Cb radio range distance?

Question

I have a cb radio with an 8 ft antenna. I have run a coaxial cable which plugs directly into the antenna and into the male fitting on the cb radio. However, the range on the unit is less than half a mile seemingly wherever I am. Are there any know signal amplifiers or remidies which one may have for this situation.

Answer 1

Your problem could be the antenna,the radio,or both.

First I would check the standing wave ratio of the antenna (got any friends with a SWR meter?)

Adjusting this is the single best thing one can do to improve range.

If this fails to help I would enlist a friend to try your radio on their antenna.

And lastly to try their radio on your antenna.

Some radios just perform better   and many antennas perform poorly.

Good luck!

Answer 2

amplifiers are illegal.

half a mile is very common when the bands are noisy.

check the SWR of the antenna. if the swr is high, he transmitter folds back to prevent damage to the transmitter.

Good SWR is anything under 3:1 standing wave ratio. Lower the better, but 3:1 IS acceptable.

Your antenna should be 9 feet, at 27MHz, 1/4wave is 108 inches.

Answer 3

A half a mile sounds like you may have a problem as long as you are not trying to communicate over a mountain.

One good thing to check is to make sure all the power your radio is putting out is going to the antenna.  Radio Shack has a meter that will test the radio output power and your antenna effectiveness:

http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.j...

If the radio and antenna check out, then there is not a good legal way to boost your power.  CB radios are limited to 5 watts legally.

Ham radio operators can legally operate up to 1000 watts.  It is a great hobby:

http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/classes.h...