CB Radios for Preppers: pt 3

[00:00:12] It is the Prep Comms podcast. I'm Caleb Nelson, K-4 CDN. I'm a ham radio guy. I also have a

[00:00:18] GMRS license. It's WRBR 237, a business itinerant, whatever back. I can't remember what it was.

[00:00:24] And back in the day, I was a ham radio operator. I was a CB radio operator and loved it. It

[00:00:30] was so fun as a teenager back in the day. Now, gosh, if you're less than 25 years old and you're

[00:00:38] listening to this, you're amazing. God bless you. Thank you so much for listening. Let me know. I'll

[00:00:42] send you something. Yeah, back when we were your age, we didn't have phones to stare at. So we

[00:00:47] actually would go out into public and have friends. And a lot of us had CB radios in our

[00:00:51] cars and our trucks. And we would drive around the mall or the Walmart or whatever and talk on

[00:00:56] our CBs and pick up girls. It's a lot of fun. At least it seemed fun then. It was a tremendous waste

[00:01:02] of time. But talking on the CB has been a passion of mine almost 45 years now. And it's had held

[00:01:12] greater passions at different times, a greater depth of passion for me personally over the

[00:01:17] years. But it's always been a fun hobby that I've had. It actually is what got me into

[00:01:23] working for Radio Shack. It got me into being on the FM radio dial. It got me into

[00:01:30] amateur radio and we'll see what it can get you into. One thing, it can get you out of trouble

[00:01:35] if you're in a mess. Now, it can get you into trouble too. I won't, you know, if you're doing

[00:01:40] things the wrong way and get caught then it's going to get you in a mess. But if you're

[00:01:44] stuck on the side of the road or you're trying to figure out where the local restaurants are

[00:01:48] on the interstate, you may, and I say that with extreme caution, you may be able to get some help

[00:01:54] on the road with a CB radio. And if you're a prepper, it might even help you establish a

[00:02:01] communications plan and a setup within your group or your family or your farm or your bug out

[00:02:06] location or whatever. It's a great tool. It's called CB radio and it's been around for a

[00:02:11] very long time here in the US. Hub City, Mercantile is mine and my wife, Carla's business. We sell

[00:02:20] Berkey and British Birkfeld replacement filters. We sell the British Birkfeld brand of filters,

[00:02:26] the Gravity Water filter systems. That's the one all the others are copied after. Like it's

[00:02:31] the original. Everyone else is a clone. And you know I hate to give the British credit for

[00:02:36] that. You know our cousins that we beat almost, well we beat them back across the ocean is what

[00:02:42] we did in 1776. So anyway it's a business that my wife and I have here in our salon and boutique

[00:02:51] in the upstate of South Carolina. We do sell water filter systems, replacement filters and

[00:02:56] whatnot and we'd like to help you with your needs. Hubcity, mercantile.com there'll be a

[00:03:01] link in the show notes as always. I'm Caleb Nelson, K4 CD and I've already told you that.

[00:03:07] And we're continuing our talk here about Citizens Band or CB radios way back in the day as I

[00:03:13] mentioned. These things are so popular and if you were cool you had one. And if you wanted

[00:03:19] to be cool you wanted a CB radio because everybody had one. There were movies and

[00:03:23] television programs made specifically around the CB radio. Oh my gosh there were so many cool

[00:03:30] CB movies back in the day. It operates in a frequency band known as the 11 meter band and

[00:03:37] the frequencies are specifically between 26.965 and 27.405 megahertz. The 11 meter band it used to

[00:03:48] belong to the amateur radio guys and back in the late 50s they gave that band to the citizenry.

[00:03:56] They opened it up first as a license to where you paid to basically have a little ticket that

[00:04:01] you could use to legally talk on the radio. And it made it very accessible because the technology

[00:04:07] was there and the market was flooded and you could buy brands from Kmart that were their own brand

[00:04:14] all the way up to Cobra and Johnson and all these browning you've heard before. I bought

[00:04:21] a tram CB radio a couple of weeks ago and sold it at the same. Within five minutes I wish I

[00:04:25] had kept it now. One of the most beautiful radios I've ever seen. I know there's some guys

[00:04:29] grimacing when I say that I need to get a picture so that I can show it to you guys. It was a

[00:04:34] beautiful beautiful radio. I may just go buy it again. Just pay for what I sold it for.

[00:04:39] I wonder if Brett's listening. N9LPT if you're listening to this program I want to buy the

[00:04:43] CB radio okay. 11 meters is in HF. It's part of the shortwave end of the spectrum

[00:04:52] and that means that these these signals can travel longer distances sometimes not every time. They

[00:05:01] can travel a lot further with illegal power amplifiers but usually the conditions don't

[00:05:06] favor extremely long distance communications for these particular frequencies. You can

[00:05:12] realistically expect the CB radio to operate up to about 15 miles just depending on your terrain

[00:05:18] and where you find yourself what's between you and the person you're trying to talk to. I mean

[00:05:22] that literally like is there a massive city full of all kind of radio frequency interference

[00:05:29] and tall buildings maybe there's a huge mountain between you and your grandma

[00:05:34] and that may not be the best thing to try to use but could also work pretty well just

[00:05:38] depending on what uncle's son, uncle's old soul the son is doing to the atmosphere.

[00:05:45] For the vast majority of CBs that you'll find made prior to the last five or six years they come with

[00:05:52] two flavors AM or AM and single sideband. We've talked about single sideband numerous times

[00:05:58] real quick AM is called amplitude modulation and this has just been the default of CB radios

[00:06:05] from day one and it modulates the amplitude of the radio wave carrying the audio signal.

[00:06:11] Unfortunately AM is very susceptible to interference from all kind of devices

[00:06:18] and you know five to ten miles is about the best you're going to do right so single sideband is

[00:06:24] the other and again I said the last time through if you're serious if you're very serious about

[00:06:31] CB radio communications in your prepper plan you should have a single sideband capable

[00:06:38] CB radio in your toolbox because it's going to give you 50 to 100 percent more range

[00:06:44] you get a little bit more power but at the same time the way that it breaks the signal down

[00:06:48] you're going to get a lot more range. Now I say a lot guys I'm not talking you know 300 miles

[00:06:55] versus 15 maybe 100 maybe and again it depends on your antenna every time and then what else

[00:07:02] you've toys you've put in there that we're not going to talk about. The only problem with a single

[00:07:08] sideband radio is if you have one and your own single sideband upper sideband channel 39

[00:07:15] and your buddy's got a regular old CB on channel 39 you're going to sound like Charlie Brown

[00:07:21] school teacher to your buddy he's not going to be able to decode the radio can't decode the

[00:07:25] single sideband because it's AM only but with that said if you if you're going to have

[00:07:31] CB's in your preparedness plan and you know let's say you've got 12 people you're trying to do

[00:07:37] make a plan you know in this plan maybe two or three get single sidebands set them up as base

[00:07:42] stations in their house everybody can have a low cost regular old AM FM CB in their car the

[00:07:48] little radio oddity is amazing I keep beating that drum guys it's a very very good little

[00:07:54] radio and it's it's the size of half the size of a paperback book so there'll be a link in

[00:07:59] the show notes for that one the thing about it is if you're going to set it up in your house you

[00:08:04] should really consider spending the money for a large and well-made external antenna now you can

[00:08:10] make them cheap and they'll work fantastically but you can buy buy one that's you know weatherproof

[00:08:16] and ready to go permanently mounted outside and stay out there hundred bucks or so and

[00:08:22] there'll be links for all this stuff in the show notes as well that makes the biggest

[00:08:26] difference you got to have cable to go between the radio and the antennas called coax you don't

[00:08:31] have to spend a lot of money on that coax now when we get into higher frequencies we'll explain the

[00:08:35] difference there but you can really get in with the low cost coaxial cable for CB radios and it's

[00:08:41] not going to bother you CB radios man 15 miles max sometimes just depending on what's going on

[00:08:47] around you maybe just one to two miles you can use up to 12 watts in single sideband

[00:08:54] you've got four watts on am that's the output power it's really it's really all about the antenna

[00:09:02] and having the antenna properly tuned properly grounded and working so that it can be at its

[00:09:10] best performance state for your signal and I know you guys are like would you just please tell

[00:09:15] us what to buy I'm trying to help you understand that why you have to buy stuff I get that

[00:09:22] if you don't have it you have to buy it and you are interested in knowing what to buy

[00:09:26] but at the same time you got to know why like I may say you need to buy this $120 antenna and you're

[00:09:32] thinking well man I can get on Amazon there's an antenna for $12 but if it's not operating at its

[00:09:39] peak efficiency you're already behind you know the behind the black ball when you're trying

[00:09:44] to operate a CB with its low power output on this particular range of frequencies sometimes

[00:09:50] you got to spend and that may lead you to building your own antenna which they work really well

[00:09:54] if you'll just follow the instructions they work really really well so yes you do need to buy stuff

[00:10:02] especially if you're wanting to add CB radios to your prepper toolbox now let me just go through

[00:10:09] a couple of things I love this little radio oddity it'll be in the show notes number one

[00:10:13] choice back in the day I was a huge cobra radio user I had the cobra 25 lttd classic I had a 21 lttd

[00:10:22] I had a 29 lttd 146 gtl I had a lot of these different things and that's just like well is he

[00:10:28] speaking Chinese no those are model numbers from cobra radios they were a really good quality

[00:10:34] back in the day well built not necessarily industrial grade stuff but they were everybody

[00:10:41] had one they all worked well it sounded fantastic even with the stock microphone

[00:10:46] stock power output they were great radios and lasted for forever what happened was I kind of got

[00:10:53] not so in the CB and more into big subwoofers and amplifiers but I didn't want to give up my CB

[00:11:00] radio communications potential so I downsized from the cobra 25 lttd classic or one of its

[00:11:08] variants down to a unit in 510 pro or the unit in 520 pro I've had them both I've still got a couple

[00:11:15] of those matter of fact I like to buy them when I find them cheap at Hamfest and whatnot because

[00:11:19] they just work they're very small footprint they're a little bit bigger than the radio oddity

[00:11:25] and they're a little bit smaller than the big cobra so they'll still go into modern day vehicles

[00:11:30] pretty easily they come with this real tiny microphone which works well and guys I'm telling

[00:11:35] you 30 years later they still work and they work very very well so they don't take up a lot of

[00:11:41] space in your car but they may perform a little better than the small the real tiny ones that are

[00:11:46] out now from China so again the radio oddity great success cobra unit in and then if you want

[00:11:56] something larger it's really hard to be the galaxy or a president those are brands galaxy brand and

[00:12:03] the president brand the presidents are cool because they have they're all named after former

[00:12:07] presidents of the united states which is crazy I love the idea and and they're on the internet you

[00:12:12] can find them I'll link some of my favorites in the show notes and then galaxy radios are just

[00:12:17] fantastic right before I got my amateur radio license I finally bought me what's called it

[00:12:23] like a trucker cb is a galaxy 959 dx and man that was a that was a talking radio love

[00:12:30] that thing and then like six weeks later I got my amateur license and really haven't used it in the

[00:12:34] last 15 years but that to say they still make them they make great products and I would encourage you

[00:12:41] if you're willing to spend it's really hard to beat a galaxy or a president and there's other

[00:12:46] brands out there too striker and then you've got radio oddity any tone I think is doing cbs

[00:12:52] I'll link some stuff in the show notes and you just have to decide one it's all really

[00:12:56] we've talked about this before how much do you want to spend how far do you want to talk

[00:13:01] and how bad does the person on the other end want to talk back to you so again if you're looking for

[00:13:07] just a low-cost entry you got the unit in 510 520s you've got the radio oddities and maybe one or

[00:13:14] two little any tones if you want to spend some more money you've got the cobras the galaxies

[00:13:19] and the presidents and that's really kind of where I would stop now if you're going to

[00:13:24] utilize the any of these radios in your car they connect to the battery now I don't suggest taking

[00:13:31] the larger radios to your cigarette lighter plug but I know you're going to do it anyway okay I

[00:13:36] know you're going to it's just the best practice to go all the way to the battery if you can't

[00:13:41] go all the way the battery you can take your radio or take your car to a local electronic shop

[00:13:46] and they can run the wire through the firewall for you a lot of people do that it's pretty

[00:13:49] inexpensively if you don't want to go that far at least go back to the fuse block okay keep it out

[00:13:55] of your cigarette lighter because that's going to be in the way of charging your phone let's just be

[00:13:58] honest okay if you're going to use it at home then you need a power supply and this is what this

[00:14:04] is a box that you plug into your wall and it takes that type of electricity and turns it into

[00:14:10] the type of electricity that your cb radio needs to operate that's 12 volts dc and these can be

[00:14:18] found anywhere from $29 or even less up to hundreds of dollars I'll put some links in the show notes

[00:14:26] that can do cb radio and if you decide you want to add more as we go through the process

[00:14:32] there'll be growth there with its capabilities so you don't have to do this two or three times

[00:14:37] there's one I really love it's about between $79 and $99 I have a couple of them all over

[00:14:42] I've got radios everywhere and you have to power them so I've got I've got this stuff

[00:14:46] everywhere but they work well they're very quiet so they're not going to make a bunch of noise

[00:14:51] when you're operating or whatnot and they just do what they're supposed to do

[00:14:56] so it doesn't take a lot to have a cb it doesn't take a lot of money to get started

[00:15:02] again you can you can buy a small one for your car get a little antenna put it on the roof

[00:15:07] you'll be shocked and if you put the radio on channel 19 and you go down the interstate

[00:15:11] you'll probably be really shocked I gotta I should have said this very firstly but cb radio nowadays

[00:15:19] is rated r most everywhere it doesn't mean it's all bad all the time but it's a cross section of

[00:15:26] humanity and I mean you can get on youtube and watch music videos and you can see there's

[00:15:30] some really great stuff and there's some garbage in that's just like that with everything

[00:15:34] including cb radio so don't get on the highway you know you got your kids in their car

[00:15:40] seats in the back and you turn on channel 19 you're going to talk to truckers all the way to

[00:15:44] grandma's house your kids are going to learn some words you may not want them to know so just be

[00:15:48] cautious with that kind of stuff guys even in your home be aware but that's not to deter you

[00:15:54] I mean it's a great tool for preppers it's pretty cheap comparatively speaking to everything

[00:16:00] else out there and if things ever go sideways you've got a great way to communicate and it's

[00:16:06] also a way that you can start at the bottom end of things with your proper group or your friends

[00:16:13] or whomever you're planning to hopefully talk to base stations are a lot of fun I would encourage

[00:16:18] a larger radio for that most especially if you're serious I would do a single sideband radio again

[00:16:24] you can get those from unit in galaxy cobra president there's a selection of sideband radios

[00:16:32] with different features and you're just going to defend decide what you're gonna you know how much

[00:16:37] you will in the spend if it were me I would definitely if I was serious and I was kind of the

[00:16:42] the center of attention or the place everyone wanted to speak to or I wanted to speak to

[00:16:47] everybody I would invest in an external antenna I would mount it up as high as I can get it

[00:16:52] back in the day they used to put them in trees they would mount it to a mast and then attach

[00:16:57] the mast up into a tree as the crew it's a great idea actually you could spray paint the outside

[00:17:02] with a gray or a green or even a brown and it goes up in the tree it's kind of camouflaged even in

[00:17:09] the fall the winter and you can get some height that way I mean you can get creative man YouTube

[00:17:14] is full of people telling you how to do all this stuff that's not where we're going with this

[00:17:19] program I'm just trying to help you make good decisions as you're trying to figure out what's

[00:17:23] going to work best for you so you need a really good antenna there's CB radio operators everywhere

[00:17:30] and you can probably find someone that can help if you have questions and of course we're here

[00:17:34] to help if you need some help but we're not local to most people so try to make some friends

[00:17:38] and know that not everybody is going to like you because you have a CB but understand that

[00:17:42] not everybody talks on the CB radios and it's okay it's a great tool if you're a prepper

[00:17:47] and you're looking for a great tool CB radio is it this these show notes for this particular program

[00:17:53] will be more link oriented to get you you know pointed in the right direction for gear it's really

[00:18:01] simple as buying a radio buying the cable to go between the radio and the antenna and buying an

[00:18:07] antenna and then how do how you're going to power it if you're looking at mobile installations

[00:18:11] most of those antennas come with the cable attached to it if you're setting up a base

[00:18:16] station you'll have to have the cable to go between the radio and the antenna give yourself

[00:18:20] an extra 10 or 15 feet or a little more if you need it when you when you decide how much you're

[00:18:26] measuring out to purchase to feed the antenna with the power supplies will be in the show notes as

[00:18:31] well again this allows you to operate the 12 volt radio that can work in your car it allows

[00:18:38] you to power it from the inside of your home this is not hard stuff the the ebook will be

[00:18:44] linked in the show notes it goes to a lot of these things a lot of this stuff is common sense and

[00:18:49] guys you know as well as I do that's why your podcast listener that youtube has the answers to

[00:18:54] virtually everything but if you stumble into something and you just can't figure it out please

[00:18:59] don't ever hesitate to contact us and we'll do our best to get you squared away or at

[00:19:03] least pointed in the right direction now this is not going to finish out our talk on CB radios

[00:19:08] we'll probably come back one more time but I hope this has been some understanding for you and

[00:19:14] some help I mean it's not hard communications is not hard it's just it doesn't like fit in everybody's

[00:19:23] understanding but it still doesn't mean that it's hard and that's the purpose of this program

[00:19:28] to help you make good decisions not in fear so that you can move forward in your communications

[00:19:33] plans and strategies in case something were to happen because you're prepping for something right

[00:19:38] we all are whether we realize it or not okay I'm going to go where you we can be found online at

[00:19:43] prep comms.com of course hub city mercantile is our show sponsor hub city mercantile.com that'll

[00:19:50] be in the show notes we appreciate your business by the way always love it when you guys review

[00:19:54] the program share the show and check us out on youtube now there's no like real videos there

[00:20:00] it's just this but some people like to listen through youtube of course we're on spotify and the

[00:20:05] apple thing too so we're everywhere and thanks to you we're continuing to grow the program

[00:20:10] we'll be back next time we're going to be finishing up cbs then but until that moment in time

[00:20:16] guys have a great day thank you again for listening god bless you 73 y'all