Itinerant Air-Cooled

For many years, I have relied upon a CB radio to talk to the other VW buses while out on the open road. I like CBs because they are cheap, universal and made for road trips. Unfortunately, they suffer from a stigma left over from the 70's, when there was an oppressive CB radio fad that swept the nation.

When the "good buddy" idjits went away, once again we had the bands to ourselves. Channel 2 is the defacto VW bus channel (Type 2 = channel 2)
and for much less than $100, one can get a perfectly usable way to tell the others in your group that you have to pee or that their engine is on fire.

Anyone else have a CB in their bus?

Yes, I have CB's in my two buses. CB's seemed to fit as they were a big part of that era.
Thanks for the channel 2 type 2 info, I didn't know that.

I'm supposed to be buying one this week.

Interesting. I have two that we bought to drive across country 10 years ago (one handheld and one mounted in my Toyota motorhome), but I've never thought of putting one of them in the bus. They were great on the cross-country trip and also fun to entertain yourself with the truckers (especially going on a very slow grade in Colorado and hearing them bitching and moaning because it keeps them from going 75). I think that cell phones have pretty much eclipsed the utility of CBs at this point, but in an emergency they could be quite useful.

Deschutestrout has a nice set of 2-way radios that we used on the way to Badger Creek. Fun and inexpensive, but a limited range.
Remember walkie talkies when we were kids, with the horrible range and morse code button?

hambone wrote:Remember walkie talkies when we were kids, with the horrible range and morse code button?

500 milliwatts of pure power, baby! Most you could have without an FCC license!

Regular CBs packed a walloping 4-5 watts of output. Of course, there were lots of "linears" sold to boost that to hundreds of watts so you could "skip across the country with your beams and a rotor"!

Just got a CB yesterday. Anyone know where to get a decent price on a decent antenna? RadioShack seems to sell everthing but radios these days.

DjEep wrote:Just got a CB yesterday. Anyone know where to get a decent price on a decent antenna? RadioShack seems to sell everthing but radios these days.

Is the antenna for the bus?

The best antennas are the Wilson 1000 or K40 base mount,,,if you can't put it on the roof, then look into a top loaded fiberglass using a gutter mount....
You asked where, I know where here....
Truck stops are a good source still if you have one nearby...

I got a top loaded that mounts in the normal antenna spot on the front. I hope my brain doesn't cook. I need to go back to the store to get it tuned anyway, I might look in to exchanging for a smaller gutter mount one.

I ordered one tues up here at the tech store I got my laptop at. The young guy that owns the place treats me nice and puts up with my questions. Really nice to have customer service and a good price with out having to deal with the big box stores 50 miles away. He will install it next tues and said it would be a magnetic antenna. Let you know how it works out. Braker-Braker this is Elwood - whats your 20? Will make me feel a lot safer, if I need serious help.

I didn't know until I left the store that the antenna needs to be "tuned" with a special "SWR" meter. So I'll be going back next week for a "tune-up" and maybe an AM/FM junction box so I can use it to pull in AM stations from Omaha.

DjEep wrote:I didn't know until I left the store that the antenna needs to be "tuned" with a special "SWR" meter. So I'll be going back next week for a "tune-up" and maybe an AM/FM junction box so I can use it to pull in AM stations from Omaha.

They'd have to do it when it is all set up anyways...
Mount everything as permanent as your going to, good grounds etc, then have them tune it...

The reason I mentioned roof or gutter mount was to improve performance...
It will work the way you have it, but the more of the antenna above the roof the better....The more centered the vehicle the better....
Mobile antennas end up directional to some extent... They use the vehicle as a ground plane. In your case if the antenna is mounted at the right front corner it will have better gain towards the left rear minus any shielding you get from the vehicle.... If it was mounted on the roof at the right front it would work best towards the left rear and there would be no vehicle to block it.....If it was on the roof and centered it would be more omni directional, perhaps a bit more gain forward and backwards than left to right due to a long metal ground plane,,,the vehicle..

Can't mount it to a fiberglass top though... I had it tuned and it was so-so, the guy said. I haven't transmitted yet....

In anticipation of my road trip up to Maupin, I just ordered a new Astatic mic.
Gotta have the best!

We have the Cobra 75 WX ST in our bus. The combined mic/speaker/controls in one hand held unit make it a nice fit without taking too much space. Good to have when you are stranded and don't have cell signal.