Hey CSL,
Well as you are just beginning to see, I suppose that you will get 100 different opinions from 100 different people. I however am going to encourage you with your newfound and free gear and not rain on your parade.
I first got into having fun with radios in the giant U.S. CB radio boom of the mid 1970's more or less following the first Smokey and the Bandit movie. CB radio can be highly enjoyable and effective. Like others said, put up the best antenna you can afford. The antenna is 95% of your system. Even in ham radioland (I'm a ham since '93) you can have your a $10,000 Icom IC 7800 radio and a 2,000 watt amplifier....but if you're using a piece of a coat hanger for an antenna...you ain't gonna do much.
I would recomment at least a 1/2 wave verticle such as an Antron 99 which is a popular choice. New they're only $49 bucks and available all over. Try
www.copperelectronics.com or Ebay. There's a huge ammount of CB gear on Ebay.
How far you can talk depends on the equipment and location of BOTH stations or all the stations you're talking to. Without obstructions like a mountain in between, your 4 watts on AM or 12 on sideband can go 40-50 miles easily. But it doesn't stop there. The CB band in 27mhz is in the upper end of the HF band and right below the 10 meter ham band. This frequency area is easily capable of round-the world propogation which generally, but not exclusively, follows the 11 & 1/2 year sunspot cycles. The current cycle is heading down right now from the last peak but there are many other atmospheric and ionospheric conditions which can and do present themselves which allow these "band openings" where you 'll be able to talk all over the country and out of the country easily and all with your low CB power. When propogation is there....it's there and you'll start hearing stations (other CB'ers) coming in from wherever the propogation is running. Can be from 2 states away to the other side of the country, Canada or over to Europe, down to South America or way out yonder to Australia.
The CB boom of the mid '70's chanced to coincide with one of the greatest sunspot cycle peaks in modern history and this exposed tens of thousands of CB'ers like you to the wonder and thrill of real long distance radio communication. Many stayed in the hobby and went on the become hams like I did, others drifted away. But it was all great fun. I still operate on CB sideband and enjoy the casual format and easy operations as do tens of thousands of ordinary folks around the world.
True, you'll hear your share of low down dirty dirt bags and the some of the truckers out on the highway on channel 19 can cuss it up with any sailor......but that doesn't mean that you have to hang out with anyone you don't want to or on channel 19.
And CH 19 is still the best place to get on the spot and accurate highway information. Most truckers are just regular people doing their jobs and use CB's to chat up their friends and pass along accurate road & highway info to each other. Many times you can just listen and get the info that you need if you have a CB in your vehicle.
So I say go for it and have fun. Your buddy can get him a cheap (inexpensive) radio at any pawn shop, truck stop or Ebay or any number of places. CB is a terriffic place to begin learning about how HF radios work and you may like it so much that you'll want to become a ham later. The FCC is just now in the process of dropping the morse code requirement for HF ham band voice privilages so very soon you will find that it will have never been easier to become a ham and step up to much better radios with loads of useful features and typically at least a 100 watt power level which will make you ready to talk all over the country and the world almost at will and practically 24 hrs a day and at any time of the year.
Cobra is still around and has always been a pretty good radio. They still carry them in most Radio Shacks new and again there's all kinds of catalog-internet sellers for everything you'll need.
I was a full time CB'er for over 10 years in the past and had a remarkably great time. I talked all over the world on low power and with ordinary verticle antennas. Don't let anyone talk you out of experimenting with it and finding things like this out for yourself.
Good luck and lets us know how it goes and if you need anymore help.
. Seriously, if you get the bug and want to work DX and other long range communications save yourself the hassel of getting that deep into CB and look into amateur radio.
