I would like to hear from anyone who has recently installed a CB radio in their F-150. I have a 2002 Flareside that I would like to put a unit in. I'm leaning toward a Cobra product, but I'm open to other recommendations as well. Any advice on antennas would be welcome too.

 

i have a cobra 19 with a 108" whip mounted on my toolbox. works ok. i really got it for the PA ****ion. and dont really use the cb to often.

 

no tryin to steal the thread but i have no idea where i should mount my cobra 19 and i have an 05 xl reg cab any advice

 

what console do you have? there is a thread somewhere that has a picture of mine mounted in my center console.

 

yea same here...i hardly ever use the CB function but it is nice to have off road when my buddies have it so we can talk about the trail. I have the Cobra 29 LTD...and it is great! I would suggest getting this one or one like it because it has the ability to calibrate its self...if you buy the cheaper one from like walmart, you will need to buy another calibration unit and by the time you do that, you will be at or above the cost of just buying the nice one...my buddy has the cheap one from walmart and it works...sort of...it is just really blurry and fuzzy and i cant really hear him...thats because it isnt calibrated...and if you do get the cheap one...you calibrate it by taking the rubber cap off of the antenna and cutting some of the wire wrapped around it off...to me, that seems like too much work. Thats my opinon though.

 

The Cobra 29 is a good radio. There are better ones out there but there are worse ones also. It is the best radio for the price. However the radio will NOT calibrate itself. The only calibration on these radios are for the integrated SWR meter only and will not change the SWR of your antenna.

The only way to tune an antenna for the given frequency is to either lengthen or shorten the electrical length of the antenna to match the given frequency. Most Cb antennas are 1/4 wavelength and are helical wound to make them more compact. The only antenna that is not is a 102" whip but you need a 6" spring to make it the 108" to be a 1/4 wave on 27 mHz.

Now by a calibration unit, I assume you are talking about an antenna tuner. These devices make the radio happy but do not actually tune an antenna. They use inductance and capacitance to bring the antenna load closer to 50 Ohms.

Didn't mean to get too technical but there are a lot of CB myths that are just snake oil.

 

well i didnt know that the length of the antenna would make a difference because if it is mounted on lets say...a car it is lower...or like on my truck it is much higher right? so dont all antennas need to be "tuned" (that is what i meant by calibration ) but if you dont tune your antenna (or use the SWR cal, it can harm the cb right? thats what it says in my manual atleast. but i do know that having this cb does make a HUGE difference in the way it operates, we put mine in my buddys truck (because we couldnt figure out why we could barely hear him) and as soon as we did the calibration on my cb, it worked great with his antennas, then moved it back to mine, recalibrated for my antennas and everything was back to normal (thats how we figured out it was his cb and after some internet research i found out about tuning and the use of the calibration)

and by no means am i a perfesional so if you know more about it, definetly correct me that is just what i have understood and it seems to be working for me.

 

Tuning the antenna isn't to make it taller or shorter because of how tall the vehicle it is mounted on is. It has to do with wavelengths and such. SWR is standing wave ratio and it has to do with maching the standing wave frequency in the cable to that of the anttenna. Thats what antenna tuning does o my knowledge.

Oh and to slugger i have a Cobra 19 Ultra III and two Firestick 4' whips. I only have one whip hooked up however beecause I've been told by truckers that when both are hooked up the signals bounce off each other and dont send or recieve as good of a signal

 

well yall have me completely confused about all this now...but mine works so im fine. haha

but i have never heard of it bouncing off eachother...i know 4 of us around here have 2 whips with both hooked up and have never had a problem with the it sending or recieveing. but u dont have the split cable with just one hooked up do you? i have heard that running the cb with out the antennas for a long time can damage the cb...and the same with if you have just one half of the cable hooked up to the antennas. thats what i have heard...and it says it in my manual...just added info for something to be considered

 

I have a middle jump seat

 

o ok. no clue how to mount in that. console is small. most people mount to the left of the cubby on the dash. or on the tray on top of the dash. i know they dont fit in the overhead compartment. mount underneath seat.

 

here is how i mounted mine

 

im actually happy where its at, its out of the way, it is still with in reach and it looks like it belongs...i dont know what the interior of the new trucks looks like so idk where to put it in those though.

 

^^ thats were i've got mine too. but i have the mic hanging from the visor on a hook