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  1. #1
    Radar Fanatic
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    Default What is Instant Channel 9 and Instant Weather?

    Topic says it all.

    When it picks up activity on this channel, does it automatically tune to it?

    Also, what kind of range will a Wilson Little Wil get me?

  2. #2
    Yoda of Radar
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    Some CB's will have what your describing as instant channels... meaning that all you do is simply hit a button and whatever channel you are on, it will cycle to the programmed channels.

    Weather Channel simply is a loop similar to what you see on the TV (with the scrolling bars on the Weather Channel) its like a non-stop weather channel that is updated periodically throughout the day. It will just give you the basic weather forecast with any alerts.




    IE: If you have a CB that has instant channel 19, and weather... what will happen if your on channel 34 and hit the 'Instant 19/Weather button' it will go right to channel 19 from 34, instead of having to click with the knob all the way back down to 19 from 34 manually. If you hit the button again it will jump over to the weather channel, hit the button again it will go to channel 19, and so on and so forth toggling between the two until you manual turn the dial to another channel.


    The Little Wil is a fine antenna, I personally own one and on a good day have talked around ~20miles with my peaked and tuned unit. (Though the person did say it was very weak), so its good the channel was busy that day.


    You can expect with a good set-up (CB and antenna mounting position included) a normal range of 5-6Miles depending on terrain, on a good day 8-10 could be common, on a bad day you may only get 3-5.
    Thats for transmitting.


    I have actually heard people (with monster set-ups) on the little Wil around 45miles away, and even heard people via Skip (from Georgia). So RX depends more-so on what the other person has... as long as your set-up is decent (which a little wil properly installed is).

  3. #3
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    Ok, here is what I am looking at getting from Walcottcb:

    Uniden PC68ELITE CB Radio W. Weather
    External Speaker [CB980] Popular and Compact Speaker, Reg. Price $12.95 Only
    Wilson "Little Wil" Magnet Mount Antenna

    Does this sound like a good setup? Also, is the Peak and Tune worth it?

  4. #4
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    With the weather issue, large cities like Toronto for instance have their own weather channel, for Toronto is on ch 2, so if you want to listen to the weather forecast you press one button on the CB radio (or at least that's the case with my Midland 75-822) and it switches from those regular 40 CB channels into the 10 weather ones and then you start finding the weather channel assigned to a particular area, I remember Florida is got lots of weather channels, get a Florida tourist map and they are all listed in there by city, Orlando, Tampa, Miami, etc., but you have to be pretty close to the transmitter, in Toronto is d/twn by the marina harbor...

    With the emerg channel, ch 9, that's a separate button, its purpose is to help you reach somebody for help, God knows if somebody is gonna hear you on that emerg channel... for instance last summer in Pensacola, FL I had a problem with my car, late in the evening and I remember seen signs with FHP monitoring ch9, well I sent couple of alerts on ch 9, realize that nobody answered my calls, finally I was lucky to fix my problem in a different way and FREE...

  5. #5
    Speed Demon
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ovencleaner
    Ok, here is what I am looking at getting from Walcottcb:

    Uniden PC68ELITE CB Radio W. Weather
    External Speaker [CB980] Popular and Compact Speaker, Reg. Price $12.95 Only
    Wilson "Little Wil" Magnet Mount Antenna

    Does this sound like a good setup? Also, is the Peak and Tune worth it?
    my new cobra with peak and tune from walcott will be in tomorrow. i hope you are as satisfied with there service as i have been so far. top notch to say the least.

  6. #6
    Experienced
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    Default Re: What is Instant Channel 9 and Instant Weather?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ovencleaner
    When it picks up activity on this channel, does it automatically tune to it?
    To answer your question directly, the radio will not automatically tune to these frequencies, whether there is activity on them or not. It just means that when you want to go to channel 9 or 19 (whichever button you have, I've seen both), you just press the button and it will go there, without you having to turn the channel knob twenty something notches.

    The weather channels are a whole different deal. Basically, there is a list of frequencies that are reused throughout the country and the radio has them all programmed into it. You can often pick up more than one NOAA weather tower. For example, in my basement, I am able to pick up at least 3 of these towers with my old Uniden Bearcat BC145XL scanner and the regular antenna that came with it. So you may have to listen and be sure you're listening to the one that applies to the area you're closest to.

    All in all these features are just selling points. I certainly wouldn't let them get in the way of purchasing an otherwise great radio.

  7. #7
    Street Lawyer
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    And to be even more clear, Channel 9 is the emergency frequency, don't transmit on it unless you have an emergency. But if you have a cellphone, don't bother cus no one listens to the Channel ne ways :X

  8. #8
    Yoda of Radar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lucky225
    And to be even more clear, Channel 9 is the emergency frequency, don't transmit on it unless you have an emergency. But if you have a cellphone, don't bother cus no one listens to the Channel ne ways :X
    Yeah, its said but true... nearly no one listens to 9 these days. Back in the 70's and such when every 4-wheeler had one, and there were designated groups that just listened to channel 9 for trouble it was great. (Of course I wasn't around back then, its just what older CB'ers have told me, along with truckers, research and the History Channel.

  9. #9
    Street Lawyer
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    Quote Originally Posted by AirMoore
    Quote Originally Posted by Lucky225
    And to be even more clear, Channel 9 is the emergency frequency, don't transmit on it unless you have an emergency. But if you have a cellphone, don't bother cus no one listens to the Channel ne ways :X
    Yeah, its said but true... nearly no one listens to 9 these days. Back in the 70's and such when every 4-wheeler had one, and there were designated groups that just listened to channel 9 for trouble it was great. (Of course I wasn't around back then, its just what older CB'ers have told me, along with truckers, research and the History Channel.
    HAHA, yea they even had volunteers that listened to that in your local area, R.E.A.C.T.

    RADIO EMERGENCY ASSOCIATED COMMUNICATIONS TEAMS

    Looks like they're still around too, reactintl.org

 

 

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