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Time is now to revive CB Radio
- Thread starter NorthStar
- Start date
The FCC ruined CB, just as they are ruining ham radio. Look no further than Uncle Charlie, the FCC.
The FCC ruined CB, just as they are ruining ham radio. Look no further than Uncle Charlie, the FCC.
What the hell are you talking about? CB was utterly liberated when the fcc walked away from it back in the day. Now you have the free sale and use of export radios, amplifiers and them thar extry channels with near impunity.
CB is 100,000% better off today then it was back in the day.
Y'all stop yer whinin' and start yer ratchet jawin'
Just went through the foot surgery thing myself. When I got off the crutches and into the boot that hurt so bad!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good luck with the healing and the antenna. I got my antenna up as soon as I could stand on that boot enough to get the mast up.
Radiohobby,
Thank you, I have the boot now to protect it at work, but can't put any weight on it for about another 10 days. But it is still swollen and it may be some time before I can walk on it.
When I am able to put the antenna up, it will not be easy, got a Rohn 9H50 34' mast to mount on the peak of my roof with a Sirio Gain Master on top. Then I am going to make a dipole 80M, 40M and 20M Invertered V antenna (all wires diagonal to each other) under the GM by about 14'. Been getting all the parts, just have to bet the antenna wire, some turnbuckles and "I" screws and I will be ready to go. Oh, still need another length of LMR400 for the dipole and a couple items for the feed line on the dipole. The dipole was kind of an after thought inspired by CDX007! Thanks Scott for all your help!
Got my ICOM IC-751A yesterday, Friday and going to take the Technicians and General tests on February 14th, again, thanks Scott! Can hardly wait to get it set up!
Don't worry, I am not abandoning CB or 11 meters! LOL Still got my Grant XL in one truck.
leave it to big brother, first take away our rights one by one , get us dependant on "modern technology" "phase out the old tech that is reliable and proven,The FCC ruined CB, just as they are ruining ham radio. Look no further than Uncle Charlie, the FCC.
keep the ole reliable cb/ham radio services up and alive loosen up on the cb services -( even the playing field)expand the 11meter band , even out the power(wattage) out put , minor de regulation
open the access to these services.
some folks whine about the language used over the air on cb , but havent listend to 75-80 meter tx not much different and just as coarse,just my 2 cents worth
What the hell are you talking about? CB was utterly liberated when the fcc walked away from it back in the day. Now you have the free sale and use of export radios, amplifiers and them thar extry channels with near impunity.
CB is 100,000% better off today then it was back in the day.
Y'all stop yer whinin' and start yer ratchet jawin'
100% correct!
instead of complaining about it , in a internet forum, how about using the radio, and bring the life back into the hobby, instead of beating the keyboard in a radio forum IMO?
I think their are more CBer's then we believe.
Here is what I think.
Ham radios converted to work on CB is easy.
Am I advocating the conversion? No, I just know what is happening, I see it EVERY DAY!
For every one truck I see with a CB, I see another with an amateur radio converted. That guy shows the next one at a truck stop and it continues.
Police have bigger fish to fry than chasing down some truck driver with a converted radio.
My personal opinion is that the FCC will "walk away" from ham radio like they did in the past with CB. It may be tough though, the ARRL and similar are keeping the logs thrown in on the fire. The testing shows this "walk away" now. After all, like stated before, it is only a hobby.
You see this big push of emergency communications in amateur radio now. This is to try and justify the importance of the "hobby"
I think it will just be you register with the FCC, similar to marine radio and that is it, your ready to talk on the ham bands.
op:op:
Here is what I think.
Ham radios converted to work on CB is easy.
Am I advocating the conversion? No, I just know what is happening, I see it EVERY DAY!
For every one truck I see with a CB, I see another with an amateur radio converted. That guy shows the next one at a truck stop and it continues.
Police have bigger fish to fry than chasing down some truck driver with a converted radio.
My personal opinion is that the FCC will "walk away" from ham radio like they did in the past with CB. It may be tough though, the ARRL and similar are keeping the logs thrown in on the fire. The testing shows this "walk away" now. After all, like stated before, it is only a hobby.
You see this big push of emergency communications in amateur radio now. This is to try and justify the importance of the "hobby"
I think it will just be you register with the FCC, similar to marine radio and that is it, your ready to talk on the ham bands.
op:op:
I didn't read all the responses but here's my take...if we want to revive CB, then we need to start by making some BIG improvements to CB.
For one we need to come up with a CB radio with a removable face plate that will allow you to mount the main radio chassis anywhere and then affix the face plate to the dash, much like the mobile 2 meter rigs. Because most vehicles built today do not have ample room for a CB unless you opt for a smaller model.
Then we need to come up with a new mobile CB antenna that's not 9 ft tall yet gets out like a 9 ft tall antenna. No the 5 ft tall Wilson 1000's don't work as well. Neither does the crap ass glass whips found on a trucker's mirrors.
We also need to come up with new internals that will kill off all the interference that a CB faces...like static from fluorescent lamps, motors and such. In fact it needs to be to where it's not required often to adjust the squelch to kill off any hash.
A scan button should be made mandatory on all new CB radios. Not one CB that I know of has a scan button. I've seen one export radio (well two actually...the Magnum Delta Force and the new Omega Force) that come with a scan button. To me that's a plus because I can scan the bands for someone to have a chat with, instead of manually flipping the dial.
Or how about we make CB run on the FM mode instead of the AM mode. Think of how much clearer the communications would be.
Maybe even a built in tracking device placed inside the radio, so that way when you have some CB Rambo threatening to "whoop yer ass" over the radio, you will know exactly where he is at, in case you want to drag him out of his truck, or just call the cops on him.
As a side note, at my work we use Motorola hand held business radios that when you key up and say something, our main focal point of radios has the ability to find out what radio was used to say something...perfect for when you get some clown that gets on and starts making noises or fails to maintain radio discipline. With knowing what radio was used to say something, we can narrow down to who had the radio and hold them accountable. Something like this (probably a long shot) would be great to have. Especially for the FCC, so they wouldn't have to wait for the perpetrator to key up again before zeroing in on him.
There's more I could think of, but bottom line is CB is an old form of communications that most likely will never be improved. It's a spin off and the red headed step child to the ham radio.
Also most of the world uses cell phones these days, so we'd have to figure a way to convince them free communications vs. paid for would be beneficial. That means the radios themselves would need to be capable of going distances. but then when all of this is figured out, a ham radio really only makes more sense.
In fact sometimes I wonder why CB is even still used. I mean no one I know of still watches a black and white TV...or listens to 8 track tapes....because they're outdated and color TV's and CD's (or iPods) are far more advanced. I suppose not enough truck drivers care enough to study for a ham ticket.
For one we need to come up with a CB radio with a removable face plate that will allow you to mount the main radio chassis anywhere and then affix the face plate to the dash, much like the mobile 2 meter rigs. Because most vehicles built today do not have ample room for a CB unless you opt for a smaller model.
Then we need to come up with a new mobile CB antenna that's not 9 ft tall yet gets out like a 9 ft tall antenna. No the 5 ft tall Wilson 1000's don't work as well. Neither does the crap ass glass whips found on a trucker's mirrors.
We also need to come up with new internals that will kill off all the interference that a CB faces...like static from fluorescent lamps, motors and such. In fact it needs to be to where it's not required often to adjust the squelch to kill off any hash.
A scan button should be made mandatory on all new CB radios. Not one CB that I know of has a scan button. I've seen one export radio (well two actually...the Magnum Delta Force and the new Omega Force) that come with a scan button. To me that's a plus because I can scan the bands for someone to have a chat with, instead of manually flipping the dial.
Or how about we make CB run on the FM mode instead of the AM mode. Think of how much clearer the communications would be.
Maybe even a built in tracking device placed inside the radio, so that way when you have some CB Rambo threatening to "whoop yer ass" over the radio, you will know exactly where he is at, in case you want to drag him out of his truck, or just call the cops on him.
As a side note, at my work we use Motorola hand held business radios that when you key up and say something, our main focal point of radios has the ability to find out what radio was used to say something...perfect for when you get some clown that gets on and starts making noises or fails to maintain radio discipline. With knowing what radio was used to say something, we can narrow down to who had the radio and hold them accountable. Something like this (probably a long shot) would be great to have. Especially for the FCC, so they wouldn't have to wait for the perpetrator to key up again before zeroing in on him.
There's more I could think of, but bottom line is CB is an old form of communications that most likely will never be improved. It's a spin off and the red headed step child to the ham radio.
Also most of the world uses cell phones these days, so we'd have to figure a way to convince them free communications vs. paid for would be beneficial. That means the radios themselves would need to be capable of going distances. but then when all of this is figured out, a ham radio really only makes more sense.
In fact sometimes I wonder why CB is even still used. I mean no one I know of still watches a black and white TV...or listens to 8 track tapes....because they're outdated and color TV's and CD's (or iPods) are far more advanced. I suppose not enough truck drivers care enough to study for a ham ticket.
Oh yeah, one other thing...
I think if in addition to my above post, if they would incorporate a cheap CB radio into the car's factory radio as a mandatory thing (aka not an option), it might get some interested in seeing "who's on the air". It would also be great for in case you had an emergency. Think of channel 9.
That's what got me into CB...was when a friend gave me my first one, and along the interstate I was able to join in on a chat while driving state to state. It made it a lot more interesting.
I think if in addition to my above post, if they would incorporate a cheap CB radio into the car's factory radio as a mandatory thing (aka not an option), it might get some interested in seeing "who's on the air". It would also be great for in case you had an emergency. Think of channel 9.
That's what got me into CB...was when a friend gave me my first one, and along the interstate I was able to join in on a chat while driving state to state. It made it a lot more interesting.
All of my magic is in the storage shed, a Lincoln, a Connex, a TS 500v, all the power supplies and meters as well as low pass filters and mics.