Its really tragic that the UK sold out the 934 Mhz CB band. I've build lots of high gain long boom yagies for 934 that worked spectacularly . Thank you for this really great story.
Had the 934mhz frequencies piped into my Dad's scanner as a kid, seemed to be a small pocket of very infrequent users that were radio amateurs that used it as their own CB band away from the "riff raff" of 27mhz. PMR446 is what 934mhz should've been, the more you think about it.
934Mhz was a wonderful band, I've still got both of my Cybernet Delta 1 radios, my Reftec BS-934 Homebase, and a box full of meters, splitters, antennas, and mast-top pre-amps. And yes, there are still some of us using it, albeit only the top 5 channels, but contacts are few and far between.
Need to get my Reftec up and running. Bought it on the bay as spares and repair. Still sealed from the last shop to work on it. The state of the soldering inside is shocking and with the amount of cold soldered joints it's a wonder it ever worked at all. Should have it rectified soon and an antenna built. You never know.
@@simov8chevy Theres a guy in Slovenia who sells on Ebay, he builds 934MHz colinear antennas that are almost as good as the vintage Nevada colinear. I've got two, they perform superbly even though the build quality is a little short of the Nevads.
I came across a 934 MHz CBer on a hilltop in the 1980s … he was using a possibly home-made helical beam antenna and was talking to another station about 30-40 miles away … it looked quite an impressive set-up.
I was bang into 11m around the time that 934 came on the scene. Equipment was far too expensive for me back then so I never had the chance to play. Thanks for the video. M7BCN
I had a Reftec 934 as my first radio, then the Cybernet Delta one and then the Clarion JC10 which we were legally allowed to inport and use thanks to the test and development licence G9BSP. I also had the use of the 934 Mhz handheld thanks to a good friend whenever I needed to borrow it and it proved very us eful when I had a spell in hospital and used it to chat to family back home who were using my Delta one. The band gave some surprising results. One friend lived many miles away and try as we might, beam to beam both accurately aimed resulted in zero signal reception, but we found that if my friend pointed his beam at the local church steeple in the village and I pointed mine to a tall prominent landmark in my town, we had totally reliable contacts by picking up a reflected signal rather like what used to cause ghosting on analogue TV with multiple path reflected signals which many will have encountered in the days before digital TV. 934 Mhz was a band that you needed to know what you were doing and you could not just slap up any antenna fed with any old rubbish coaxial cable. But if you worked at it, the contacts achievable were amazing. All the users of 934 Mhz were polite to each other and had the same respect for the airwaves as Radio Amateurs had. There was never any bad operating pracices, no swearing, etc and most of the friends I made on 934 Mhz got such an interest in the workings of radio that almost all of them, men & women alike, took the radio amateurs city & guilds exams and quite a few, the post office morse test to become full class A radio hams.
Remember 934 MHz CB back in the 1980s, during my Oxford University days. Our first CB band was on 460-470 MHz in 1948, with a lack of radios and technology. By the 1970s it was down to 8 pairs, 462/467.55-.725 MHz with 50 watts power and lots of restrictions and expensive equipment. By the late 1980s the rules were relaxed and licence easier to get. In 1996 unlicenced Family Radio Service was added, causing a mess and scaring off many licenced users. Then FRS and GMRS were put on the same radio, which really alienated many more users. Finally, in 2017, FRS was reorganised for all channels with 2 watts or less. Higher power requires a licence, with repeaters. Today many several Chinese radio makers make GMRS radios.Oh, the first FRS unlicenced radio service was proposed for 220-222 mhz, an underused amateur radio band. After the game protested the FCC backed off, only to continue to underuse the band. FCC later turned that band over to business radio, with amateurs using 222-225 MHz. There are also CB frequencies in the 72 and 75 MHz bands, mainly for sophisticated radio controlled planes.
I have two 934 MHz CB radios in my attic in there original boxes fully working. I bought them from a table sale at my local radio club for a fiver each back in 2014, I can't remember why I bought them because they are useless but I know I can sell them to a collector for more than what I paid for them. I can imagine how terrible the range was back in the day on that frequency.
I had the delta 1 in 1985 and kept it for 2 years. The price of the radio and Co linear antenna was Eye-watering. So when I wanted to upgrade to a directional beam I built my own by trimming down and re spacing a group A tv antenna. It worked beautifully and I sold it to the buyer of the radio. Nevada comms really had it good there for a few years.
We tried the Freq and unless you were 2000ft+ it's was. Very poor out side bro's house and around the corner nothing we went to CB and AM and made home made antennas and the rest is history with great memories thank you Lewis for the great video take care be safe
I had a dream of having a 934Mhz set along side my Colt 210 AM set and my Harrier CB FM set, alas it remained a dream - thanks for the memory jog mate!
Would have loved to be on 934MHz back in the day, but equipment was way too expensive compared to both 11m and my schoolboy income back then! Mind you, comparing 2m, 70cm and 23cm now, I reckon 934MHz would have been a bit of a challenge back in the early 80’s.
The Grandstand transverter was hilarious in that it was not interlocked in anyway, the 27MHz driving rig was supposed to be on a specific channel, with the 934MHz channel steps tuned by the transverter. Even a few years after it was introduced I remember users being a bit fed up with interference from cellular base stations. Certainly a blast from the past, did help a friend build a 934 CB back in the day, used RF sections from a mobile phone (transportable) interfaced with the bulk of a UHF PMR. Obviously not type approved but it did work...
Great video, thank you. I remember hearing about 934 back in day and still have some of the magazines your referenced. I used 11m exclusively and remember taking up to approx 35 miles with my 4 watts and base antenna. There were several 934 users in my area where I lived in Doncaster, I remember seeing the vertical with 4 small radials and the Nevada yagi I with circular elements on rooftops. I also remember hearing people used to get good results by pointing their antennas towards flight paths and get signal reflections beyond normal range.
Back in the day had a local CB friend who had a 934 mhz set with a suitable beam.Yes he worked a good few stations that I know.Keep the videos coming Lewis great quality .
I am a die hard CB radio user, use it for most of my communications with friends and family who live within range (27mhz) and have done for 30 years this February. I did at one time have a Minster 934 Homebase radio which was essentially a 40 channel 27mhz uniden 300 homebase with a transverter fitted. Although unfortunately the transverter had been removed. My other 934 tackle was acquired by a semi local operator this time last year who I believe passed it on to a guy in North Lincolnshire. I do still prefer the 27man band as it's less affected by terrain. Regards, Tim HT Warwickshire.
Unfortunately I dont, I'm not really big on social media or taking photos. I swapped it for a Watson 23amp switchover psu, which I still have. The guy who had it from me I think sold it around 2010. He had it for a few years. The only differences obvious were a perspex panel stuck over where the switches were, and the CB PA was used to switch the 934 transverter in. Upon carefully removing the panel, it still had all the original lettering behind. The panel was retained by the radio as it moved on. It had a bnc connector on the back, and where it would normally say uniden on the speaker it said Minster. Best regsrds, Tim HT Warwickshire
A very interesting video. I'm tempted sometimes to buy 934 equipment and see what the fuss is about... The initial problem with 934 back in the day compared to 27mhz was cost. 11 meter equipment was affordable to many and 934 was simply too expensive.. Shame..
Thank you for this 934 story. Around 10 years ago, I converted a large load of Kenwood trunking 900 mhz transceivers to the 934 mhz and 928 Amateur bands with commercial levels of power available. The Standard KPG software prevented these frequencies being programed so I had to get into the HEX code and rewrite it in order to get those channels working which were restricted by the standard Kenwood software. That hack, took a lot of hours but once you got familiar with it, I just pulled out my note book and programmed the hex code. Now, Range, I had hundreds of kilometers under ducting conditions but not as far as 433-440-477 Mhz. Extra power does help a little but most of the time, 934 seemed to be even more line of sight than 70cm frequencies. Today I believe 934 is now saturated with mobile phone companies. What I'd like to hear is just how many people who still listen out on a working 934 transceiver. You can see a picture of my 934 mhz yagi at the usual site where you can see this kind of stuff.
I still have 4 different 934 radios and SWR meters mobile antennas and I've made 18 element Beam works very well around 60 miles plus on top channel I've not used it for years now .
Takes me back Lewis. Had a couple of Delta 1s. ( homebase +van) lived in Warrington but worked out of Manchester Airport ( south side) H100 cable +large "N" type plugs.. nightmare after rg58 + 259s.🤣🤣🤣👍👍👍.
Hi Lewis - great video in mate. I bought one of the very first Reftec 934 radios - it spent most of its life at a Rig Doctor near Sevenoaks as it kept on drifting off frequency!! The best part for me was earwigging on people's mobile phone calls which seemed to drop in from time to time. I wish I'd kept the radio as it cost a lot of money when it was first issued.
Brilliant video. I knew a couple of breakers who had 934 one was Dick, Coffee Pot down in Hailsham East Sussex he had a Comtel Kestrel which was pretty good we had some good contacts with that. The other was Jim, Dinosaur from Sutton Valence near Maidstone he had a Reftec. Blimey, brings back memories 👍
This is interesting because in Australia we use 477MHz and it's the only cb band in use today in Aus. Repeaters are everywhere and state governments operate many repeaters for highway safety. Simplex range up to 25km is common with over 150km possible with the right radio (50 watt power station) and antenna.
@@jayrogers8255 nobody does. All vehicles (with CB) are fitted with 477MHz UHF CB, those who want the extra range of HF will join a 4WD club and have an amateur license
@@jjcoolaus so is 27MHz even allocated to CB anymore there? CB here in Massachusetts is just about dead, but the locals are on GMRS (462/467MHz), as are the 4x4 guys.
@@RingwayManchester I really do tip my hat to you Lewis. Your videos are well researched and your delivery is spot on every single time. It's tv broadcast quality stuff right here.
The biggest issue was the price of the equipment. One of my friends, Brian, became a 934 reseller and made a decent amount but it really was a very niche market. As far as I know, he was using it up until it was discontinued. Some of us CBers transitioned to normal amateur radio after getting bored with 27MHz.
I knew one of the "unknown" G9 operators, namely Ron "Gorilla". He was a rig doctor, based in the Charminster area of Bournemouth, Dorset. Ron repaired CB, Ham & marine radio equipment. He passed away over a decade ago, after rapidly going blind during the 1990's.
I remember a couple of articles in the U. S. in magazines like Elementary Electronics in the early 80's on a proposed 900 mhz CB system here. Never got much out of the planning stages from what I recall.
@@dgolfer2 sure it was 900? I remember seeing a old mag where they was wanting a 220mhz cb band. hams didn't like the idea, and of course UPS ended up with part of the 220 spec anyway.
Thanks for this upload, that was one of the most indepth articles of the 934mhz band I've ever come across, well done on doing so much research, I was active on 934Mhz from 1987 until around 1995, of all the bands I've ever used ( Class A Radio Ham ) 934Mhz was by far the most enjoyable band & most suprising in way of range achieved, I loved the band, I was based in Speke, South Liverpool & used the callsign CA-148, I had contacts all over the UK & into Europe when the band was open, used a 12 element Loop yagi with mast head pre amp, wish the band came back, I would be on it like a shot, I used Comtell NPR mobile sets with a couple of NPR handsets, those where the days.
I had a Cybernet Delta 1 for a couple of years, but there was only three operators here that I knew of, they were all Radio Amateurs. Two of them I knew personally and the third was a mate of theirs, I may have met him, but if I did he never let on. Mind you he might not have known who I was until I was highlighted at the local club on FSTV demo one night. He may have not even got to the club, I could just make him out, not enough to talk to him, the others were 8 miles away as the crow flew, I could hear them but on some day with bad weather their signal was way down. I sold it as there was no one on for nights at a time and it cost to much to have sitting around. Even back when Cybernet sets came in there was rumours of the frequency being closed down, this was due to the job the others did in radio. So between lack of use and the rumour of it being stopped, I thought I would cut my losses and get rid of it. Ouch, I had to sell it at a loss, no one was interested in 934 up here except the Radio Amateurs I knew. It was rumoured there were a few others on, but I never heard them at any point and the set sat turned on all the time. Mind you all I had was a vertical about 60ft up. There was a hill behind me stopped me from getting south at that frequency, so if there were anyone there I would not have heard anything. Nice video of a forgotten frequency. To expensive, to high and no one wanted it.
I remember the 934, there was lots of talk about it on the 27mhz band when it came out but i don't recall anyone getting one due to the high price of the equipment. I did see a couple of those Cybernet delta's at a radio rally some time back and the guy selling them still wanted a fair price for them. Great informative vid Lewis. De M0HLG
Mack the Hack who used to have a column in CB Radio Magazine noticed early on that analogue mobile phone users in cars were using 934 mobile antennas as they worked better! I was offered a 934 rig in about 1990 but wouldn't touch it with a barge pole!
I had a lot of nice contacts with with the UK from the west of the Netherlands on 934 MHz (not legal), with a Stabo 80 channel radio and a Procom stick until GSM was starting and it was impossible to receive any stations. I remember that a lot of UK stations had a Delta and stacked antennas, '73 PE1RTT
Love this so educational iv just had a scanner tuned in for aircraft I live near a salt mine with loads of wagons would it be worth me getting it tuned in for cb instead of aircraft many thanks terry
I sold mine, I just couldn't put up with the silence. I once heard voices from down south, but it only lasted a very short time and I never made the trip back, only ever heard it once and I didn't think it would bounce at that frequency! I think it was skip, behaved like it, I can't see anyone using these mobile though I wouldn't rule it out for Amateurs driving in convoy to use them. I also had the Delta 1, nice looking set but it was just where no one wanted to be.
There are some short-distance HTs in the 900 MHz ISM band, but most of the users on that band are cordless phones. The ham band is a bit lower, with repeater inputs at 902, outputs at 927. Weak signal is at 903 for the most part, ATV from 909 to 926
This takes me back i had some cheap kit cant remember what make it was I was lucky to have open fields for miles in front of my house and regularly spoke to people all over Wales which from Somerset on rubbish equipment was very good
Considering it was the early 80's, 900MHz was cutting edge for citizens band. I grew up in a large east coast city of America and our police department didn't get 900MHz into the very late 90's and early 2000's.
Really interesting Video. Ive been a 934 user, interesting back, difficult to use but enjoyed the challenge back in my younger days!! regret selling my equipment!
I was working at Telecoms / Nevada from around 1987. Repairing 27Mhz stuff and the music side of the business. Remember the 934Mhz going on, not seen one of those cybernet transceivers in like 32 years now. We used to sell them.
Yeah, I got my cheap, even then it was way to expensive! I got it trade price or maybe even less! But even the aerial was not cheap for basically a bit of twisted wire on a bit of plastic. The coax cost me a fortune, I sold the lot for £200, Less than a quarter of what it cost me. Only ever heard two others on it, though there were three, but the third was just a scratchy sound and unreadably, but then he was near sea level and I was a long way away at about 10 miles in a straight line, the others were 8 miles. He was also a lot lower down a hill.
An interesting video, I don't remember much about this band being used for CB, although I do remember listening to the old analogue Mobile phones on that frequency, when I bought my first scanner in 1996, heard some very 'interesting' conversations at the time!! By the way, Thanks for mentioning Nevada communications, their headquarters & showroom is just a couple of miles from me in Portsmouth, both myself & my late father bought many radios, scanners, & other related bits & bobs from there.
This one seems to have passed me by and I don't recollect this service. Must have been the period I had put radio to one side. Glad It had really by the look of it's short lifespan.
934 was allocated for the sole purpose of testing the band for commercial use. The success of its users sadly sped up their demise as it became clear the band had great potential for cellular networks.
I used to be on 934, also modified the radios to improve their selectivity to remove mobile phone splatter.. I even built a functioning repeater which was tested up on the purbecks so locals could talk to a station in Guernsey.
I recall reading somewhere online over a decade ago that 934 MHz was previously used by the RAF in WW2, something to do with bombers, and was unused until they decided to put it into use for CB. Like the very weird frequencies that exist on 27/81, 934 was also chosen because it was very far away, potentially expensive and very, very UK-specific, meaning that the RA could have absolute control, and in effect undermine the hobby as much as possible!
hi i was on 934 from 1981 till 1998 in Surrey worked all over the uk with 2 25ele tonnas to a delta 1 even worked switzerland I was a G9 i believe there were only 7 of us and i was one of the undisclosed few who paid £50 for special licence,my normal call was 26sc129 does anyone remember BRIAN HOLLIS of Weybridge Surret BH172. very well known operator,is he still around?
thery was 3 934 operators in wantage we were runing beams and cybernet delta onces qround 1987 to 1988/89 when i got my ham ticket which i still hold today g7bxu
Interesting that the UK actually got as far as introducing a UHF CB band in the days... Of course it was considered (and sometimes implemented) in many places in the world. It probably would have been best to have some band around 160 or 470 MHz where about 40 channels at 12.5 or 20 kHz spacing could find room, it would be a good compromise between equipment cost, antenna practicality, range, etc. Maybe with 5W max. But in those days "there was no room" for such a band, and now that there is plenty room there is no demand anymore.
I had no clue it was possible to transmit CB radio on the UHF band at 934 MHz. For me, CB radio has always only ever been at the top of the HF band on 27 MHz.
Just as in the states, we loose our spectrum one bit at a time. We still have limited allocations in the 900 MHz band but for how long. Years ago ( early 1990's) we lost a portion of our 220mhz spectrum to a "new format for commercial repeater use. It was known as ACSB*. There was only 1 yes 1 MHz split between Rx and Tx frequencies. The two formats were LTR and MPT1357(? my memory not as good today) these turned out to be complete failures. Many tried to use Rx and Tx combiners and then duplexer to use one antenna. NOT! The amount of filtration needed worked against everything. One had to use a separate Rx and Tx antenna and then it was still sketchy if there was no vertical separation. * Amplitude Compandered Side Band.
HF was never the best place for CB. Somewhere in the VHF band would’ve been better. 934MHz never took off as the equipment was, comparatively, expensive. Though no longer allowed to be used, 934MHz equipment still commands high prices.
I remember in the late 70's when many people were campaining for legal "cb" band and 220mhz "ex lancaster bomber" freqency was much proposed. Thatcher and her army turned that one down flat with some flannel about it "needing it to be reserved for future projects".. my take on it is this: UK government saw little "need" for what they saw as riff raff to actually have an exceptional reliable radio system . So Thailand got 220 mhz AND 78mhz for more rural use ....
im 51 now lewis and remember my mate having one when i shifted from am to ssb 27.555 anyway he had brill results using some sort of co linear i was 13yo at the time and he was older so dont know to this day what the antenna was... brill vid and i remember the 27/ 81 comming legal but i never swapped over listening to another few idiots on there when i was at other mates houses.. stay safe mate 73S M3ZEG gez
Does anyone have the info for the 40 channel modification upgrades for UK 934Mhz 20ch CB radios? I tried looking on the net years ago and found nothing.
Years ago, I picked-up a couple mobile radios branded as 'National'. They were 900 MHz Analog FM, & appeared to originate from Japan, from a time-frame of the late 1980's & early 1990's. They had some sort of removable EEPROM on the bottom of the radio, which controlled the operation. In a semi-automated function, they operated on a sort of calling channel, and then went off to another channel, very similar to early trunking systems, but this was all done via simplex or single frequency channels. Eventually, one of the mobiles stopped working & I sold them off at a flea market. To this day, I've never been able to locate any documentation on them or the radio service they were a part of. Has anyone hear of radios or service like this? Perhaps it was native to Japan?
I totally had no idea the 933/934MHz band was free to use. in fact, it would be perfect for data, or some sort of WiMax that's more efficient in UHF. Dunno about France/Europe in general, there's nothing about it but dam, that would be interesting.
Nice but not worthy of the price for cb users, hence the poor take up of 934megs equipment. Also due its inherent line of sight operation and often very poor performance compared to 27megs gear, it wasn't taken up by many people using cb radio. Being such a high frequency a none starter from a practicality point of view. The UK government of the time was never really happy with cb radio which seems to show in the none standard cb 27/81 FM frequencies allocated for use in the UK compared to elsewhere around the world.
had a couple of radios on 934 first one a reftec mobile lasted a couple of days before exchanging it for a replacement reftec as there were very temperamental beasts even cleaning it with a yellow duster sent it wacky last set was the npr 934 now that was a belter of a set had a few quirks as well still have it somewhere gave up using it once the mobile phone towers swamped all channels
That's all in the 934 band. Aside from pagers, which are higher and lower, and ATCS which is 896 to 898 And 935 to 937, I think this would be great, depending on the power output. The stock Motorola 37s receive that high. I don't know if they have talk-around capabilities for 934 talk Or listen. I this the 37s receive in the 930 to 940 range and you transmit in the. 895 to 905 range. I believe that some of the models did have the ability to program either full simplex or an emergency talk-around that allows you to talk and receive on the 930 to 940 MHz The power output on the radios can be set from 1/20th of a watt, which goes about 100 feet to 35 watts that will cover 30 mile radius. So, I wonder what the stock power output was
Its really tragic that the UK sold out the 934 Mhz CB band. I've build lots of high gain long boom yagies for 934 that worked spectacularly .
Thank you for this really great story.
Had the 934mhz frequencies piped into my Dad's scanner as a kid, seemed to be a small pocket of very infrequent users that were radio amateurs that used it as their own CB band away from the "riff raff" of 27mhz. PMR446 is what 934mhz should've been, the more you think about it.
I desperately wanted to use this band when I was a kid. No money and no such luck...
same here/ it was pure fantasy for me
One for the hystory books, never delete this video.
Assist in that effort by archiving the video. on your UA-cam space, giving credit where credit is due, after gaining permission.
934Mhz was a wonderful band, I've still got both of my Cybernet Delta 1 radios, my Reftec BS-934 Homebase, and a box full of meters, splitters, antennas, and mast-top pre-amps.
And yes, there are still some of us using it, albeit only the top 5 channels, but contacts are few and far between.
Need to get my Reftec up and running. Bought it on the bay as spares and repair. Still sealed from the last shop to work on it. The state of the soldering inside is shocking and with the amount of cold soldered joints it's a wonder it ever worked at all. Should have it rectified soon and an antenna built. You never know.
@@simov8chevy Theres a guy in Slovenia who sells on Ebay, he builds 934MHz colinear antennas that are almost as good as the vintage Nevada colinear. I've got two, they perform superbly even though the build quality is a little short of the Nevads.
@@simov8chevy Yes, i heard so much about the reftecs being thrown together.
Oh you lucky man, I would love to try 934.
I came across a 934 MHz CBer on a hilltop in the 1980s … he was using a possibly home-made helical beam antenna and was talking to another station about 30-40 miles away … it looked quite an impressive set-up.
I was bang into 11m around the time that 934 came on the scene. Equipment was far too expensive for me back then so I never had the chance to play. Thanks for the video. M7BCN
I had a Reftec 934 as my first radio, then the Cybernet Delta one and then the Clarion JC10 which we were legally allowed to inport and use thanks to the test and development licence G9BSP. I also had the use of the 934 Mhz handheld thanks to a good friend whenever I needed to borrow it and it proved very us eful when I had a spell in hospital and used it to chat to family back home who were using my Delta one. The band gave some surprising results. One friend lived many miles away and try as we might, beam to beam both accurately aimed resulted in zero signal reception, but we found that if my friend pointed his beam at the local church steeple in the village and I pointed mine to a tall prominent landmark in my town, we had totally reliable contacts by picking up a reflected signal rather like what used to cause ghosting on analogue TV with multiple path reflected signals which many will have encountered in the days before digital TV. 934 Mhz was a band that you needed to know what you were doing and you could not just slap up any antenna fed with any old rubbish coaxial cable. But if you worked at it, the contacts achievable were amazing. All the users of 934 Mhz were polite to each other and had the same respect for the airwaves as Radio Amateurs had. There was never any bad operating pracices, no swearing, etc and most of the friends I made on 934 Mhz got such an interest in the workings of radio that almost all of them, men & women alike, took the radio amateurs city & guilds exams and quite a few, the post office morse test to become full class A radio hams.
We got all our radios from the southern Ireland and had great fun
ua-cam.com/video/dZj38C-CYG8/v-deo.html
Christ,,,,this brings back Memories,,,,,,,
Thanks mate
Hmmm, never heard of the 934MHz era!.
Great story!
Remember 934 MHz CB back in the 1980s, during my Oxford University days. Our first CB band was on 460-470 MHz in 1948, with a lack of radios and technology. By the 1970s it was down to 8 pairs, 462/467.55-.725 MHz with 50 watts power and lots of restrictions and expensive equipment. By the late 1980s the rules were relaxed and licence easier to get. In 1996 unlicenced Family Radio Service was added, causing a mess and scaring off many licenced users. Then FRS and GMRS were put on the same radio, which really alienated many more users. Finally, in 2017, FRS was reorganised for all channels with 2 watts or less. Higher power requires a licence, with repeaters. Today many several Chinese radio makers make GMRS radios.Oh, the first FRS unlicenced radio service was proposed for 220-222 mhz, an underused amateur radio band. After the game protested the FCC backed off, only to continue to underuse the band. FCC later turned that band over to business radio, with amateurs using 222-225 MHz. There are also CB frequencies in the 72 and 75 MHz bands, mainly for sophisticated radio controlled planes.
I was Hertfordshire area rep for 934MHz UK Club. I haven't earwigged for a while, but the band has been clear every time I've switched on.
Why is it called earwigged?Mike coil? Any reason?
@@rpeter6409 earwigs often crawl into peoples ears when the person is asleep .
I have two 934 MHz CB radios in my attic in there original boxes fully working. I bought them from a table sale at my local radio club for a fiver each back in 2014, I can't remember why I bought them because they are useless but I know I can sell them to a collector for more than what I paid for them. I can imagine how terrible the range was back in the day on that frequency.
Oh you area SO lucky to have those, awesome!
I had the delta 1 in 1985 and kept it for 2 years. The price of the radio and Co linear antenna was Eye-watering. So when I wanted to upgrade to a directional beam I built my own by trimming down and re spacing a group A tv antenna. It worked beautifully and I sold it to the buyer of the radio. Nevada comms really had it good there for a few years.
We tried the Freq and unless you were 2000ft+ it's was. Very poor out side bro's house and around the corner nothing we went to CB and AM and made home made antennas and the rest is history with great memories thank you Lewis for the great video take care be safe
I had a dream of having a 934Mhz set along side my Colt 210 AM set and my Harrier CB FM set, alas it remained a dream - thanks for the memory jog mate!
We never had 934 Mhz CB here in US.
Very interesting to see it in the 🇬🇧 UK.
We had cordless phones on 900 MHz.
Ray, W2CH
Thanks as always Ray
Baby Monitors, Audio transmiters for wireless speakers, etc..
Would have loved to be on 934MHz back in the day, but equipment was way too expensive compared to both 11m and my schoolboy income back then! Mind you, comparing 2m, 70cm and 23cm now, I reckon 934MHz would have been a bit of a challenge back in the early 80’s.
The Grandstand transverter was hilarious in that it was not interlocked in anyway, the 27MHz driving rig was supposed to be on a specific channel, with the 934MHz channel steps tuned by the transverter. Even a few years after it was introduced I remember users being a bit fed up with interference from cellular base stations. Certainly a blast from the past, did help a friend build a 934 CB back in the day, used RF sections from a mobile phone (transportable) interfaced with the bulk of a UHF PMR. Obviously not type approved but it did work...
Great video, thank you. I remember hearing about 934 back in day and still have some of the magazines your referenced. I used 11m exclusively and remember taking up to approx 35 miles with my 4 watts and base antenna. There were several 934 users in my area where I lived in Doncaster, I remember seeing the vertical with 4 small radials and the Nevada yagi I with circular elements on rooftops. I also remember hearing people used to get good results by pointing their antennas towards flight paths and get signal reflections beyond normal range.
Back in the day had a local CB friend who had a 934 mhz set with a suitable beam.Yes he worked a good few stations that I know.Keep the videos coming Lewis great quality .
I am a die hard CB radio user, use it for most of my communications with friends and family who live within range (27mhz) and have done for 30 years this February. I did at one time have a Minster 934 Homebase radio which was essentially a 40 channel 27mhz uniden 300 homebase with a transverter fitted. Although unfortunately the transverter had been removed. My other 934 tackle was acquired by a semi local operator this time last year who I believe passed it on to a guy in North Lincolnshire. I do still prefer the 27man band as it's less affected by terrain. Regards, Tim HT Warwickshire.
Any idea what happened to your Minster or any pics of it?
Unfortunately I dont, I'm not really big on social media or taking photos. I swapped it for a Watson 23amp switchover psu, which I still have. The guy who had it from me I think sold it around 2010. He had it for a few years. The only differences obvious were a perspex panel stuck over where the switches were, and the CB PA was used to switch the 934 transverter in. Upon carefully removing the panel, it still had all the original lettering behind. The panel was retained by the radio as it moved on. It had a bnc connector on the back, and where it would normally say uniden on the speaker it said Minster. Best regsrds, Tim HT Warwickshire
A very interesting video. I'm tempted sometimes to buy 934 equipment and see what the fuss is about... The initial problem with 934 back in the day compared to 27mhz was cost. 11 meter equipment was affordable to many and 934 was simply too expensive.. Shame..
Thank you for this 934 story.
Around 10 years ago, I converted a large load of Kenwood trunking 900 mhz transceivers to the 934 mhz and 928 Amateur bands with commercial levels of power available.
The Standard KPG software prevented these frequencies being programed so I had to get into the HEX code and rewrite it in order to get those channels working which were restricted by the standard Kenwood software.
That hack, took a lot of hours but once you got familiar with it, I just pulled out my note book and programmed the hex code.
Now, Range, I had hundreds of kilometers under ducting conditions but not as far as 433-440-477 Mhz. Extra power does help a little but most of the time, 934 seemed to be even more line of sight than 70cm frequencies.
Today I believe 934 is now saturated with mobile phone companies.
What I'd like to hear is just how many people who still listen out on a working 934 transceiver.
You can see a picture of my 934 mhz yagi at the usual site where you can see this kind of stuff.
"Listen out" ... YOU can listen out to any UHF frequency on a scanner. And you won't hear a mobile phone conversation if that's what you're on about.
I still have 4 different 934 radios and SWR meters mobile antennas and I've made 18 element Beam works very well around 60 miles plus on top channel I've not used it for years now .
Takes me back Lewis. Had a couple of Delta 1s. ( homebase +van) lived in Warrington but worked out of Manchester Airport ( south side) H100 cable +large "N" type plugs.. nightmare after rg58 + 259s.🤣🤣🤣👍👍👍.
Hi Lewis - great video in mate. I bought one of the very first Reftec 934 radios - it spent most of its life at a Rig Doctor near Sevenoaks as it kept on drifting off frequency!! The best part for me was earwigging on people's mobile phone calls which seemed to drop in from time to time. I wish I'd kept the radio as it cost a lot of money when it was first issued.
Ramesses who lived on Marple ridge was one of only a handful of people who was on 934 locally, he was also well placed to find the band of use.
Brilliant mate thanks for that
Brilliant video. I knew a couple of breakers who had 934 one was Dick, Coffee Pot down in Hailsham East Sussex he had a Comtel Kestrel which was pretty good we had some good contacts with that. The other was Jim, Dinosaur from Sutton Valence near Maidstone he had a Reftec. Blimey, brings back memories 👍
This is interesting because in Australia we use 477MHz and it's the only cb band in use today in Aus. Repeaters are everywhere and state governments operate many repeaters for highway safety. Simplex range up to 25km is common with over 150km possible with the right radio (50 watt power station) and antenna.
You don’t use 27 Megs in Oz?
@@jayrogers8255 nobody does. All vehicles (with CB) are fitted with 477MHz UHF CB, those who want the extra range of HF will join a 4WD club and have an amateur license
@@jjcoolaus so is 27MHz even allocated to CB anymore there? CB here in Massachusetts is just about dead, but the locals are on GMRS (462/467MHz), as are the 4x4 guys.
You never cease to educate me Lewis. Keep 'em comin'!
Thanks eamon
@@RingwayManchester I really do tip my hat to you Lewis. Your videos are well researched and your delivery is spot on every single time. It's tv broadcast quality stuff right here.
The biggest issue was the price of the equipment. One of my friends, Brian, became a 934 reseller and made a decent amount but it really was a very niche market.
As far as I know, he was using it up until it was discontinued. Some of us CBers transitioned to normal amateur radio after getting bored with 27MHz.
I knew one of the "unknown" G9 operators, namely Ron "Gorilla". He was a rig doctor, based in the Charminster area of Bournemouth, Dorset. Ron repaired CB, Ham & marine radio equipment. He passed away over a decade ago, after rapidly going blind during the 1990's.
I remember a couple of articles in the U. S. in magazines like Elementary Electronics in the early 80's on a proposed 900 mhz CB system here. Never got much out of the planning stages from what I recall.
Do you remember the frequencies that they wanted to use? I wonder if it became our amateur 33cm band.
It might have been. For some reason I think I still might have a copy of that magazine still but I would have to dig for it.
@@dgolfer2 sure it was 900? I remember seeing a old mag where they was wanting a 220mhz cb band. hams didn't like the idea, and of course UPS ended up with part of the 220 spec anyway.
Thanks for this upload, that was one of the most indepth articles of the 934mhz band I've ever come across, well done on doing so much research, I was active on 934Mhz from 1987 until around 1995, of all the bands I've ever used ( Class A Radio Ham ) 934Mhz was by far the most enjoyable band & most suprising in way of range achieved, I loved the band, I was based in Speke, South Liverpool & used the callsign CA-148, I had contacts all over the UK & into Europe when the band was open, used a 12 element Loop yagi with mast head pre amp, wish the band came back, I would be on it like a shot, I used Comtell NPR mobile sets with a couple of NPR handsets, those where the days.
Thanks very much John!
I had a Cybernet Delta 1 for a couple of years, but there was only three operators here that I knew of, they were all Radio Amateurs.
Two of them I knew personally and the third was a mate of theirs, I may have met him, but if I did he never let on. Mind you he might not have known who I was until I was highlighted at the local club on FSTV demo one night. He may have not even got to the club, I could just make him out, not enough to talk to him, the others were 8 miles away as the crow flew, I could hear them but on some day with bad weather their signal was way down. I sold it as there was no one on for nights at a time and it cost to much to have sitting around. Even back when Cybernet sets came in there was rumours of the frequency being closed down, this was due to the job the others did in radio. So between lack of use and the rumour of it being stopped, I thought I would cut my losses and get rid of it.
Ouch, I had to sell it at a loss, no one was interested in 934 up here except the Radio Amateurs I knew. It was rumoured there were a few others on, but I never heard them at any point and the set sat turned on all the time. Mind you all I had was a vertical about 60ft up.
There was a hill behind me stopped me from getting south at that frequency, so if there were anyone there I would not have heard anything. Nice video of a forgotten frequency.
To expensive, to high and no one wanted it.
It's sad that politicians I.E parisites ruin everything. Great video. THANKYOU!!! DB from U.S.A
Great info. 934 was amazing if I remember and the quality was great. Many a fond memory. Great info and thanks Lewis for the happy memories.
i still have at least 3 Delta 1's and a comtel. great band, had some good times on there. operators some of the best i have ever worked!
I remember the 934, there was lots of talk about it on the 27mhz band when it came out but i don't recall anyone getting one due to the high price of the equipment. I did see a couple of those Cybernet delta's at a radio rally some time back and the guy selling them still wanted a fair price for them. Great informative vid Lewis. De M0HLG
Mack the Hack who used to have a column in CB Radio Magazine noticed early on that analogue mobile phone users in cars were using 934 mobile antennas as they worked better! I was offered a 934 rig in about 1990 but wouldn't touch it with a barge pole!
Interesting stuff mate
I should have kept my aerial for that!
In Switzerland we have also 934MHz here , but only from 1984 until 2003 for CB. I used a Clarion , was a nice TRX.
I had a lot of nice contacts with with the UK from the west of the Netherlands on 934 MHz (not legal), with a Stabo 80 channel radio and a Procom stick until GSM was starting and it was impossible to receive any stations. I remember that a lot of UK stations had a Delta and stacked antennas, '73 PE1RTT
Great video Never heard of the 934 CB before Thanks Lewis
In the Year 1984/1985, I had an uniden PC-1010. 80 channels 934 MHz. Best 73's
Great research Lewis!!!!!!
Love this so educational iv just had a scanner tuned in for aircraft I live near a salt mine with loads of wagons would it be worth me getting it tuned in for cb instead of aircraft many thanks terry
I still have my Delta 1, Grandstand transverter & Nevada swr meter & base antenna. Haven't powered them up in years though
You wouldn’t care to sell them and send them to the United States would you. To me by the way
I sold mine, I just couldn't put up with the silence. I once heard voices from down south, but it only lasted a very short time and I never made the trip back, only ever heard it once and I didn't think it would bounce at that frequency! I think it was skip, behaved like it, I can't see anyone using these mobile though I wouldn't rule it out for Amateurs driving in convoy to use them. I also had the Delta 1, nice looking set but it was just where no one wanted to be.
I don't think we ever had 900Mhz CB band here in the US. Most large cities didn't even go to 400mhz for police band until the late 90's.
I don’t think we did either. It took years for GMRS to take off!
@@jayrogers8255 I had "GMRS" before it was renamed that. Early 70s i had a license for Class A Citizen's Band, which or course became GMRS
There are some short-distance HTs in the 900 MHz ISM band, but most of the users on that band are cordless phones. The ham band is a bit lower, with repeater inputs at 902, outputs at 927. Weak signal is at 903 for the most part, ATV from 909 to 926
Hi Ringway thanks for yet another great informative video
Cheers Andy🐝
934 was big around Shoreham w sussex with converted TV aerials antennas and preamps set up on the south downs an experiment with Repeater stations
This takes me back i had some cheap kit cant remember what make it was I was lucky to have open fields for miles in front of my house and regularly spoke to people all over Wales which from Somerset on rubbish equipment was very good
Great video! Thanks much
Another brilliant video Lewis 😎👍🏻🏴
Considering it was the early 80's, 900MHz was cutting edge for citizens band. I grew up in a large east coast city of America and our police department didn't get 900MHz into the very late 90's and early 2000's.
Really interesting Video. Ive been a 934 user, interesting back, difficult to use but enjoyed the challenge back in my younger days!! regret selling my equipment!
I was working at Telecoms / Nevada from around 1987. Repairing 27Mhz stuff and the music side of the business. Remember the 934Mhz going on, not seen one of those cybernet transceivers in like 32 years now. We used to sell them.
I was on 934 so much in the 80s, I nearly failed my GCSEs!
😂😂
😬👍👍👍👍❤️❤️❤️
GCSEs? In the 80s?
@@severs1966 yep, 1988 was the first year for GCSEs and we were the test year!
@@jeg1972 was it really so long ago? Wow.
Interesting video. Thanks Lewis.
I remember seeing the Nevada adverts at the time but don't remember knowing anyone using it, then again £365 was a lot of money in the 80's.
Yeah, I got my cheap, even then it was way to expensive! I got it trade price or maybe even less! But even the aerial was not cheap for basically a bit of twisted wire on a bit of plastic. The coax cost me a fortune, I sold the lot for £200, Less than a quarter of what it cost me. Only ever heard two others on it, though there were three, but the third was just a scratchy sound and unreadably, but then he was near sea level and I was a long way away at about 10 miles in a straight line, the others were 8 miles. He was also a lot lower down a hill.
Well done, bunch of research. Thank you and 73's
Very interesting
An interesting video, I don't remember much about this band being used for CB, although I do remember listening to the old analogue Mobile phones on that frequency, when I bought my first scanner in 1996, heard some very 'interesting' conversations at the time!!
By the way, Thanks for mentioning Nevada communications, their headquarters & showroom is just a couple of miles from me in Portsmouth, both myself & my late father bought many radios, scanners, & other related bits & bobs from there.
This one seems to have passed me by and I don't recollect this service. Must have been the period I had put radio to one side. Glad It had really by the look of it's short lifespan.
I knew only of one person on 934MHz. He was Jack Taylor who had the pre war callsign G2BJT who lived on Marple Ridge.
Very interesting stuff mate.
934 was allocated for the sole purpose of testing the band for commercial use. The success of its users sadly sped up their demise as it became clear the band had great potential for cellular networks.
I used to be on 934, also modified the radios to improve their selectivity to remove mobile phone splatter.. I even built a functioning repeater which was tested up on the purbecks so locals could talk to a station in Guernsey.
Great video!
So back in the 90s, with one of those CB Radios, could you step on someone's mobile telephone call and talk away to them.
ETACS channel 1 started at 935 Mhz so I don't believe so but it would stomp on at least some Band 8 GSM/UMTS/LTE.
Was 934 AM or FM modulation?
Fm
I recall reading somewhere online over a decade ago that 934 MHz was previously used by the RAF in WW2, something to do with bombers, and was unused until they decided to put it into use for CB.
Like the very weird frequencies that exist on 27/81, 934 was also chosen because it was very far away, potentially expensive and very, very UK-specific, meaning that the RA could have absolute control, and in effect undermine the hobby as much as possible!
Interesting topic. I had forgotten about 934, thanks for the information.
hi i was on 934 from 1981 till 1998 in Surrey worked all over the uk with 2 25ele tonnas to a delta 1 even worked switzerland I was a G9 i believe there were only 7 of us and i was one of the undisclosed few who paid £50 for special licence,my normal call was 26sc129 does anyone remember BRIAN HOLLIS of Weybridge Surret BH172. very well known operator,is he still around?
thery was 3 934 operators in wantage we were runing beams and cybernet delta onces qround 1987 to 1988/89 when i got my ham ticket which i still hold today g7bxu
First class presentation pity the OFCOM shower cocked it all up as was usual back in the good old days of wireless communications.
I would pay $200 for one of those just to have it here in my collection but alas I know that will never happen
Interesting that the UK actually got as far as introducing a UHF CB band in the days...
Of course it was considered (and sometimes implemented) in many places in the world.
It probably would have been best to have some band around 160 or 470 MHz where about 40 channels at 12.5 or 20 kHz spacing could find room, it would be a good compromise between equipment cost, antenna practicality, range, etc. Maybe with 5W max.
But in those days "there was no room" for such a band, and now that there is plenty room there is no demand anymore.
I had no clue it was possible to transmit CB radio on the UHF band at 934 MHz. For me, CB radio has always only ever been at the top of the HF band on 27 MHz.
Ah those were the days but back when I had my two stores the most sought after was the "Jaws" mini rig, whatever happened to them!
Very interesting 🤔 I remember using Rc and wireless mics on 900 MHz never knew about voice ops though 😉
Just as in the states, we loose our spectrum one bit at a time. We still have limited allocations in the 900 MHz band but for how long. Years ago ( early 1990's) we lost a portion of our 220mhz spectrum to a "new format for commercial repeater use. It was known as ACSB*. There was only 1 yes 1 MHz split between Rx and Tx frequencies. The two formats were LTR and MPT1357(? my memory not as good today) these turned out to be complete failures. Many tried to use Rx and Tx combiners and then duplexer to use one antenna. NOT! The amount of filtration needed worked against everything. One had to use a separate Rx and Tx antenna and then it was still sketchy if there was no vertical separation.
* Amplitude Compandered Side Band.
Waw, interesting and also a trip down memory lane !
good stuff. hello from usa
Very Interesting.
HF was never the best place for CB. Somewhere in the VHF band would’ve been better. 934MHz never took off as the equipment was, comparatively, expensive. Though no longer allowed to be used, 934MHz equipment still commands high prices.
Thanks as always Phil
I remember in the late 70's when many people were campaining for legal "cb" band and 220mhz "ex lancaster bomber" freqency was much proposed. Thatcher and her army turned that one down flat with some flannel about it "needing it to be reserved for future projects".. my take on it is this: UK government saw little "need" for what they saw as riff raff to actually have an exceptional reliable radio system . So Thailand got 220 mhz AND 78mhz for more rural use ....
im 51 now lewis and remember my mate having one when i shifted from am to ssb 27.555 anyway he had brill results using some sort of co linear i was 13yo at the time and he was older so dont know to this day what the antenna was... brill vid and i remember the 27/ 81 comming legal but i never swapped over listening to another few idiots on there when i was at other mates houses.. stay safe mate 73S M3ZEG gez
Does anyone have the info for the 40 channel modification upgrades for UK 934Mhz 20ch CB radios?
I tried looking on the net years ago and found nothing.
it wasn't a true 40 channel mod, it was like splits on 27mhz, it gave you technically 40 channels but not really.
Was it AM or FM modulation? I see you mentioned transverters, so I assume the same modulation as 27MHz?
Yes it was FM only
8 watts n gainy colinears n Yagis
I only knew of 1 person with a 934 radio.....and they never once heard anyone on it
Years ago, I picked-up a couple mobile radios branded as 'National'. They were 900 MHz Analog FM, & appeared to originate from Japan, from a time-frame of the late 1980's & early 1990's. They had some sort of removable EEPROM on the bottom of the radio, which controlled the operation. In a semi-automated function, they operated on a sort of calling channel, and then went off to another channel, very similar to early trunking systems, but this was all done via simplex or single frequency channels. Eventually, one of the mobiles stopped working & I sold them off at a flea market. To this day, I've never been able to locate any documentation on them or the radio service they were a part of. Has anyone hear of radios or service like this? Perhaps it was native to Japan?
Those are prohibited for use onboard the most cruise ships. It also interfere with ship’s navigational systems.
You can't use them anywhere now.
Aye I commented this on the other vid
I totally had no idea the 933/934MHz band was free to use. in fact, it would be perfect for data, or some sort of WiMax that's more efficient in UHF. Dunno about France/Europe in general, there's nothing about it but dam, that would be interesting.
Thanks, I was always dying to know about this! I’m in Dublin, if anyone knows if this was is use here I would love to know.
There was a big 27/81 net in the Dublin area, I still have a few to use on dx to the UK, but no, I never heard of 934 been used,
Nice but not worthy of the price for cb users, hence the poor take up of 934megs equipment.
Also due its inherent line of sight operation and often very poor performance compared to 27megs gear, it wasn't taken up by many people using cb radio.
Being such a high frequency a none starter from a practicality point of view.
The UK government of the time was never really happy with cb radio which seems to show in the none standard cb 27/81 FM frequencies allocated for use in the UK compared to elsewhere around the world.
News to me. Never heard of it until now.
had a couple of radios on 934 first one a reftec mobile lasted a couple of days before exchanging it for a replacement reftec as there were very temperamental beasts even cleaning it with a yellow duster sent it wacky last set was the npr 934 now that was a belter of a set had a few quirks as well still have it somewhere gave up using it once the mobile phone towers swamped all channels
That's all in the 934 band. Aside from pagers, which are higher and lower, and ATCS which is 896 to 898
And 935 to 937, I think this would be great, depending on the power output.
The stock Motorola 37s receive that high. I don't know if they have talk-around capabilities for 934 talk
Or listen.
I this the 37s receive in the 930 to 940 range and you transmit in the. 895 to 905 range.
I believe that some of the models did have the ability to program either full simplex or an emergency talk-around that allows you to talk and receive on the 930 to 940 MHz
The power output on the radios can be set from 1/20th of a watt, which goes about 100 feet to 35 watts that will cover 30 mile radius.
So, I wonder what the stock power output was
900 and 220 CB band proposals were floated in the US in the mid to late 70's neither ever happened
Ham radio has .23CM (1200 MHz) in the US today.
You have 33cm's too, don't you? Almost identical to the old UK 934MHz CB frequency?
@@ammocraft we do, at 902-928 MHz.