CB or 2M/440 ham radio?

mikemd · **Posted:** Mon Jan 02, 2006 4:11 pm

I want to put a radio in my KJ. I am not licensed yet but would like to get my amateur license. What are the advantages to haveing a ham radio in the car wrather then just a CB? What do those of you who have ham radios in your KJs do with them primarily? Which one would you recommend.? Thanks

allscan · **Posted:** Mon Jan 02, 2006 6:29 pm

A CB will be more useful on the trail and long drives and a ham radio will be nice for the morning/afternoon commutes. I mostly use mine to chit chat during my 45 minute commute. It's a nice way to kill the time.

CaKJFreedom · **Posted:** Mon Jan 02, 2006 9:05 pm

There are several guys who have both. The cb is handy on the trail, so is the ham. With the ham the lead and tail gunner have contact the entire time. And they can talk smack about those of us with just cb's. :wink:

corwyyn · **Posted:** Mon Jan 02, 2006 9:21 pm

CaKJFreedom wrote:

There are several guys who have both. The cb is handy on the trail, so is the ham. With the ham the lead and tail gunner have contact the entire time. And they can talk smack about those of us with just cb's. :wink:

Tut tut, Nanette. Those of use with 2m rigs would never talk smack about anyone else in the group - we'd much rather share it with everyone on the CBs

I happen to have both in my KJ; the HF rig has been modded for CB and the VHF/UHF radio can also transmit on the GMRS/FRS frequencies. The main advantages of the VHF/UHF radios are clarity of signal and lack of excess traffic on the frequencies. One drawback with the higher frequencies is they become line-of-sight; if you happen to go behind terrain you may temporarily loose contact. Considering how many owners tend to put in CBs vs having ham/frs radios, I'd recommend the CB.

Alerion · **Posted:** Tue Jan 03, 2006 9:22 am

As far as the radios go, the ham radio will have the obvious advantages of more power and generally clearer audio. OTOH the CB has the advantages of being less expensive and not requiring a license. The no-license part is only an advantage in groups that are not comprised of all hams as anybody can toss a lighter-plug-powered CB in their rig and stick a mag mount antenna on the roof and be good to go. I have a ham radio permanantly installed in my XJ and a twin to it that will be going into the KJ as soon as I get some time on a warm day. I'm not a CB fan for anything other than off-roading so I have a mobile set up with a lighter plug and a mag mount. It's not a great setup but it does the job. I also have a CB handi-talkie that I either loan to someone else in the group that doesn't have a CB or I use it when I'm out on the ground spotting for someone else. If I'm spotting for someone with a ham rig in thier vehicle I will use one of my ham HT's. The disadvantage to ham there is that I can't just hand an HT to someone without a license and tell them to use it for the trip. Because of the license requirment, the conversations on ham are generally much more professional and you hardly ever hear any of the typical CB garbage talk.

However the advantages of ham radio aren't limited to the features of the box. One of the biggest overall advantage of 2m/440 rigs is the availability of repeaters. These are higher powered units with larger fixed antennas generally mounted on a tall building or a hill or mountaintop. Repeaters receive the signal from a generally lower powered transmitter and rebroadcast it with more power from a better antenna in a better location. Repeaters can also be part of a linked system (with other repeaters) so for example, with a 5 Watt HT turned down to 1W I can easily talk to five counties from my home town. There's another application called Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) that lets you link repeaters over the internet pretty much allowing you to talk all over the world, again on almost no power. Repeaters are fairly common and even in remote areas I've usually found that ones withing range.

I'm also a big user of APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System). With this system you can actually keep track of other APRS equipped vehicles in your group. It'll display the distance and heading to the other vehicle along with a short status message. You can also send short text messages back and forth. If an APRS equipped repeater is within range you location can also be tracked on the internet. It's pretty nice for example when I drive out to see my oldest son who live about an 11 hour drive away. Instead of guessing when I left home and when I might be arriving, often a 4-5 hour window, they can see that I'm still 150 miles away and I'll probably get there in 2 1/2- 3 hours. And while they could phone me, I've found that ham radio coverage is generally a lot better than cell phone coverage. BTW, it's also possible to make a phone call over a repeater with a ham radio.

SO, CB is great if not everybody in the group is a ham which is generally the case. Other wise I'll take ham radio every time!

Good Luck,

Tom
W9TMR

Alerion · **Posted:** Tue Jan 03, 2006 9:35 am

BTW, as far as using the radios on a regular basis, I'm an NWS trained storm spotter, a Red Cross Disaster Action Team member (many of us are hams), and a member of ARES and RACES. Ham radio opens up access to a fairly large number of public service groups.

Tom

Guest · **Posted:** Fri Jan 06, 2006 11:39 pm

Very good points everyone...

I like the idea of the 2/440 rig with a cig lighter and mag mount for the CB. got off the child bands many years ago and actaully haven't gone back...

As for ham I've been one for just over 10 years and wouldn't go back
I am now the local clubs president and love every minute of the hobby
Works with with geocaching and off-roading

Thanks
Mike
N3VQH

0311_DoC · **Posted:** Tue Jan 10, 2006 2:36 pm

I was wondering what freqs/tones you guys use on the runs?

Alerion · **Posted:** Wed Jan 11, 2006 11:00 am

0311_DoC wrote:

I was wondering what freqs/tones you guys use on the runs?

Around here, most of us use 146.580 simplex with no tones. If I choose the freq. it's usually 146.550 but that's just because I like to be a little different. :lol:

Tom

CB or 2M/440 ham radio?

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