New member help needed

It can be hit or miss around the UK as far as AM/FM modes, some areas are busy and others devoid of CB action.

Many members here can attest to upgrading to a SSB capable rig and the extra distances you can achieve with those modes. You don't say how you have your magmount antenna sited, is it on a car? If so, then it may be worth driving to local higher ground and see how you fare there.

Again, as for antenna recommendations, is this for a car?

We do have members here that are lorry drivers or 'truckers' who do indeed use CB radios but as with all things CB I don't think it is as popular as it once was.

Hope that helps somewhat.


All the best,
Victor

Thank you Victor, this is helpful..
It is a 4X4 car, the Antenna is on the front bumper on a magnetic holder

Will try your high ground suggestion, so far have tried channel 19 on the M20 and from the tunnel terminal with truck parking in line of sight... did the same on French side. On scan got faint foreign traffic on 40

A few years back we were trapped at the terminal entrance on the bridge for 4 hours with a sick child... no information on what was happening. When we eventually got to checkin, there was just one old French border guard on a go slow

Seems the French were on a general go slow, can see this happening next year

As Victor said most buy Radios with SSB mode on them now TBH the only people I know off who just use basic 40 channel radios are  mostly 4x4 Greenlaners , yes there are a few others that are happy  with just a basic radios but they soon get bored a go the SSB route  and as for lorry driver using them it's not many well not like it was in the early days mainly because they arnt allowed to fit them because most companies now lease the vehicles and lease companies dont like none standard stuff fitted anyway everything has satnav and mobile phones in them now , plus also CB is not as popular as it was ,another thing your antenna stuck on the bumper isn't gonna do much there it needs to be up on the roof ,with all antennas fitments mobile or homebase the old saying is hight is might higher the antenna better it works .

You won't hear much on that antenna. It's just over 2ft long and has a range probably a couple of miles. It has barely 6% of the efficiency of a full size 102" whip so a signal someone would receive on that which was S7 on their meter would be around S2 on yours.

Putting it low down on the front bumper makes a bad situation even worse.  That is even more loss, another two S points down compared to having it on the roof of the car. 

So in short if someone with a decent installed antenna on the roof of their car is hearing a S7 signal you'll hear nothing. 

THE ANTENNA IS EVERYTHING. How well your CB works depends entirely on the antenna and how you've installed it. You don't want to be considering anything less than 5ft long and you want it in the middle of the roof of the vehicle if possible.

My advice is to put that thing you've got away, go buy a Sirio 3000, or if you don't mind a longer antenna the 6ft 4 inch 4000, either with a Sirio ML145 magmount and put that on the roof.

yes height is might and get some height below the wheels, and up my way we all use mid bands not been on uk 40, and this is strange as on mid bands there is less noise, now is this a plot to get every one onto mid band and take away uk40, away just a thought, so is there no chance of a mag mount on the roof of the car is a better idea and a good sirio 4000hp or a sirio 5000t and a good tri mag and it will stay on at most speeds my self 120+ mph and never moved , up in the hills you will crack out

Great advice from NC, for little investment, big improvements on distance can be made when mobile.
A few homebase stations in and around Dover on the UK19. Infact, I can hear 'George' in Dover booming in on the 19 as I type. A couple of mobile Alpha Tangos regularly dx from Capel le Ferne,  high up on the Old Dover Road. About 600ft ASL iirc, so a sweet spot to park up and have a shout out.