CB Anyone?

[loopstick]

Something JBL GUY posted over on Tuners reminded me of this. A couple of sunspot peaks ago, very early 1990's, "11 meters" was hot with all this Spanish traffic, and we didn't have a lot of Hispanics in Michigan. This ham buddy said it was immigrants Lord knows where using the CB for "phone patches" back home. That's what he said anyway. Seems like congestion would close that loophole.

[Jon A.]

I wonder if my Uniden Bearcat scanning radio will pick up CB traffic. With its little antenna all it's getting is the weather network on 162.550.

[Kamakiri]

Most scanners don't go below 30 MHz. Some do though.

[truetone36]

"there were many people on the band screaming, yelling, using 1kW linear power amplifiers....you name it."

That's pretty much the story now, from the little bit of listening I've been doing over the past few days.

[wa2ise]

You can get so called "10 Meter ham" radios that have features like Echo, Voice Changer, and roger beep. And if you're so inclined, you can open the radio up and remove or add a diode, or a jumper, wire, resistor or something as simple to make it an illegal CB and "freeband" radio... Actually, the FCC says any such radio easily changed like this is already illegal...

[JBL GUY]

I am not advocating this and no disrespect intended.

1000 watts is just a starting point for some CB radio operators.

CB amplifier.


The FCC does try to enforce the rules, but budget and man power limitations come into play.

FCC citation PDF.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by JBL GUY

The FCC does try to enforce the rules, but budget and man power limitations come into play.

The FCC does seem to respond to interference complaints, such as in this recent case:
http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/FieldNo...-327956A1.html

jr

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by JBL GUY

I am not advocating this and no disrespect intended.

1000 watts is just a starting point for some CB radio operators.

CB amplifier.

Too little CB knowledge and an episode of Married With Children made me think that setup was actually able to drop birds when I saw the video title. Quote from episode 503:

What's that?
Oh, that's Dad's car stereo.
Since we've been cruisin' together, he let me fix it up a little.
Fifteen-hundred watts and no volume control.
With the right song, you can drop a bird at a hundred yards.

My blonde moment for the day, ha.

[soundman2]

Sadly, we still have idiots in the UK who use stupid power to get out. I run LEGAL power only and stay within the law.

[KentTeffeteller]

FM CB is not officially allowed. AM and SSB is. 5 watts/AM, 12 watts/SSB legal limits. Truck drivers still use it mainly and some other activities.

[JBL GUY]

Just to be pedantic...

It used to be 5 watts DC input power to the plate of the final RF power amplifier in the USA. It was not easy for the average CBer to perform this measurement, so the rule was changed to carrier output power. This was set at 4 watts unmodulated carrier and of course 12 watts peak envelope power.

This applies to Class D CB radio.

There are other radio bands available for license free two-way radio.

MURS (multi use radio system) a series of VHF frequencies in the 151 MHz range.

The FCC defines MURS as a private, two-way, short-distance voice or data communications service for personal or business activities of the general public. They are allowed 2 watts of RF output and the highest point of any MURS antenna must not be more than 18.3 meters (60 feet) above the ground or 6.10 meters (20.0 feet) above the highest point of the structure to which it is mounted, whichever is higher.

That is external antennas may be used. The radios are sometimes called color dot radios, because each frequency or channel is represented by a color.

Then there is the FRS (family radio service) in the UHF band. These are the small handheld radios we see for sale and advertised.

These are handheld radios that are limited to a maximum output power of 500 milliwatts or half a watt. The antennas are fixed and not removable. External antennas are not allowed.


Then there are the UHF GMRS radios. Handheld, mobile and base stations are allowed. The last time I checked the maximum power output was 5 watts ERP (effective radiated power). That is the output of the transmitter times the gain of the antenna, minus any losses. The last time I checked these required a license and the payment of a fee. The license term was 5 years.



Some of the small hand held UHF radios that we see for sale are both FRS and GMRS capable and although there may be instructions that a license is needed to use the GMRS channels, very few if any people apply for this license.

These radios are capable of running higher power than the FRS only radios on the GMRS frequencies.

Aye roger D 10-4 good buddy. I am east bound and down, Keep the shiny side up, look out for the chicken coops and do not feed the bears. I'll catch you on the flip flop, I'm gone!

[init4fun]

Well , with all this talk of CB radios , I guess we oughta have at least one pictured . Here , in all it's 23 channel glory , is my "Citi-Fone SS" and a good ol D104 . It's got 10 tubes crammed into that little box and a vibrator power supply for 12 Volt as well as a "normal" supply for 115 . It's been recapped and works as well as any old tube CB could , meaning it sits on a shelf with some other bygone relics and collects dust

[MIPS]

CB is the only radio system I actively use and experiment on. Screw the regulations. It's so dead out here now that you can do whatever you want on a channel other than 19 and 9 (every once and a while you get chatter from trucks going down the highway so it's best to keep those channels clear) and nobody will ever notice or care. I run a Realistic base station here in the house but as of yet I have been unable to find a way to build the 20' supporting column for the 3/4 wave antenna so my range is limited to two or three kilometers from the house with a craptacular car antenna fitted. I'm sure when the 3/4 wave is up I can get coverage over the entire valley.

On the car there's another Realistic built into the center console and a 12' whip on the back.




I've tried a number of things that technically you shouldn't be doing like RTTY, SSTV and low baud packet. It's all basically useless out here unless your base station has a proper antenna.
Just don't tell anyone I'm doing this, 'kay?

Back when I lived in Vancouver when the weather was just right you could park at the top of the hill in Queen Elizabeth Park and you could got skip from as far away as Alabama. Never understood their love for using channels 6 and 11. It was always a mess of overlapping conversations.

[Boobtubeman]

Originally Posted by init4fun

Well , with all this talk of CB radios , I guess we oughta have at least one pictured . Here , in all it's 23 channel glory , is my "Citi-Fone SS" and a good ol D104 . It's got 10 tubes crammed into that little box and a vibrator power supply for 12 Volt as well as a "normal" supply for 115 . It's been recapped and works as well as any old tube CB could , meaning it sits on a shelf with some other bygone relics and collects dust

Think we have one of those lying around here along with an old johnson with no meter just 2 lights and a couple knobs...

SR

[JBL GUY]

That brings back memories.

My first two CB radios were a Hallicrafters CB-3A with the optional adjustable noise blanker and S meter. And a Lafayette HE-20c.

This was in the early 1960s. I got these because some of the farmers had CB radios in there trucks and pickups. I was more interested in amateur radio.

I found out that I could move a receive frequency crystal to the transmitter side and the Lafayette HE-20c would transmit on the 10 meter amateur radio band. I used this with a Lafayette HA-350 receiver on 10 meters with great fun.

I still have the Lafayette HA-350 receiver but the CB radios are long gone after many moves. And I do have a amplified version of the D-104 microphone.

I also had at one time a 23 channel Pace Plus 23. It was rather unusual in that IIRC it had a 30 watt TO-3 case RF output transistor. It was either this radio or their 6 channel radio that looked similar and maybe both of them.

Anyway more CB radio pictures and a stowaway amateur radio receiver.