Quote from: Mbahu on June 17, 2014, 01:35:56 PM
I will be several 100 miles off road with several vehicles.

I know that this is an older thread however it seems that one part of the original question has been overlooked..
CB radio even with a big linear amplifier, big enough to still be run for my vehicle battery, is not going to reach civilization from several hundred miles off road. They will be okay for vehicle vehicles over maybe 10 miles however that is going to be a practical limit.
As others have written it is better to get and how much a license and use more appropriate bands and modes for these distances. That is not to say that you should not also install a CB radio as a backup communication.

This may be an old story but it is interesting to note that there is no mention of the legality of the equipment used. Was this a standard, unmolested, 4W AM radio into a legal antenna? Highly unlikely if it was causing so many problems...
If you are going to do silly things do it in a way that doesn't draw attention.