CB Help

[R1cho]

I'd if thought somthing more high Tec, not just a mobile phone

ok they stole technology off a spaceship and kept it secret

 

[trophymick]

ok they stole technology off a spaceship and kept it secret

In the 90's I drove for a German haulage company (Westermans) and they had satellite tracking on their trucks as well as phones. This was so the office bods could see where we where and arrange another load to collect, hopefully in the immediate vicinity, we still had to run the length of Germany for a back load most of the time though! :doh

CB's were at there height when they were illegal in the 1970's and 80's, and more fun too. When all the home-base folk got them it was chaos.
I remember having to keep my rig hidden just in case I was stopped by the police, it was a game of cat and mouse.:augie

And buying a CB was a clandestine experience, all under the counter and word of mouth. I bought 6 rigs (for other drivers) from a shop in Bolton that was a roofing company, they had roof slates and chimney pots in the window and rigs under the counter!:lol



Mick

 

[rustic]

yes it would ,
may not be your radios fault on reception , not many people use cb these days I think , may just be that they are a long way away , you need to find someone close , or after checking your swr and its ok , put a call out on ch 19 asking for a radio check , and see where they are .

Last year I drove from Staffordshire to London and back with the CB lashed into the car, old mag mount on the roof, I rarely heard any voice traffic, and got one response to a call on channel 19 " 1 9 for a roger !"

I still have an old walkie talkie cb with 2 channels, 14 and 30 and that was working with my rig.

My Amstrad 901 is now fitted into the cubby hole of my Mav, and a bracket off the bonnet hinge fixings, so the aerial can be reached from the drivers seat, as it can be unlocked and tilted 90 degrees across the windscreen so I can get the Mav into the garage.

In the 80's it was very handy for traffic info, " 1 9 for a 10-13 southbound on the Mickey 6 " soon came back with a reply. You could then leave the motorway if there were square wheels.

I wished we had been able to use it on the A 14 the other week when we were in a tail back that took 1 hour to clear.:doh:doh

Regards,

Richard

 

[briggie]

What do they use now?

all the truck drivers I know use amateur radio , through the repeater networks

 

[solarman216]

In the 90's I drove for a German haulage company (Westermans) and they had satellite tracking on their trucks as well as phones. This was so the office bods could see where we where and arrange another load to collect, hopefully in the immediate vicinity, we still had to run the length of Germany for a back load most of the time though! :doh

CB's were at there height when they were illegal in the 1970's and 80's, and more fun too. When all the home-base folk got them it was chaos.
I remember having to keep my rig hidden just in case I was stopped by the police, it was a game of cat and mouse.:augie

And buying a CB was a clandestine experience, all under the counter and word of mouth. I bought 6 rigs (for other drivers) from a shop in Bolton that was a roofing company, they had roof slates and chimney pots in the window and rigs under the counter!:lol



Mick

Been there, done all that mate in the 70s CB rig saved my life on the Blanc icy conditions had a call on 19 to stop, I did, upon walking a way up found a truck hanging over the edge on a blind bend, I would have hit him and both gone over, another time in Germany Dutchman going opposite direction warned of a pile up ahead on ice, I flashed my mate in front and slowed only to hit the ice and both of us slid into the nearside barrier only to see a multiple pile up only yards in front, this was 2 am so no other traffic, Rick

 

[solarman216]

all the truck drivers I know use amateur radio , through the repeater networks

????? what's all this then Pete??? explain please, licence etc, Rick

 

[briggie]

????? what's all this then Pete??? explain please, licence etc, Rick

you need to be a licenced radio ham rick , licences start at foundation level and allow you to use up to 10 watts ..... more than enough to access most repeaters ,

repeaters are normally sited on top of hills ,

the most common ones iperate on the 145mhz frequency ( 2 mtr band )

they receive on one frequency and retransmit on another frequency

some repeaters are connected to a thing called echolink which enables you to be connected to stations all over the world by means of the internet .
jim will explain better than me mate :thumb2

 

[briggie]

you have pm rick :thumb2

 

[briggie]

uk repeater list

http://www.ukrepeater.net/repeaterlist3.htm

 

[rustic]

you need to be a licenced radio ham rick , licences start at foundation level and allow you to use up to 10 watts ...

To get the foundation level, do you have to learn Morse code?:doh

 

[jims-terrano]

To get the foundation level, do you have to learn Morse code?:doh

Morse is no longer a requirement for the license however as part of the Foundation Sylabus and Assessment you must complete a "Morse Appreciation". This is a very simple (and normally fun) element of the Foundation. An assessor will send morse very slowly and repeat as much as is needed. The candidates also take a turn on the morse key. This is often done as a group activity and turns out to be fun. You do not learn morse as you have a crib sheet in front of you.

 

[solarman216]

like a lot of stuff we have to put up with, makes it a load of nonscence rubbish, Rick

 

[jims-terrano]

As Pete has said, a lot of people who drive for a living have moved over to Ham Radio rather than using CB but not all. Ham Radio is regulated by OFCOM and everyone is given a registration number with their license called a call sign.
A repeater is a base station that is usually somewhere high. It repeats what you are transmitting to allow others to hear your transmission and also you them. A lot are now linked to a network of other repeaters around the world using a variety of methods. You should be able to select to either use the repeater locally or select another around the country or world.

 

[briggie]

like a lot of stuff we have to put up with, makes it a load of nonscence rubbish, Rick

I wouldn't say rubbish as such mate ,

cb was largely unregulated and as such all sorts of people who had no idea of what radio transmission could do where operating all sorts of wonderfull equipment , with quite often disastrous consequences to others .... tv radio etc to name just a couple ,

ham radio involves an exam , you need a licence to prove that you have at least some idea of the potential havoc that can occur if used incorrectly , the foundation level exam is designed to allow people access to the frequencies , but on limited power , there are 3 levels of licence .

foundation allows you up to 10 watts output power

intermediate allows you up to 50 watts output power
and the full or advanced licence allows you up to 400 watts output power ,

so you can see the need for this to be regulated

 

[briggie]

perhaps we should have a section purely for ham radio , so those who are licenced hams can admit it :augie:lol

 

[bry]

Glad you are working and not damaged your set. Pressing the PTT without an antenna is a bad idea, a lot worse than an antenna with a bad SWR. I agree that modern transmitters are more robust than the older models.

Something else to remember is not to touch the antenna whilst transmitting as it'll hurt, it's a deep burn called an RF burn.

The "Burner" is an amplifier, this will give an approximate output power on the case/box. 50 times is not a normal rating for these things, they are measured in Watts. To start with you are legally limited in transmitter output power so the chances are you will be breaking the law but chances of getting caught are quite low but this doesn't mean it's correct but I'm not going to judge you and what you do or do not do.
So the more power you send up the CO-AX the higher an SWR will be so at 4 Watts you may be below 2 to 1 but with say 50 Watts being sent up the CO-AX it could go as high as 3 to 1 and more to the point the more being reflected down to the radio. A radio designed to transmit 4 watts suddenly finding best part of 50 watts being chucked at it may not last too long.
The transmitted power does not dictate to the distance your signal will travel. The distance your signal travels is dependant more on the terrain. Buildings and Hills will reduce the signals effectiveness, it basically blocks it. A good antenna with good feeder (CO-AX) and mounted correctly will give you better results than putting more power into a system that is not fitted correctly. Also parked at the top of a hill will give you better results, an antenna works best as high up as possible. It's not often when green laning you would want to communicate more than 100 metres in fairness. Also remember that it's OK your signal going further but not a lot of point if you can't hear stations as far away as your signal is going.

Radio is a complex subject and their are a lot of tales and people that know about it. Also people and businesses selling equipment are not often trained and give false information.

My personal advice is to flog the burner on to someone else. Ensure your antenna system is as good as you can get it. Have a good play and see what you think of it. As Briggie will tell you CB has it's uses and there are people out there who use it as a hobby as well as people who use it as a convenient way of communicating locally. If you decide actually this radio thing is quite interesting ask on here as there are a number of people that had those thoughts and took up radio as a hobby. Above all enjoy playing and take it for what it is.

PS can't wait to see Briggies response to this post.

Flog the burner/Boots i would Concur:thumb2

 

[solarman216]

Yes radio is a funny thing, in the 70's I had a CB with a 500 watt burner and in the Alps had a truck in front of me that could not receive my signal, 2k on and we conversed no probs with or without the burner, Rick