Best Mobile 2025

[slowmover]

I'm not upset with Erik, he is just doing a review on a product.... and his opinion is... it works ok.... he does a great review.. even if I dislike the product.

there certainly is a market for a small antenna.... but these little antenna's only work as good as a child's toy.... maybe not even that good.

so I don't feel they have made a product that actually works.... not yet.... when they can make it look like an 18" antenna and perform better than a Lil-Wil antenna ( not a fan of the Lil Wil, but it will at least get 3 to 4 miles) then it may be, better than no CB at all.

I get many people are not big into the hobby.... but you still need to buy something that works... if I was into the model plane hobby... and they sold a model plane that could fly and be controlled by remote control... that would be the one I would buy... I would not buy one that was less money and looked nicer.... but didn't work!

..... it's pretty difficult to make contacts within just a couple miles of your position today, as people keep buying poor radios and terrible antenna's, even today's truck drivers are lucky to get more than a few miles of range.... so actually making contacts in such a small 2 or 3 mile bubble is very difficult if not pure luck, ...so that is really not going to help anyone to summon help

again just my opinion...
if you think a 2.5 mile CB system can be used for help, traffic or casual contacts... that's your opinion.... I have many little handheld CB radios..... I live in a pretty wooded area.. not a lot of people..... but many highways going through...
since I was a 10 year old kid, 50 years ago I have been trying to get a contact on a handheld CB radio... they're good for about a mile range... in 50 years I've never gotten one contact... NOT ONE ....so my opinion of a small 2.5 mile range antenna is the same opinion of that childhood toy.

my mobile with five foot tall antenna and my base are not toys, and I can easily make contacts at will..... but without a 5 foot tall antenna on the mobile I doubt I could make a contact with anyone... even given another 50 years.

I have many locals all around me on Base stations. they are about 7 miles or more away from me in various directions. I talk to them on my mobile or base often...
because I enjoy testing my little handheld radios I thought maybe they could help me to test them and save me all my filming to see what can be done...... so I often ask them to turn their Squelch all the way down, I then take out a handheld CB and see if they can hear me.... so far no luck

so for me this is real world and those little antenna's just don't work.

Same type of examples work for speaker chosen and its location. Primary

Same type of examples work for attending noise on coax and 12V power. RF Bonds, etc. Secondary.

Hopefully, the hard work and major expense done — primary — then these secondary issues will be attended.

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

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[slowmover]

“ SpaceX will be installing Starlink Minis in ALL Kerr County, TX first responder vehicles TODAY amid catastrophic flooding as they have been STRUGGLING to contact HQ and other Texas flood rescue teams. Even the expensive radios they’ve been given don’t work.”

HF for the bad moment (ahead of other services).

40’ rise in the Guadalupe River in just over an hour night of July 3/4.



Taken from the ISS over Texas same night.



Have at minimum the radio service that gives greatest chance of contact.

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[slowmover]

Sophisticated gear — redundancy — is almighty interesting, . . . but if you have to hitch’n go who it is may already be on the roads out becomes the primary concern.

Storm Prep: Portable Ham Radio Caravan

A single Winlink message changed everything. I was prepping for wind—but what came was a full-spectrum storm. This post captures what happened, as it happened, from inside the Portable Ham Radio Ca…

oh8stn.org

Kerr County, TX, on the Edward’s Plateau, is known for flash floods and for many roads which use low water crossings. Some roads become immediately impassible. Backing a travel trailer or motorhome isn’t feasible even in broad daylight on most Hill Country roads in order to execute a multi-point direction reversal.

Know the topography and the ways (if more than one) to the major roads and to high points where some wind protection may be feasible in order to stay out of flood waters.

Self-sufficiency is great (right gear).

At a minimum you want the equivalent of the DeLorme Texas Atlas which shows county-level detail:

Texas Atlas and Gazetteer by DeLorme

Texas Atlas and Gazetteer

texasmapstore.com

Right Use far precedes gear & reference materials in importance. Know their use.


A holiday weekend on the San Gabriel River north of Austin shouldn’t end this way:



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[slowmover]

All roads “out” have choke points. There’s a high point out of this area — a ridge— which constitutes genuine Exit from the near floodplain of the Brazos River (150-yards away and am within 25’ flood reach). I hope to never learn the 40’ point, but I’ve already an idea of where to clear it.

Seven-foot permanent antenna on roof.
AM/SSB with outboard DSP audio.
AM Range understood from previous trips in/out.

Hitch’n go could be lengthy in time (up to an hour) as exiting the immediate location could involve yoga-worthy contortions.

Once onto the main road (miles away) there exist stream bridges which could become impassible. Where to park out of the way is actually the mission.


Even when most are equipped with CB it can take awhile to evacuate an area:

An wintry overnight layer of ice can make things “interesting” on-air when nearly (30) big trucks decide to make their spaced pre-dawn departures from a (200) space truckstop parking lot in Virginia off IH-81. Multiple entries/exits. Two hours to clear it once an OVERSIZED high-centered thru a patch of construction. The men who couldn’t be bothered with a CB radio lost as much as 2.5-hrs from their HOS workday ($100) which isn’t recompensed, and this delay will be accompanied by higher traffic volume (further delay & losses).

The rest of us — with CB — never started the clock. Maybe went back to bed, or nuked a bag of popcorn to listen-in. Or took sandwich orders since already walking to truckstop. Etc.


Know your surroundings. Be of help to others (avoidance of bottleneck). Know when/where to stop.

The men at the other end of the radio may know little. Could be on you to help sort traffic even though you can’t see a blessed thing except your State Atlas.

Have a plan.


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[robertwbob]

View attachment 186317

All roads “out” have choke points. There’s a high point out of this area — a ridge— which constitutes genuine Exit from the near floodplain of the Brazos River (150-yards away and am within 25’ flood reach). I hope to never learn the 40’ point, but I’ve already an idea of where to clear it.

Seven-foot permanent antenna on roof.
AM/SSB with outboard DSP audio.
AM Range understood from previous trips in/out.

Hitch’n go could be lengthy in time (up to an hour) as exiting the immediate location could involve yoga-worthy contortions.

Once onto the main road (miles away) there exist stream bridges which could become impassible. Where to park out of the way is actually the mission.


Even when most are equipped with CB it can take awhile to evacuate an area:

An wintry overnight layer of ice can make things “interesting” on-air when nearly (30) big trucks decide to make their spaced pre-dawn departures from a (200) space truckstop parking lot in Virginia off IH-81. Multiple entries/exits. Two hours to clear it once an OVERSIZED high-centered thru a patch of construction. The men who couldn’t be bothered with a CB radio lost as much as 2.5-hrs from their HOS workday ($100) which isn’t recompensed, and this delay will be accompanied by higher traffic volume (further delay & losses).

The rest of us — with CB — never started the clock. Maybe went back to bed, or nuked a bag of popcorn to listen-in. Or took sandwich orders since already walking to truckstop. Etc.


Know your surroundings. Be of help to others (avoidance of bottleneck). Know when/where to stop.

The men at the other end of the radio may know little. Could be on you to help sort traffic even though you can’t see a blessed thing except your State Atlas.

Have a plan.


.

know all about that lonestar. oilfield in 80s in iron hood mack tri axle bed truck and 40 ft 5 axle oilfield float. but worse was when the sent me out with greenhorn to train n he had hard head. we were in wyo. was close to the patch. stopped n filled my chow box told him do same n he said no. we drove through 3 canyons deeper than cabs to rig. was there 45 minutes till they could recieve our stem and pipe. i was on trailer looked n water was full in canyon. we were there 24 hours n he was very hungry.a can vianna sausages cost him 5 bucks n 2 for a roll of ritz. we got out of there he went in same store i was in n i thought he was buying it out

View attachment 186317

All roads “out” have choke points. There’s a high point out of this area — a ridge— which constitutes genuine Exit from the near floodplain of the Brazos River (150-yards away and am within 25’ flood reach). I hope to never learn the 40’ point, but I’ve already an idea of where to clear it.

Seven-foot permanent antenna on roof.
AM/SSB with outboard DSP audio.
AM Range understood from previous trips in/out.

Hitch’n go could be lengthy in time (up to an hour) as exiting the immediate location could involve yoga-worthy contortions.

Once onto the main road (miles away) there exist stream bridges which could become impassible. Where to park out of the way is actually the mission.


Even when most are equipped with CB it can take awhile to evacuate an area:

An wintry overnight layer of ice can make things “interesting” on-air when nearly (30) big trucks decide to make their spaced pre-dawn departures from a (200) space truckstop parking lot in Virginia off IH-81. Multiple entries/exits. Two hours to clear it once an OVERSIZED high-centered thru a patch of construction. The men who couldn’t be bothered with a CB radio lost as much as 2.5-hrs from their HOS workday ($100) which isn’t recompensed, and this delay will be accompanied by higher traffic volume (further delay & losses).

The rest of us — with CB — never started the clock. Maybe went back to bed, or nuked a bag of popcorn to listen-in. Or took sandwich orders since already walking to truckstop. Etc.


Know your surroundings. Be of help to others (avoidance of bottleneck). Know when/where to stop.

The men at the other end of the radio may know little. Could be on you to help sort traffic even though you can’t see a blessed thing except your State Atlas.

Have a plan.

i used to haul feed ingredients to bherends feed luckenbach tx and ive seen water in that area several times. it can be interesting to get out n keep moving at times. went to music festival in kerrville a couple times too
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[slowmover]

Good reminder.

MRE @ $3.50/ea lately where before prices were 1.5X - 2X that much.

No one much likes them, but 1,300-calories without any real prep needed sure fits what’s wanted after 0 o’clock wake-up and go!

May not be convenient a good long while the Coleman stove set-up.

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[robertwbob]

Good reminder.

MRE @ $3.50/ea lately where before prices were 1.5X - 2X that much.

No one much likes them, but 1,300-calories without any real prep needed sure fits what’s wanted after 0 o’clock wake-up and go!

May not be convenient a good long while the Coleman stove set-up.

.

this was early 80s n mre wasnt available then. but veiannas ritz n juice drinks will keep 1 going. not gormet but hey take it n run. jar jif to go on the ritz too

 

[slowmover]

QT80 versus ICOM 7300

No one would have predicted a radio used by road travelers would be an equivalent.

Small case size is of high value for mounting in today’s automobiles. For $300 that it outshines every one of its 11M predecessors is an outstanding attribute.

 

[WSAC829]

QT80 versus ICOM 7300

I wish they would have done testing of the RX also for pulling out weak stations, because as i’ve stated a few times before, the Chinese CB/HF radios have better ears than most current big name HF rigs. I sold my IC-7300 within 2 months of owning it as its receiver was the noisiest and weakest i’ve ever used. Just utterly horrible. I also sold my FT-710 shortly after buying it as its ears weren’t all that great either. The Anytone/Radioddity/Retevis rigs all outperformed the $1000 SDR rigs on RX in my testing.

However, my older non SDR HF rigs hold their own and actually hear the same weak stations just as well, or maybe even a tad better than the Chinese CB/HF radios. What that suggests to me is that the SDR technology is somewhat hampered when it comes to the receiver portion of the rig.

 

[slowmover]

I wish they would have done testing of the RX also for pulling out weak stations, because as i’ve stated a few times before, the Chinese CB/HF radios have better ears than most current big name HF rigs. I sold my IC-7300 within 2 months of owning it as its receiver was the noisiest and weakest i’ve ever used. Just utterly horrible. I also sold my FT-710 shortly after buying it as its ears weren’t all that great either. The Anytone/Radioddity/Retevis rigs all outperformed the $1000 SDR rigs on RX in my testing.

However, my older non SDR HF rigs hold their own and actually hear the same weak stations just as well, or maybe even a tad better than the Chinese CB/HF radios. What that suggests to me is that the SDR technology is somewhat hampered when it comes to the receiver portion of the rig.

The ironic point is that no one will compare a Cobra 29, et al, to anything that’s worth owning today.

$300 didn’t buy much “radio” in 2021.
Today it can’t be bettered in some ways.

It’s an astonishing value.

The last details of performance which may matter at a base station aren’t really relevant to mobile except that one can’t layer enough gold plate onto a mobile antenna system given a QT-80 equivalent without seeing improvements with every step taken.

I had a MyAntennas RX Choke/Filter at the receiver, a BandPass Filter just beyond it, then the amp (occasional use given 2X antenna system) and CMC/RF filter at antenna feedpoint.

Every step showed a S/NR benefit.

Though devices not part of this thread . . . I wasn’t running out of radio. (Two 8’ antennas and I was pretty much Best Ears wherever I went; message relay a regular thing).

Whichever of the latest AM/SSB exports chosen for mobile service . . there’s no upgrade. The price of entry is so low there’s no reason to not have one from the start.

Same idea for 5’ NMO antenna design & location. Do It Once, and Do It Right. The extra expense of my pickups antenna system won’t be a comparable benefit ($$ extra for not that much increase in RX/TX).

One might upgrade in some ways as I did with big truck coax system, and to chasing last bits of 12V noise, etc, but,

there really ain’t much left.

— What there is has to do with the vehicle-related.

$500+ to do what needed $1,200 just five years ago.

A cheap system isn’t worth the outlay . . will only confirm the CB is dead trope. And that man will have spent a good portion of the $500 ballpark number.

What today separates men & boys
Details.

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[slowmover]

A system build along these lines:

Dang Ford..Could use some help on my antenna....

I have a 2024 F350 SD Platinum. I would like to put a CB radio in it for traveling with my 36ft 5th wheel. I installed a President Bill 3 radio with a 3 foot hood mounted Firefly antenna. I bought a Ford hood mount antenna kit from Right Channel Radio that was suppose to work good, I thought. I...

forums.radioreference.com

Some parallel in this thread: NMO-30

Post in thread 'NMO34 with the W640 (64" whip) vs NMO-27 vs CWB-27'
NMO34 with the W640 (64" whip) vs NMO-27 vs CWB-27

Not NMO34
A correction.


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