warrior92 Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 The previous owner of my 92 Winnebago Warrior was a Ham Radio Operator. When i purchase the motorhome from him he took all of his CB radio, Ham Radio ect. stuff out before i took deliver of the motorhome. He did leave me all of the antenna cables and mountes. I am wanting to install a goog little CB Radio back in the motorhome . A unit that would be good for a first timer. I want to be able to use the radio during my trips more so for use with traffic, popos ect. Can anybody recomend a good starter radio for me to install back in the toy home? THIS IS WHAT HE SAID HE HAD: I had several radio systems in the motorhome. On the hood I had a dual band 2 meter/440 cm rig that screwed into the mount. On the passenger side mirror I had a 102” steel whip for C.B. and 10/11 meters. In the back I had 15-20- & 40 meter sticks which screwed into the base mount on the rear bumper. The rear and the passenger side mirror will take any antenna; but unless you are a licensed ham radio operator – the only thing you can use is the citizen band antennas. license – I have The best thing for you to do is probably stick with the C.B. stuff – as it doesn’t require a license.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiter Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 If he left the coax, the hard part of the job is done. Should be able to purchase an inexpensive 40 channel radio, no bells or whistles for under $50. If your looking to get on the air fast, install a 102" whip on the mirror, the same way he had it. (lot of weight, on that mirror. Probably should have a heavy duty spring). Keep in mind that this will work, but will be far from optimal. When the Weather warms up, I'll be installing a 3ft whip (with spring) on the front of the roof luggage rack, centered on the roof. This is the optimal location for omni directional use, unfortunantly, its not the optimal antenna. I haven't figured out how to run the coax yet, probably just take it down the refrigerator chimney, under the truck, then forward to the truck cab Heres a package deal, radio, antenna, coax, Its a 2' antenna, but you can upgrade to a 4': http://www.rightchan...ackage-487.html I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maineah Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 If he had ham sticks on the rear buy a 11 meter screw in antenna (Fire stick is one brand) they are made to screw into a 3/8 SAE thread antenna mount they are what is known as a center feed antenna and require no ground plane. 81/2 feet of antenna is a lot of stress for any mirror bracket! If you want to put them on the mirrors then buy a set of CB cophased antennas they are fairly short and work very well that's what you see on big trucks a lot. Better yet study for your ham licence and work the world instead of around the block! Tim N3LYT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiter Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Yah, actually, the rear or the mirror are both crappy places, Top dead center on the roof would be the ideal location John Mc Avoy WD4LQM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maineah Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Yah, actually, the rear or the mirror are both crappy places, Top dead center on the roof would be the ideal location John Mc Avoy WD4LQM Quite right but then again so is CB radio! The cophased actually work quite well makes a figure 8 pattern if they are out far enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiter Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 I think the truck/trailer body screws up the pattern to the rear, but probably doesn't hurt the forward to much. Almost anything you do is a compromise. I ordered that PickupTruck kit yesterday, Guess what showed up in the mail today. WOW, Talk about fast shipping. http://www.rightchannelradios.com/pickup-cb-radio-kits-135/uniden-pro510xl-pickup-truck-package-487.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gulfstream Greg Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 So there is allot more to antennas than just throwing one on your rig. And there are different types of antennas. Antenna Specialist has an antenna for RV's that does not need a ground plane. I have heard that it works OK. So there is a big factor here that must be met no matter where it gets mounted and that is called SWR. Short for standing wave ratio. It is a measurement of how much power is reflected back down the antenna coax to the radio. If its too high not much power gets radiated out of the antenna and there is a high chance that you will eventually fry the final output transistors of the radio. The difference in in a proper installation with the right choice in antenna and location can mean a several mile difference in communications range. My advice is do some research on CB antennas on the many CB radio sites. Is the roof of your rig metal or fiberglass and the same for the sides? Like Maineah I am also a Ham radio operator. K6GPH Here is some picks of my antenna system on my rig. http://toyotamotorhome.org/forums/index.php?app=gallery&module=user&user=1&do=view_album&album=179 I actually run with 3 antennas, 11 meter (CB) on left side, the GMRS then a dual band VHF/UHF antenna. My coaxes run down a conduit down the back of the rig and come up into the bottom of the rear dinette seat. Anyhow I can not preach to you loudly enough about SWR. Research it so you have a handle on it and you will be a happy CB'er in the end. Here is a pic of my power panel. It has many things incorporated into it. and some room left for a couple new gizmo's eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warrior92 Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Thanks for the reply guys. I live in a small town south east of Dallas Texas . We have a few truck stops in town and one of them has a cb radio shop next door to it. I think maybe i will take my Toy Home over to that guy and let him take a look at what i have. I can purchase a CB and Antennas from him and have him hook it up for me. That way i know it will be done right and i wont burn anything up. Maybe once all this is done i might start looking into the Ham Radio stuff after i get my feet wet with the CB. Waiter I have been watching your work on your Toy Home...... NICE JOB WITH EVERYTHING! I got lucky when i bought my Toy. It is one of the cleanest rigs i have ever seen 92 Winnebago Warrior with 51,000 miles on the dash. Luckly everything works as i am new to RV repair. I did have to install a new room impeller on my suburban furnace and that worked out ok. But that is the only fix that it needed sofar. Eddie in Texas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiter Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Waiter I have been watching your work on your Toy Home...... NICE JOB WITH EVERYTHING!.... Thanks.. Inside was in pretty good condition, probably could have done minimal work and hit the road. Wife wanted to cleanup and redo the inside and make it look new (I'm impressed, we've went to a couple RV shows over the last month and still like our better than what we've seen. We may run down to FL in a couple weeks and watch the Shuttle launch. That will be the shakedown cruise for the trip to Alaska in May. When we get back from Alaska, we'll decide whether to keep it or sell it. John Mc 88 Dolphin 4 Auto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maineah Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 You are so right about SWR Greg with 4 watts you can't afford to lose much to a bad match! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gulfstream Greg Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Thanks for the reply guys. I live in a small town south east of Dallas Texas . We have a few truck stops in town and one of them has a cb radio shop next door to it. I think maybe i will take my Toy Home over to that guy and let him take a look at what i have. I can purchase a CB and Antennas from him and have him hook it up for me. That way i know it will be done right and i wont burn anything up. Maybe once all this is done i might start looking into the Ham Radio stuff after i get my feet wet with the CB. Waiter I have been watching your work on your Toy Home...... NICE JOB WITH EVERYTHING! I got lucky when i bought my Toy. It is one of the cleanest rigs i have ever seen 92 Winnebago Warrior with 51,000 miles on the dash. Luckly everything works as i am new to RV repair. I did have to install a new room impeller on my suburban furnace and that worked out ok. But that is the only fix that it needed sofar. Eddie in Texas Eddie you should consider buying a swr meter for yourself, they are very inexpensive on eBay. If you end up putting an antenna on your roof its going to be abused by many many trees and so a swr check once in awhile is a good thing. Even if its mounted somewhere else checking the swr from time to time is needed as antennas and connections do come loose, get corroded and break. Many CB radios have a built in swr meter also. Radio systems are like race cars. The more you understand and the more you tune and tweak the better the performance. There is nothing more frustrating than only getting 1 mile of communications range especially when your buddy can talk 8 miles with ease. As for a Ham license here is a good site to study for the tests. http://qrz.com/exams The tech test is the basic and easily past by 99% of everyone with a little study. It will give you FM repeater privileges (like what law enforcement uses). Many repeaters have several hundred mile area coverage and there is one almost everywhere. The General is a bit harder but will give you frequency privileges that will put CB to shame. I am not saying that CB is a bad thing its just very limited. The population of actual CB operators is very small these days at least around here. Maybe Texas is different. I have a CB in the RV, A GMRS radio and a couple different Ham radios. Anyhow keep us up to date on how the CB install goes. Greg in Calif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.