 7 people coming to my blog trying to find out how they can get their CB radio to transmit 100 miles.

Let me make this perfectly clear.  YOU CANNOT GET YOUR CB RADIO TO TRANSMIT 100 MILES LEGALLY OR INEXPENSIVELY!!!!!

YES, you can get it to transmit 100 miles if you are willing to spend the money for the amp and antenna you are going to need to do so.  Just be aware that your neighbors will probably call the FCC and the cops on your butt for doing so.

However there are several caveats to doing so. 

#1: you will need a linear amplifier which is both expensive and illegal to use on the CB radio band frequencies.

#2: you will need a properly tuned antenna that is designed to take that much power without "MELTING"  (Yes I said Melting)

#3: you will need a proper power supply to supply that linear amplifier.  And a cheapo chinese or radio shack one isn't going to do it.

You are looking at $90.00 to $300.00 for a good amp.  $150 to $400 for a good antenna.  If you are going to run this rig at your house you are looking at $200+ for the regulated power supply.  If you are using it in your car you will need to rebuild or replace your alternator and upgrade your battery or batteries.  And don't even think about keying up with the engine off unless you have 3 or 4 batteries wired in.  Your vehicle will also require other modifications.  Key it up with the amp on and say good bye to your car stereo without a bypass filter installed.  and depending on where you have your antenna installed you might say goodbye to your fuel pump, ECM, chassis computer and I have seen 2 airbags deploy because people didn't know what they were doing.

Still want to try to get a CB to transmit 100 miles?

All the luck in the world to you.  I feel sorry for your pocketbook.

I have written two other posts on this and done a Preparedness tip and tricks video on it as well.

The links to those post are

100 mile CB

100 mile CB Tips and Tricks
This second one has the video embedded.

If you want a way to communicate 100+ miles with a radio in your vehicle or your home you need to get into HAM Radio.  I am a HAM Radio operator.  The test for the Technician license is very easy and when I took it, the cost was only $20.00 plus a photocopy of your drivers license.

If you are worried about having your name on a list somewhere, get real.  Your name is on hundreds of lists.  Also if you do buy a HAM Radio and use it without a license you can get your equipment seized some major fines and there have been a few cases of people going to jail.

With my HTX-212 Radio Shack 2M mobile radio in my truck with a properly tuned Wilson Lil Wil 2m Antenna and my power setting set on high, I have talked to people OVER 150 miles away.  I'm down by Corpus Christi, they were up by San Antonio.  They were on a higher elevation than me so they hit me pretty good on the power while I was a little weak but readable.  That was on Simplex.  Where they and I are both transmitting and receiving on the same frequency just like a CB Radio.

One thing HAM Radio has that CB doesn't is the ability to operate Duplex.  Where I transmit on 1 frequency, but listen on another.  That is how a HAM Radio Repeater works.  I transmit on 147.680 the Repeater picks that up and retransmits it on 147.080 which is what everyone is listening to.  However it does it at anywhere from 50 to 250 watts of power.  Covering several hundred miles.  And that is not including linked repeaters which can cover several thousand miles.  And you can do that from a little hand held walkie talkie like HT Radio that costs less than $50.00 and only puts out 5 watts on it's high setting.  And there are repeaters ALL OVER the place on differing frequency pairs.  Just in my area there are 4 repeaters each on it's own frequency, that I can hit with my little HT on it's high power setting.  The furthest one is almost 50 miles away.  And I'm putting out the same power as a CB radio, but I'm already going 8 to 10 times the average distance a CB can transmit legally.

And that is just on on 2 Meter band.  On my license, I'm allowed to operate on 10 meter, 6 Meter, 70 Centimeter, 33 Centimeter and 23 Centimeter bands.  I can transmit using Phone (Voice communication), CW (Morse Code), RTTY (Radio Telephone Teletype, basically sending text back and forth) and Data (I can use my computer to send data, small files and such).  I can actually operate on other bands which can reach farther with less power but on my license I'm restricted to CW (Morse Code) only, which I could do through my computer with a free program and an adapter to hook my computer up to my radio.

There are people right now this very instant, who are talking around the world on less power than your typical CB uses to transmit.

And they are doing it LEGALLY.

Plus many HAM Radio's allow you to listen to the entire band of frequencies not just the frequencies you are licensed on.  MY little HT Radio?  I have the Police, Fire, Ambulance and Coast Guard frequencies programmed in, so I can listen to them if something is going on.  And this too is legal. 

So for under $50.00 you can get a radio that on it's own will let you talk 40-50 miles easily.  Plus you can use it as a scanner to listen in on the local emergency services to keep yourself appraised of what is going on.  How much does that Scanner from Radio Shack cost?  The one that keeps eating AA batteries all the time?  My radio with it's rechargeable battery pack can scan for 2 or 3 days before it needs recharging.  Then I just pull the battery and put it in the charger while I install the extra battery I got for less then $15.00  in the radio and can go for another 2 to 3 days.

So tell me.

Which is cheaper in the long run?

Which one will keep you OUT of trouble with the law?

Also there is no law that says you cannot own a HAM Radio without a license.  You just can't transmit with it, without a license.  But you can still use it as an inexpensive scanner and have it in case of emergencies.

And if everything goes somewhere in a handbasket, wouldn't you rather have some backup comms?  Just in Case?