I just found an old cb that was in my uncles storage unit. I got it hooked up to a 12 volt, a handset hooked up, and a 4 foot antenna mounted on my roof. My friend has one and lives about a mile away. I know next to nothing about cbs but do know that the presets have to be wired inside the cb itself right? we both tuned to preset 30 and could hear eachother while we were in the same house so i didnt think we had to rewire them. But after he got home and setup his we couldnt talk to each other. he has a 6 footer mounted on his roof. What can we do so we can talk to each other? once i get my truck fixed i plan on putting the cb in there. how can I tune into truckers convos that are driving near me?

thanks

 

I d/k what you mean by "presets" so I'm having trouble understanding your first question(s).

On the east coast, truckers primarily use 27.185(ch. 19) but some (Yellow Freight, etc.) use 36.365(lower ch. 36). I monitor ch. 19 in my L.

Dan

 

You have to make sure that the SRWs (SWR? i can't remember) are set correctly. You might take it to a CB shop and they can do it for you. If they're not set correctly you won't be able to pick up anything from more than a mile away.

 

With a 4 foot antenna and a little bare foot radio youll be lucky to transmit to anything half a mile away even if everything is set to its peak.

 

how can I increase the range? Bigger antenna?
Here is a pic of the radio if that helps.

 

Bigger antenna is one. I recommned using a K-40. Also take it to a radio shop and have them "Tune" it. Usually a radio is set to 3 or 4 watts. Most CB shops can tweak it to around 6-8 depending on the radio. Your not going to get alot of range out of something that small, but getting it set up will get the maxium benefit out of what you have. Or you can buy my extra RCI 2970