Walkie-Talkies or Handheld CBs?

What do you mean by "tuned properly?" I'm a novice and I've never heard of "tuning" a CB radio.
You only need to adjust the antenna length to properly tune it. Getting its length set properly maximizes how much power it sends out. A $15-20 SWR meter makes it a fairly simple process, set the length for the lowest SWR indication on the meter which means maximum power output. Checking & adjusting the SWR (standing wave ratio) also verifies if the antenna was installed correctly or not. Installed incorrectly an antenna will give a sky-high SWR indication on the SWR meter.

Handheld CBs & walkie-talkies are a PITA to use while driving. Better to buy & install a permanently mounted CB radio and antenna and they're relatively inexpensive. My long-term favorite CB is the the Uniden Pro-520XL which is only $43 at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004VXNI/?tag=wranglerorg-20. Firestick CB antennas are cheap too.

I recommend a CB as the first radio for a Jeep since 99% of the 4x4 events and Jeepers use CBs as their main radio choice. Many organized 4x4 events require a CB. After that my recommendation for a second radio is a ham radio which requires a license to operate but fortunately the test for that license is easy with just a small amount of study.

This is my setup, though it's no longer as pretty as it was the day it was installed as shown here. The top radio is a Yaesu 2 meter ham radio, the bottom radio is the Uniden Pro-520xl CB radio.

CB&HamRadios.JPG
 
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You only need to adjust the antenna length to properly tune it. Getting its length set properly maximizes how much power it sends out. A $15-20 SWR meter makes it a fairly simple process, set the length for the lowest SWR indication on the meter which means maximum power output. Checking & adjusting the SWR (standing wave ratio) also verifies if the antenna was installed correctly or not. Installed incorrectly an antenna will give a sky-high SWR indication on the SWR meter.

Handheld CBs & walkie-talkies are a PITA to use while driving. Better to buy & install a permanently mounted CB radio and antenna and they're relatively inexpensive. My long-term favorite CB is the the Uniden Pro-520XL which is only $43 at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004VXNI/?tag=wranglerorg-20. Firestick CB antennas are cheap too.

I recommend a CB as the first radio for a Jeep since 99% of the 4x4 events and Jeepers use CBs as their main radio choice. Many organized 4x4 events require a CB. After that my recommendation for a second radio is a ham radio which requires a license to operate but fortunately the test for that license is easy with just a small amount of study.

This is my setup, though it's no longer as pretty as it was the day it was installed as shown here. The top radio is a Yaesu 2 meter ham radio, the bottom radio is the Uniden Pro-520xl CB radio.

View attachment 131722
Thank you, that's really helpful information.
 
You only need to adjust the antenna length to properly tune it. Getting its length set properly maximizes how much power it sends out. A $15-20 SWR meter makes it a fairly simple process, set the length for the lowest SWR indication on the meter which means maximum power output. Checking & adjusting the SWR (standing wave ratio) also verifies if the antenna was installed correctly or not. Installed incorrectly an antenna will give a sky-high SWR indication on the SWR meter.

Handheld CBs & walkie-talkies are a PITA to use while driving. Better to buy & install a permanently mounted CB radio and antenna and they're relatively inexpensive. My long-term favorite CB is the the Uniden Pro-520XL which is only $43 at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004VXNI/?tag=wranglerorg-20. Firestick CB antennas are cheap too.

I recommend a CB as the first radio for a Jeep since 99% of the 4x4 events and Jeepers use CBs as their main radio choice. Many organized 4x4 events require a CB. After that my recommendation for a second radio is a ham radio which requires a license to operate but fortunately the test for that license is easy with just a small amount of study.

This is my setup, though it's no longer as pretty as it was the day it was installed as shown here. The top radio is a Yaesu 2 meter ham radio, the bottom radio is the Uniden Pro-520xl CB radio.

View attachment 131722
Any Firestick antenna you prefer? Or are they all reasonably good?
 
Any Firestick antenna you prefer? Or are they all reasonably good?
Their FS series is a good choice, it's flexible but not so whippy that it sways around and bangs against the top while you're offroading. I run the FS-2 which is 2' tall mounted just above the tail light which works really well for me. I personally wouldn't run anything taller than the FS-3 when mounted at tail light height.
 
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In my opinion, CB is an antiquated technology. With the availability of inexpensive programmable handheld UHF/VHF devices, there is no reason to continue running a hardwired CB radio.

Spend the $30 on something like a Baofeng UV-5R and don't look back. Make sure you edecate yourself on legal use of free airwaves (MURS and FRS frequencies).

Something like this:
F9390B72-E5E2-49F0-A267-9A8B34DC4E0F.jpeg
 
In my opinion, CB is an antiquated technology. With the availability of inexpensive programmable handheld UHF/VHF devices, there is no reason to continue running a hardwired CB radio.

Spend the $30 on something like a Baofeng UV-5R and don't look back. Make sure you edecate yourself on legal use of free airwaves (MURS and FRS frequencies).

Something like this:
View attachment 131931
What mount is that you are using to mount to the grab bar?
 
In my opinion, CB is an antiquated technology. With the availability of inexpensive programmable handheld UHF/VHF devices, there is no reason to continue running a hardwired CB radio.

Spend the $30 on something like a Baofeng UV-5R and don't look back. Make sure you edecate yourself on legal use of free airwaves (MURS and FRS frequencies).

Something like this:
View attachment 131931
Great. Thanks! There's a new model that I'm considering:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MAULSOK/?tag=wranglerorg-20
 
In my opinion, CB is an antiquated technology. With the availability of inexpensive programmable handheld UHF/VHF devices, there is no reason to continue running a hardwired CB radio.

Spend the $30 on something like a Baofeng UV-5R and don't look back. Make sure you edecate yourself on legal use of free airwaves (MURS and FRS frequencies).

Something like this:
View attachment 131931
Also, anybody done a similar setup where you route the speaker into the aux input on the stereo?
 
What mount is that you are using to mount to the grab bar?
Search UV-5R builder mount. A Yota guy here in AZ custom makes them. It accepts a standard bipod thread on the back. I just found a clamp and ball arm on Amazon that had the same thread pitch.
 
I would check FCC rules about using these radios on MURS or FRS.
Sales of FRS combination radios prohibited.

Effective September 30, 2019, no person shall sell or offer for sale hand-held portable radio equipment capable of operating under this subpart (FRS) and under any other licensed or licensed-by-rule radio services in this chapter (devices may be authorized under this subpart with part 15 unlicensed equipment authorizations).

No person shall be permitted to manufacture or import, sell or offer for sale any radio equipment capable of operating under both subpart B (FRS) and any other service, other than part 15.

The Commission grandfathered the operation of any existing combination radios as set forth above, and reminded operators of such existing devices that fit within the reclassified GMRS category that they must obtain a license before operating a GMRS device.
 
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I would check FCC rules about using these radios on MURS or FRS.

Baofeng sells a MURS/FCC compliant radio as well. They're locked down to the MURS frequencies. They cost about twice as much ($50) and have far less programmable capabilities.

It all depends on what you're after. There's a wealth of knowledge out there about these little radios. I know dozens of folks running the UV-5R radios responsibly without any snag.
 
They are grandfathered in on those rules. There was a two year grace period that ended in September.

Also those open channels are limited to two watts. Anything above that would be illegal. But, do what you want.
 
They are grandfathered in on those rules. There was a two year grace period that ended in September.

Also those open channels are limited to two watts. Anything above that would be illegal. But, do what you want.

And CB is limited to 4 watts, but some of those truckers are cranking 250 watts. Same with some of the off-roaders on this forum.

Frequency and wattage is all programmable on the Baofeng. Please research and operate responsibly.
 
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In my opinion, CB is an antiquated technology. With the availability of inexpensive programmable handheld UHF/VHF devices, there is no reason to continue running a hardwired CB radio.

Spend the $30 on something like a Baofeng UV-5R and don't look back. Make sure you edecate yourself on legal use of free airwaves (MURS and FRS frequencies).

Something like this:
View attachment 131931
You left out a key piece of information... while VHF radios like that work well, they can't communicate with CB radios that operate on the HF band and it is CB that 99% of Jeeps with radios run. Most organized 4x4 events use nothing but CB too.

I have a VHF ham radio in my TJ but it rarely gets used when compared to my CB. If you go out wheeling with nothing but that VHF radio you won't be able to communicate with most wheelers. By all means run a VHF ham radio if you want but I'd install the CB first if you want to talk with the most wheelers. Then get a ham radio installed.

As said I am a general class ham (N6TAY) but if I had to pick just one radio to have in my Jeep it'd be the CB which is a far more common and popular radio for offroading and Jeeping. I use my Jeep's CB probably 100 times for every time I use my ham radio while offroading.

You can see my VHF 2 meter ham radio (top) and CB (bottom) up in post #22 above.

Keep in mind you can have the coolest latest technology but it's not a good choice if it can't communicate with what most offroaders and Jeepers use when going offroad which is CB. Which actually works very well for this kind of use.

And while it's true a CB can only transmit with 4 watts, that's enough to communicate for several miles and more than that in most conditions.

Get into a large 4x4 event without a CB and you'll wish you had one.
 
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