i have a 'realistic' 40 Ch 4 Watt CB radio With a 4' antenna. does any1 know how many miles this can TX up to?

Question

i am unsure of the model as the label has been damaged. i do know the O/P TX power is 4 Watts and the length of the Antenna is 4'. any info is greatly appreciated

Answer 1

Well, it all depends on location, and your SWR's



if you have checked and tuned your antenna, to have SWR's below 1.5:1 then good, anything above that can majorly impact your effectiveness, Also if depends on where the antenna is. if its on a bumper or somewhere lower than the top of the car for more than 2/3rds of it, it wont do very well, if its mounted on one side of the vehicle you will be VERY directional, so one way youll talk and hear alot further than another way (unfortunatlly its generally to the side if its on the side of a vehicle)



But! lets say the antenna is set up real nice, It then comes down to the geography of the area. if its real flat, not many obstructions, you can talk pretty far, if its city like and lots of mountains, you may not talk as far, but as a rule of thumb CB 's are thought of to talk 5 miles. If everything is set up real nice you will probably talk 10 miles here and there.



sometimes youll talk even further. CB radio is fun, and thats one of the great things about it. Keep doing research about antennas, and eventually youll be talking with the big dogs. My self in my truck, i have talked over 20 miles to another vehicle, this is pretty average for me, but ive got a nice set up. on SSB ive talked much further with out skip.

Answer 2

You didn't say what kind of antenna (mag mount etc) and where it's mounted as elevation matters in range But usually about 3 miles max in a normally congested area.. open range I'd go with the 5-10 miles but mostly 3 or less miles.. Big band opening during the summer will knock that down to a mile

Answer 3

depends on where you are. If you are at ground level in a built up area maybe a couple of blocks. Up on a hill over the main roofline a couple of miles. In a flat dessert maybe 6 or 7 miles. then theres also weather conditions to take into account and have you tuned your areial with an swr meter. Ground based CB's with 10-15' antenna will get 10-20 miles, A 4' whip on a car will do nothing like that especially off the open road.

Answer 4

I have gone out as far as 25 miles with a 4' Sun-of-a-Gun antenna with a Johnson Messenger 123.

I have also talked 1500 miles on a rig with a 40watt kicker on it, from southern North Dakota to the Gulf of Mexico to ther shrimp boats.

Answer 5

Generally, a properly tuned CB has a range of 10-20 miles, but it is "line of sight" transmission, and mountainous terrain can reduce this range to less than a mile.



Check out this link, great info on CB Radio's:

http://www.roadtripamerica.com/dashboarding/CB-Radios.htm

Answer 6

its depend on the day. if it a clear day u can reach all the way across the usa. on a bad day u can maybe reach out less then a mile