Using handheld CB radio when off roading

[eltax91]

Hi guys

I am currently looking around at CB Radio's for my Disco. I don't know if I want to go to the hassle of wiring one in etc, especially if I decide to change my plans and sell the Disco to upgrade to a 'fender. So, I'm thinking about hand-held CB's instead. I do both green laneing and Pay and Play type off roading.

So, does anybody use hand-held CB radio's when out laneing? Are they generally up to the job? Is the range big enough to be able to communicate? Can you hear the radio traffic when you are bouncing around with the engine note nice and high?

Just a few thoughts really, wondering if anyone has any experience of them and if they are as good as "wired" units.

Cheers

[anonymous-user]

Tried it....once, for about half an hour. Reception was crap and, although you could argue a modern hand held is not much larger than a mic, it was a PITA to hold and stow. Useful when sending your co-driver ahead to scout stuff, but for primary use I'd say get a proper one. Ten-four etc.

Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 14th September 10:47

[Kermit power]

I have 4 handheld radios which cost me around £120 from maplin.

We took them out into the Surrey hills (see other thread on here) and they worked fine.

I'm sure a wired CB would've given better range and so forth, but not much help unless everyone else has one too, so in that instance it made more sense to share out the handhelds.

I'd agree that it's a bit of a pain trying to find somewhere to put it, but I'm sure a bit of creative thought will solve that.

[cpas]

Thunderpole in Northampon (along with other companies, eg on e-bay) do CB kits fairly cheaply and they don't take much wiring. Alot of Disco people have gutter mounted ariels and feed the cable through the door opening. Other than that you just need a live feed and an earth and that's it.

[anonymous-user]

cpas said:

Thunderpole in Northampon (along with other companies, eg on e-bay) do CB kits fairly cheaply and they don't take much wiring. Alot of Disco people have gutter mounted ariels and feed the cable through the door opening. Other than that you just need a live feed and an earth and that's it.

Yep, got mine from Thunderpole who, despite sounding like an '80s porn studio, are very good. Piece of wee wee to install, most difficult bit was finding somewhere to mount it in the Defender but the gutted mount works a treat.

[cpas]

Crossflow Kid said:

cpas said:

Thunderpole in Northampon (along with other companies, eg on e-bay) do CB kits fairly cheaply and they don't take much wiring. Alot of Disco people have gutter mounted ariels and feed the cable through the door opening. Other than that you just need a live feed and an earth and that's it.

Yep, got mine from Thunderpole who, despite sounding like an '80s porn studio, are very good. Piece of wee wee to install, most difficult bit was finding somewhere to mount it in the Defender but the gutted mount works a treat.

I bought one of their brackets which nicely bolts through the flat bit of the roof just above and to the left of the rear door. The cable is just long enogh to reach the head unit.

[MaximumJed]

I have a pair of handheld CB radios, which we found had quite limited range when used inside the cars, so we also got some external aerials with magnetic bases so there is no drilling etc and the whole lot can be taken out in a minute or so. Though we have found an external speaker to be a must in something as noisy as our Vitara.

The other person who used one of the handhelds also put in a wired set so he didn't need to borrow a handheld, so we now have one semi-permanently in the Vitara, with the other charged in the glove box so that someone can jump out and act as a guide using the radio to talk to the driver instead of just wave.