CB Booster?

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Thu Jun 08, 2006 8:20 pm

Does anyone have one of these? I know they are illegal, but heck, I live in ky. My dad has one in his ford truck and its 250 watts. The guy that put it in said you must have a good antenna or it will burn it up? Will one of these things put out so many watts that it will burn the antenna? Sounds alittle crazy to me. Anyway, he said it cost around $250, which Im not going to spend in something like that. Anyone know any other places to get these for cheap? I checked ebay to no aval. :cry:

Se7enLC · **Posted:** Fri Jun 09, 2006 12:34 am

Jeepjeepster wrote:

Does anyone have one of these? I know they are illegal, but heck, I live in ky. My dad has one in his ford truck and its 250 watts. The guy that put it in said you must have a good antenna or it will burn it up? Will one of these things put out so many watts that it will burn the antenna? Sounds alittle crazy to me. Anyway, he said it cost around $250, which Im not going to spend in something like that. Anyone know any other places to get these for cheap? I checked ebay to no aval. :cry:

The thing you are looking for is a "linear amplifier" I believe it's called. The legal limit for citizens band is 4Watts, so 250Watts is likely to not only fry your radio, but probably the radios of people around you, too. Keep in mind that it won't help you pick up transmissions from further away any, it'll only help you transmit further (and the inevitable larger bandwidth will make your transmissions bleed over into neighboring channels and interfere with lots of stuff)

The thing to really think about with an amplifier is tuning. If you have an SWR of say, 2, that means that the ratio of reflected power to transmitted power is 2. So you are doubling the power that will be standing on your transmission line. Double 250W and send it back into your receiver and you'll generate a whole lotta heat!

I would suggest getting a better antenna and getting it tuned FIRST. See if that is enough power for you. In a lot of cases, 4W is enough and you'll have no problems. Another option is paired antennas, they increase your range by quite a bit if you tune them correctly.

corwyyn · **Posted:** Fri Jun 09, 2006 4:31 am

Jeepjeepster wrote:

Does anyone have one of these? I know they are illegal, but heck, I live in ky. My dad has one in his ford truck and its 250 watts. The guy that put it in said you must have a good antenna or it will burn it up? Will one of these things put out so many watts that it will burn the antenna? Sounds alittle crazy to me. Anyway, he said it cost around $250, which Im not going to spend in something like that. Anyone know any other places to get these for cheap? I checked ebay to no aval. :cry:

I agree with Jeff about getting your existing system tuned properly before even thinking about this. With a properly tuned system, low SWR, good grounds and a properly-mounted antenna you will probably find you don't need any more power. Driving back to Phoenix on Memorial Day I worked a couple of California stations on 'skip' around sunset and got good signal reports

A linear amp sits between your radio and antenna, and it takes the output of your radio and boosts it to the stated power; think wal-wart in reverse. Yes they are illegal, but the FCC tends to concentrate on the people transmitting out-of-band or causing intentional interference (not to say they won't come after you, but you'd be far down the priority list).

As far as the antenna goes, there are antennas made by Firestik, Wilson and others that will handle the high-power output. You do NOT want to run this much power with a basic Firestik or other antenna that is not rated for the high power unless you are looking for pyrotechnics :shock:

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Sat Jun 10, 2006 11:40 am

corwyyn wrote:

Jeepjeepster wrote:

Does anyone have one of these? I know they are illegal, but heck, I live in ky. My dad has one in his ford truck and its 250 watts. The guy that put it in said you must have a good antenna or it will burn it up? Will one of these things put out so many watts that it will burn the antenna? Sounds alittle crazy to me. Anyway, he said it cost around $250, which Im not going to spend in something like that. Anyone know any other places to get these for cheap? I checked ebay to no aval. :cry:

I agree with Jeff about getting your existing system tuned properly before even thinking about this. With a properly tuned system, low SWR, good grounds and a properly-mounted antenna you will probably find you don't need any more power. Driving back to Phoenix on Memorial Day I worked a couple of California stations on 'skip' around sunset and got good signal reports

A linear amp sits between your radio and antenna, and it takes the output of your radio and boosts it to the stated power; think wal-wart in reverse. Yes they are illegal, but the FCC tends to concentrate on the people transmitting out-of-band or causing intentional interference (not to say they won't come after you, but you'd be far down the priority list).

As far as the antenna goes, there are antennas made by Firestik, Wilson and others that will handle the high-power output. You do NOT want to run this much power with a basic Firestik or other antenna that is not rated for the high power unless you are looking for pyrotechnics :shock:

Funny stuff with the pyrotechnics.

Se7enLC, it does actually have a "pre-amp," its not near as much as the out going(250), but seems to help alot. We live in eastern ky which is full of mountains, and I can talk to him over a mile away which is great for around here. I am looking for a lower watt amp and hopefully Ill be able to find around a 100watt amp.

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