1st, yes I am aware the handheld wont do great vs an external antenna, but it will pick up strobg signals, those tards on 6 and 11 come in fine. Just not alot of local stuff anymore around. Guess I will find out about the light bar mount, should do ok for my purpose which is listening mostly.
certainly not like the old days on CB, thats for sure
most of the guys with smaller CB antennas say CB is dead... but with today's high tech equipment it's a different story than a cheap CB and small antenna.
I have found every town seems to have a channel for the locals.... finding it can be difficult
I listened to my CB for months when I first got it.. never heard many local guys... then someone here told me that my area uses Channel 27 ??? I was like sure... so one night I was driving home and took it off of channel 19 where it always sits and put it on channel 27 ...again nothing... after a few nights I asked is anyone out there in frustration????
several guys came back !!! seems there are 6 towns around my town that all use 27..... most just listen.. but as soon as someone starts talking, they all start! sometimes it's so busy we have three channels going.... and I thought CB was dead... seems the guys get on from 6 PM to 11 PM
on the highway I have friends that bought small antenna's that could only get out about 3.5 to maybe 4 miles ( LiL WiL ) ( K-30 ) they tried asking for a radio check hundreds of times... they tell me they never got one... anytime my friends are in my pick-up I look at them and smile and say so you never get a radio check huh? I pick up my mic and ask for a radio check.. many times I get more than one person coming back.... so I've gotten my friends to get rid of the little antenna's and buy a refurbished Magnetic Stryker SR-A10
Stryker for $79.99 right from Stryker with full warranty... the only reason they are refurbished is the box is falling apart... I have bought a couple myself and asked the sales people about why is the antenna refurbished ... again they said it was just the box.. it's so heavy that the cardboard falls apart and many stores send them back to Stryker and they make sure all the parts are there and sell them as refurbished... best deal out there!!!!!
I also have a powerful CB ( Radioddity QT-60 ) I run mine at 10 watts as it does the job...I have talked my friends into the newer radios that can be modified to do 6 to 10 watts and have NRC without the NRC the radios are very noisy and filled with static making it difficult to hear anyone... but with the NRC you will hear people much further away.
.... I have put a few Radioddity CS-47 cbs in... the CB body goes behind the seat or under the seat....and then I buy a RJ-45 Cat 6 extension cable and run that under the rug and just mount the mic on the dash... big beautiful display and it puts out 6.90 watts on AM and 15 watts on FM .... on AM with a good Stryker antenna it can do 7 to 9 mile radius and that's a LONG ways away...... ( big circle ) lot harder to find people in a 3 or 4 mile radius
so for $80 I would try the 66 inch Stryker ( you get a great antenna and a way to install it on your aluminum truck for $79.99 ) I would glue the washer under the aluminum roof ( I have used 100% silicone caulking for years once it dries you will never get it off! ) I would take a little sharpie and make 4 dots around the antenna on the roof so every time you take it off to go through the car wash or in a parking garage you can easily put it back in the same spot.... as with that huge thick steel washer under the roof you want to get it in just the right spot.
with my 5 foot antenna I am able to talk skip on Channel 38 and Channel 37 almost daily... all across America ...some times while I'm doing 75 MPH
just a suggestion maybe the little antenna on a light bar mount ( never heard of it working yet ) with a Randy or the Luiton ( the Luiton is 7 to 9 watts and has a NRC noise reduction Circuit ) will do the trick for you. ( the Randy is about 3.50 watts )
best of luck in whatever you do
I tried doing DX with a small antenna.. it was extremely difficult, I had a few... but only a few in a few months....
the 5 foot tall antenna makes DX look easy this is me showing a friend what my 5 foot antenna can do.... we tried his K-30 before this and got no contacts. but with the 5 foot antenna we had 10 contacts in 10 minutes
again good luck, I just wanted to make you aware of what actually works.
