homer

No worries, dopewaffle is right though, that radio you're safe.... I'd at minimum use a fuse tap though, shoving the wire in even though your radio isn't going to draw a ton of power isn't really the best idea. You'd probably never have an issue for the life of the truck based on the power consumption, but it's just bad practice. So the guy in the video is right about that.


So 4 watts is your transmit power out of the antenna. What's also important as dopewaffle said is tune the antenna with an SWR meter. If you don't, you'll have poor transmission, possibly burn out the radio (during transmit) and it'll affect your reception. I forgot the regulations but they can only legally sell a CB radio to transmit a certain amount of power (4 watts). On HF frequencies, 4 watts can go a fair distance depending on conditions and such so that's fine.


The transmit power is 4 watts but the power draw on the radio includes power to light up the screen, run the chipset, etc, probably not much. I don't think the radio will draw this much power but say it's using 50 watts during transmit. 50 watts divided by 12 volts = 4.1 amps. I'm aiming pretty high here but that's how much power you'd be drawing off that circuit. So if you had an inline fuse of 10 amps to be extra safe, you'd be fine. If it's going to dead short, it'll be much higher than that for sure and pop the fuse. Does that sort of make sense?

XxSharp_ShooterxX

Thanks for replying again dopewaffle,

Ok I see, I didn't know it pulls out only 4 watts. Thank you! Damn a 1,000 :o oh my. Didn't know that amplifiers were illegal though. I thought people used them for music speakers or something for there cars or trucks. Oh well Thanks for telling! Learnt all kinds of things today. I just plan on using the cb radio in my local area. Not other county's mostly some friends I got who have cb radios in there trucks.

homer

Exactly, it's illegal to transmit over 4 watts on CB frequencies. If you're on amateur radio bands licensed to use HF frequencies outside of the CB frequencies (in amateur radio frequencies) you're allowed to transmit more power but up to a certain amount... And there's many factors to this. It used to be basic/advanced qualification and morse code qualifications. I know in Canada this has changed though.


Back to your question though, based on your configuration you'll be fine. I just want to ensure you have fuse protection .

homer

lol put 1000 watts on a CB and see how your TV and everything else in your house likes it LOL. My dad ran a 500 watt amplifier on HF frequencies (amateur radio - he's permitted) and it was just unreal... I couldn't use the computer, TV, phone, etc... And he was legal in his situation. It comes back to filtering on the equipment but it was almost ridiculous! LOL

dopewaffle

iTrader: (-1)

Car stero amps and CB amps are different. Stereo amps are legal as can be, but CB amps not so much. They are illegal in all 50 states, and you can get a big penalty, but lots of folks risk it because it can go virtually undetectable if in the hands of someone smart and not being dumb with it.

The first time you try to talk to someone with an amp on their CB, you'll be pissed. It makes a loud screaming noise like fingernails down a old chalkboard. That's why there illegal I guess haha.

On a good day, I can get 5-7 miles outta my 4 watt Cobra 29 LTD, on bad rainy days or at night, about 3-5 miles.

XxSharp_ShooterxX

Thanks for replying again homer,

Yes it makes since to me! As for when you said inline fuse you mean this (http://gyazo.com/a314ca2dbf357e5f1ad2c79e3f0e5ebe) correct? If so that does come attached to the cb radio already! And yes as in everything else you said it all makes since to me now! Thanks alot! Never thought you had to tune in a antenna looks like I'll be going over to my friends house who uses cb radios and ask them to tune it in for me! Thanks again!!

homer

Exactly! If you don't have one and you just want to hook it up for today, you'll probably be fine just don't short the wires out when hooking it up haha. In fact, hook up the ground last. For the few dollars it costs, it's cheap insurance though. Add the inline fuse as close to your main connection as possible to protect the entire circuit from any short. For example, if a piece of metal splices the positive wire to your chassis, at least th effuse will blow.

homer

Dopewaffle can probably give you better tuning advise though honestly as I've been out of practice for a while. I haven't used my hamradio for about 8 years, in fact I just replaced the battery this week in my handheld. I'm on the fence whether I'm wiring it into my truck or not hahahaha. My dad was very obsessive in amateur radio, I swear my education fund went there so I had to shovel asphalt myself to pay for school hahahahahaha (although I had fun).

XxSharp_ShooterxX

Thanks for replying homer,

Ok never knew it was illegal! And yes I do got a fuse protection on the cb radio. Which was factory installed on the radio.

Thanks for replying homer,

Oh my that would suck dude!

Thanks for replying dopewaffle,

Yeah as you said "On a good day, I can get 5-7 miles outta my 4 watt Cobra 29 LTD, on bad rainy days or at night, about 3-5 miles." That's all I want. That's perfect for me! Just wanted to be double sure that it was safe to do it this way.

XxSharp_ShooterxX

Thanks for replying Dopewaffle,

Ok good glad it's the right thing there! I'm glad that it's already connected onto the cb radio! And shoveling asphalt. Oh yeah done that before. ham radio does sound cool though. That's pretty cool that your dad likes radios like you do to. You got that gene hahaha!!