CB & Bikes

[spankyaf]

Has anyone tried the J&M unit? Looks like a neat way to get a CB on a bike. But at $299 that seems pricey for a CB

I've debated with myself whether to add a CB but I tend to avoid interstates and multilane highways so I'm not sure the value I would get out of one.

[SmaartAasSaabr]

Yeah especially because well, that would quadruple the value of my bike

[spankyaf]

Yeah especially when you do the add ons for mike's, speakers, integrators feck you get up to serious cash real fast

[RadarRick]

I've seem them standard as an option on high end large touring bikes, but never thought much of the idea. As for that perticular brand, i don't know. I guess you have to make sure it has ports for com's, radio, CD and UHF/2 way to make the investment worth the money.
RR

[2001Concours]

CBs are okay for sport touring and touring bikes. Use an Autocom system to integrate seamlessly.

Problem is, that most hand held CBs don't have the range to talk with truckers on the road, and depending on what area of the country you live in, you might not understand a thing they say either.

I have the option of CB, FRS and GMRS on my bike. I rarely use any of them unless riding in a group with the exact same make and model of radio. Alot of FRS and GMRS radios don't play nice with each other.

[cr500]

2001 concours, as for the range of hand helds. I have an Icom IC41s which comes with a short little arial with no gain. Have fitted a 4 decibel gain flexible antenna to the front of my bike (unscrews in 3 seconds) which plugs into the handheld and gives a pretty good range. The last time I got a warning on it was on truckies channel about half hour ago, that there was a flash for cash (camera van) where I was heading. I usualy set it on scan, so it goes through police channels, but checks the main priority (truck channel) every second or so.
The UHF/2 way, plugs into my autocom system which plugs into my helmet. Realy handy on the open road.

[Hornhonker]

What channel do the UHF truck guys use ? I just noticed this ver Icom appears to be a European version ? That would put you on 446mhz ?

[2001Concours]

I have my CB attached to a Firestik NGP antenna and still have crappy range. Maybe 2 miles effective. I have balanced the antenna myself with an SWR meter, was hard to get a good SWR reading with my bike.

[cr500]

In Australia, the truckies use channel 40, but it is probably different in your area.
I dont know what my aerial is, but even with the little aerial which came with the hand held, the range was about 4-5 km I think. I dont know what the exact range is with the different aerial mounted on the front of the bike, but I seem to pick up trucks from a lot further away.