I have a midland 75-822 handheld paired with a cooltech gate mount and 4 foot antenna. I had just finished the install of the gatemount kit and took the jeep out for a test. It was late but I picked up some chattering on one channel. It was clearly distant but you could here them speaking. When I interupted the conversation, they replied they were in Cape May County. This is about 80 miles from me??? Is that possible?

Regardless, the CB is a ton of fun and great peace of mind in the Jeep when on the trail. The gate mount kit was awesomely designed and made for a perfect install.

 

I was working in Columbus MS and a fire truck asked to cross a runway. After the only aircraft I had landed I told him to cross. The dude started screaming I tried to kill him. The truck at Redstone AL waiting to cross their runway. Not a CB, but basically the same, it was an FM radio normally only good for a couple miles.

 

Farthest distance I've been able to confirm was around 15-20 miles using my Midland 75-822 as a handheld. I was on a ridge near one of the great lakes and I guess I had a pretty straight shot to one of the border crossings near my location and I was picking up truckers on almost every station. On a nice day I heard a guy call out that he was in either North or South Carolina but I got nothing back when I tried to confirm it.

 

Yes it's possible and even more so. Groundwave propagation can be enhanced at any given time depending on little "quirks" in the atmosphere. Hams refer to it as "sporatic E" (google it). There are other potential reasons, different bands or frequencies used, but it mainly means enhanced ground wave patterns. Meaning, instead of just talking as far as you can, "over ground" locally just from the power of your radio, your signal will bounce off a certain level of the atmosphere, and it could be just right to talk to somebody that is usually way too far away, or too close for normal DX, or distant siganal bounce, ie, say from the US to Japan or the like.

Years ago in my old CB days, our group would be talking locally, usually quite late at night in the winter. We'd be ragchewing along and slowly we could here a change in the "air" so to speak. Just about then a guy at the top of Alaska would jump in to say hello. He was well over 1000 miles away.

We are also moving, albeit slowly, into Solar Cylcle 24. When, and if it ever gets going full swing, your little CB will be hearing signals from all over the world.

Check out this link.... https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/jk-cb-ham-radios-128/heads-up-cbers-65693/

 

No doubt he was pushing anywhere from 100-1000 watts, compared to your 4. As I just posted, as, "if", solar cycle 24 builds, at times, your CB will be able to hear literally thousands of stations on top of each other, on every channel, coming in from all parts of the globe. Unfortunately, MOST of them will be running illegal power output. So you will be able to "hear" all of them, but the chance of anybody hearing your 4 watts over all the noise, will be nearly impossible. That's why HAM radio can be so fun, as we are able to utilize all kinds of different frequencies, as well as more power from our radios, to actually be able to carry on conversations with distant stations all over the globe. If this interests you look into becoming a HAM (amateur) Radio operator. GREAT FUN....