Updates

[koØm]

The owner (a former Pro Baseball player) of the premier Citizen's Band station recently went SK and all of his equipment hit the market, RCI Ranger 29xx 10 -12 meter radio, a mint condition Swan DX 2000 Amplifier and, an expertly constructed 6 tuber 3-500Z amplifier with 3 brand new-in-the-box spare tubes and a assortment of Bird watt meters.

It was shown to have an output of 8 kw at the time of sale; price was $3,000 cash.

My close friend who, just received a large settlement purchased it.

He invited me over to see it and, informed me that it was a "Ham Radio Station" and the since I had "Ham License", I could operate it at any time.

He was not aware that the FCC licenses the STATION and not the operator and that my Amateur Radio license covers my fixed location or, me operating mobile on the Amateur Radio bands; I had to tell him that.

What I didn't tell him was, as pretty as his stuff was, I wasn't gonna touch it with a 10 foot insulated screwdriver; wouldn't be prudent.

.

[WZ7U]

My license says both; station and operator.

But you are correct in being prudent.

[KD8TUT]

8kw?!?!?

I don't get it.

[VE7DCW]

8kw?!?!?

I don't get it.

Of course you know Mike....... 8 killer watts of cloud warming special to conduct HAARP-like research by blasting out modulation of "Hello Mello Jello" "Duck Plucker" and "Pill'er up" :lol:

[KD8TUT]

Of course you know Mike....... 8 killer watts of cloud warming special to conduct HAARP-like research by blasting out modulation of "Hello Mello Jello" "Duck Plucker" and "Pill'er up" :lol:

Nope.. don't get that either. When I was on CB I had a license :) KKZ-9634

[koØm]

8kw?!?!?

I don't get it.

8,000 watts dead key RF power to communicate over top of others with less power to operators with power equal to or greater than yours 8,000 watts.

He's gonna use those six "big-legged girls" to generate 8Kw and drop the hammer on the heads of some Mud-Ducks on 27.025 Mhz.

.

[koØm]

Nope.. don't get that either. When I was on CB I had a license :) KKZ-9634

When I was in CB, I had a license but that didn't stop me although, my neighbors in the Cul-de-sac would stop me cold by screaming out the window, that, "I was coming through the telephone" or, "I'm trying to watch the news!"

One day, my neighbor came across the street and asked me to stop transmitting; I invited him in and pointed out that my station was not powered on. He then replied, "Yeah, and that didn't sound like your voice either". It was another radio operator a block away who had turned his 8 element Yagi on our direction.

"Everybody" who was "somebody" ran power levels like that if you operated on a certain frequency. My radio neighbor a block away received a personal visit from James Bridgewater and, because of the complaints, the phone company disconnected his service and removed the lines from the pole to his house; this was late 1980's

I was "Somebody" then but, while other around me received letters and inspection visits, never happened to me.

Fast forward to today, I have a 11 meter receiver to notify me of propagation on 10 meters, that's all they are good for.

.

[KD8TUT]

When I was in CB, I had a license but that didn't stop me although, my neighbors in the Cul-de-sac would stop me cold by screaming out the window, that, "I was coming through the telephone" or, "I'm trying to watch the news!"

One day, my neighbor came across the street and asked me to stop transmitting; I invited him in and pointed out that my station was not powered on. He then replied, "Yeah, and that didn't sound like your voice either". It was another radio operator a block away who had turned his 8 element Yagi on our direction.

"Everybody" who was "somebody" ran power levels like that if you operated on a certain frequency. My radio neighbor a block away received a personal visit from James Bridgewater and, because of the complaints, the phone company disconnected his service and removed the lines from the pole to his house; this was late 1980's

I was "Somebody" then but, while other around me received letters and inspection visits, never happened to me.

Fast forward to today, I have a 11 meter receiver to notify me of propagation on 10 meters, that's all they are good for.

.

Well back in the day I was nobody just like today :)

So I never ran more than 5 watts or 12 watts pep. I used to hear about enforcement around Chicago and guys losing their entire station. That made me nervous as heck.
Even as a ham I only run 500w max. My guess was if I did the full kw I would become a pest to my neighbors.

8kw?

That just seems stupid on several levels of stupid.

[KG4CGC]

KBFX-2007

[K7SGJ]

When CB was "da thing" I spent all my free time fixing the damned things, and had no time to play on the air with them. On those rare occasions I did get on the air, it was either 40 or 80 cw. I wish I had a nickle for every reverse polarity diode across the 12 volt line that I replaced, every audio output device(s), and every RF out transistor and usually the driver, too. Those were the money making days. I was reasonable price wise, and would not let any rig leave that did not meet specifications or FCC requirements. I did lose a certain amount of business because of this, but still, I had more work than I could handle with a decent turn around time. I was able to buy all the state of the art test equipment of the day that I used to fix consumer electronic devices, commercial two way radio, and all the stuff i needed to fix/maintain commercial broadcast equipment.

One piece of test equipment that was specifically built to service and maintain CB equipment was the B&K Dynascan 1040 and 2040. All you needed to do was add a scope and you could generate, receive, or analyze any signal needed to troubleshoot or verify FCC compliance. I still have a set or two of those out in one of my trains. I always figured that they could be expanded and modified to be useful when working on ham gear. I'm sue Dave remembers those units. As time went by, I was forced to buy some Marconi and Areoflex station monitors plus some specialized stuff when I did some civil aircraft electronics on the side for a place in Phoenix. I really miss working on all that stuff down to component level. It was a challenge to track down the part(s) that were faulty, and I got a lot of satisfaction when I finally fixed that "dog" that was on the bench trying my patience and knowledge of how actual components worked together and made everything work. There wasn't time to be a parts changer and then try to charge the customer for parts that didn't fix the problem, and that were just left inside. These days it's either replace a board or the entire equipment. People with no actual electronic knowledge are fixing or 86ing the equipment that was once fixable.

Those were the days my friend......

[N8YX]

It'll be interesting when Prime Minista shuffles off this mortal coil and his gear goes up on the block. I've heard the guy on the air before and there's one word I'll say about his operation:

CLEAN.

No splatter, distortion (audible or visible on the scope) and the audio chain was properly equalized for AM. He's put some time and cash into that setup.

My experiences with fixing things mirror Eddie's, right down to the 'lose-customers-because-it's-legal' bit. As for Class D gear: Give me a high-performance vintage classic like a Stoner Pro-40, CPI CP-2000 or Cobra 2000 over ANY Ranger product, especially where the receivers are concerned. It's not that big of a deal to crush the Majick Diode and get your HF ham rig on 27MHz but it's a lot more challenging to work stations via weak-signal or skip modes using QRP (legal Class D) power levels.

[kop]

"Prime" was in the near field of my broadside array for several years. We "agreed" to not antagonize the other. Actually would you want to mess with a neighbor that could plug your ears at will ?
We finally met and had a good laugh about when we had actually met nearly 15 years earlier.
Clean barely explains it .

[W7XF]

He's gonna use those six "big-legged girls" to generate 8Kw and drop the hammer on the heads of some Mud-Ducks on 27.025 Mhz.

No excuses on Da Bowl.

[koØm]

No excuses on Da Bowl.

"Every time I think I have gotten away, they pull me back in..."

Ten year or more ago, I stopped working; told all of them, "I don't mess with that stuff anymore."

I go to a sad event and, afterwards I am mobbed by people who have been, "Looking for me," it seems that their 3-CEE-EX_whatever boxes have problems. I tell them that I'm not doing any work but, they don't take "No" for an answer. They call on the phone afterwards.

I pay them a courtesy visit (with no promises made, UP FRONT) at home, sit around with a couple of 807's and, then take a look at their equipment, I give them a quick diagnosis but explain that it might be a better idea to take it to "Chris" because, I really don't have time to take on a project as BIG as theirs.

While bending elbows with the 807's, I get drug back into the whole "Who-shot-John" / "Let's fight at the funeral" stuff. I impartially excuse myself from the drama, telling them that I will check back when I get some time; yeah, Right!

These are old men still stuck in the 1970's