If your knowledge of CB radio is gathered from either American movies of the Seventies ("Breaker, breaker! Come in Smokey Joe!"), or from listening to morons in major cities ("Duh, anyone out there wanna talk to a loser, duh....") then you probably see little use in having a CB in your car. But if you do any long distance driving, you're wrong.
A UHF CB radio puts you straight into two-way contact with all other professional road users. When you're coming up behind a B-double semi on a two-lane road, you can ask how clear the road ahead is - overtaking safety is immensely improved. You can tell a truck that one of his headlights is out; you can hear road workers communicating on walkie-talkies and know that there will be a delay ahead - and if you wanna know how long it will be, you can ask them. If you break down by the side of the road you can ask a passing four-wheel-drive for a lift - and have a far greater chance of success than if you just stick your thumb out. In short, on the open road, a CB radio is a practical and useful tool.
Years ago I used to do a heap of country long distance driving. In those (bad old) days, I ran in my car a radar detector, police scanning receiver, and an AM 27 MHz CB. And yes, I used to drive very, very fast. The AM CB was crackly, line-of-sight use only, but in the three years I had it, the radio warned some approaching low-flying trucks that they were about to hit the floodwaters I'd just had a very nasty night experience with; it allowed me to hitch a ride on a desolate, dark stretch of highway after my BMW expired; and numerous times told me where accidents, rock falls and the police were.
When my job moved to the city I took the radio out - no point in listening to a bunch of pre-pubescent wankers bemoaning their lot in life. Then years later, when again I needed to do some long distance driving, I bought another AM CB, installing it the night before the trip. What a mistake! The engine interference was so bad almost nothing could be heard, the transmission range seemed non-existent, the audio quality was terrible - it was hopeless, and after the first few hundred kilometres I switched it off. A total waste of money.
But now, with some long trips coming up, I've decided it is time to revisit the area of mobile CB.
New Technology
CB radios have changed dramatically over the last few years. The near universal adoption of UHF (ultra high frequency) CB radios has brought with it superb speech clarity, excellent multi-functional equipment, smaller aerials that still work - and, unfortunately, a much greater cost. A typical starting model AM (amplitude modulation) CB costs about A$100. Throw in an aerial and some connecting coaxial cable, and you can be on the air for about A$130. On the other hand, a cheap UHF CB costs about A$300, so with an aerial, around A$350 is the minimum outlay for new equipment. (The greater expense of UHF radios means that there are fewer idiots around, however, in the cities, time wasters still dominate.)
Unlike AM CBs, most UHF radios have a scanning facility. This simply means they rapidly scroll through the different channels (40 of them in most cases), stopping when they detect a transmission. This is very useful for two reasons - (1) you can monitor what is happening across 40 different frequencies without having to touch a thing, and (2) as a result of this, if you urgently need to talk to someone, you'll know where they are. For example, most road users communicate on channel 40. But if there aren't any people talking (eg there aren't any trucks around!) but you can hear on channel 21 a farmer telling his wife that he'll be in for lunch, when you crash the car and shakily reach for the microphone to call for help, channel 21 will be it.
The advent of mobile phones has to some extent changed the usefulness of CB - if you can make a direct phone call, you wouldn't bother lifting the microphone. However, if you want to talk to another road user, or be kept up to date on road conditions, (etc), a CB is still far superior.
Other features of good quality UHF CBs include Selcall (the radio can be configured so you'll only hear someone who wants to talk to you), automatic squelch (no background noise between transmissions), and different scanning modes. The type of equipment that includes all of these features costs A$300 - A$400.
Purchase
I decided to buy a GME Electrophone TX3400 UHF CB radio. This story is not a product review - perhaps there are better radios around - but the TX3400 had the right mix of features for my application. Foremost is the fact that the radio boasts a remote-mount headunit. Just 128 x 32 x 29mm, this tiny module houses an LCD backlit display, channel selection and volume knobs, and an additional three pushbuttons. Its tiny size means that it can mounted almost anywhere in the cabin - the supplied bracket allows easy angle adjustment.
The headunit connects by a thin cable to the main body, which at 128 x 117 x 29mm is also very small. This box contains a built-in speaker and so should be mounted where the speaker can be easily heard. Alternatively, a plug-in extension speaker can be used, with the main radio module mounted (for example) in the boot. The maximum distance between the head unit and the radio is 10 metres, with the supplied cable being about a metre long.
In addition to this mounting versatility, the TX3400 has a heap of features - Selcall, two scanning modes, repeater function, and an extra ten programmable receive-only channels. The latter really appealed to me. What it means is that the TX3400 can have other (non-CB) frequencies programmed into it, ones that allow you to hear what's going on but not transmit. For example, Adelaide's 'The Electric Bug' (where the gear was purchased) can program in ten local police frequencies. Listening to the police won't tell you the locations of all the radar traps, but it will let you know of accidents around the corner, what that strange noisy disturbance is that's happening down the road, and so on. Although mostly it just tells you how horrible a job the police have!
The TX3400 with the pre-programmed ten police channels cost a substantial A$475.
Just as I didn't want a great big ugly radio stuck in my dash, I also didn't want a 1-metre black whip aerial sitting on a boot bracket. But these days there's a good alternative to the traditional CB whip - a glass-mount aerial like that used for in-car phones. Looking just like a phone aerial and installed in much the same way, these aerials often come with long and short whips for city/country use. The RFI AP454-3G antenna package that I bought comes with a mounting block and 5-metres of thin coax cable, and is provided with 250mm and 710mm whips. This package cost A$80.
Installation
I mounted the remote headunit under the Audi's ashtray in the centre console, and the main unit in a pocket located to the right hand side of the steering column. The body of the radio is designed to slide into a supplied cradle, making removal and installation straightforward. However I chose to mount the radio in the tight space so that the speaker was directed outwards, meaning that the cradle and radio needed to be bolted into place as a single unit.
The only downer with the radio installation is that the plug used on the cable that connects the two pieces of equipment is fairly large, necessitating that quite big holes (much bigger than cable diameter) are drilled to fit the plug through. A fused power supply loom is supplied with the radio, and the installation instructions are clear and precise. Power for the radio was picked up from an always-live fusible link positioned under the dash - I chose to not switch the radio through the ignition, meaning that if the keys are out of the car the radio can still be used.
The aerial installation instructions were also quite clear, with even an alcohol-impregnated window cleaning towellete provided. Note that the adhesive used on the aerial and interior block mounts is very strong - you must get these pieces positioned exactly right before you push them against the glass. (I got them mostly right - then, ooops, too late!) The coaxial cable from the aerial is quite thin, allowing it to be easily tucked under a moulded hood lining and C-pillar trim piece. At the radio end, a PL259 plug needs to be installed on the cut-to-length cable; this is a little tricky to get right. The Electric Bug supplied a 'how-to' guide for the installation of this plug.
Listening
As soon as the equipment was installed, I went driving. The police chatter was constant and very, very clear. I was a little concerned that the small speaker in the TX3400 would not be up to good reproduction, but it is fine. Even at speed, the volume control doesn't need to be past 'half'. Not so good, though, was a whistle from the aerial. Despite using only the smaller whip - and having it mounted on the rear screen - at any speed over about 100 km/h, an audible whistle could be heard. I adjusted the aerial's angle but the sound remained.
To get rid of the annoying noise, I slipped a piece of thin plastic hose over the aerial and then covered this with black heatshrink. With the diameter of the wire increased to similar dimensions to 'rubber ducky' aerials used on some walkie-talkies, the noise disappeared. (Reception is so good with the small 250mm aerial that I can't see myself using the much larger 710mm whip - except perhaps when stationary - so I didn't bother modifying that one.)
During this initial test drive I could hear CB base stations (ie transmitting from home with bigger aerials) at least 50 kilometres away, and mobile users within about 15-20 kilometres. For the application this is fine - too great a range can actually cause problems. (A problem in having too great a range? You're stuck in a traffic jam. You ask why everyone's stopped. Someone stuck in a traffic jam 40 kilometres away replies!)
The aerial coupling block (the bit that's mounted on the inside of the glass) has a tuning adjustment. To set this correctly (and also to intelligently adjust aerial length) you're supposed to use a SWR meter, which I don't have. Instead, I picked a weak signal and then adjusted the screw to give best reception signal strength, as measured on the radio's digital signal strength meter.
Conclusion
The gear's not cheap but having the ability to easily communicate with other road users is invaluable. If you do any long distance driving, it's an addition that simply makes a helluva lot of sense. Incidentally, both the radio and antenna covered here are Australian designed and manufactured.
Contacts:
GME Electrophone:
www.gme.net.au
Web page for TX3400 UHF Transceiver:
www.gme.net.au/land/tx3400.html
RF Industries:
http://www.rfindustries.com.au
The Electric Bug:
+618 8346 9234
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