Getting Back Into CB

[n2ize]

Have any former CB'ers turned Ham's thought about getting back into CB ?

[K7SGJ]

No

[KC2UGV]

Have any former CB'ers turned Ham's thought about getting back into CB ?

I do both. CB radio channel 11 here can be rather interesting later at night, with some good folk chatting. No noise toys, super power (I think one person runs 50W sometimes), etc etc. Channel 21 on the weekends can be a hoot, there's one old codger who is pretty hilarious when drinking.

Depending on location, MURS can be fun too sometimes. Especially when in close proximity to a Walmart.

[N8YX]

I do both.
Likewise. I'm a radio enthusiast, not just a "ham operator"...and those motorcycle-mounted CB sets come in handy when traveling with a group of bikes.


CB radio channel 11 here can be rather interesting later at night, with some good folk chatting.
32 in this area, although I rarely frequent it. Most of my 11M activity is on CH38 LSB or on CH1 AM (the motorcycle mobile calling frequency).



No noise toys, super power (I think one person runs 50W sometimes), etc etc. Channel 21 on the weekends can be a hoot, there's one old codger who is pretty hilarious when drinking.

In the Stoner thread I mention one of the locals with a mistuned Ranger product. Most of the crowd in this area doesn't understand the "minimum power" bit. If I was one of them (and didn't value my amateur license) I could easily bring any number of HF rigs plus amplifiers to bear on those frequencies. Alas, I keep it legal and try to maximize signal through antenna work. Hence the search for the perfect type-accepted set.


Depending on location, MURS can be fun too sometimes. Especially when in close proximity to a Walmart.

I have a 19-1210 mobile rig plus 4 SV-220 handhelds around the shack. The mobile rig is tied into one of my tri-band Comet verticals and the Spirits are set up to track its channel and PL scheme. Anywhere in the general neighborhood vicinity is doable as far as communications between base and handhelds is concerned.

[W2NAP]

I do both. CB radio channel 11 here can be rather interesting later at night, with some good folk chatting. No noise toys, super power (I think one person runs 50W sometimes), etc etc. Channel 21 on the weekends can be a hoot, there's one old codger who is pretty hilarious when drinking.

Depending on location, MURS can be fun too sometimes. Especially when in close proximity to a Walmart.

I dont mess with 11m around here all that is left is pretty much the bottom of the barrel.
I dont always do MURS but when I do its always channel 4 or 5 close to a china-mart

[NY4Q]

For kicks, I just scanned from 28.0 down to 26.8. I never heard one word of English. 27.025 was just a roar of noise.

Have at it!

[N8YX]

For kicks, I just scanned from 28.0 down to 26.8. I never heard one word of English. 27.025 was just a roar of noise.

Have at it!
There is a goodly amount of "sane" (note qualifier) activity on the SSB spots. When the band rolls up for the night I turn the BC2000's preamp on and see what there is to see in the way of weak signals from CH36-40.

Back in the waning days of the boom (say, from 1980 onwards) many of the regulars didn't bother to turn their radios on until well after sunset local time. After the omnipresent summer Es racket died off and things quieted down, we routinely worked stations which were 60-100mi away. If you've ever played around with weak-signal 2 and 6M SSB, the experience was much like that. A good receiver and a good directional antenna were a must. Many people (myself included) slaved high(er) performance communications receivers to our Class D transceivers and used them to dig out weak signals.

Mind you, this was back in the days where the average 11M operator was running one of three classes of equipment: An older crystal-controlled transceiver such as a Browning Mark III or Tram D201 in conjunction with an external VFO, an early generation synthesized transceiver (23 or 40CH) or some model of ham transceiver. Of the latter, the most popular set by far was the FT-101 series and the Drake TR7 brought up a close second...though other amateur equipment was heard 'round the band at times.

The key thing to remember is that unless Dr. Diddlesticks got his fat fingers into a "vintage" radio, almost none of them would create splatter to the point which required one to lean heavily on the filtering provided by a commercial-grade receiver in order to hear those weak signals. The current crop of garbage "export" radios flooding the U.S. have noisy synthesizers (which results in an increase in transmitted wide-band noise) and many don't incorporate an optimally designed PA. Thus, good luck working those distant neighbors late at night if the Power Rangers (and Galaxys too!) set up shop in your vicinity.

[NY4Q]

I enjoyed a lot of the CB band, but mostly used "THE FREE BAND". On CB, I remember "459 Bakersville" and The old "North Carolina Moonshiner". Ahh those days. Mom would get up at 3AM and find me in the laundry room where I had my CB and run my ass to bed.

I had a Realistic TRC-458 (uPD858 PLL), modified the clarifier circuit for TX/RX "slide", modded the 1st RF amp for a wider bandwidth. The radio could actually RX pretty good from about 26.8 to 27.9, and I built a fairly decent amp with a pair of 6HF5s and a power transformer from an RCA TV that died. I still have those tubes.

Nightly, we'd get on 27.505 LSB and have great fun. I was in high school then, so let's say that was about 1979. OH, and I had a Starduster in a Pine tree in the front yard. I would guess it was up there about 50 feet.

[WØTKX]

I do from time to time, my Johnson Messenger 352 is a good radio.

Just a 23 channel, but I do catch some SSB anyway.

There's some reasonably sane local AM ragchews in the Denver area.

[W5BRM]

I use CB just about every day as my job pretty much demands it. It's been years since I viewed CB as a hobby though.

Back in the late 80's I used to live in Central NY and there were a whole bunch of us that used to get on from around 9pm to as late as 2-3 in the morning. We formed a club called "Catskill Transmitters" and used ch34 as the club freq. At our peak I think we had a roster of around 90 if memory serves. Not too many of them are still around anymore. A lot of them have passed on. Our coverage area was from about East Worcester NY to Sydney NY and running north almost to Utica and south to around Delhi NY. We had quite a few from Cooperstown and other small burgs all over that area. There are quite a few that actually got into ham radio although you could never get them to admit now that they were on CB BEFORE the were hams....lol

We had a small hardcore group that used to freeband almost all the time. I was hardly ever in that group though. I had the radio for it though.

Had a Galaxy Saturn that actually helped me get interested in Ham Radio. I used to listen to CW and try to figure it out but never was very good at it. During the 5 years or so I was really into CB, I had the Galaxy Saturn, Cobra 2000, Cobra 142gtl, 148gtl mobile, President Grant and other assorted lower quality radio's. I had a Johnson Messeger at one point as well. All the radios were all mic'd with D-104 lollipop mics.

As to getting back into it now? I doubt I would ever get back into it as a hobbyist. All my friends are mostly gone or moved away. I dont live up in NY anymore and where I live now is mostly dead for CB. It's gone to me now and I could never go back.

[kb2vxa]

Naaa.....
I bailed in the 70s sometime and haven't looked back, no interest. I haven't seen a CB antenna save one on a pickup at the inlet last summer, a Wilson K-40. Not what you think, one of these guys gone fishing.

[n6hcm]

i bought a cheap CB a few months ago but haven't been motivated to get it out of the box and going.

[n2ize]

Well, if I want I could tune my receiver round the 11 meter portion of the band and fire up the old Johnson Viking 2 on ii meters. Of course it would be over the legal limit of power but it would work quite well. Those Vikings will tune up continually just about anywhere from the upper end of the MW AM Bcast band right on up through 30 mc. The thing is that I hear very little CB activity in the area anymore. Outside of "da bowl" and truckers and a few Spanish speaking stations in The Bronx there isn't much else out there anymore.

[kb2vxa]

Yeah, if you want, yeah, uh huh. Is that what you used to talk to Artie Windjammer on 21? This is what I used... he he heh.

[n2ize]

Yeah, if you want, yeah, uh huh. Is that what you used to talk to Artie Windjammer on 21? This is what I used... he he heh.

I used to talk to him later on when most of the Brooklyn crowd moved down to 27.135 (channel 15).

[koØm]

.

[N2ADV]

I use CB just about every day as my job pretty much demands it. It's been years since I viewed CB as a hobby though.

Back in the late 80's I used to live in Central NY and there were a whole bunch of us that used to get on from around 9pm to as late as 2-3 in the morning. We formed a club called "Catskill Transmitters" and used ch34 as the club freq. At our peak I think we had a roster of around 90 if memory serves. Not too many of them are still around anymore. A lot of them have passed on. Our coverage area was from about East Worcester NY to Sydney NY and running north almost to Utica and south to around Delhi NY. We had quite a few from Cooperstown and other small burgs all over that area. There are quite a few that actually got into ham radio although you could never get them to admit now that they were on CB BEFORE the were hams....lol

We had a small hardcore group that used to freeband almost all the time. I was hardly ever in that group though. I had the radio for it though.

Had a Galaxy Saturn that actually helped me get interested in Ham Radio. I used to listen to CW and try to figure it out but never was very good at it. During the 5 years or so I was really into CB, I had the Galaxy Saturn, Cobra 2000, Cobra 142gtl, 148gtl mobile, President Grant and other assorted lower quality radio's. I had a Johnson Messeger at one point as well. All the radios were all mic'd with D-104 lollipop mics.

As to getting back into it now? I doubt I would ever get back into it as a hobbyist. All my friends are mostly gone or moved away. I dont live up in NY anymore and where I live now is mostly dead for CB. It's gone to me now and I could never go back.
Some of the folks from Utica may still be around (I may know some of them). Lots (that are left) became snow birds and live in FL now.

[N8OBM]

I do from time to time, my Johnson Messenger 352 is a good radio.

Just a 23 channel, but I do catch some SSB anyway.

There's some reasonably sane local AM ragchews in the Denver area.

There are two versions of this radio. The 352 and the 352D. The 352D is a better radio and used a PLL rather than an Xtal synth. It's almost the same thing as the Johnson 4740 which is what I use when I go on 11 meters. In fact If you can find the channel switch from a 4740 and put it in the 352D you then have a 40 channel radio as both used the same PLL. The next town over has a bunch of the usual foolishness on channel 15 and sometimes on channel 35. By foolishness I mean big amps and noise toys. Believe it or not we had a twice weekly net on 36 lsb till about a year ago. There were a number of hams that would check in as well as non hams. Everybody was well behaved. We would have a good rag chew. The fellow who ran it got too busy with work to keep it running. I'm hoping we can get it up and running again sometime in the future.

Like all radio services, There are good operators and not so good operators. It's more fun to talk to the good operators.

Archie N8OBM

BTW I was at a tag sale last summer and I saw a Palomar dx350hd amp. It was $30. I bought it to keep it off the air. Better it should gather dust than splatter though out the land. Maybe someday I'll build a filter and use it on 10 meter at rather less than the claimed 350 watts. It likely wouldn't be a bad amp at 100 to 150 watts PEP WITH the proper filtering. I might be a good match for my old HTX10. Just a thought........

[w6tmi]

Would not say so much "getting back into it" as enjoying a listen now and then. It's pretty dead, but living near a freeway I catch the occasional motorist.

[WØTKX]

Yes, it's an un-modified "D" version. I've had the directions to "mod" it for so long, I forget what drive/directory I stashed it in. ;)

[N8YX]

Believe it or not we had a twice weekly net on 36 lsb till about a year ago. There were a number of hams that would check in as well as non hams. Everybody was well behaved. We would have a good rag chew. The fellow who ran it got too busy with work to keep it running. I'm hoping we can get it up and running again sometime in the future.

I wonder if I can hear you and the area gang from Barberton, Archie. I'm usually QRV on 38LSB when in the shack.

[kc4umo]

Like N8YX I'm also a radio enthusiast. I enjoy all radio.
I have a lot of fun on 11 meter SSB. Yes we get the occasional whacko but most of it is civil.
It all has it's place.

[KC2UGV]

Like N8YX I'm also a radio enthusiast. I enjoy all radio.
I have a lot of fun on 11 meter SSB. Yes we get the occasional whacko but most of it is civil.
It all has it's place.

Do you also play on FRS? It's kinda fun messing with the kids playing "soldier" lol

[W2NAP]

Do you also play on FRS? It's kinda fun messing with the kids playing "soldier" lol

oh that is fun.

[kc4umo]

Do you also play on FRS? It's kinda fun messing with the kids playing "soldier" lol
Around here is sort of dead. At least when I was looking into it. Have not tried it out in a while so may be different.
As of late I get little time to talk on radio. Most of the time I am on the repair bench working on vintage stuff.
Also atm I am trying to learn more about pic programming. I have this idea to add a DDS VFO to and old Siltronix 1011C and maybe a FT-101. A friend of mine was teaching me this a little at a time. Then he passed away. Now I have all these boards he sent me, and no schematics of his design. So I have to restart it all.

[N8OBM]

I wonder if I can hear you and the area gang from Barberton, Archie. I'm usually QRV on 38LSB when in the shack.

It's unlikely as I 'm not anywhere near Barberton. My evil twin brother lives in Akron but, I'm about 450 miles from there near the Vermont border in NY state. You would only be likely to hear me on 11 meters if we had some short hop E layer action. That said we did hear A similar net from Nova Scotia start up as we were winding down.

Archie N8OBM

[n2ize]

Mind you, this was back in the days where the average 11M operator was running one of three classes of equipment: An older crystal-controlled transceiver such as a Browning Mark III or Tram D201 in conjunction with an external VFO, an early generation synthesized transceiver (23 or 40CH) or some model of ham transceiver. Of the latter, the most popular set by far was the FT-101 series and the Drake TR7 brought up a close second...though other amateur equipment was heard 'round the band at times.


Including a Johnson Desk Kilowatt in Brooklyn.

[KG4CGC]

I've got back into 11 meters since last March. Very useful mobile.
I built an 11m dipole that I hung up in the trees at about 60 feet. Took my old 1982 Cobra 148 to the local guru in Greenville who's been around in his well established shop since the 60s. This is a 4 watt +/- radio. The antenna configured itself in an inverted V and is aligned East/West.

Today I made a contact.

Southern France. The contact's name was Jean Luc.

Armchair copy.

Afterwards I enjoyed a cup of General Foods international coffee while reminiscing.

[KG4CGC]

UK and SW Africa this morning.

[K4PIH]

Like many here I'm into radio, no matter what kind! I still CB on a regular basis. When I'm in the shack I always have the CB on and being within 1 mile of the 95 corridor and just south of DC, I get a lot of highway traffic from truckers and travelers. There are some pretty active local folks as well in the DC area and we have the occasional nice rag chew. It's great for shooting the breeze and not having to ID or worry about restrictions. I run legal gear, no amps, all stock. I have a 5/8 wave Wilson GP at 20ft on the end of the house that also doubles as my 10 antenna.

My current CB rig is a Midland 13-880 SSB 23 channel. That was the model I started out with back in the CB days and I just this year found another on on FleaBay. Great to have one back. Check it out on my "other" page. Also run a 40 channel Uniden mobile when I want the higher ones.

When I get rich I'll get another Tram 201 or a Stoner, but for now I'll make do.

[NQ6U]

Sometimes when I'm in the shack working digital modes with the AF turned all the way down I'll fire up my old Cobra Model 29 from my OTR trucker days and listen to the Mexican truck drivers waiting to cross the border. It's a good way to bone up on Spanish language profanity:


"Chinga tu madre!"

"Y tu padre tambien!"

[KG4CGC]

And the horse you rode in on.

[N8YX]

Sometimes when I'm in the shack working digital modes with the AF turned all the way down I'll fire up my old Cobra Model 29 from my OTR trucker days and listen to the Mexican truck drivers waiting to cross the border.
Which channel do they use in the area, Carl?

I hear a huge amount of Spanish on Ch5 when the band is up and assume that's their equivalent of our Ch19.

[W5BRM]

Like many here I'm into radio, no matter what kind! I still CB on a regular basis. When I'm in the shack I always have the CB on and being within 1 mile of the 95 corridor and just south of DC, I get a lot of highway traffic from truckers and travelers. There are some pretty active local folks as well in the DC area and we have the occasional nice rag chew. It's great for shooting the breeze and not having to ID or worry about restrictions. I run legal gear, no amps, all stock. I have a 5/8 wave Wilson GP at 20ft on the end of the house that also doubles as my 10 antenna.

My current CB rig is a Midland 13-880 SSB 23 channel. That was the model I started out with back in the CB days and I just this year found another on on FleaBay. Great to have one back. Check it out on my "other" page. Also run a 40 channel Uniden mobile when I want the higher ones.

When I get rich I'll get another Tram 201 or a Stoner, but for now I'll make do.

Heck, wish I'd known. I rolled up 95 from Ashland to Philly yesterday. I woulda gave a call

[K4PIH]

Heck, wish I'd known. I rolled up 95 from Ashland to Philly yesterday. I woulda gave a call

I usually monitor 19 on the base and 35-40 on the ssb mobile after abt 6pm during the week. On off during the weekends. Yea if you come back through anytime give a shout and if you have time I'll buy ya a coffee and some pie. That goes for all here as well.

My cb handle is Shark. I used to be a shark fisherman back home in Florida.

[W3WN]

A zombie thread resurrected! But... Halloween was last week...

Ahem

Seriously, like many here, I am a radio enthusiast, not merely a ham. That said, though, I've just plain and simple never had an interest in CB. Not that, as Jerry Seinfeld would proclaim, there's anything wrong with that. It's just not for me.

[kb2crk]

I just found this thread and honestly I can say I never really got out of it. 2 CB's in the shack both SBE. A motorola mocat 2020 in the mobile and an SBE Sidebander II waiting to go in the motorhome.
They don't get much use but do come in handy in certain situations.

[N8YX]

I do a lot of listening in the 24-30MHz region but that comes from being an SWL/Ute fan long before getting into two-way comms. The late 70s through the early 80s was a fun time to be involved with radio, and there were a lot of people to talk with on CB. You basically had three types of users: The business/SAR faction (including truckers and REACT), the technically oriented gang (SSBers, modders, DXers) and the socialites (jammers, working girls, channel hogs, "Casual Encounters" types and party animals included).

Most of the region's serious technical types have either moved into ham radio, given radio up altogether in favor of other pursuits, or - all too commonly - have gone SK. There's simply no one I want to talk to on the Class D allocation these days, even though the local scene remains somewhat active. Should the FCC ever relax the 155.1-mile limit I might play around with DXing on Ch35-40 but there's 10M for that. So...I keep the Pro-40 or the various CPI stuff parked on 38LSB and listen for area voices from years past.

When mobile, however, it's a different story altogether. Many of the motorcycle touring clubs have a favorite CB road channel and all four of my bikes are equipped with either OEM CBs or the J&M JMCB2003. They're particularly useful when in a large group ride and considerable separation exists between leader and drag riders.

[NQ6U]

Which channel do they use in the area, Carl?

I hear a huge amount of Spanish on Ch5 when the band is up and assume that's their equivalent of our Ch19.

Sorry, I missed this until now. I usually find them on channel 10.

[N8YX]

Sorry, I missed this until now. I usually find them on channel 10.

Around here that's a 'Bowl backup channel. I'm probably not going to hear Ken Kenworthy or Felipe Freightliner over the various big strappas who fire up when things are rolling...although I've recently been hearing a LOT of Caribbean-area Superbowlers in the morning hours.

[w2amr]

I just found this thread and honestly I can say I never really got out of it. 2 CB's in the shack both SBE. A motorola mocat 2020 in the mobile and an SBE Sidebander II waiting to go in the motorhome.
They don't get much use but do come in handy in certain situations.I had a sidebander II back in the day. I used to DX the "Freeband", above channel 23. I pulled out one of the xtals and replaced it with an old Simpson signal generator. It was noticeably drifty.

[kb2crk]

The SBEs in the shack are also both 23 channel. One is a Trinidad and the other is a Console II. My first CB was a Trinidad.

[w8nsi]

Have any former CB'ers turned Ham's thought about getting back into CB ?

No... been away from it for 40 years. Never been tempted to go back.

[K4PIH]

Oh yeah, Starduster. Works good on 10!

[WZ7U]

I sure see a lot of qrz & eham bios referring to the ole venerable antron A-99. Guys just swearing by them.

I remember swearing AT them. Especially after getting a handful of fiberglass silvers grabbing onto one of the dumb things after it had been up a few years.

Yeah, stardusters......that goes back a ways!

[n6hcm]

i bought a cheap CB radio intending to set it up and listen in ... it's still in the box. i'm so lazy ...

[WZ7U]

I see no one in the US has 11 meters on their web SDR receivers. I thought that might have been an easier way to listen in without opening that box. Damn.

Just listen to any of 'those' frequencies on 75, 40 or 20 & get yer fix that way. Right?

[KG4NEL]

I need to get a handheld one. A lot of OHV trails still use CB, and even if my range is only a quarter mile or so it might be useful if I break an axle and need to let the next vehicle ahead know what happened.

[kb2vxa]

Here's how it worked, or didn't work for me back in the daze, make of it what you will. Two were given to me, I never bought one because they're just not what they're cracked up to be. The one with a telescopic whip was just too unwieldy and the one with a loaded whip was rather like a 2M HT with a rubber duck we call a rubber dummy load only worse. The long and short of it they just couldn't get out of my back yard quite literally, the closest station only a few blocks away said I was down in the mud. Since 5 watts is 5 watts they worked like any other rig on the base and mobile antennas.

"...it might be useful if I break an axle and need to let the next vehicle ahead know what happened."
That depends on how far ahead that vehicle is, what sort of rig and antenna it has, what you're using for an antenna and how crowded the channel is. For my money I'd use just what I had in the mobubble, a through hole mounted base loaded whip, a plain Jane radio and a commercial dynamic hand held mic for better than crap "stock mic" audio. No useless bells and whistles on the radio, no roger beeps, gooney birds, echo mic or any of the other nonsense some are so fond of these days, CB is Communicating Band, not Children's Band... but I'd better stop here before I get into why I sold out and moved on.

Oh and by the way, if you break an axle it's nature's way of telling you you're doing it wrong, next time you may break your neck. (;->)

[KG4NEL]

"...it might be useful if I break an axle and need to let the next vehicle ahead know what happened."
That depends on how far ahead that vehicle is, what sort of rig and antenna it has, what you're using for an antenna and how crowded the channel is. For my money I'd use just what I had in the mobubble, a through hole mounted base loaded whip, a plain Jane radio and a commercial dynamic hand held mic for better than crap "stock mic" audio. No useless bells and whistles on the radio, no roger beeps, gooney birds, echo mic or any of the other nonsense some are so fond of these days, CB is Communicating Band, not Children's Band... but I'd better stop here before I get into why I sold out and moved on.

Oh and by the way, if you break an axle it's nature's way of telling you you're doing it wrong, next time you may break your neck. (;->)

Yeah, I'm resisting the temptation to put antennas on this one for as long as I can. Maybe a 2M/440 whip on the bull bar. I had HF mobile for 10 years, and may have used it a handful of times...

Just means the road is starting to get interesting :yum:

[KG4CGC]

Haven't C B'd in a while. Thinking about reworking the antenna. Extra stormy Summer made the inverted V into a curly L.

[WØTKX]

https://mpsocial.com/uploads/default/original/2X/5/56abca22a5b860370896494474c6d018367a1c94.jpg

[kb2crk]

https://mpsocial.com/uploads/default/original/2X/5/56abca22a5b860370896494474c6d018367a1c94.jpg


Question is not if we can, It is if we should.....

[N8YX]

As I type this, my new-to-me TS-930S is tuned to our local free-for-all AM channel. Everything currently in the shack which covers HF is also capable of reception across the band...though for transmitting purposes I gravitate to a Stoner Pro-40. My CP-2000s are tucked away, awaiting replacement of all electrolytic capacitors. Yes, even those used in top-of-the-line equipment tend to age.

If I ever get the space and can find both an OSC-40 scope and an SWR-40 station console, I'd like to put up a Wilson Super Laser...the 16 element version. For an omnidirectional antenna I'd choose a dual-polarity AV-190. I think Don Stoner designed the station console with such an application in mind, as it allows selection of four antennas. Perfect for monitoring then isolating a desired station with the rotary antenna. Vertical polarization would come in handy for those times when one wants to monitor the local AM gang in whatever city.

[kb2vxa]

Go-lee, yew put so mooch e-fart inta cee bee mebbe ahl her yew swimmin in da bowl.

[koØm]

Go-lee, yew put so mooch e-fart inta cee bee mebbe ahl her yew swimmin in da bowl.

I kinda miss the "Personality-Radio" craze of the 70's and 80's.

Like when my neighbor "Pistol Pete" who ran a 2K Henry was talking to "Lil Bumper" in Mardi Gras City and, I keyed down on top of him and passed the "Bogus Five" (10-5), saying, "Tell that boy to drop that microphone and run like the whole world is on fire and he's got Gasoline drawers on."

My favorite phrase was, "Tell that boy (just about every key-down started with those words) that I said, 'Stop crying and start to buying'."

Citizen's Band radio was my "Viagra" back then, Amateur Radio doesn't have the same effect on me now-a-daze.

.

[WØTKX]

Some repeaters become a bit "piratized" during rag chew sessions, doubling, and such mayhem

Horrors

[kb2crk]

As I type this, my new-to-me TS-930S is tuned to our local free-for-all AM channel. Everything currently in the shack which covers HF is also capable of reception across the band...though for transmitting purposes I gravitate to a Stoner Pro-40. My CP-2000s are tucked away, awaiting replacement of all electrolytic capacitors. Yes, even those used in top-of-the-line equipment tend to age.

If I ever get the space and can find both an OSC-40 scope and an SWR-40 station console, I'd like to put up a Wilson Super Laser...the 16 element version. For an omnidirectional antenna I'd choose a dual-polarity AV-190. I think Don Stoner designed the station console with such an application in mind, as it allows selection of four antennas. Perfect for monitoring then isolating a desired station with the rotary antenna. Vertical polarization would come in handy for those times when one wants to monitor the local AM gang in whatever city.

Ah, the old Saturn for an antenna.. I used an AV-170 first as a chicken band and the adjusted for 10 meters back in 87. they made some damn good antennas.

[kb2vxa]

The old Saturn? The Saturn I remember is the unfortunately now made of unobtainium Cushcraft Saturn 6 horizontally polarized 6M mobile antenna.

"Citizen's Band radio was my "Viagra" back then, Amateur Radio doesn't have the same effect on me now-a-daze."
Until CB went to Hell in a hand-basket and the sharks had such a feeding frenzy they ate each other and the band died we had a blast every day and night discussing particle physics. Somebody would start the ball rolling with "Our solar system is like an atom, what if it IS an atom in a much larger universe?" and we set a course for the third star to the left and sailed on 'till morning. When CB stood for Chop Busting we had fun for a while and sold out, a few years later traded KMD7606 for KB2VXA after a short stint as WB2UZD an AM Gangsta on the 3885 three ring circus, for a time another CB in its own right.

Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end. we'd sing and dance forever and a day. Timtron sang his version of Piss Weak Mobile Blues accompanied by Guitar Man playing with a tube as a slide, don't quit your day job Timmy. (;->) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl-DY8IsUB0

[WZ7U]

Ooh look, another zombie thread awakening. Wake up old, dead thread.

My old friend from Portland, who recently and unexpectedly passed back in August had been something of a radio hoarder in his radio heyday. His widow called me and said she wanted me to have his gear. I was stunned and simultaneously honored to be the recipient of such a personal gift. Oddly enough, the Cobra 2000 another friend gave me a couple years back also came from Monte's stable of rigs originally.

Now I have five cb rigs that could be rotated through the yet to be created 11m operating position. All of them have had the mods most popular on 11; "sliders", extra channels up and down and the peak n tweak. All of it will have to be gone through prior to see how the last decade of storage has affected it. After he had his stroke, the gear was all packed up and in storage in case he got back to being able to communicate. It never came to be.

So the list of 11m gear goes like this:
1) Cobra 2000 prior
2) Uniden Washington
3) Uniden Grant
4) two Uniden HR-2510

With all this stuff to use, it looks like I'll be getting back into CB to some extent, especially with cycle 25 ramping up. Even if I've yet to hear any activity close in the whole 16 years I've been here. Or no antenna yet.

Fun times ahead!

[kb2vxa]

Uniden made some great CB rigs back in the day, now they make some great scanners. It all started as Electra corp. Bearcat scanners, my BC-101 has the hottest single conversion receiver I've ever had, 0.1uV/20dB VHF and 0.25uV/20dB (full) quieting measured on a Cushman Station Monitor borrowed from a New Jersey Turnpike shop.

I remember one of their CBs, don't remember the model number that was dual use, 5W 23ch CB and 30W 4 ch 11M BRS with a resistor jumpered. It had a sweet sounding audio processor when that function was switched on, none of that cheese grater modulation and splatter over half the band after a truck stop "tech's" golden screwdriver got through with it and a "power mic" cranked up to 11. I've done those mods along with a few tweaks and peaks, but I knew where to keep the alignment tools out of. NEVER mess with a crystal synthesizer unless you want transmit AND receive spurs all over the band and out of band! Be sure to thoroughly check out the T&Ps before putting the rigs on the air so you don't end up as the neighbor from Hell, just sayin'.

I've mentioned my AM Gangsta daze starting on CB, not legally of course with boat anchor ham transmitters that I modified the speech amps in. That took a 180 when the band went to hell between overcrowding and all day "skip shooting". That's when a Heathkit Apache went on the warpath with audio that cut through the "Hash, mash, and trash" like a hot knife through butter. I did most of my operating late in the evening when things quieted down and my friends came on. Finally the last straw broke the camel's back and I sold out to a friend 90 air miles to the south who was chomping at the bit to have "the best sounding signal on the band" in his words. Here is my last CB station, everything interconnected by selector switches on the basement wall, one seen in the picture. Then there was my Altec AM Gangsta mic, you can't transmit Angel Music unless you have where it all begins, with the mic.

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