In the late 70s/early 80s one could not find an open CB channel in this area, especially during the day in summertime. Couple the number of users countrywide with a single or double-hop Sporadic E event and all 40 channels became nothing but a roar. One of my cousins had a simplistic little Cobra mobile rig in his car; on a summer night in '78 we tuned the bands looking for things of interest...and the roar stayed with us until well after midnight.

Similar events were experienced in my own shack up until summer of '83: My prized Royce 1-641 gave up the ghost while in QSO with a mutual friend of a then-girlfriend, and I recycled the rig's components into other projects after the object of my affection had faded into a dim memory.

'87 or thereabouts saw my return to radio in general and I played around with 11M up until I started with my current employer. We still use it on the bikes as a means of communication but coffee breaks, SSB Club picnics, late night 'technician'/card/booze parties and antenna raising get-togethers have all disappeared into the Americana history books.

I Elmered quite a few CBers into the amateur radio fold during those days. Most of the people I talked to within the Class D service have passed on or disconnected the gear and scrapped or sold it.

The demand for repairs and modifications gave rise to a number of "experts" in and around the vicinity, some of whom ply their trade to this day. Most of these gentlemen are of the clip/peak/hope-for-the-best school of "How to influence radio friends and generate TVI everywhere" while a few of us focused our efforts of restoration and proper (legal) setup of the transmitter section.

Another '641 graces my collection today; it was an eBay DOA project which was gotten cheap. Likewise, the radio I always wanted as a kid - the Royce 1-642 - is present...ditto rescue and restoration. Also present is a 1-624...a 1-625...and two 1-639s (the latter being IMHO one of the best mobile rigs produced during the boom years).

I started looking for something better than the Royce and found in in the CPI CP400/2000/2500 rigs plus their varied peripherals. My late friend Hank, KA8RZT had a '2000 in his shack and it was a hard choice between that radio and a Cobra 2000GTL, right up until I played with the CPI stuff on the air. It works as good on 11M as most of my HF ham gear does on 10. That's to say the idiot whose tweaked "export model" transceiver crunches the CP2000's front end will do similar to, say, my Paragon IIs, Omnis...various Yaesus and maybe even the TR7/R7 (though that would come as a surprise).

Memories. Too bad none of my rigs have a "Now/Then" function switch on them. At times I would really like to go back.