One of dem thar CEE BEE questions tain fer?

[kc4umo]

Here is a thought.
Down the road from my house is a peanut storage business.
They have all legit cb’s on there their trucks, tractors, and semi’s. Every time a radio or antenna goes bad they buy a new one. Throw the old one away. Again, the radios are stock Cobras and Uniden’s. None of them “extree channels nor have these rigs ever been into.

What would be wrong with an amateur operator repairing these units?

Reason I ask is this past Sunday I took my old Antron 99 that has not been used since 2000 and stuck it up. I was sick yesterday so stayed home. While I was out in the shack I hooked my old midland base up and heard the guy’s at the peanut place talking. Someone called truck 3 and the base came back and said his antenna wire was broke. So I keyed the mic and said “I can fix that for you�. The guy came back and asks where I was so I told them. About 30 minutes he showed up and I found the pl-259 was pulled off the coax. I soldered a new one on and got him back going. The guy handed me a 20. I told him I did not have any change on me. He said don’t worry about it.

Would it not be better for a ham to repair these instead of a bucher shop??

[KC8TCQ]

Here is a thought.
Down the road from my house is a peanut storage business.
They have all legit cb’s on there their trucks, tractors, and semi’s. Every time a radio or antenna goes bad they buy a new one. Throw the old one away. Again, the radios are stock Cobras and Uniden’s. None of them “extree channels nor have these rigs ever been into.

What would be wrong with an amateur operator repairing these units?

Reason I ask is this past Sunday I took my old Antron 99 that has not been used since 2000 and stuck it up. I was sick yesterday so stayed home. While I was out in the shack I hooked my old midland base up and heard the guy’s at the peanut place talking. Someone called truck 3 and the base came back and said his antenna wire was broke. So I keyed the mic and said “I can fix that for you�. The guy came back and asks where I was so I told them. About 30 minutes he showed up and I found the pl-259 was pulled off the coax. I soldered a new one on and got him back going. The guy handed me a 20. I told him I did not have any change on me. He said don’t worry about it.

Would it not be better for a ham to repair these instead of a bucher shop??


Well.. I don't see anything wrong with it. A local friend of mine George N8EUY owns a business selling and installing antennas towers and two way radios. He also makes a good bit selling and repairing cb radios.

[kc4umo]

One thing I started here is repairing dog tracking systems for the local hunters. There is no one in local that does this. The next thing is figure how to replace the batteries in the collars. Sealed expoxy unit. For the last few years I have been working on ham equipment for some of the new hams for free.

A few months back a friend of mine came by with his cb. Hooked it up backwards and blowed the reverse protection diode. After repairing that I noticed the audio was all distorted. The limiter had been clipped out and was tuned for max. I repalced the missing components, retuned the radio. When he came to pick it up I set it on the bench and showed him it was working. First thing he said was "you took all my watts out". I said try it before you complain. A week later he called me and said he had never had a cb talk any better than that one.....Go figure.

I just dont want to get into people bringing the exports and amps over.

[N8YX]

"you took all my watts out"

Reason Numero Uno why I won't work on the things. If you don't understand how a correctly tuned radio is supposed to operate, you're going watch the - misinterpret the readings - and subsequently blame the technician when lack of propagation neuters your skip-talking sessions.


I just dont want to get into people bringing the exports and amps over.

Put your foot down and refuse to work on them. No ifs, and or buts.

[kc4umo]

Reason Numero Uno why I won't work on the things. If you don't understand how a correctly tuned radio is supposed to operate, you're going watch the - misinterpret the readings - and subsequently blame the technician when lack of propagation neuters your skip-talking sessions.
Agreeded




Put your foot down and refuse to work on them. No ifs, and or buts.
Double agreeded.
Good thing is, While listening to these guys, they had none of the cb lingo going on. Just plain talk. Plus they only have stock radio's

[N9FE]

Here is a thought.
Down the road from my house is a peanut storage business.
They have all legit cb’s on there their trucks, tractors, and semi’s. Every time a radio or antenna goes bad they buy a new one. Throw the old one away. Again, the radios are stock Cobras and Uniden’s. None of them “extree channels nor have these rigs ever been into.

What would be wrong with an amateur operator repairing these units?

Reason I ask is this past Sunday I took my old Antron 99 that has not been used since 2000 and stuck it up. I was sick yesterday so stayed home. While I was out in the shack I hooked my old midland base up and heard the guy’s at the peanut place talking. Someone called truck 3 and the base came back and said his antenna wire was broke. So I keyed the mic and said “I can fix that for you�. The guy came back and asks where I was so I told them. About 30 minutes he showed up and I found the pl-259 was pulled off the coax. I soldered a new one on and got him back going. The guy handed me a 20. I told him I did not have any change on me. He said don’t worry about it.

Would it not be better for a ham to repair these instead of a bucher shop?? Dam Man you be in the Chicken radio repair Bin-nus. :lol: I put my snowplow drivers radio and antenna on the anilizer every once in awile. and a few others. They drop off tomatos. potatos, and other garden fav's. And in the winter i watch the radar for them when there out there for 15 hours strait. It's a good relationship. They will bring up the subject of lin-yarrs, i just say, not me, Dem Dar is truck stop goodies.. :lol:

[kd6nig]

I think you won't have any issues as long as you're just fixing stuff like that. The moment you start tearing into radios though, you'll cross that line-not only into the grey area where guys can complain that you messed up their stuff, but into the legal realm-you're not certified to work on a FCC type accepted or certified radio.

Working on Amps and stuff would be illegal anyway because they are illegal, of course :)

[kc4umo]

Understood.

You know, I can honestly say I do not know anyone that is certified to work on FCC type accepted radio. There was a guy a few counties over that was, now SK, and 20 years ago there was a guy here that worked for a radio station that was.

Like n8yx said, I would have to put my foot down.


I think you won't have any issues as long as you're just fixing stuff like that. The moment you start tearing into radios though, you'll cross that line-not only into the grey area where guys can complain that you messed up their stuff, but into the legal realm-you're not certified to work on a FCC type accepted or certified radio.

Working on Amps and stuff would be illegal anyway because they are illegal, of course :)

[kd6nig]

Understood.

You know, I can honestly say I do not know anyone that is certified to work on FCC type accepted radio. There was a guy a few counties over that was, now SK, and 20 years ago there was a guy here that worked for a radio station that was.

Like n8yx said, I would have to put my foot down.


I think you won't have any issues as long as you're just fixing stuff like that. The moment you start tearing into radios though, you'll cross that line-not only into the grey area where guys can complain that you messed up their stuff, but into the legal realm-you're not certified to work on a FCC type accepted or certified radio.

Working on Amps and stuff would be illegal anyway because they are illegal, of course :)

On a more personal note, I deal with about 80-100 truck drivers daily as part of my job (I'm security supervisor at a large warehouse and we log drivers in and out). I have enough fun with guys not understanding the concept of appointments, simple rules, and stuff like that. I wouldn't open the can of worms of working on their radios, personally :)

If you decide to, you have much more patience and willingness to deal with people than I will EVER possess :)

[KC8TCQ]

I will add that I have seen truck drivers do some crazy things wioth their antennas/radios. I had a truck driver ask if I would take a look at his setup because it wasn't working worth a darn, I look at his antenna, a fiberglass whip. He had peeled off the thin plastic layer, and then remived the coper wire that was the actual antenna, and all he had there was the fiberglass. He seemed to think the fiberglass was the antenna, and the copper wire on the outside was just for decoration, so he pulled it off to miniumize "drag" :roll:

[N9FE]

Oh yeah, That fiberglass is an exellent radiator... Thats funny. :roll:

[kc4umo]

On a more personal note, I deal with about 80-100 truck drivers daily as part of my job (I'm security supervisor at a large warehouse and we log drivers in and out). I have enough fun with guys not understanding the concept of appointments, simple rules, and stuff like that. I wouldn't open the can of worms of working on their radios, personally :)

If you decide to, you have much more patience and willingness to deal with people than I will EVER possess :)

Man I learned patience years ago from being a supervisor for 16 years at a pest control company.
Places I been and the things I seen. (This is a college town).

I would not want to deal with truckers . Let them truck stops handle them.

[kc4umo]

I will add that I have seen truck drivers do some crazy things wioth their antennas/radios. I had a truck driver ask if I would take a look at his setup because it wasn't working worth a darn, I look at his antenna, a fiberglass whip. He had peeled off the thin plastic layer, and then remived the coper wire that was the actual antenna, and all he had there was the fiberglass. He seemed to think the fiberglass was the antenna, and the copper wire on the outside was just for decoration, so he pulled it off to miniumize "drag" :roll:

Now thats funny right there

[kd6nig]

I would not want to deal with truckers . Let them truck stops handle them.

Somebody oughta send that job resume to Mike Rowe. You want to talk about a dirty job.

I could probably come up with a pretty long post on the stuff I've heard from truck drivers about other truck drivers. Another on the antics of some of them in this facility.

There are times I really, really wonder about allowing some people to be able to legally drive a up to 40 ton (at least in California) projectile down a highway. Toss a hazmat endorsement on top of that and I really start to cringe.

[KC8TCQ]

I would not want to deal with truckers . Let them truck stops handle them.

Somebody oughta send that job resume to Mike Rowe. You want to talk about a dirty job.

I could probably come up with a pretty long post on the stuff I've heard from truck drivers about other truck drivers. Another on the antics of some of them in this facility.

There are times I really, really wonder about allowing some people to be able to legally drive a up to 40 ton (at least in California) projectile down a highway. Toss a hazmat endorsement on top of that and I really start to cringe.

No kidding, this morning I had to go out to a accident involving a semi hauling a full tank of propane, he was making a turn while talking on his cell phone, turned to short, the trailer tandems went into the ditch and rolled the whole truck over. The driver was damn lucky (as were the people who lived in the area) because when he rolled it over into the ditch (deep ditch) the trailer rolled right over a steel post that had a mail box on it, and just missed taking out a utility pole with high voltage power lines.

[kd6nig]

I would not want to deal with truckers . Let them truck stops handle them.

Somebody oughta send that job resume to Mike Rowe. You want to talk about a dirty job.

I could probably come up with a pretty long post on the stuff I've heard from truck drivers about other truck drivers. Another on the antics of some of them in this facility.

There are times I really, really wonder about allowing some people to be able to legally drive a up to 40 ton (at least in California) projectile down a highway. Toss a hazmat endorsement on top of that and I really start to cringe.

No kidding, this morning I had to go out to a accident involving a semi hauling a full tank of propane, he was making a turn while talking on his cell phone, turned to short, the trailer tandems went into the ditch and rolled the whole truck over. The driver was damn lucky (as were the people who lived in the area) because when he rolled it over into the ditch (deep ditch) the trailer rolled right over a steel post that had a mail box on it, and just missed taking out a utility pole with high voltage power lines.

This gem happened yesterday:

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ ... /809090314 (http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080909/A_NEWS/809090314)
http://www.news10.net/news/local/story. ... 53&catid=2 (http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=47453&catid=2)

They aren't sure if it was mechanical failure or something else yet.

[KC8TCQ]

The problem is too many 90 day wonders, and the companies are pushing the drivers too hard. The days of the courteous professional drivers are pretty much gone. There are still some old school drivers on the road, but these days they are few and far between

[W7XF]

There are times I really, really wonder about allowing some people to be able to legally drive a up to 40 ton (at least in California) projectile down a highway. Toss a hazmat endorsement on top of that and I really start to cringe.

Josh....

I happen to have the following in my wallet, right in front of my Extra class ham licence:

Valid Class A CDL, WITH doubles/triples, tank, motorcycle AND hazmat endorsements. :whistle:

And as far as a ham working on a chickenband radio.. hate to say it, but ANYONE can repair a CB nowadays... the FCC removed the requirement that CB repair(?) techs have a radiotelephone licence some time ago.

[N2NH]

There are times I really, really wonder about allowing some people to be able to legally drive a up to 40 ton (at least in California) projectile down a highway. Toss a hazmat endorsement on top of that and I really start to cringe.

Josh....

I happen to have the following in my wallet, right in front of my Extra class ham licence:

Valid Class A CDL, WITH doubles/triples, tank, motorcycle AND hazmat endorsements. :whistle:

And as far as a ham working on a chickenband radio.. hate to say it, but ANYONE can repair a CB nowadays... the FCC removed the requirement that CB repair(?) techs have a radiotelephone licence some time ago.

That's good because they removed my 1st Radiotelephone License from me and all I got in return was this crappy GROL. :evil:

[kd6nig]

There are times I really, really wonder about allowing some people to be able to legally drive a up to 40 ton (at least in California) projectile down a highway. Toss a hazmat endorsement on top of that and I really start to cringe.

Josh....

I happen to have the following in my wallet, right in front of my Extra class ham licence:

Valid Class A CDL, WITH doubles/triples, tank, motorcycle AND hazmat endorsements. :whistle:

And as far as a ham working on a chickenband radio.. hate to say it, but ANYONE can repair a CB nowadays... the FCC removed the requirement that CB repair(?) techs have a radiotelephone licence some time ago.

Thats why I said some. Some examples for you:

-Guys who approach my gate and totally ignore the large, red sign that says STOP on it.
-Guys who fill out our safety policy and then totally ignore it, including: Speeding, trying to yank trailers out of a door with a red light that are still hooked to the dock, the one guy who decided to "self release" his trailer, luckily nobody was in it, the collision that happened about 100 yd behind my shack because one guy was doing about 45 in the yard, and quite a few guys who are too lazy to go to the restroom so they just do it in the yard, not realizing we have cameras everywhere. Oh wait they should, since there are signs stating this fact everywhere.
-Guys who you write down where to drop and pick up, and who come back and cannot remember where.
-Guys who think that a clean trailer just means it got unloaded. So what if it smells like fish or laundry detergent, you're just loading food onto it, right?

And, dang it, a shower once every 2 days would help too. The scariest thing is the worst-smelling one I had come in one time was a woman....

I mean for the most part, like in Ham Radio, even with the 'changing of the guard' with these guys who get a license and just start driving, 95% of them are just guys like me working for a living. But it seems like there is a segment of that society also, just like in ham radio, where you have guys who just have a bad day all the time, and because they are, they want to ensure YOU have a bad day also. Most of them know the routine, want to pick their load up and get out, but some of them will do anything possible to hinder that.

I just don't see though how you can give someone some short training and stick them in a large truck. I mean, I guess they pass the tests and stuff, but a lot more lately I've had guys coming in and the first question is "can you have the yard driver back my trailer in?" You'd think that would be a required skill. What would they do if the CHP asked them to back up? And I can't believe the amount of guys who show up at my gate, sans paperwork, and expect me to take a load without any documentation or identification whatsoever. If they got stopped by the police, what would they say when the cop asks "so, what are you hauling, son?" I think "I don't know, I don't have any paperwork" in this day and age, would result in a SWAT callout.

At least some places still put them with a veteran driver before they send them out on their own. But it seems like the stint with the veteran driver is getting less and less. I had a guy asking me yesterday how to slide the tandems on his trailer to set them to 40'-I guess nobody told him about the thing you pull on the trailer to release them. I've had guys come in with the axles clear back to the rear. Thats a large ticket around here......

But to get semi back on topic, then we have the electrical engineer truck drivers. I've had 3 of them come in here with linears-powered by jumper cables placed on the battery, ran through the drivers door (2 with duck tape to protect the "wire" through the door smash point) and to the linear. I don't see why the DOT doesn't get them for it, but thats what was there. One of them had the linear and the radio on the dash, and both of them, as well as the dash, were covered in fast food papers. You know, burger wrappers, empty drink cups, stuff like that. About a 2 inch layer.

You just have to think "what the heck" sometimes. :mrgreen:

[kc4umo]

And as far as a ham working on a chickenband radio.. hate to say it, but ANYONE can repair a CB nowadays... the FCC removed the requirement that CB repair(?) techs have a radiotelephone licence some time ago.

I thought I had heard that also. But I will check on it further.
Right now I am at the hospital. Waiting on test results. I took my wife in last night. Not sure what the problem is.

Batteries are low. I will check back later.

[N2NH]

Right now I am at the hospital. Waiting on test results. I took my wife in last night. Not sure what the problem is.

Batteries are low. I will check back later.

I hope that it isn't serious. I will pray for you. :angel

[WV6Z]

And as far as a ham working on a chickenband radio.. hate to say it, but ANYONE can repair a CB nowadays... the FCC removed the requirement that CB repair(?) techs have a radiotelephone licence some time ago.

I thought I had heard that also. But I will check on it further.
Right now I am at the hospital. Waiting on test results. I took my wife in last night. Not sure what the problem is.

Batteries are low. I will check back later.

It's about time for an update Buddy!!! What's going on!?!? :shock:

[kd6nig]

Perhaps he uses a trickle charger off solar panels?

[kc4umo]

Hey guys and thanks for asking about me.
The wife has been laid out for a bit and I been with her at the hospital.
I woke up and found her laying in a pool of blood the other night.
Lets just say it was a big scare and still we do not know what happened.
They did some ultra sounds and x-rays and found something out of the ordinary in her lower abdomen. They let her come home yesterday but I have not found time to get on the net until tonight. She goes back monday to see a specialist.

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers

[N5RLR]

Whoa. Pool of blood is not good. :shock:

My thoughts and prayers are with you, also. â€*

[kc4umo]

Whoa. Pool of blood is not good. :shock:

My thoughts and prayers are with you, also. â€*

Thanks Mike.
And you are right. You just can not loose but so much blood. ANd after talking with her doctor this morning I am so ready to go back to the ER and do bodily harm to someone. :geek:

Atleast she now has some meds to help her until the appointment monday. I will say the folks at ER were very nice and helpful. But basicly all they done was gave her a baind-aid, a loly pop and and a big bill for their services. Even her doctor was ticked off about it.

Thanks again all for the concerns. And please keep her in your prayers. Although I have not had iny sleep in 4 days now but I will be fine when she is better.

[WV6Z]

She will remain in our thoughts and prayers here Buddy! :pray

[N8YX]

Update, mon. How's she doing?

[N9FE]

Update, mon. How's she doing? +1

[kc4umo]

Sorry guy's. I have not been surfing the net much in the last week or so.
She had surgery and all seems fine. She is home now recovering and I have been waiting on her trying to make her comfortable.
What little time I can get has been out in the shop trying to make an extra buck or two. Even though we have insurance it still adds up.
Anyway she will try to return to work in a week.

Thanks for asking guy's
Most appreciated.

[N9FE]

COOL :dance