i need to know how to get more range in miles out of my cb radios?

Start with a full wave whip antenna. Next add a power mic. You should about double your range of an off the shelf unit and smaller antenna. I have a cousin who used to work truck stops and would install a small booster in the truckers radios for I think about $100. The last thing and it's not legal is to hook the unit to a power amp and you can blast the doors off anyone close. I've been a half mile away from a trucker with a power amp and had his conversation come in over my FM radio or stereo. The transmission range is in many miles. He may not hear you but you can sure hear him.

Bigger antenna is the legal answer. A beam antenna (looks like a big TV antenna on the roof) will get you out farther than an omni-directional (whip like a K40 or Wilson 1000). .Many people use 10 meter linear amplifiers to increase power but that's illegal for CB. CB is actually 11 meters so the 10 meter ham radio stuff usually works.Increasing the power or modifying the radio for more gain is illegal. Don't make the mistake of thinking the FCC can't find you because they can. It will usually be the local cable company or ham radio club that tracks you down because an amplified CB radio runs 'dirty' and splatters across phones and TV's. They can do what's called a fox hunt and by using triangulation, practically walk right to you. Not trying to sound like a smart a--, just trying to inform you because I've seen it happen a few times.

For more range you need to get a 5/8 wave antenna..... you need to tune your antenna to your radio, you do this with a SWR meter..... you can get one at any cb shop or ebay. The SWR meter tells you if your antenna is too long or too short and this will have the biggest effect on your range. You can have 100 watts, but if your swr is too high your radio will only transmit %5 of total power.

Go here and it explains how to do it. AN SWR meter will go for like $25. You can get a 5 watt radio to outperform a 50 watt if your settings are low and the other guys are too high.

http://www.firestik.com/Tech_Docs/Setting_SWR.htm

Not sure how this fits into auto maintenance and repairs, but generally speaking the higher the antenna the better the coverage. Drive up the biggest hill in the area. You can also try a better antenna, one with a bit more gain. The closer to the center of the car you get it the less directional it is. The higher priced the radio the better the signal to noise ratio in the receiver, up to a point, so a better radio might help.

Ok, What kinda power do you want? I grew up before any of this cell stuff. What you need, we used to call, "a pair of boots". What I mean by this is, you need more transmitting power. I'm not sure if anyone sells them anymore, but the unit is called a linear booster. A CB only transmits 5 watts. A linear booster ups that to 50-100-500 depending on what power you buy. They are not legal. Back in the day, I could talk from Massachusetts to Texas with a 250 pair of boots. Radio-shack used to sell them.

A pair of co-fazed whips on the back of a car will greatly increase the distance you can transmit from a mobile unit.

If you want to really get better performance, buy a coaxial ohm meter, the length of your coaxial cable has a lot to do with the performance of your unit. If it's not the exact right length, your performance will fall of dramatically.

Send me an e-mail or i-m and I'll explain.

You can take it to a CB shop and have them turn up the modulation, but going too far with it will shorten the lifespan of the transmitter. A good quality whip antenna is a great help, and be sure to tune in the SWR's, it will require an SWR meter and patience as you adjust the antenna to achieve optimum performance. It is common to adjust the SWR's for best performance in the mid channels 19 or 20. Most antenna's or SWR meters will come with instructions on how to tune the antenna. Good Luck, Happy New Year!

look online at sites such as E-bay buy a good linear say 1,000 watts. Get a Galaxy C.B run the "Lower channels" a good radio like a Galaxy 99. Not many people on those channels.

I live in Florida and when the "skip" comes in I will talk to people in the North East.

get yourself a 2meter radio and ditch the CB

a digital signal can be improved by a repeater, and a good site on this is www.kzrf.com/upx300.html

Good lord they still make and use those things?