What RevGary said!
"Back in the day" of $20 CB lic. fees, the FCC reportedly made so much money with people buying radios, sending in fees, (55 mph speed limit instituted), that the FCC literally didn't know what to do with all of it. So, rather than police 27MHz, they decided to use the windfall of funding to clean up broadcast radio, PS radio, and other services. Consequently, very few, other than the most blatent CB interference issues (numerous complaints from same area, complaints from commercial communication services about a specific operator/station etc) are acted upon. It usually involves multi-thousand watt txmtrs, profanity, antenna height violations, and all the scum issues of the broadcast spectrum. Basically, CB was openly allowed to become the neighborhood where even the cops would not go.
It's still somewhat useful on the highway for short range distances in some areas (away from metro populations) if you can put up with the "ex del" but for hobbiests the limit is more likely to be 20-50 miles (on a quiet evening) in a rural area depending on atmospheric/electromagnetic conditions...on a good day. Yet, CB is more current than a scanner. The two can be synergistic...just not on a holiday weekend, interstate grid lock due to an accident...which remains similar to a congressional committee meeting...all talk with no one listening...same questions over and over...same answers--some right some not...followed by more of the same questions just asked...and so it goes.
The linear amp. pre-amp amplifies everything so it's not selective for the signal you're trying to hear. You might as well just turn up the vol on the radio...same result. ANL's and NB's might activate filters that eliminate certain frequencies. These may or may not be the freq of the noise so the filters may or may not improve reception. Couple that with the fact that human hearing deteriorates over time and certain frequencies drop out and no amount of pre-amp will help hear a frequency that is no longer receivable (theoretically, anyway). Shooters (un-protected), musicians, boom boxers, etc will lose more frequencies at earlier ages as well.
CB is a frequency spectrum that collects gobs of reception of all kinds. Unfortunately, only a small portion is what we're trying to hear. An in line device might be helpful to add to the overall volume capability of the radio but eventually, the quality of the speaker will come into play as it's power handling limits are reached/exceeded and the sound eminating therefrom is distorted.
In the 36 years I've had radios with all kinds of gadgets installed, clipped, tweaked, and tuned, very little helps for very long and not always. Most of the help provided can be attributed to the placebo effect...you spent the money and time doing it so it "must" be helping! Save your money and just turn up the volume.
tl
