Same here. I wasn't as into it as much as others but I loved to get on there and chat some but listen alot. There was always some people just hanging around at my age and two or three people were on their way to work and there was always some truck driver in there that would come in and say something every now and then but the part I think I missed the most was chatting with some of the old timers. There was like an old timers club it wasn't an official club or anything there was always a couple old guys on here with a cup of coffee in their hand and a cigarette and the other just passing the time especially in the wee early morning hours.
I'm in my 30's, i'm annoyed by current social media (or social data miners) to the point I've deleted my accounts and that i've just ordered my first cb set!
@@stevet4962 That sounds like a great idea! At least you have freedom of speech on CB too! Sadly, I moved from the NYC area to a really remote area and I don't think CB is active in this area. At least when I checked last year, I spent a few days tuning through the channels (yes, I still have my radio from the late 80s) but I wasn't able to hear a single person.
Great memories. In about 1985, I went after school and bought a Midland 4001, 13.8V PSU, SWR meter and a homebase 'Modulator' then struggled home on the bus with it all under my arms. Was so excited. It's a buzz that never leaves you! Your radio is pretty special there Andy!
Your right. That buzz, never leaves you. I wouldn't want it to. I'm recapping & realigning & reflowing all my rigs, and getting back on. It's been a long time comin' . Hopefully the undesirables aren't on still on.
Been into CB since early 1970's. Received my Radio-Telephony merit badge in Scouting with a Radio operator license from the FCC for Citizens Band radio. KZS 0130 I've never left. I enjoy the "CHICKEN BAND" 🤣 Had a 3 channel Transceiver, Radio Shack/Tandy crystalized and a 1/4 wave antenna. 👍✌️ Been on ever since. My Shack is built right, name brand equipment to tune the antenna, and match the impedance. Cool running Rigs means less power loss. I don't tread on ANY Amateur frequencies and still prefer to operate with morals and the oath to the rules of Radio-Telephony.
Ahh the good old days. Got into cb radios here in the states when I first started driving back in the 80s! We all had them in our cars and would talk to each other when on road trips, and talk to truckers too! Fun before cell phones. So much fun to meet people you don't know! Thanks for the reminder. I might even have one in the garage somewhere.
I remember going cross country with the largest Uhaul truck they rented. Was going up the grade and heard the trucker behind me saying come on bed bucket put your pedal to the medal. I called back and said the pedal is smashed to the floor. Why don't you help and push me up the hill? The Trucker was a really good soul and that started so many different conversations with the trucker. What fun recalling that so many years later.
I would imagine that would be prompted with an EMP. Is anybody using Faraday boxes?. We have two. rotate three different HF rigs in and out of them monthly. Are you truly prepared?
Brings back memories this Andy. I spent years of misspent youth on my Harrier CBX after forcing my dad onto the roof of our house to install a Thunderpole III! The reach off that thing with a few tweaked pots in the rig was unbelievable….
I still have a Harrier CBX...infact I might have 2...but been awhile since I looked....Also a DNT M40..and I think a handheld...Realistic..I think...again not sure ..been awhile. I was on in the early mid 80's.
90% of all my great contacts were on s thunderpole 3 great times great mems when I was young every thing into the car a way up the hills and back home on a Sunday and if I got less the 500 contacts it was a bad week end
@@stoatrepublic If I recall the Rotel was a decent rig. My father also had a Harrier CBX...When he passed away just a couple of weeks after my 18th Birthday. I put it in the luton van at work. Was working at a furniture shop at the time. I didn't drive....but went out on deliveries. Other than being the map reader. It was fun using the CB when going further field. I had a DNT-M40 in me bedroom.Meet alot of folks...some good..some bad. Even a girlfriend or two. Don't recall why it all stopped...other than the one in the van got stolen...though I think the driver sold it!..even though it wasn't his to sale. I brought the ones I have now ...some years ago. Was thinking of getting back online after I had moved to Scotland. But never got round to setting them up. And since I lost my life partner to cancer in 2017...I have pretty much lost interest in life in general. I watch YT video's in an attempt to distract me.
Had great fun with my CB27/81, 'Binatone 5 Star', between 1981 and 1985, but then everything ground to a halt in my area, when an increasing number of abusive kids began to spoil conversations. In Essex, 14 was the calling channel, 19 was the truckers channel and 9 was the emergency channel, with all three being respected until 1985. After that, I passed the RAE and became a licensed radio amateur, but I still have my old CB radio, because it became my first real insight into radio communication, and spurred me on to learn more about the technical aspects of transmitters, receivers and antennas.
I'm in a remote rural part of the UK and CB still live and kicking where I am, a lot of farmers and elderly locals still use it to keep in touch with each other.
When I was 13 my dad got a ham raido. He was a CT in the Navy so already knew code. I got into it also of course. I learned code at 20 wpm but never went past my novice license. Good memories chatting with people all over the world.
I've still got my very first CB I bought back in 1980, a Stalker HH1. Had great fun and brings back fond memories. I've been licensed as an M3 for years and during the first lockdown decided to progress to 2E0 which fired up my enthusiasm for radio again. I dipped back into CB after watching this video, and the first conversation on Ch19 was two people effing and jeffing every other word which also brought back memories of CB when it was legalised and moved from AM to FM!! Yes, amateur radio can be old boys telling others off for not following rules that were in place when they passed their exams, and yes it can be a lot of techie talk about antennae and propagation but there's a lot more to Amateur Radio. I mainly use Digital Modes now and it still gives me a buzz to be sat in my car talking to someone in America or Australia or Japan etc on a handheld radio.
I've still got the first CB I bought in 1977. An RCA Co Pilot 14T270 AM. Nothing digital in it or on it. The channel numbers are printed on a large round dial, just like an early '70s TV. It still works as good as it ever did, which is better than most "modern" computer radios.
Think about how much more fun you'd have talking with 4-5 watts without running excessive power ( I Know for Ham's it's legal, but still cheating and not much of a challenge) repeaters, and satallite systems carrying your signal?...... I've been a CB'er since the mid 70's and rarely use more than stock wattage (usually run 1-2 watts deadkey with a 15- 25 watt swing) to talk across ponds from Chicago, Illinois (USA), regular contacts include but are not limited to all of Alaska, Panama, Costa Rica, Australia, Columbia, as well as throughout the states of my own country. I do this from a base station and my mobile radios. Naturally line of sight transmitting prevents me from reaching contacts in China and the like, but I feel I have accomplished greater distances then ham sets using simply the Atmosphere and low wattage. I believe that if I were able to use Repeaters and satallites on 11 meter like ham operators can, I might also be able to contact stations on the other side of the globe...... the sky's the limit.
I enjoyed hearing you guys across the pond last weekend. It sounds like cb radio is alive and well in Europe. I worked England, France, Austria, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, and Portugal in less than 1 hour. Here in North America we have seen a massive surge in cb radio ever since the covid lock downs started. We went from 3 or 4 local operators to over 20 in less than a year.
I was 18 in 1962, Here in the US, by the way born in London, 1944, came to US 🇺🇸 on the Queen Mary in 1949. Went back to visit in 1979, with my parents, and my wife in 2013. I was a new ham in 1962. WV2ZPD then. I got the CB call KBG7077, when they issued them But I never really used the band, as I moved up the ranks of amateur radio, WA2ZPD, then W2CH, after obtaing my Extra Class license in 1995. Will be licensed 60 years next March, 2022. I tried the repeaters in London on 2 M and 70 CM, on our 2013 trip, but no luck raising anyone. Cheerio, 73 de W2CH, Ray, New Hampshire.
Welcome back 😁 you are more than welcome to join the Tango Charlie Net any time. You were working amazing and i know a lot of the stations could hear you and would of loved to of made the contact. We are on every Saturday night on 27.585usb at 7pm so if you find yourself playing radio again come on in 😁 TC88 Maxine (Sat on the Long Mynd shropshire with TC74 John)
Had a cb when I was a kid....uniden something or another......over 30years ago... Had some 250w boots + 21ft gb aerial + couple scaff polls + extra thick coax cable...customisable Roger bleep.....handle was wheelin wizard from Luton.....Good ole days
Oh CB radio! In Sweden in '70s we had them in boats and cars, I even had antenna on my moped and got a Zodiac Contact 24 with a battery pack in a plastic radio compartment. Huge static, the ANC-circuit got totally overloaded! Me and friends built a repeater and put on a hill, squelch-triggered. Also an automated answering thing involving an endless cassette, squelch-triggered. Crazy days!
When I was in high school back in the mid 80's, I would sit out in my driveway talking on the CB while hooking up my dads battery charger to keep power. I had a D-104 power mic and a booster/echo box also. Those were some good times. I may have actually had a beeper back then too.
Still got my very first rig - a Colt 210 AM set complete with box in A1 condition, bought early 1981 before legalisation. Also got my Realistic AM set, Cobra 148GTL-DX and Binatone 5 Star all bought since then.
Thanks for the videos, got back into CB radio during the start of the pandemic like many others probably? Just wondering if you have any more info on the battery pack you are using and would it give me an hour or two of listening and maybe a few mins transmitting power for a CRT 9900? Are they available on Amazon? Many thanks, Carl
I'm in USA from the 70's when CB's were booming. I did not know CB was still popular. I have one in a box somewhere. I wrote a program and wired the PLL to an Atari 800 PC and was able select any channel that existed within the bandwidth of the radio.
My Dad and i used to be big radio users.I haven't used the radio since he passed away nearly 20 years ago and sold all my gear. I still have the old Silver Rod vertical aerial still up survived many storms. Been seeing a ton of videos pop up over this last month/ Thanks for posting this one.
This brings back great memories mate. We had a President Mckinley in my dads VW camper. Loved it. Thanks for this vid. 14 for a copy and 19 was truckers.
Brings back memories of the 70. A guy who's handle was Yorkie don used to being rigs from the US. AM was so much nicer on the ears than FM, when it went legal I lost internet due to the bullying the started and got my ham license. That wasn't as fun as the old days of AM so my rigs lay silent.. going to pull out my FT817 for a listen.
When i was just 11 Years [Young] I got my 1st CB Radio and thought of a COOL Handle [LONEWOLF] The very 1st Time i get on i;m telling the Guy MY NEW HANDLE and he says NO that;s MY Handle, We were BOTH Struck that we had the same Handle [CB Name] What was even STRANGER is the FACT that the guy lived just up the Street so he came down to my Parents House to MAKE SURE i was OK, We have been Friends ever since, He got me my 1st Job Cleaning Cars for Local Garage at just 16.
Ah the good old days, remember it well back in the day, it was like our social media back then! Had all sorts of ssb radios before cb27/81 uk fm40 came into operation. Nato 2000 was my last rig.
Great memories brought back watching that mate. Remember having a powerful rig back in the 80's that used to interfere with all the neighbours televisions. Good times.
CB was all the rage in the 70's. I now a couple of good quality ip67 handheld 5W CB, hardly use them. On the motorcycle replaced by on helmet Cardo PackTalk dynamic mesh network units for short range, and for long range Bluetooth into the phone and use cellphone call or facetime. I built a couple of CB radio Bluetooth adapters to pair into the PackTalk but yet to test them out on the bike. Would mean we can be on a ride and I can be monitoring the truckies channel.
This is a good example of what FM on CB sounds like; FCC just allowed that in the US, but they still won’t let you use a ham radio on CB. If you ran a 857 on CB over here you’d get a mob of angry hams raging at the FCC and probably at your doorstep if your address is public.
@Porco Porco according to his latest video, someone cared so much they complained to his local ham radio store, RSGB, and OFCOM. Ridiculous. But you're probably getting at the FCC (and probably OFCOM), who certainly doesn't give a damn about aggressively high power CB operations, and even less so with regular CB DXers using ham radios and decent antennas on CB bands since it's victimless like growing/using cannabis recreationally, sleeping in your van in a business' parking lot overnight, or repairing your John Deere tractor yourself, especially when your radio is a top of the line $1500 SDR, which only puts out 10W anyway, and you're a licensed ham who actually knows what you're doing.
Back in the late 70's and mid 80's if you had a good base station and good antenna setup with good mobile cb setups you could easily talk 20 to 40 miles pretty reliably, sometimes more. Switch to ssb and it worked great. When the skip was in it really screwed up your local range for around town. Man were the cb bands busy then. Even freeband was busy.
Thanks for posting this feature on CB radio, I was on CB back in 1990s in Portsmouth, I often think about getting a rig again to see what it's like nowadays.
Just come across your video, good stuff , I was on 585 on Sat as always call in on there, but i was on the homebase and we do get alot of noise with modern equipment causing all kinds of problems , but find and open space on a hill and you get out for miles. Ive been back on the radio for 3 years and its been great fun, also make my own videos about it. Best 73.
Awesome, I'll have to listen out for you! Yeah I'm struggling big time with noise at my office location it's almost full scale!!! If you go outside portable/mobile then suddenly the radio comes alive, I'm still amazed how far signals on 27mhz travel on sideband.
dead here in British Columbia, Canada. Our CH 19, is 27.18.5 VHF where truckers use Ladd 1 (154.100) I use to take to UK stations on 26.195 or something like that when I drove a truck.
Was going to get me ham licence just recently but could hardly find anyone on so bought superstar3900 setup and yes here we are back in 1979 nice vid dude
Might be better reception/transmission if it was mounted on metal. The roof of the car is supposed to serve as a ground plane. Thanks for the video! Very interesting.
alminium roof, still works just as good if not a bit better. I would get a luggage rack mount or hole, but... careful. I don't trust my ass with thru hole and the garage.
40 years ago the breaking channel around your way was channel 14. Hertford wasn't good for cb ing as most of it is in a dip. I've still got a HyGain 5 in the loft, so many good memories from those days. It went downhill after being legalised in 1981 though.
Memories of the good old days in the 70's and 80's, loads of people had them in their cars and houses. I had one on a pushbike while doing a paper round. It was addictive back then, eyeballs, convoys and all 40 foot Ariel bolted on the back of the house. Paper license from the post office.......😁😁
as a kid, my dad had one in every one of his vehicles.....i liked it, was fun as long as you played by the rules.....i was scolded more than once for my behavior by fellow CBers lol, its pretty cool in general.
I had a great base station 35 years ago on 27mhz from Australia and had some fantastic overseas conversations on LSB AND USB channel 35 and channels 16 and 11am in fact i remember on AM had a long convo with a guy in the US its a very underrated way of communication
I spent so much time perfecting my antenna installation in my teens, got just as much of a buzz from building/modifying antennas as making DX contacts, built a 2 element beam out of parts from an old Channel 0 VHF antenna and boom (lots of scrap aluminium) 🤣
@@SpectreOZ when i got my driver's licence at 18 everything changed, i went mobile CB and boy was it fun and going out and doing eyeballs i think it was called and met so many cool people, in fact, its how i met my current wife, still kept my base station i think i was running a station master antenna at the time and sold it all due to getting more involved in cars. currently thinking of getting into 27megz again its just the old CB is getting harder to find now.
@@dantheman5222 Indeed, the Uniden Bearcat 980SSB is a decent modern 27Mhz rig, second hand radios can be a bit of a gamble (which is why I kept my AX144). Eyeballs were great fun, a deadly treadly and a handheld radio was all you needed to go "mobile" back in the day 🤣 The advent of affordable UHF and improved repeater network saw a major change in the radio scene with many either running both or migrating completely to UHF.
Hi Andy, A lot of people are also using PMR446 as a sort of UHF CB to escape QRM that effects 11 meters as well as different propogation characteristics. it might be worth checking it out as there is a weekly nationwide net every Sunday on channel 8, starting at 8PM.
@@aurtisanminer2827 Yes that is true which can be a deal breaker for some, although the local range on PMR with a well performing antenna such as the diamond X-50 or sirio CX 440 can be surpisingly far. I have communicated with stations 50+ miles away before. PMR is also suitable for those who for whatever reason cannot have a large antenna set up that 27 MHZ requires.
@@pmr446 Hi Decoder. Yep - agreed. As you, I have frequently been on the Sunday CH8 @ 8pm PMR446 net and reached 40/50 miles plus - with a handie talkie, albeit from high ground (around 1200ft +). My furthest PMR contact was in June 2019, during tropospheric lift conditions, from Dartmoor National Park, England, to the Pyrenees, distance 550 miles on 500mW (half Watt). It can be done, but patience is required and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, that’s why I still use 27MHz!
@@aurtisanminer2827 That can be an advantage: in the illegal AM days (which coincided with high sunspot activity) I was frequently unable to chat to my friend half a mile away because it was impossible to find a channel not blocked by Italians (mornings) or Americans (afternoon) running hundreds of watts into beam antennas. :-(
I remember the 148 I had one was illegal back in the day . As fm was the only units we were legally allowed to have . My dad was a ham operator and rig doctor. So was well lucky lol 😆 😜
Back in the late 80's and early 90's here in the states I had a RCI 2950 and a Palimar 150watt kicker. Was able to get out pretty well. Still have the 2950 barefoot (rarely use) and a President Ronald 50 watts (in my current vehicle). Not much happening around the Chicago area. Just use it mostly when traveling or talking to my 4X4 truck group.
as far as your mag mount not sticking to the car, prepare a steel plate to mount inside the headliner, strip some 14awg wire (1/8 of the length of the whip of the antenna) solder the wire ground radials to the plate and attach it all inside the headliner. Then you can have your mag mount stick very well.
In the USA the FCC recently approved CB to modulate FM as well as traditional AM. CB can be the entry into ham radio / amateur radio , which I highly recommend. Ironically CB is in the 11meter band which fits nicely between a couple of the many ham radio bands (10m and 12m), so it’s possible to share an antenna for all three.
That was fun. Good memories. I will now break out my old radio and mag-mount (also aluminium roof) and give it a try next week. Cheers from the states. Maybe we'll catch up.
Yeah do it! I've got a video coming about how I got around the aluminium roof issue. I cant wait for the sunspot cycle to reach its peak this time so we can chat to you guys over there!
0:23 - possible solution for that: get a somewhat 1/2" thick neodymium magnet (don't get them too big, those things can get dangerous the bigger you get them) and then you could place, or duck tape the neodymium magnet on the inside of your car, directly under the antena section, and then the magnet under your antena should get a strong grip to the neodymium magnet, just make sure that before you duck tape the magnet inside, that you are putting it on the correct side so that it won't repel the magnetic field of the antenna, but you want it to attract it (as in pull it, instead of pushing it forward).
good times indeed - as u had to be discreet, I had an electric telescopic 27mghz aerial that worked just fine - Also bought a 100 watt 'burner' whilst in the Tyrol, but never got to use it (prob just as well!)
I think CB was responsible for a LOT of Amateurs gaining their tickets. There were some fairly well run sidebander groups (The "Sandbaggers" were international and very well run, the UK prefix for Sandbaggers was 70 - so you might be "70 Sandbagger 110") Some awesome contacts were made - and the challenge to see how far you could get - and how little power you could do it with. Half a watt over a few hundred miles was not easy but a huge buzz when you did it. FM for CB (for technical reasons, mainly "strongest station wins") was a poor choice - BUT by then a lot of the "sidebanders" had started to become amateurs. Keen to see what the 4 Metre band is like now - apparently a friendly crowd and presumably with reasonable penetration too, 6 metres promises to be good for reasonable distances too.
I agree, after spending a fortune on 3 or more AM 27MHz I then spent £200 on a Ham International Concorde and made lot of long distance contacts using USB and LSB with 100 watts it was great fun, partly because it was illegal. I then obtained my amateur radio certificate and paid a fortune for Yaesu but 2 meters was full of bore arses and if you weren't in local Am Club No One spoke to you
@@StormTrouper3 I find this very disappointing. I've been licensed almost 50 years (G8IQV now G0OIW), and it always disappoints me that so many newly licensed stations get looked down on by those with older or higher grades of licence. The last thing we should be doing is discouraging new amateurs - we all had to start somewhere, CB or otherwise. 😞 Hopefully, that will be less of a problem on HF as overseas stations won't be familiar with the UK licensing system and couldn't care what grade of licence you have. ☺
This maybe a silly question, but will I be able to get CB channels from this ham radio straight out the box, or does it need wide banding? Thank you in advance.
Yeah! Looking forward to that, UK to USA even on FM, remember that when Conditions were good last cycle, apparently this next cycle is going to be off the chart.
Only problem cycle 25 may be the solar flares of all solar flares similar to the 1920s torching cw shacks teleworks powered grids world wide only thing tech was so new few even knew it happened
CB isn't dead, probably won't be in the next 40 years either. I bought a Baofeng before covid to mess around with and got the local repeaters tuned in here in Australia and literally every night there is the same crowd on there chatting away.
Running a 100 Watt radio with 50% more FM deviation on a band that has a maximum legal output of 4 Watts makes you get heard surprisingly well, even with that tiny antenna :-)
We used to try to do it the other way, doing anything we could to improve/modify/tweek/tune an antenna - and then see what we could do on half a watt. The advantage then also being that you could then usually hear the other guy answer! Loads of fun - dropping "in the holes" where there was double spacing on (iirC) five channels so they were always very quiet and perfect for dx. 3, 11, 15, 19 and 22 (I think) had the double spacing so "Go low, 11 in the hole" meant you were sitting nicely between channel 11 and 12, one range down - and it was super quiet. I seem to recall the 10KC shift was nothing more (on most radios) than cutting a track to the PLL and bridging it with a 1n4148 and a 1n4148 via a switch to either 12v or deck. Four decades ago though, so i might be a bit out!
I live near Basildon in Essex and I own a cb. Since this adventure are you going to get a set up at home or find an mount for the car that won't come off when you drive down the m25 going 70 mph ?
CB is very much alive in the US also I have a CB in my truck and have had one for years we have a bunch of local boys(NC) on 15 And all the truckers are still on 19
Still looking/hearing out for you Andy. 54 Dallas! I've been hearing alot of y'all here in Texas. 4 double 4 out of Scotland comes across almost every day, 711 Dublin, Ireland, Irish 13 Ireland, 888 Scotland, 037 Andy Yorkshire UK, 676 Serge Northern UK, 45 UK, and many more I couldn't write down fast enough. You guys are BANGING IN!! Big Radios in England. Rogeo, Rogeo!! 54 David Dallas!
Cheers Andy, I’m loving CB after many years , I have a Ham licence (thanks Covid) but CB for me is just so much better, nothing better than making that contact , all the best mate
Hi Andy listen there's still loads of action on the UK FM muppets and plenty of other stuff on the SSB and the mid band EU when it's open and don't worry about using a amateur radio opened everybody does it even I do it I've got a Yaesu FT-950 and a Sigma Venom 5/8 wave hy-gain silver rod in my back garden around 25 foot in the air and I get loads of stuff on the CB radio it's all really good fun and I've been licensed as a radio amateur since 01 and it's all been absolutely brilliant and I've been on the CB for the last 28 years and never given up so I do enjoy both sides of the hobby. Thanks and best 73's cheers. Stephen M3SNV 73's.
I started in cb back in the early to mid 1970. I had a Thor 6 converted to a cb set. Mine was a dsb set and running 50 watts. I has to wait to transmit and needed time to warm up. That was a tube set back then. Now I'm on ham bands but go back to cb and listen to traffic.
I always thought it was 14 for a copy. Perhaps my memory is playing tricks on me after 40 years. A very interesting exercise and thanks for the info. Well done. Keep getting out there.😊
In the illegal AM and early days of legal FM, the convention (in my area, at any rate) was that 14 was, indeed, the general calling and 19 was the truckers' channel. But for many years now, 19 has been the calling channel for everyone. Unfortunately, in many areas it seems to be hogged by people who sit on 19, don't move to a working channel, and swear a lot. :-(
Maybe it was a local thing, back in the late 70s before FM, for the naughty people who had AM rigs, the calling channel was 27. In fact the one and only local CB radio shop was called 'Breaker 27'. Then when FM came along in '81 the calling channel was 14, for some reason. Happy days!
@@MisterCreamyDude one four for a copy come back ! Here in Sussex on the AM rigs we used late 70's early 80's they transmitted further distances than the FM legals
Your frequencys are different then ours in america. We could get a big fine for transmitting on 27.785. Our channel 19 is 27.185. We go from 26.965 to 27.405, 1 to 40. Around here we use channel 38 alot but not on am but on LSB
That CB you're using looks fancier than most police scanners I've used. 😂 I have an old 40 channel "Realistic" handheld from Radio Shack that I tried about a year ago. Takes like 10 batteries, has an antenna a mile long. It still works, and works WELL. I was surprised.
Hi Andy. I've watched a few of your ebike videos. I'm looking to convert a genesis gravel bike for touring. Do you have a video that explains what brand is good quality? I'm basically looking for a front hub motor 250w and a good battery or two. I understand if you're to busy to reply. Ps I just fitted a cb to my car recently chanel 19 is very busy in Glasgow too lol
Awesome to see the radio going off over there in the UK!! Check out the CB Lounge 2112 on my channel for a thriving local CB community in Northern Nevada, CB is alive and well here!! 73's from 2112, Carson City, Nevada.
@Andy Kirkby can you provide a link for that specific lipo battery and what I need to hookup a CRT 6900.. What kind of time scale will I get on 8 Watts?
It used to be 14 back in the 70's. 11m was open, during the 70's and we worked the USA and beyond on just a few watts. I had one the first Cobra 148's My handle was 'Disco Duck'
Yes and no. UK has 40 chans FM 27.60125 , 10KHZ apart. the US channels are used europe wide 4W AM/FM and 12W pep SSB. referred as "UK block" and "EU Block"
@@MWOCQU Not entirely true. Channels 23, 24 and 25 are "straightened out" in Europe, in the US there is that strange jump in frequency. This is what I found on Wikipedia: "The European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) adopted the North American channel assignments, except channel 23, frequency 27.235 MHz; channel 24, frequency 27.245 MHz; and channel 25, frequency 27.255 MHz"
I was on the radio back in the 90's, local am/fm and sidebands for a bit of dxing. Had QSL cards from all around the world. Then the internet really took off and all my friends stopped. It's a great hobby. I had a simple Superstar 3900 and a 100watt linear amp. Modest setup but did the job!
This is one huge reason I think for things coming back. I know I bought radio gear and got my Tech license I need get off my duff and go after general.
Emax, plenty of info in the web. Depends upon your load. I have 3 deep cycle marine batteries along with a charge controller, 200 watt solar panel and a pure sine wave inverter. $600 total cost.
You can add a magnet on the underside of the roof. Can clamp the magmount down even harder than onto a steel roof. Have done it on landrover bonnets that way.
Mrs Thatcher sold the Am requencies to the emergency services and put a big hole in CB radio FM was hard to adjust to for many people and harder tom set up for a good clean transmission, rigs were either good or bad there were a lot of crap rigs out there.
Ahhh, CB radio when I was a teenager was our social media.
That's an excellent way to put it.
Same here. I wasn't as into it as much as others but I loved to get on there and chat some but listen alot. There was always some people just hanging around at my age and two or three people were on their way to work and there was always some truck driver in there that would come in and say something every now and then but the part I think I missed the most was chatting with some of the old timers. There was like an old timers club it wasn't an official club or anything there was always a couple old guys on here with a cup of coffee in their hand and a cigarette and the other just passing the time especially in the wee early morning hours.
I'm in my 30's, i'm annoyed by current social media (or social data miners) to the point I've deleted my accounts and that i've just ordered my first cb set!
@@stevet4962 That sounds like a great idea! At least you have freedom of speech on CB too! Sadly, I moved from the NYC area to a really remote area and I don't think CB is active in this area. At least when I checked last year, I spent a few days tuning through the channels (yes, I still have my radio from the late 80s) but I wasn't able to hear a single person.
I just got a CB Alan42. Never done this before. Any tips for me to help with my transceive? Thanks
Great memories.
In about 1985, I went after school and bought a Midland 4001, 13.8V PSU, SWR meter and a homebase 'Modulator' then struggled home on the bus with it all under my arms. Was so excited. It's a buzz that never leaves you!
Your radio is pretty special there Andy!
I love they midland precision series I own a 4001 and a 2001 in my collection….. since added 3001 and 2001 to my collection 😊
Your right. That buzz, never leaves you. I wouldn't want it to. I'm recapping & realigning & reflowing all my rigs, and getting back on. It's been a long time comin' . Hopefully the undesirables aren't on still on.
@@3butalcomp3without agitators,CB would be ham radio.
@@RippSnortin CB Radios; A total free for all & That's some crazy fun ass shit out there!
Been into CB since early 1970's. Received my Radio-Telephony merit badge in Scouting with a Radio operator license from the FCC for Citizens Band radio. KZS 0130
I've never left. I enjoy the "CHICKEN BAND" 🤣
Had a 3 channel Transceiver, Radio Shack/Tandy crystalized and a 1/4 wave antenna. 👍✌️
Been on ever since. My Shack is built right, name brand equipment to tune the antenna, and match the impedance. Cool running Rigs means less power loss. I don't tread on ANY Amateur frequencies and still prefer to operate with morals and the oath to the rules of Radio-Telephony.
Ahh the good old days. Got into cb radios here in the states when I first started driving back in the 80s! We all had them in our cars and would talk to each other when on road trips, and talk to truckers too! Fun before cell phones. So much fun to meet people you don't know! Thanks for the reminder. I might even have one in the garage somewhere.
Awesome😎 yeah same! it was like that for me in the early 90s! Great Times!
I remember going cross country with the largest Uhaul truck they rented. Was going up the grade and heard the trucker behind me saying come on bed bucket put your pedal to the medal. I called back and said the pedal is smashed to the floor. Why don't you help and push me up the hill? The Trucker was a really good soul and that started so many different conversations with the trucker. What fun recalling that so many years later.
Still a great way to talk to Truckers
Everyone going back to cb ready for when the grid goes off
Ham radio will be where it's at for it's sheer versatility.
I would imagine that would be prompted with an EMP. Is anybody using Faraday boxes?. We have two. rotate three different HF rigs in and out of them monthly. Are you truly prepared?
@@itspat496 I’ve been prepared for 14 years 😜👍
How can radio help when the Terminator beams down to earth?
@@kevingary7018 he’ll shout “breaker one nine for a fellow fruit loop, come on!”
I loved CB in the early 1970. It was so much fun!
We used to modify PYE MK 3 valve radios for cb, then the feds would come for ya.
Brings back memories this Andy. I spent years of misspent youth on my Harrier CBX after forcing my dad onto the roof of our house to install a Thunderpole III! The reach off that thing with a few tweaked pots in the rig was unbelievable….
I still have a Harrier CBX...infact I might have 2...but been awhile since I looked....Also a DNT M40..and I think a handheld...Realistic..I think...again not sure ..been awhile. I was on in the early mid 80's.
90% of all my great contacts were on s thunderpole 3 great times great mems when I was young every thing into the car a way up the hills and back home on a Sunday and if I got less the 500 contacts it was a bad week end
Amazing! What added reach could you get by tweaking a few pots?
@@Bodneyblue Same here got my Harrier CBX still with the warrent labels in place, also have a Rotel RVC240...
@@stoatrepublic If I recall the Rotel was a decent rig. My father also had a Harrier CBX...When he passed away just a couple of weeks after my 18th Birthday. I put it in the luton van at work. Was working at a furniture shop at the time. I didn't drive....but went out on deliveries. Other than being the map reader. It was fun using the CB when going further field.
I had a DNT-M40 in me bedroom.Meet alot of folks...some good..some bad. Even a girlfriend or two. Don't recall why it all stopped...other than the one in the van got stolen...though I think the driver sold it!..even though it wasn't his to sale. I brought the ones I have now ...some years ago. Was thinking of getting back online after I had moved to Scotland. But never got round to setting them up. And since I lost my life partner to cancer in 2017...I have pretty much lost interest in life in general. I watch YT video's in an attempt to distract me.
Had great fun with my CB27/81, 'Binatone 5 Star', between 1981 and 1985, but then everything ground to a halt in my area, when an increasing number of abusive kids began to spoil conversations. In Essex, 14 was the calling channel, 19 was the truckers channel and 9 was the emergency channel, with all three being respected until 1985. After that, I passed the RAE and became a licensed radio amateur, but I still have my old CB radio, because it became my first real insight into radio communication, and spurred me on to learn more about the technical aspects of transmitters, receivers and antennas.
Even in the us 19 is the trucker channel and 9 was the emergency channel. Finally, the FCC officially allows us to have FM on the CB channels.
@@jkeelsncHello from Russia my friend! FM it's not good modulation! AM is good or SSB.
Great video! It's good to hear more people on the CB. It's also a fun hobby here in the US.
I'm in a remote rural part of the UK and CB still live and kicking where I am, a lot of farmers and elderly locals still use it to keep in touch with each other.
When I was 13 my dad got a ham raido. He was a CT in the Navy so already knew code. I got into it also of course. I learned code at 20 wpm but never went past my novice license. Good memories chatting with people all over the world.
I've still got my very first CB I bought back in 1980, a Stalker HH1. Had great fun and brings back fond memories. I've been licensed as an M3 for years and during the first lockdown decided to progress to 2E0 which fired up my enthusiasm for radio again. I dipped back into CB after watching this video, and the first conversation on Ch19 was two people effing and jeffing every other word which also brought back memories of CB when it was legalised and moved from AM to FM!!
Yes, amateur radio can be old boys telling others off for not following rules that were in place when they passed their exams, and yes it can be a lot of techie talk about antennae and propagation but there's a lot more to Amateur Radio. I mainly use Digital Modes now and it still gives me a buzz to be sat in my car talking to someone in America or Australia or Japan etc on a handheld radio.
I've still got the first CB I bought in 1977. An RCA Co Pilot 14T270 AM. Nothing digital in it or on it. The channel numbers are printed on a large round dial, just like an early '70s TV. It still works as good as it ever did, which is better than most "modern" computer radios.
Think about how much more fun you'd have talking with 4-5 watts without running excessive power ( I Know for Ham's it's legal, but still cheating and not much of a challenge) repeaters, and satallite systems carrying your signal?...... I've been a CB'er since the mid 70's and rarely use more than stock wattage (usually run 1-2 watts deadkey with a 15- 25 watt swing) to talk across ponds from Chicago, Illinois (USA), regular contacts include but are not limited to all of Alaska, Panama, Costa Rica, Australia, Columbia, as well as throughout the states of my own country. I do this from a base station and my mobile radios. Naturally line of sight transmitting prevents me from reaching contacts in China and the like, but I feel I have accomplished greater distances then ham sets using simply the Atmosphere and low wattage. I believe that if I were able to use Repeaters and satallites on 11 meter like ham operators can, I might also be able to contact stations on the other side of the globe...... the sky's the limit.
I still have my late brothers cb , I'm going to dig it out and give it a go just for him .😊
@@scottp5803QRP is the best! hello from Russia!
I enjoyed hearing you guys across the pond last weekend. It sounds like cb radio is alive and well in Europe. I worked England, France, Austria, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, and Portugal in less than 1 hour. Here in North America we have seen a massive surge in cb radio ever since the covid lock downs started. We went from 3 or 4 local operators to over 20 in less than a year.
Is this true, You in USA have prohibited DX contacts in Citizen Band?
@@jacuswoczega9180 no that was an old rule that no one obeyed anyway
I was 18 in 1962, Here in the US, by the way
born in London, 1944, came to US 🇺🇸 on the
Queen Mary in 1949. Went back to visit in
1979, with my parents, and my wife in 2013.
I was a new ham in 1962. WV2ZPD then. I
got the CB call KBG7077, when they issued
them But I never really used the band, as I
moved up the ranks of amateur radio, WA2ZPD, then W2CH, after obtaing my
Extra Class license in 1995. Will be licensed
60 years next March, 2022. I tried the repeaters in London on 2 M and 70 CM,
on our 2013 trip, but no luck raising anyone.
Cheerio, 73 de W2CH, Ray, New Hampshire.
Welcome back 😁 you are more than welcome to join the Tango Charlie Net any time. You were working amazing and i know a lot of the stations could hear you and would of loved to of made the contact. We are on every Saturday night on 27.585usb at 7pm so if you find yourself playing radio again come on in 😁 TC88 Maxine (Sat on the Long Mynd shropshire with TC74 John)
Awesome, brings back memories of so much fun we had with the CB.
Had a cb when I was a kid....uniden something or another......over 30years ago...
Had some 250w boots + 21ft gb aerial + couple scaff polls + extra thick coax cable...customisable Roger bleep.....handle was wheelin wizard from Luton.....Good ole days
Oh CB radio! In Sweden in '70s we had them in boats and cars, I even had antenna on my moped and got a Zodiac Contact 24 with a battery pack in a plastic radio compartment. Huge static, the ANC-circuit got totally overloaded! Me and friends built a repeater and put on a hill, squelch-triggered. Also an automated answering thing involving an endless cassette, squelch-triggered. Crazy days!
When I was in high school back in the mid 80's, I would sit out in my driveway talking on the CB while hooking up my dads battery charger to keep power. I had a D-104 power mic and a booster/echo box also. Those were some good times. I may have actually had a beeper back then too.
A "Beeper"....NO WAY?? there is no way in hell that you had a "beeper"....
Still got my very first rig - a Colt 210 AM set complete with box in A1 condition, bought early 1981 before legalisation. Also got my Realistic AM set, Cobra 148GTL-DX and Binatone 5 Star all bought since then.
Thanks for the videos, got back into CB radio during the start of the pandemic like many others probably? Just wondering if you have any more info on the battery pack you are using and would it give me an hour or two of listening and maybe a few mins transmitting power for a CRT 9900? Are they available on Amazon?
Many thanks, Carl
I'm in USA from the 70's when CB's were booming. I did not know CB was still popular. I have one in a box somewhere. I wrote a program and wired the PLL to an Atari 800 PC and was able select any channel that existed within the bandwidth of the radio.
Guys always said " You should see my new seatcover" LOL
Dude, where did you live?
My Dad and i used to be big radio users.I haven't used the radio since he passed away nearly 20 years ago and sold all my gear. I still have the old Silver Rod vertical aerial still up survived many storms. Been seeing a ton of videos pop up over this last month/ Thanks for posting this one.
Get back in the game brother
This brings back great memories mate. We had a President Mckinley in my dads VW camper. Loved it. Thanks for this vid. 14 for a copy and 19 was truckers.
Good to see a come back I still have my hand held radio looks like a brick now but it still works ok surprisingly.
does it take 10 AA Batteries 😃 Harvard?
@@cosmoshfa88savant66 yes it does but you can connect it to a 12 volt adaptor or your car
Brings back memories of the 70. A guy who's handle was Yorkie don used to being rigs from the US. AM was so much nicer on the ears than FM, when it went legal I lost internet due to the bullying the started and got my ham license. That wasn't as fun as the old days of AM so my rigs lay silent.. going to pull out my FT817 for a listen.
When i was just 11 Years [Young] I got my 1st CB Radio and thought of a COOL Handle [LONEWOLF] The very 1st Time i get on i;m telling the Guy MY NEW HANDLE and he says NO that;s MY Handle, We were BOTH Struck that we had the same Handle [CB Name] What was even STRANGER is the FACT that the guy lived just up the Street so he came down to my Parents House to MAKE SURE i was OK, We have been Friends ever since, He got me my 1st Job Cleaning Cars for Local Garage at just 16.
As soon as I heard "roger Roger", I was back watching Airplane. Please give us a vector Victor.
Do we have clearance, Clarence?
Over Oveur….
Don't make good movies like that anymore.
Shirley you can't be serious ?? 🤣🤣
It's a large building with patients, but that's not important right now
Ah the good old days, remember it well back in the day, it was like our social media back then!
Had all sorts of ssb radios before cb27/81 uk fm40 came into operation.
Nato 2000 was my last rig.
noticed you were switching between fm and usb - what’s the etiquette or protocol as to which to use on a particular channel?
Channel 14 was the calling channel, 19 was always reserved for trucker's
It varied from place to place.
Great memories brought back watching that mate. Remember having a powerful rig back in the 80's that used to interfere with all the neighbours televisions. Good times.
CB was all the rage in the 70's. I now a couple of good quality ip67 handheld 5W CB, hardly use them. On the motorcycle replaced by on helmet Cardo PackTalk dynamic mesh network units for short range, and for long range Bluetooth into the phone and use cellphone call or facetime.
I built a couple of CB radio Bluetooth adapters to pair into the PackTalk but yet to test them out on the bike. Would mean we can be on a ride and I can be monitoring the truckies channel.
This is a good example of what FM on CB sounds like; FCC just allowed that in the US, but they still won’t let you use a ham radio on CB. If you ran a 857 on CB over here you’d get a mob of angry hams raging at the FCC and probably at your doorstep if your address is public.
Deny everything. Self incrimination is a poor move. Screw those snob hams
@Porco Porco according to his latest video, someone cared so much they complained to his local ham radio store, RSGB, and OFCOM. Ridiculous. But you're probably getting at the FCC (and probably OFCOM), who certainly doesn't give a damn about aggressively high power CB operations, and even less so with regular CB DXers using ham radios and decent antennas on CB bands since it's victimless like growing/using cannabis recreationally, sleeping in your van in a business' parking lot overnight, or repairing your John Deere tractor yourself, especially when your radio is a top of the line $1500 SDR, which only puts out 10W anyway, and you're a licensed ham who actually knows what you're doing.
Back in the late 70's and mid 80's if you had a good base station and good antenna setup with good mobile cb setups you could easily talk 20 to 40 miles pretty reliably, sometimes more. Switch to ssb and it worked great. When the skip was in it really screwed up your local range for around town.
Man were the cb bands busy then. Even freeband was busy.
Was a CB'r from 1968 until 1995, then became a NC ham and operate 2 meter repeaters. Had more fun on CB than ham radio.
Thanks for posting this feature on CB radio, I was on CB back in 1990s in Portsmouth, I often think about getting a rig again to see what it's like nowadays.
Just come across your video, good stuff , I was on 585 on Sat as always call in on there, but i was on the homebase and we do get alot of noise with modern equipment causing all kinds of problems , but find and open space on a hill and you get out for miles. Ive been back on the radio for 3 years and its been great fun, also make my own videos about it. Best 73.
Awesome, I'll have to listen out for you! Yeah I'm struggling big time with noise at my office location it's almost full scale!!! If you go outside portable/mobile then suddenly the radio comes alive, I'm still amazed how far signals on 27mhz travel on sideband.
dead here in British Columbia, Canada. Our CH 19, is 27.18.5 VHF where truckers use Ladd 1 (154.100) I use to take to UK stations on 26.195 or something like that when I drove a truck.
I recently got myself an old midland 13-868b. I was hoping to hear some signals here in BC, but no luck.
Was going to get me ham licence just recently but could hardly find anyone on so bought superstar3900 setup and yes here we are back in 1979 nice vid dude
I remember back in 79 when the skip was so long that all 40 channel s were full so noise from thousands of transmissions across the usa.
Might be better reception/transmission if it was mounted on metal. The roof of the car is supposed to serve as a ground plane. Thanks for the video! Very interesting.
It's aluminum so it was still providing a ground plane. He needs to drill a hole for a permanent mount and solid ground for the antenna.
@@kevinmccool3719 Or run a jumper to ground from the outer metal covering on the antenna wire.
alminium roof, still works just as good if not a bit better. I would get a luggage rack mount or hole, but... careful. I don't trust my ass with thru hole and the garage.
40 years ago the breaking channel around your way was channel 14. Hertford wasn't good for cb ing as most of it is in a dip. I've still got a HyGain 5 in the loft, so many good memories from those days. It went downhill after being legalised in 1981 though.
Ye, was the same in Plymouth back then.
I still have my radio in the loft somewhere, but I couldn't be bothered to renew my license so stashed it.
@@mickenoss you mean you had a license i never did
???...today you don't need 1
@@77appyi Cool, I imagined it was like £90 or something nowadays.
Memories of the good old days in the 70's and 80's, loads of people had them in their cars and houses.
I had one on a pushbike while doing a paper round.
It was addictive back then, eyeballs, convoys and all 40 foot Ariel bolted on the back of the house.
Paper license from the post office.......😁😁
Can't believe this video triggered a few sad cases. Just found your channel today and count me as a subscriber
as a kid, my dad had one in every one of his vehicles.....i liked it, was fun as long as you played by the rules.....i was scolded more than once for my behavior by fellow CBers lol, its pretty cool in general.
I had a great base station 35 years ago on 27mhz from Australia and had some fantastic overseas conversations on LSB AND USB channel 35 and channels 16 and 11am in fact i remember on AM had a long convo with a guy in the US its a very underrated way of communication
I spent so much time perfecting my antenna installation in my teens, got just as much of a buzz from building/modifying antennas as making DX contacts, built a 2 element beam out of parts from an old Channel 0 VHF antenna and boom (lots of scrap aluminium) 🤣
@@SpectreOZ when i got my driver's licence at 18 everything changed, i went mobile CB and boy was it fun and going out and doing eyeballs i think it was called and met so many cool people, in fact, its how i met my current wife, still kept my base station i think i was running a station master antenna at the time and sold it all due to getting more involved in cars.
currently thinking of getting into 27megz again its just the old CB is getting harder to find now.
@@dantheman5222 Indeed, the Uniden Bearcat 980SSB is a decent modern 27Mhz rig, second hand radios can be a bit of a gamble (which is why I kept my AX144).
Eyeballs were great fun, a deadly treadly and a handheld radio was all you needed to go "mobile" back in the day 🤣
The advent of affordable UHF and improved repeater network saw a major change in the radio scene with many either running both or migrating completely to UHF.
Andy what set it that your using in your mobile ?
Tia 73's
Hi Andy, A lot of people are also using PMR446 as a sort of UHF CB to escape QRM that effects 11 meters as well as different propogation characteristics. it might be worth checking it out as there is a weekly nationwide net every Sunday on channel 8, starting at 8PM.
You dont get skip on uhf, though.
@@aurtisanminer2827 Yes that is true which can be a deal breaker for some, although the local range on PMR with a well performing antenna such as the diamond X-50 or sirio CX 440 can be surpisingly far. I have communicated with stations 50+ miles away before. PMR is also suitable for those who for whatever reason cannot have a large antenna set up that 27 MHZ requires.
@@pmr446 Hi Decoder. Yep - agreed. As you, I have frequently been on the Sunday CH8 @ 8pm PMR446 net and reached 40/50 miles plus - with a handie talkie, albeit from high ground (around 1200ft +). My furthest PMR contact was in June 2019, during tropospheric lift conditions, from Dartmoor National Park, England, to the Pyrenees, distance 550 miles on 500mW (half Watt). It can be done, but patience is required and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, that’s why I still use 27MHz!
@@aurtisanminer2827 That can be an advantage: in the illegal AM days (which coincided with high sunspot activity) I was frequently unable to chat to my friend half a mile away because it was impossible to find a channel not blocked by Italians (mornings) or Americans (afternoon) running hundreds of watts into beam antennas. :-(
I never did get into fm,started off in the 80s with a cobra 148 on ssb and had great fun dxing as conditions were fantastic
What part of Scotland are you from
@@matthewtopping2560 Glenrothes fife Mathew,I was 108at176
@@dxscotland5901 is there still an Alfa Tango group in Scotland these days?
@@Perthshire yes but no like it was in the old days,no meetings etc..hardly any local activity round here now
I remember the 148 I had one was illegal back in the day . As fm was the only units we were legally allowed to have . My dad was a ham operator and rig doctor. So was well lucky lol 😆 😜
Back in the late 80's and early 90's here in the states I had a RCI 2950 and a Palimar 150watt kicker. Was able to get out pretty well. Still have the 2950 barefoot (rarely use) and a President Ronald 50 watts (in my current vehicle). Not much happening around the Chicago area. Just use it mostly when traveling or talking to my 4X4 truck group.
as far as your mag mount not sticking to the car, prepare a steel plate to mount inside the headliner, strip some 14awg wire (1/8 of the length of the whip of the antenna) solder the wire ground radials to the plate and attach it all inside the headliner. Then you can have your mag mount stick very well.
In the USA the FCC recently approved CB to modulate FM as well as traditional AM. CB can be the entry into ham radio / amateur radio , which I highly recommend. Ironically CB is in the 11meter band which fits nicely between a couple of the many ham radio bands (10m and 12m), so it’s possible to share an antenna for all three.
^ With a tuner, yes, but basically all 11 meter antennas do not have the bandwidth to work all three bands.
That was fun. Good memories. I will now break out my old radio and mag-mount (also aluminium roof) and give it a try next week. Cheers from the states. Maybe we'll catch up.
Yeah do it! I've got a video coming about how I got around the aluminium roof issue. I cant wait for the sunspot cycle to reach its peak this time so we can chat to you guys over there!
Did you manage to get on last weekend? We had Europe 5 by 9 all day here in the states. Best conditions I have ever seen in 10 years
0:23 - possible solution for that: get a somewhat 1/2" thick neodymium magnet (don't get them too big, those things can get dangerous the bigger you get them) and then you could place, or duck tape the neodymium magnet on the inside of your car, directly under the antena section, and then the magnet under your antena should get a strong grip to the neodymium magnet, just make sure that before you duck tape the magnet inside, that you are putting it on the correct side so that it won't repel the magnetic field of the antenna, but you want it to attract it (as in pull it, instead of pushing it forward).
Do you have a link for the battery pack or is it something you’ve made.
good times indeed - as u had to be discreet, I had an electric telescopic 27mghz aerial that worked just fine - Also bought a 100 watt 'burner' whilst in the Tyrol, but never got to use it (prob just as well!)
I think CB was responsible for a LOT of Amateurs gaining their tickets. There were some fairly well run sidebander groups (The "Sandbaggers" were international and very well run, the UK prefix for Sandbaggers was 70 - so you might be "70 Sandbagger 110")
Some awesome contacts were made - and the challenge to see how far you could get - and how little power you could do it with. Half a watt over a few hundred miles was not easy but a huge buzz when you did it.
FM for CB (for technical reasons, mainly "strongest station wins") was a poor choice - BUT by then a lot of the "sidebanders" had started to become amateurs. Keen to see what the 4 Metre band is like now - apparently a friendly crowd and presumably with reasonable penetration too, 6 metres promises to be good for reasonable distances too.
I agree, after spending a fortune on 3 or more AM 27MHz I then spent £200 on a Ham International Concorde and made lot of long distance contacts using USB and LSB with 100 watts it was great fun, partly because it was illegal. I then obtained my amateur radio certificate and paid a fortune for Yaesu but 2 meters was full of bore arses and if you weren't in local Am Club No One spoke to you
But it still amazes me how many look down on CBs, when most of us came from there.
@@StormTrouper3 I find this very disappointing. I've been licensed almost 50 years (G8IQV now G0OIW), and it always disappoints me that so many newly licensed stations get looked down on by those with older or higher grades of licence. The last thing we should be doing is discouraging new amateurs - we all had to start somewhere, CB or otherwise. 😞
Hopefully, that will be less of a problem on HF as overseas stations won't be familiar with the UK licensing system and couldn't care what grade of licence you have. ☺
This maybe a silly question, but will I be able to get CB channels from this ham radio straight out the box, or does it need wide banding? Thank you in advance.
79 / 80 I used to listen on 10m for cw in the hope that 11 would open. Now I listen on 11 in the hope that 10 opens. Loved my time as a 26 Alfa Tango
It will become more funner when Cycle 25 improves and skip across the pond will become a daily occurrence. Cheers from the U.S.
Yeah! Looking forward to that, UK to USA even on FM, remember that when Conditions were good last cycle, apparently this next cycle is going to be off the chart.
Only problem cycle 25 may be the solar flares of all solar flares similar to the 1920s torching cw shacks teleworks powered grids world wide only thing tech was so new few even knew it happened
I think SSB and Dxing on CB has picked up rather than day to day use. UK FM at least in this area is prety quiet.
CB isn't dead, probably won't be in the next 40 years either. I bought a Baofeng before covid to mess around with and got the local repeaters tuned in here in Australia and literally every night there is the same crowd on there chatting away.
Some very nice contact Andy let's hope for more
Running a 100 Watt radio with 50% more FM deviation on a band that has a maximum legal output of 4 Watts makes you get heard surprisingly well, even with that tiny antenna :-)
We used to try to do it the other way, doing anything we could to improve/modify/tweek/tune an antenna - and then see what we could do on half a watt. The advantage then also being that you could then usually hear the other guy answer!
Loads of fun - dropping "in the holes" where there was double spacing on (iirC) five channels so they were always very quiet and perfect for dx.
3, 11, 15, 19 and 22 (I think) had the double spacing so "Go low, 11 in the hole" meant you were sitting nicely between channel 11 and 12, one range down - and it was super quiet.
I seem to recall the 10KC shift was nothing more (on most radios) than cutting a track to the PLL and bridging it with a 1n4148 and a 1n4148 via a switch to either 12v or deck. Four decades ago though, so i might be a bit out!
UK & Europe SSB power is limited to 12w PeP
I live near Basildon in Essex and I own a cb. Since this adventure are you going to get a set up at home or find an mount for the car that won't come off when you drive down the m25 going 70 mph ?
Yep! I'm experimenting with both right now! Crazy amount of noise at my office though.
@@andykirby same here.mainly signal 6 of it
CB is very much alive in the US also I have a CB in my truck and have had one for years we have a bunch of local boys(NC) on 15 And all the truckers are still on 19
Still looking/hearing out for you Andy. 54 Dallas! I've been hearing alot of y'all here in Texas. 4 double 4 out of Scotland comes across almost every day, 711 Dublin, Ireland, Irish 13 Ireland, 888 Scotland, 037 Andy Yorkshire UK, 676 Serge Northern UK, 45 UK, and many more I couldn't write down fast enough. You guys are BANGING IN!! Big Radios in England. Rogeo, Rogeo!! 54 David Dallas!
I have been using the cb since I was 7 and still using it now.. Still the best way of communication
Cheers Andy, I’m loving CB after many years , I have a Ham licence (thanks Covid) but CB for me is just so much better, nothing better than making that contact , all the best mate
Superb research … cheers for that matey ..nostalgia at its best..
Hi Andy listen there's still loads of action on the UK FM muppets and plenty of other stuff on the SSB and the mid band EU when it's open and don't worry about using a amateur radio opened everybody does it even I do it I've got a Yaesu FT-950 and a Sigma Venom 5/8 wave hy-gain silver rod in my back garden around 25 foot in the air and I get loads of stuff on the CB radio it's all really good fun and I've been licensed as a radio amateur since 01 and it's all been absolutely brilliant and I've been on the CB for the last 28 years and never given up so I do enjoy both sides of the hobby. Thanks and best 73's cheers. Stephen M3SNV 73's.
I started in cb back in the early to mid 1970. I had a Thor 6 converted to a cb set. Mine was a dsb set and running 50 watts. I has to wait to transmit and needed time to warm up.
That was a tube set back then.
Now I'm on ham bands but go back to cb and listen to traffic.
I got my first CB back in 7th grade (13 years old). I mowed a LOT of lawns and shoveled a lot of snow to save up for a CB radio.
My parents hated it!!
I used to work packet radio on 2m during my radio amateur days, it took me some while to embrace the internet and pay for dial up :-)
Love packet, APRS is amazing now, it's a nationwide network.😎
@@andykirby I’ll have to look into that :-)
34 yrs old and just bought my first cb radio and uv5r. Just listening for now. Getting ready for whatever is next.
Which one did you get? Also, what is uv5r? Thank you!
@@Karen-jp1ns Baofeng uv5r is an inexpensive ham radio. You can buy them on Amazon or eBay for $25 -$30.
Thank you for the information! Can I use a CB in my home or just my car? I need to know what one to buy.
@@Karen-jp1ns You can use a CB in your home, I don't know much about CBs though, and which ones are good.
@@capnrob97 OK, thank you! I thought that they had to be plugged into a cigarette plug.
Thank you for this excellent video.👍🏻🍻
I always thought it was 14 for a copy. Perhaps my memory is playing tricks on me after 40 years. A very interesting exercise and thanks for the info. Well done. Keep getting out there.😊
In the illegal AM and early days of legal FM, the convention (in my area, at any rate) was that 14 was, indeed, the general calling and 19 was the truckers' channel. But for many years now, 19 has been the calling channel for everyone. Unfortunately, in many areas it seems to be hogged by people who sit on 19, don't move to a working channel, and swear a lot. :-(
14 was the calling channel back in the early 80's when we used AM rigs in Sussex some 40 years ago !
Maybe it was a local thing, back in the late 70s before FM, for the naughty people who had AM rigs, the calling channel was 27. In fact the one and only local CB radio shop was called 'Breaker 27'. Then when FM came along in '81 the calling channel was 14, for some reason. Happy days!
@@MisterCreamyDude one four for a copy come back ! Here in Sussex on the AM rigs we used late 70's early 80's they transmitted further distances than the FM legals
I first tried CB ( U.S. ) in the early 1970's. I later enjoyed side band better. Haven't been on in years. Licensed HAM in 1989.
I was curious where you got your Cb setup
In the late 80's before i was old enough to drive i used to go around with a CB on my push bike. lol
Your frequencys are different then ours in america.
We could get a big fine for transmitting on 27.785.
Our channel 19 is 27.185.
We go from 26.965 to 27.405, 1 to 40.
Around here we use channel 38 alot but not on am but on LSB
That CB you're using looks fancier than most police scanners I've used. 😂
I have an old 40 channel "Realistic" handheld from Radio Shack that I tried about a year ago. Takes like 10 batteries, has an antenna a mile long. It still works, and works WELL. I was surprised.
The radio he is using is a licensed amateur radio that he is using illegally...
Hi Andy. I've watched a few of your ebike videos. I'm looking to convert a genesis gravel bike for touring. Do you have a video that explains what brand is good quality? I'm basically looking for a front hub motor 250w and a good battery or two. I understand if you're to busy to reply. Ps I just fitted a cb to my car recently chanel 19 is very busy in Glasgow too lol
wow brings back memories of the 90s for me going on CB radio all night and going on foxhunts the 19 is still busy love the vid andy
Awesome to see the radio going off over there in the UK!! Check out the CB Lounge 2112 on my channel for a thriving local CB community in Northern Nevada, CB is alive and well here!! 73's from 2112, Carson City, Nevada.
Must get mine set back up, always used to be someone on 19 or 21 most nights
Damn cb in America runs from 26.965 chanel 1 to 27.405mhz channel 40. 19 being 27.185mhz. Neat to see how different places use their radios.
@Andy Kirkby can you provide a link for that specific lipo battery and what I need to hookup a CRT 6900.. What kind of time scale will I get on 8 Watts?
It used to be 14 back in the 70's. 11m was open, during the 70's and we worked the USA and beyond on just a few watts. I had one the first Cobra 148's My handle was 'Disco Duck'
Neat looking set. Are the CB frequencies different than in the US? Here Channel 19 is 27.185 mhtz
Yes and no. UK has 40 chans FM 27.60125 , 10KHZ apart. the US channels are used europe wide 4W AM/FM and 12W pep SSB. referred as "UK block" and "EU Block"
@@MWOCQU Not entirely true. Channels 23, 24 and 25 are "straightened out" in Europe, in the US there is that strange jump in frequency. This is what I found on Wikipedia: "The European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) adopted the North American channel assignments, except channel 23, frequency 27.235 MHz; channel 24, frequency 27.245 MHz; and channel 25, frequency 27.255 MHz"
@@LifeIsTooShortForQRP that stems from the original CB specifications in the USA which were 23 channels of AM
I was on the radio back in the 90's, local am/fm and sidebands for a bit of dxing. Had QSL cards from all around the world. Then the internet really took off and all my friends stopped. It's a great hobby. I had a simple Superstar 3900 and a 100watt linear amp. Modest setup but did the job!
When my dad was a kid, you had to have a license for CB. They changed that a few years later and everyone had one
CB, shortwave, & "pirate radio," quite a few of these have become more popular with people since quarantine and shut downs have become so common.
sdr radio also tones of cool fun.
Uncertain times bring in the survival instinct. Time to live off grid & get a CB.
And how does one power one's CB when off grid?
Solar panels, battery.
This is one huge reason I think for things coming back. I know I bought radio gear and got my Tech license I need get off my duff and go after general.
@@Mikesorrento3344 how many panels and batteries does one need to sustainably live off grid?
Emax, plenty of info in the web. Depends upon your load. I have 3 deep cycle marine batteries along with a charge controller, 200 watt solar panel and a pure sine wave inverter. $600 total cost.
what is that you're using to power the radio and is it rechargeable?
You can add a magnet on the underside of the roof. Can clamp the magmount down even harder than onto a steel roof. Have done it on landrover bonnets that way.
Great video. I see nothing has changed since it became legal. I prefer the days just before !
Mrs Thatcher sold the Am requencies to the emergency services and put a big hole in CB radio FM was hard to adjust to for many people and harder tom set up for a good clean transmission, rigs were either good or bad there were a lot of crap rigs out there.
CB is everyone on 19 farting and threatening one another, then 39 empty channels...I LOVE it😁❤️🇬🇧
Has changed much then :-)
Should be Hasn't (not has)
what is the rating of the batteries? is it the one used for radio controlled car?
Outstanding!
... and not censored.
Keeping radio alive , good stuff