Question on hand held cb's

[TCT]

As a local driver that jumps from truck to truck, I've been thinking about getting a hand held radio to carry with me everyday. I considered getting a slip seat box, but I don’t want to smash the mirror bars with the vice-grips that would be needed to hold up the antenna. Is there another way to do this without tearing up company equipment or mounting antennas and coaxes in all of our trucks?

It drives me up a wall when I see another driver in his side mirror grabbin his radio to try and ask, or tell me something and I have no way to shout back at him. Any good experiences with hand helds? Are they worth a plug nickel? What company makes the best h/h out there?

Below is a couple I found on eBay:

eBay: COBRA HAND HELD 40 CH CB RADIO HH-38WXST NEW! (item 160109725936 end time Apr-29-07 22:23:37 PDT)

eBay: COBRA 40 Channel Hand Held CB Radio HH-35 Very Nice! NR (item 250108612301 end time May-01-07 21:26:02 PDT)

[Dreamer]

I've had good luck with the HH35, but it's VERY limited on range. A slip seater box would be the better way to go to have any range. Those vice grip mounts work ok, but like you said, can dent the mirror frame if clamped to hard. I've also seen a version using wing nuts on a regular mount that worked ok. Your company trucks don't have any kind of antenna? Very unusual, most comanies have some kind of basic antenna.

On the old trucks, you could slap a mag mount on them, but most new ones are plastic or aluminum, so no go. I"ve also seem some guys use the vice grip mount, and clamp it on the load bar storage rack, or part of the walkway, just depends on how your truck is set up. Not the best range that way, but better than a handheld.

The ideal situation would be to talk 'the powers that be' into slapping an antenna on each truck for ya. For 10-15 bucks, they could put a single antenna on, and run a coax in. That way all ya'd have to do is stick your radio in, hook up to cig lighter, etc, and away ya go.

Little thing to keep their drivers happy!