Its ALL about fun

[NightOwl3261]

Here is a post I have been wanting to post for some time. Its for CBers and Hammers alike.
The nature of radio is for one purpose and one purpose alone, its about fun. Some get there ticket and turn up there nose at CBers ( and most never do). But many of us started on 11 meters and many still venture there. Why for me? Its because 11 meters is still the wild wild west, and I love the wild wild west still to this day. For many it is cheap price of entry. A 2nd hand CB and an Antron strung in a tree and your good to go! I adore that this brings people into radio. When I was 14 years old in the 70's I asked for a base station for my birthday and off my love went for radio. It for me has been an on and off hobby that I continue to return to. My first base station in retrospect was a bare bones bottom end radio, but it was my radio. Now I can afford more, and on desk sits Icoms, Kenwoods, LDGs and yet sits an RCI right by their side. They all for me are fun in their own way. Yep my RCI has an echo, why not it makes it more fun.

I will never ever look down on 11 meters as I know that is where I came from. I Iove 11 meters for its simple ability to provide fun. Yet I have state of the art equipment for more serious operations. And that too is fun just in other ways. The point of this post is not to remind anyone of anything, not to infer those with tickets are snobs because most are not, its meant to state one thing and one thing alone! "Its all about fun"! So turn on what you have and spin the dial and enjoy the simple act of an adult having fun. And for 11 meters let the wild wild west never die!


11 meters ROCK ON FOREVER...Y'all

 

[Justme]

I started in the late 1960's pirating on mid wave broadcast band, and soon on FM building transmitters, all tube in that time, and sold them off and soon went for transistors.
Had my play time with 11 meter 23 channel Am radio's and G.P antenna, and got my license after a few very close calls with authorities...
Never looked back, not looking down on 11 meter people either.
For me building stuff, making your own antenna;s and tranverters P.A.'s is what pulls me into the hobby, making qso's is secondary.

It indeed is a hobby, keeping you busy, trying to learn more every day and have fun.
Take care, stay healthy and have fun on the radio waves

 

[big_sho9]

I was a trucker by trade, so yeah I talked a lot on CB. My favorite radios was the galaxy's, and I still own my 98vhp. I don't talk as much 11 now, as I do 80, but every now and then I fire up the 98. I agree its all in fun.

 

[w9cll]

CB was fun and I did come from 11meters but I got seriously bored with it after 20 yesrs. It was nice talking to friends around town. I moved up and have never looked back, I don't like the wild West atmosphere of 11 meters. Too many over driven amps, audio cranked up way above distortion and just the general craziness.
11 meters has its place but not for me anymore

 

[Rwb]

I was on cb when young,saved up bought a noisy e.f.johnson 123a and trunk mount antenna for my 68 chevelle ss 396,then as time went by i got more cb radios then into ham .
As for knocking cb no nope never nada. I got cb on rite now on 27.385 lsb a 10 meter radio on 28.405 usb n a 2 meter on too

 

[TheBlaster]

You are right, when there are sufficient people on and dx is good radio is immense fun. Sometimes I can occasionally feel that I have pursued the radio hobby a lot and the excitement wears off a bit from time to time. The good thing is it is a hobby you can take at your own pace and needs. I personally go between super enthusiast, over done it a bit it and radio gear in the loft. I know that equipment will be coming back out again though, there is no doubt about that... ups and downs swings and roundabouts.

At the moment I am a all gear is around me but inclination to use it at the moment is not very high. I am restricted to 11m which explains a lot.

 

[Rwb]

You are right, when there are sufficient people on and dx is good radio is immense fun. Sometimes I can occasionally feel that I have pursued the radio hobby a lot and the excitement wears off a bit from time to time. The good thing is it is a hobby you can take at your own pace and needs. I personally go between super enthusiast, over done it a bit it and radio gear in the loft. I know that equipment will be coming back out again though, there is no doubt about that... ups and downs swings and roundabouts.

At the moment I am a all gear is around me but inclination to use it at the moment is not very high. I am stuck on 11m which explains a lot.

yes sir

 

[Alan Blackmon]

I have done CB. I had a blast with it in the 70s. Built my own antennas for the radio and had some fun running DX with 4 watts. I heard of the guys with foot warmers and such but never could afford them. I was busy buying the next radio.

I eventually bought a Shakespeare Big Stick and used it for awhile. I think my home built antennas were better. I bought a ARRL antenna book and dreamed of so many of those antennas being built for my CB. I still have that book.

Anyway I don't knock those CBers on 11 meters. I like it when the DX is rolling in and sometimes getting in on the crazy action. I have a Bearcat 980 now and SSB can sure be a blast. 38 lower gets a bit crowded. I sometimes call out on adjacent channels and get some pretty good contacts. It has been awhile since I have done it though. I have taken my radio offline this last year and focused more on FT8 and local 146.52 contacts.

 

[NightOwl3261]

I have done CB. I had a blast with it in the 70s. Built my own antennas for the radio and had some fun running DX with 4 watts. I heard of the guys with foot warmers and such but never could afford them. I was busy buying the next radio.

I eventually bought a Shakespeare Big Stick and used it for awhile. I think my home built antennas were better. I bought a ARRL antenna book and dreamed of so many of those antennas being built for my CB. I still have that book.

Anyway I don't knock those CBers on 11 meters. I like it when the DX is rolling in and sometimes getting in on the crazy action. I have a Bearcat 980 now and SSB can sure be a blast. 38 lower gets a bit crowded. I sometimes call out on adjacent channels and get some pretty good contacts. It has been awhile since I have done it though. I have taken my radio offline this last year and focused more on FT8 and local 146.52 contacts.

The 1970's and CB was a period in radio that will never be repeated and only those who lived trough it will have an emotional feeling for that period of time and CB radio. I have very fond feelings of how CB radio took this country by storm and everyone and their mother had been keying up a microphone. It created a social dynamic I wish existed today. People chose channels and rag chewed within groups. Truckers used radios for safety, social contact and when skip was right to contact their better half. CB stores and service departments popped up all over the place. Skipped rolled daily and at times you could only rag chew at night. New equipment had so many different manufacturers and there was so much to choose from, many of which are still in use today and antenna designs still in use (Aeroplane , P500). The social factor cannot be replaced by cell phones, twitter and text. It created new friends in cities of people that would never had met otherwise. Plus the fun of experimentation of home brew antennas etc. It was a wonderful time in radio that only us of a certain age feel atteched to and why I defend CB radio today. Be it 38L or those in the Super Bowl its people still having fun on radio. Many of us went on to get our tickets and may never have even got started in radio without an entry way that started on 11 meters.

 

[Slowmover]

The 1970's and CB was a period in radio that will never be repeated and only those who lived trough it will have an emotional feeling for that period of time and CB radio. I have very fond feelings of how CB radio took this country by storm and everyone and their mother had been keying up a microphone. It created a social dynamic I wish existed today. People chose channels and rag chewed within groups. Truckers used radios for safety, social contact and when skip was right to contact their better half. CB stores and service departments popped up all over the place. Skipped rolled daily and at times you could only rag chew at night. New equipment had so many different manufacturers and there was so much to choose from, many of which are still in use today and antenna designs still in use (Aeroplane , P500). The social factor cannot be replaced by cell phones, twitter and text. It created new friends in cities of people that would never had met otherwise. Plus the fun of experimentation of home brew antennas etc. It was a wonderful time in radio that only us of a certain age feel atteched to and why I defend CB radio today. Be it 38L or those in the Super Bowl its people still having fun on radio. Many of us went on to get our tickets and may never have even got started in radio without an entry way that started on 11 meters.

Well said.

Consider that it would take about five minutes to be that way again.
(That, Necessity being Mother to Invention, thing.)

.

 

[Rwb]

At this moment,my galaxy 99V is on,my yahoo ftm 7250 dr is on,but my kenwood tw 4000 A is off as well as my yahoo ft480R,radioshack htx 212,htx 100 and tempo vhf 1 plus.usually any of my 2,10 and 70 cm radios are on so is my galaxy.
Need to get my sears slantface ssb 40 reworked.that hiatchi built radio is amazing but needs some tlc,my president grant is on stand by if needed.
I always go to 11 meters n enjoy as much as the others

 

[Alan Blackmon]

I like hearing that HF license holders still like to spend some time with 11 meters. I have had my radio off the bench for a bit while I re-arrange things. In doing so I have found a spot for my Bearcat 980 once again. I spent a few hours yesterday building a new antenna for 11 meters. I have a 5 foot firestik II or a fiberglass Shakespeare left over from decades ago that I am trying to incorporate into a vertical on my house roof. The new antenna will be up about 25 feet to the feed point. Should you hear me on the air during some DX I will be calling out as Boise 521. If 38 lower is crowded I often switch over and try 37 or 39 lower. I have also called out on 16 lower which was a common SSB channel during the days of 23 channel radios.

Edit. So I got it up in the air today. Tuned perfectly for middle of CB band. Will be able to use it for some 10 meter also. With using a tuner I can fix the 2:1 SWR for the 12 meter band for some FT8. I used my base station Uniden 810e for a radio. Heard a little bit of DX on 19. Someone out in the distance chatting it up. I have a S5 noise level so the conversation was a bit hard to follow.

I have a CB antenna on my F150 and tried to see if the noise level was less with it when hooked up to the Uniden 810e. S4 noise and I could not hear the chatter. Antenna in the air helped out here. I will be listening in over the next several days and see what develops. I did call out but no one came back.

The 146.52 frequency had a lot more traffic in comparison to the CB. If I don't hear any local traffic the next several days or get any responses to calling out I am going to build a horizontal dipole or inverted V for the DX days and not worry about local chatting.