3W4483

[w2amr]

I was going through some old papers and found my old CB license. It had to be in my dad's name, because I was only 15 at the time. I think the minimum age for a license was 18.
8627

[kf0rt]

Damn, George. I didn't think you was that old. ;) :neener:

[N8YX]

Must have been fun, before the "boom" in the late 70's occurred.

[N2CHX]

I wasn't even close to being born yet :snicker:

[KG4CGC]

KBFX-2007

[X-Rated]

I remember my aunt and uncle's call letters. KNH-0235.

I remember wanting my license and I had to be 18 to get it. So finally a friend of mine told me about amateur radio and that there was no age limits. So I took the novice test while I was 17 and I ordered my CB license to assure I had a radio license after turning 18. It was KALX-3130.

[N2CHX]

You guys are frickin' old.

[NA4BH]

Crap, I am old. Mine only had three letters KZI-8483. If I remember correctly.

[X-Rated]

You guys are frickin' old.

I remember in 9th grade (1973) a girl in my class coming to school showing off her newborn. Are you older than that baby? ARE you that baby?

[N2CHX]

I remember in 9th grade (1973) a girl in my class coming to school showing off her newborn. Are you older than that baby? ARE you that baby?

I might just be one of your wild seeds, you just never know. Scaaaary!

[w2amr]

Damn, George. I didn't think you was that old. ;) :neener:
And it get's worse every day.

[XE1/N5AL]

You guys are frickin' old.
I believe the politically correct term is "vintage".

[w2amr]

Must have been fun, before the "boom" in the late 70's occurred.
An FCC field office was right across the river in center city Philly. There weren't many stations on the air back then, so monitoring all 23 channels was no problem . A rules violation got you a citation from the FCC within days, and there were a lot of rules.

[kb2vxa]

A field office isn't a monitoring station but the NYC metro area should be so lucky. The field office at 401 Varick Street had its own across the river in Englewood, NJ, the terror of hams and CBers far and wide, David Popkin W2CC. If you so much as farted with the mic open you'd get a pink slip for spurious emissions, if a guest in the shack farted at the same time with a different pitch you'd get one for harmonics. Seriously, (me?) since we legally IDed with callsigns the most common violations were failure to observe the 5 minute silent period for every 10 minutes of operation and using CB as a hobby or diversion. Dave was a classic Jekyll and Hyde, the other side of him was one of the nicest guys I ever met. Yup, some years ago I met him at an Army MARS meeting at Fort Monmouth where I introduced myself and we had a very interesting conversation about his FCC days.

There WERE a lot of rules? Oh they didn't go away, only the license requirement. Quite a few of today's CBers seem to think the FCC went away... until they get a knock on the door and find a couple of field engineers standing there. By the looks of things the FCC is actually tougher now believe it or not. Back then warnings of on air violations were common and technical violations were given time to be corrected, now it's NALs with heavy fines attached.

Oh and BTW it WAS fun before the boom that led to downfall. Before goofy lingo, phony Texas accents, foul language and QRM so thick you couldn't talk across town between sunrise and midnight CB was actually worthwhile.

[NY4Q]

Rusty Bucket -> KBNQ-7966

[w2amr]

Rusty Bucket -> KBNQ-7966
Damn, a 4x4 call.

[kf0rt]

Damn, a 4x4 call.

Rusty Bucket, indeed. ;)

[kb2vxa]

A bucket mouth that drools?

[koØm]

Damn, a 4x4 call.

KBKZ-8856

[kb2crk]

KBUW-9833....

[w2amr]

KBUW-9833....
That call would keep you busy on CW.

[X-Rated]

KBUW-9833....

Killed Blondes Under Water 9833.

[kb2crk]

That call would keep you busy on CW.

It was my fathers license but yes, when I was studying for my novice I did try it......lol

[kb2vxa]

"Killed Blondes Under Water 9833."

Yeah, but I kiss blondes underwater, all 9833 of them!

[NY4Q]

Another feller I remember talking to was "The babymaker, the KBM-1416, and wee cleaar..."

[PA5COR]

I got my license in spring 1977..... never did much with CB.

[K4PIH]

KGE-8997, The Shark! I lived on the coast of Florida and spent a lot of time shark fishing. Seemed to fit at the time. If I can dig it out I'll scan it and post it. I even had QSL cards with a cartoon character named Sharky.

Then there was the call sign I used when people pissed me off, which happend quite a bit.

KMA-1004 (Kiss My Ass 10-04)

Wow flash back time!

Ifn I cud spel I wornt be editing so much.

[WX7P]

KBUY-9703.

They got rid of the licenses about a month after I got mine.

[kb2vxa]

Aw hell, EVERYBODY was KMA1004! I like K-BUY, sounds like K Mart.

When licensing was dropped and KMD7606 faded into history I was Stereo, the big signal with the big sound (from a broadcast mic and modified 120W plate modulated transmitter) and when a punkie came on the channel I was The Crusher, one of several friends actually. At 12' 6" and 550lbs with a melodious voice from gargling with sulfuric acid and razor blades, eating railroad ties like bread sticks and picking my teeth with a spike we were an intimidating lot who firmly believed CB stood for chop busting. Yeah, we never cursed but had lots of fun, we're all hams now and a rather boring lot... pppfffttt.

[W3WN]

David Popkin W2CC.

Oh, he was a character. He was also an OO, although I don't know if it was during his FCC also, or only after.

He was known to monitor band edges during contests. If you worked a station on, say, 14.347.5, you got an OO notice. He cranked out so many, he had the forms preprinted for the frequency(s), he just entered your call and the time.

He also always mailed them with vintage stamps. Like the 6 cent America the Beautiful stamps from the LBJ era... in the 1990's and 2000's. No idea where he ever got them.

I don't think he's with us any longer.

... and sorry, I never had an interest in CB. I jumped from SWL to Novice in 1972, so never was involved in 11 meters.

[K4PIH]

13715

Found it! Had to use the wayback machine with Mr. Peabody

[kb2vxa]

That's the same form mine was printed on, different from those issued during the 1W, 2W and 1Q, 2Q, etc. era. I remember Helen who squawked just like a parrot "2Q5468 base to mobile, copy Walt?" I squawked right back "2Q5468, AWK! <whistle> Polly want a cracker! <whistle>" A few stations laughed, then she went right back like nothing happened. Of course, we were friends, she and Walt knew I was just kidding.

Oh, almost forgot Dave Popskin's plan of attack, he was well known and well feared, word got around even to CB. He never bothered with it, we had Roger Nye The FCC Guy as we called him long before anybody ever heard od Larry The Cable Guy. He was the biggest doofus I've EVER seen, how he ever got to be a Field Engineer I have no idea. He had a personal vendetta going against us, when he showed up to inspect my station I'd ditched the big guns (mine and a customer repair) under a blanket on dad's workbench. He turned in that direction, I grabbed his arm and said "The CB station is THIS way." and led him into my radio room/shop/man cave. There he got out the trusty Bird 43 watt meter and tried to screw an N connector into an SO-239. I picked up the right jumper and handed it to him. Then puzzled why he got no reading I handed him the right slug, he had a 250W 150MHz slug in it. Last he hooked up an ancient heterodyne type frequency meter, the kind you zero beat and read the dial settings. I got cited for too much power, a whole 4 1/4W and 3 channels off frequency. My set used individual crystals, crystal synthesizers were the latest thing in 23 channel sets, PLL was unheard of. I took the rig to the local CB shop owned by an Extra Class ham with a P2 license (later P1 and P2 were grandfathered to GROL), a slight adjustment of the loading cap brought it down to 4W and a new crystal fixed the off frequency problem. Tom the owner sounded off about idiot Roger, the other channels were spot on according to his counter. He gave me certification I mailed to the well known 201 Varick Street, NY, NY and all was well.

Then one day at Booger Fling (Burger King) a few towns away for an impromptu "coffee break" I spotted him in the lot writing down plates on cars with antennas. I mentioned it to our little group and some went over to the window, word spread fast. Then he had the GALL to come in, got an order and sat near us. BTW he was fat as a pig and a messy eater rather fun to watch listening for grunts and squeals. Before long he was nearly surrounded, leaving it all behind he beat a hasty retreat.

What I said about the inspection told you he wasn't very bright, I looked him up in the phone book and gave his address and number over the air every chance I got. You don't have to think too hard to figure out what came of it.

I wrote a flaming letter of complaint to his boss, Jack Shedletski at the field office and spread word to his other victims they should do likewise. It worked, he got a "promotion" flying a desk in Baltimore and was replaced by an Israeli whose name I don't recall, the exact opposite, the sharpest tack in the box. I worked with him on a TVI complaint case at a friend's station, to make a long story short it was quickly resolved to everybody's satisfaction.

Speaking of OOs, I know one I first met back in my CB daze who used a plate modulated ham transmitter bigger than mine, a character then and a character now. When he first joined "the club" he sent cards by the ton and all for the dumbest reasons, a really sick puppy. We fixed his wagon, we wiped our butts with them, put them in envelopes and mailed them back. Unfortunately I didn't come across this little billet-doux until after he quit sending dumb OO cards.

[suddenseer]

My dad had the callsign KRN-7578 I think, His cb buds that were unlicensed some how were of the opinion that unlicensed stations were not subject to FCC inspection.

[W2NAP]

never had a cb license. was kinda before my time. I think my grandfather did but no idea.

[KA9MOT]

KHV-6300 was mine. Well dad's, but we were all required and allowed to use it. I think he got it in '67 or '69.... And GAWD help us if we didn't follow the rules and dad found out about it. He heard somebody playing a Kazoo and since I had a Kazoo, I got my ass beat bloody....it didn't matter to him one whit that I'd broken the Kazoo a couple of days before and threw it away.

[K7SGJ]

Why is it that Dad's always believe daughters and never believe sons? Must be the DNA thing, or the ones with the balls usually lie.