How did you get addicted to CB radio

[unit_399]

Tell us your story on how you got addicted to CB radio.

Here's mine:

My Dad wasn't a highly educated man, but he was brilliant. He was always wanting to learn about new things. In the 50s, he bought an ALLIED reel-to-reel tape recorder just to see what it was all about. He built and flew radio-controlled model airplanes. He built a '32 ford 3-window coupe hot rod that I just passed on to my son. When CB radio was introduced, he set up a base station on the 3rd floor attic of our farm house, and put a mobile in his pickup truck. We lived in Sheridan Indiana, and all of the farmers had a CB base and mobile. I remember his first base was a Johnson Black face with a crystal box , and a D&A phantom 500 linear. He had 2 antennas. a MAGNUM omni on the roof, and a Hy-Gain 3 element beam atop an old oak tree in our front yard. The oak had been killed by a lightning strike, and dad cut the top off and mounted the beam on the 50' that was left. He showed me how to operate his base, and let me use it when he was at work. He replaced the Johnson with a Sampson base radio (which I still have). I remember talking skip on his station. My favorite contacts were "TD - TRUCK DRIVER" in Phoenix, "FLYIN' TIGER" in San Francisco, and "Rag Doll"a female operator in Las Cruces, New Mexico. After a summer of shooting skip on my dad's station, I was hooked.
My first Cb was a Squire-Sanders 23er Mobile in my '59 Chevy El Camino. After I got married in 1961, I kinda got out of CB to concentrate on work and my family. After we moved to California in '81, I set up a base and started servicing CBs again. I had a Realistic TRC458 base, and a Galaxy 2100 mobile, with a TX600 amp, and a Francis AMAZER antenna. I talked Skip everywhere from My Toyota 4x4 Pickup.
We moved to Georgia in 1993, and because of work, family, and the HOA, CB took the back burner. When I retired, we moved to Colombia in 2007. I set up my station again, and talked skip until 2010, when a storm destroyed my antennas. Because of our businesses, the farm, and a lot of procrastination, I didn't get back on the air for over 13 years. Then an amatuer operator had his antenna setup for sale, and I bought it, and got back on the air.
Now I'm talking skip almost every day, and enjoying CBing again. Looking forward to talking to all of my forum members ASAP.

So . . . that's my story. Come on , you guys .... lets hear yours.

- 399

 

[loosecannon]

Great thread idea Jim!

My radio journey didn't start with CB, but it sure didn't take me long to find it.

When i was about 8 years old i was all about hanging out in our garage "building things", which really translated to me getting a hammer, some 16 penny nails and nailing my dad's nice pieces of wood together (i never did get a nail through that purple heart wood!).

Well out in the garage he had a little portable radio that had extra lines on the front of it that intrigued me. i started messing with it, and while tuning around on the VHF-HI band i heard some guys talking about Wilson street.
"wilson street!? thats where i live!" i thought, so i ran down the alley and saw a bunch of people digging up the street.
the fact that i heard what they were talking about i was hooked!

from there i was on to those little radio shack experimenter boards that had the little springs all over them. i built a shortwave radio with one of those, taped the wire to the window screen frame and heard people talking in other languages.
I was now all about this life.

We moved soon after that and the engineering firm my dad was working for was upgrading all of their radio equipment and had a large cabinet full of CB radios they didn't want anymore.
Dad brought home a TRC-451 mobile and a TRC-440 base station and i already had a white cobra mag mount that i bought at a garage sale.
we stuck the antenna on the roof gutter and i tried making contacts for over a month with zero results.
then one day i called out and a trucker came back to me and asked me what my handle was. I FREAKED OUT!
I hadn't thought of a handle, and since i was really into a punk band called the sex pistols, i told him my handle was Sid Vicious.
He said, "shoot you're just a kid! im going to call you Kid Vicious!"

When we moved to a bigger city a couple of years later i really got into the hobby and was known as Kid Vicious for quite a while until i felt i had outgrown that handle lol.
LC

 

[w9cll]

I got into CB in 74 or maybe it was 75 but I know it was just before the 40 channel expansion. I can't remember exactly why I wanted to get into it but my parents gave me a Pace 166 for Christmas. I promptly blew up this radio because I knew nothing back then and fried the finals. My first antenna was a RadioShack 1/2 wave that was up about 30 feet. After I fried the radio my parents purchased another Pace this time it was a 8046 40 channel. I used this setup for a few years till I picked up a Midland 76-858 then later a Cobra 1000gtl. I swapped out the RadioShack antenna for a BigStick and raised it up to roughly 50'.

My next setup was a Cobra 135XLR, I got hooked on Sideband and never looked back. I purchased a 50' tower and added a tilt over base on it. I added a Avanti PDL2 and put the BigStik up there as well, it was a great setup. I picked up a Uniden Grant for the car although I used it in the house more (worked better than the 135). I gave the 1000gtl to my uncle along with a Sears Roadtalker I had.

I started to get interested in ham radio because of my other hobby R/C airplanes, I wanted to switch to 6 meters for the transmitters and I had a friend that was a ham who was encouraging me to do so. I took the tech test and passed it in 1990 and left 11 meters for good then. My last CB setup was an ICOM 720A(yellow wire cut for all band TX), PDL2 and the BS at 70' It was a very good setup in the end. Gave the rest of my 11 meter stuff to my uncle (except the Grant), traded the 720a for a Yaesu FT-102 and the rest is history....

 

[TM86]

I blame society. It's not true, of course, but I do it anyways.

Dad was a broadcast engineer and a ham radio guy. Mom made him get out of radio before I was born because she thought that radio people were a bunch of phonies. But he'd still tell stories. So radio was part of my early years.

Then he bought a CB. A Realistic TRC-11 and a co-phase pair of whips that he mounted on the green Nova. Six channels of crystal controlled goodness.

Unfortunately he died in 1979 and that's as far as CB went for a while. Then one day I pulled the radio and whips out of the garage where Mom had left them and took a couple of lantern batteries and set them up in my room. No, I had no clue what I was doing. Heard someone asking for a break on one of the channels so I keyed the mic and said, "Go ahead, breaker." He immediately came back wanting to know who had given him the break. Scared me so bad that I shut the radio off.

But I was hooked.

Bought a Teaberry 23 channel (I think it was a "Mighty T") at the Berryessa flea market for 5 bucks. Turns out it didn't modulate. Bought a Mocat 40 channel that I managed to wire the power backwards and smoked the protection diode. Not knowing why the magic smoke had come out made me want to learn how not to make that happen again. Next up was a cobra 19XS, and I didn't blow it up! Then I got a Uniden PC244 just as the skip cycle got going in the 80's and that just set the hook deeper.

After high school I joined the Army and had to stop for a bit. Then I got out, got married, and had no time or money. I would occasionally get on the air from the mobile, but that's about it. And so it stayed for about 20 years.

Then a friend asked me whatever happened to a radio that he had given me to fix way back in high school. I dug it out, bought another one just like it, and sent him both with an apology for not being able to fix his.

And that's what refueled my desire to play in the guts of these beasts. Now I just need to move to a non-HOA neighborhood to complete the journey.

 

[Greg T]

My older brother was one of the very first in town to have a CB. An RCA Mark VII with 4 channels and a tunable receiver. This was 1964 and I thought it was soooooo cool to be able to call someone and have them respond. Back then, no hash, no pile-ups, no electrical noise. Just quiet radio. Those were the days!

 

[w9cll]

I blame society. It's not true, of course, but I do it anyways.

Dad was a broadcast engineer and a ham radio guy. Mom made him get out of radio before I was born because she thought that radio people were a bunch of phonies. But he'd still tell stories. So radio was part of my early years.

I got my first class commercial license in 83, was a chief engineer on a couple of daytime stations as well as an on air jock for a few more through 80s

 

[Woody-202]

First came the ch.14 walkie-talkies where I heard everyone on every channel talking (if they were close enough), then my Dad helped me build a cheap tube receiver shortwave receiver, which is where I learned how to solder. The guys on the 27mhz band were loud, and being a stupid kid, at times it seemed they were replying to something I said, but of course, it wasn't true. He bought a used Comstat 23 for Xmas (my 12th) and once the license he applied for came in the mail (KDU-5960) I was was on-the-air with my friends for many hours each week.

 

[ljh505]

Pair of Ch. 14 AM walkie talkies with built-in code oscillators, circa 1980-1981. Present from Grandpa & Grandma. Then read about ham radio and wrote to the ARRL in 1983 for info and got a Tech license in 1984. Used CB as utility communications at summer camps on the Chesapeake Bay for a few years, Ch. 4 AM between the rangers (mobile trucks), sailing/aquatics centers, and camp nurse. Had a Lafayette Telsat SSB 50 CB radio modified for 10m for solar cycle 22 when the FCC changed the Part 97 rules and gave 28.3-28.5 MHz SSB privileges to Tech licensees in 1987. Back on CB since the FCC changed the Part 95 rules to allow skip at distances greater than 155.3 miles.

 

[wavrider]

Watching my Grandma talk on her Robyn base station, the glow of the tubes, the conversations and the amazing thought that sound travels through the air.

I asked so many questions to gma about how it worked. I was amazed.
Spent my adult life repairing, training, and teaching comms and electronics.
All because of gma and a tube Robyn

 

[secret squirrel]

If conditions are good I can hear Dallas Pike Truck Stop, Exit 11 I-70 from my father's house. He had a Royce Base Station with the traditional Radio Shack 1/4 wave ground plane antenna in the late 1970's. Seems like everyone around us all bought existing 23 channel radios, when the 40 channels came out. On day my dad came home with a Robyn 23 channel in the old Suburban and the new base radio. Listening to truck drivers talk and listen to the professional public service women discuss her working day on the radio was very interesting.

 

[Rwb]

i had a big ol wood case trutone sw reciever gave to me at 5. watched tubes glow yellow as they warmed up. ran a wire from tree to tree in the yard.i listened to the world.
then about 15 i went with a friend n his dad coyote chasin. he had a 3 channel cb box in his pickup. it amazed me watching him give location n where yote was. i decided id own a cb. my firs was a noisy 123a e.f.johnson and i had the switch added on back to get that lip burnibg 20 watts. i was king o the hill. from there its been many radios and ssb then went amature. but never left cb radio

 

[G-Golly Wally]

If conditions are good I can hear Dallas Pike Truck Stop, Exit 11 I-70 from my father's house. He had a Royce Base Station with the traditional Radio Shack 1/4 wave ground plane antenna in the late 1970's. Seems like everyone around us all bought existing 23 channel radios, when the 40 channels came out. On day my dad came home with a Robyn 23 channel in the old Suburban and the new base radio. Listening to truck drivers talk and listen to the professional public service women discuss her working day on the radio was very interesting.

I've driven on Dallas Pike, As a matter of fact I was working in Southwestern's yard in West Alexander PA a few hitches back. I usually buy my work boots at the Cherokee boot store close to Crickets CB shop.

 

[TheRATT]

I wrote this on my radio journey from childhood, kinda fits in.

My Radio Path

My Radio Path When I was 11 years old in 1984 I had things lots of GenX may have had to keep me entertained. Of course the TV. I also was lucky enough to have a loving single mother who knew computers were going to be the future and had a refurbished Commodore 64 that I am pretty sure the...

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