Having a CB radio while traveling can be an invaluable tool for emergencies and for keeping up on road conditions, and the Midland 75-820 40-channel handheld CB is one you should definitely consider. It comes with everything you need to get started in a hurry, including a battery pack for times you want to run the unit on six AA batteries and a cigarette lighter adapter for battery-free operation in your car.
The Midland 75-820's design is ideal, with a push-to-talk button on the side, squelch and volume knobs, and a small LCD screen that displays the current channel, signal strength, and a variety of other useful information. Several buttons on the device can be used for scanning, whether quickly flipping between the emergency channel (9) and the standard highway channel (19) or activating the LCD's backlight. The unit also comes with a short, flexible antenna.
Overall, the 75-820's portability is excellent--comparable to a child's walkie-talkie. Unfortunately, the unit's compactness hampers its usefulness, because the relatively small antenna has a hard time pulling in distant signals. In our tests on local highways and on the interstate, transmissions rarely could be heard from more than half a mile away. However, when we connected the Midland 75-822 to a whip antenna that was several feet long, the range increased considerably. As a result, we recommend investing in a better antenna before using the device in your car, although the radio still works well for communicating with nearby semis when you're trying to find out the source of a traffic jam.
We had better luck using the radio to monitor National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Radio broadcasts, which we were able to receive from nearly anywhere since Weather Radio stations transmit at much higher power than mobile transmitters. These broadcasts are repeated every few minutes, are updated every few hours, and can help alert travelers to severe weather conditions. It's a nice feature to have on a portable CB and makes the Midland 75-822 a standout choice for travelers who want to be in the know.
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