Who here was on CB?

PauloMN

Following on from another thread, who here was ever on CB?

I started on CB in around '84 with a set of UKFM walkie-talkies, got a 40 channel UKFM set, added some other sets and ended up with a few multimode radios (a NATO 2000 and Major M580). Antennas were everything from home made dipoles to Antron 99s on the roof.

Used to be a lot of activity and some great DX. 27.555 and 26.285 USB were buzzing with activity and I worked loads of countries on 11m.

Ah those were the days... (I'll just get me pipe and slippers... )

RoundyMooney

I used to have a little 40 channel Sharp something or other with a red LED readout and an analogue VU (?) meter, Paulo.

An interesting little set, it served in a couple of our fishing boats, (in one instance gerry-rigged to a motorbike battery and covered by a discarded oilskin top!) and I fitted it to my first car or two. This would be early, mid-nineties. There were a few genuine operators around even at that stage, throwback to the heyday and DX'ers I reckon, but the main users were the predecessors of today's boy racers and I gave up on it after a while.

Now, GPS and proper VHF marine sets, even mobiles with handsfree set ups are the norm, and you'll never find a CB in a fishing boat.

I still have a 40 channel transceiver somewhere, brand unknown.

Edit: found the bugger but the pic is tiny:

DJ_Spider

I saved £100 when CB became legal in the UK. My dad took me down to london to tottenham court road and we went looking for a 'rig' I managed to get one of these and had it connected to a motorcycle battery. I unfortunately connected a battery charger to the battery to keep it topped up, but of course it was powering the CB as well! One day smoke came out of the rig!

I then gave it up for a while but started again with one of these I had a flat on the second floor and managed to put a dx-27 'twig' up in the loft above by climbing into the roofspace from the stairwell. (I lived in a block of 12 flates and we all shared the stairs) I drilled a hole in the ceiling, (oops!) and mounted it on a biscuit tin with four lines of copper wire from an old transformer for a ground plane.

I used to be able to talk to truckers in Bosnia, and other far flung places during the day if it was sunny. (something to do with skipping on the ionisphere or something?) I also used to go round the town with a mate of mine in his car during the eraly hours with a scanner tuned to the police freq, (alledgidlly). We were being followed by a car one morning and heard them say 'PNC on registration alpha bravo charlie 1 2 3 delta' (not the real reg!!) So we speeded up and reversed down a one way street and turned off the headlights. They then said 'crime car returning to base' So we carried on very cautiously after that and always carried a jewellers screwdriver to reset it!

Sorry for waffling, it's the alzheimer's, where am I again? do I know you? ROFLMFAO

god's toy

Yep an CB'r here! we first got an radio in 81, (1979 was when we first seen a radio) UKFM back then, went on to 23channel and then to 40 CH rigs.
Many radios have been used from that time, (Too many to list!) 'Cobra 19' been the one that I still love, Superstar 360 being the first radio with SSB.

Would love to have those days back once more...

Wishbone Ash

I had one up to a few years ago - can't remember the make but it was one of those 40 channel US President named ones.

DJ_Spider

I gave up when SSB, USB etc came out. I did have a good echo mic and a external speaker in the front room. People said the exho mic made me sound like mr claypole laughing at the end of that childrens program rentaghost. Did you have that over here?

god's toy

Rentaghost! loved that!!

DJ_Spider

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha - in a echoey voice! PMSL

arybvtcw0eolkf

Ah CB's... Brings back memories of the golden days of CB radio in Ireland.

I think we got started around 1978. I remember the first radio so well, even thinking back to it now I get excited!!. It was a Realistic Navaho;




With a magnetic antenna mounted on a biscuit tin.

From there we went through a whole bunch of radio's;

A HAM JUMBO, a Cobra 148 GTX, Cobra 2000 plus many more.

Oh, I met my wife through a blind date off the CB way back in 1985

22 yrs & two children later and I'm still operating radio's, although not CB's.

CB19Kevo

Hi,
i only got into CB's about 2 years ago and as far as i can see theres still plenty activity even on the standard 40ch.
i have a midland 4watt, 40 channel with a standard magmount
a cobra 2000 base and a 23ft antenna.
there seems to be plenty action in certain areas with many young users - not only boy racers transmitting.
so i hope it will have a revival and some might say we dont need CB's cause we can contact anyone using internet or mobiles but wen u get one you see it a whole lot differant.maybe the old cb's should be brought out of the attic.??

humaxf1

I started in the early 90s with a moonraker minor (UKFM), a magmount and 3-5A PSU. Upgraded to a President homebase (UKFM) simlar to this http://www.shadowstorm.com/cb/rigs/President-Zachary-T.jpg and a 1/2 wave Hembro.

I then realised that all the action was on AM, so I got a President Harry...great lil rig. Channel selector never left Ch 22 lol. Other rigs were to follow as you do. At the end of it, I made lots of acquaintances on the CB and am still in touch with them via skype etc.

I did all the DX thing also, QSL cards blah blah....Great days.

god's toy

humaxf1 wrote:

I started in the early 90s with a moonraker minor (UKFM), a magmount and 3-5A PSU. Upgraded to a President homebase (UKFM) simlar to this http://www.shadowstorm.com/cb/rigs/President-Zachary-T.jpg and a 1/2 wave Hembro.

I then realised that all the action was on AM, so I got a President Harry...great lil rig. Channel selector never left Ch 22 lol. Other rigs were to follow as you do. At the end of it, I made lots of acquaintances on the CB and am still in touch with them via skype etc.

I did all the DX thing also, QSL cards blah blah....Great days.

Blast from the past! Nice to see ya posting here

CB19Kevo

the one problem i see with CB is the amount of differant bands.it means people are seperated and are either on 40channels, 80 channels, usb, lsb, ssb.this makes it appear quite as the standard 40 ch is not half as busy as sidebands.i donnow ime happy out using the legal 40ch as long as theres plenty on it.

azzeretti

Just stumbled across this fourm, couldn't beileive it!!

I started off with a 40 ch CB in early nineties. I can remember tracking down an SWR meter and using it to make a home made dipole of some sort in the attic. I then got my hand on a President USB, SSB, FM - the works. Bloody hell, I had almost completely forgotten about all of this until I saw this thread!!!!

Is there still a Skip? I can remember not being able to do anything during the day because of that.

Anyway, sorry for hijacking, I just haven't had any anything to do with anything radio related since and I had almost forgotten I had.

"Breaking for a beaver!?"

CB19Kevo

hi,
ya its interesting to see how many people used CB's in the 80's/90's.
how busy was ssb/lsb before,its very active at the moment or so ime told.

humaxf1

27.555 used to be very busy as others will agree. Some fella called jack from dundalk or drogheda was a REGULAR and a few others...haven't listened in, in ages.

As regards the mix mash of bands, people are separated unless you have a 26-28MHz multimode rig. All you can hear on UKFM is mass on a Sunday!

Interestingly enough, late last year (i think) there was an article in the paper about aircraft radios getting interference at a particular spot at a particular time. It was raised with the COMREG and it was narrowed down to a church transmitting on UKFM. Now all of a sudden the church is deemed to be transmitting without a licence and will have to cough up.

Kinda ironic that churches have been transmitting for at least 10 if not more years and all of sudden they are interfering with airband and they will have to apply for and pay for a licence. I see it as a sneaky way of generating revenue for the government.

PauloMN

Ah the memories... I got a great laugh reading the replies to this between Sharp 40s, home made dipoles, "breaker for a beaver" etc.. LOL! Those really were the days!

@ humaxf1: channel 22 sounds very familiar to me, were you around Dun Laoghaire/Killiney area per chance? I used to hang out on channel 22 a good bit, mainly FM (to avoid interference with crappy stereos everyone had - remember music centres?) but sometimes on AM. I was out towards Cabinteely direction.

@ azzeretti: you're not hijacking at all, post away mate. "Breaker for a beaver"... I'm still laughing about that!!! Used to hear that ALL the time.

Jack in Drogheda - I remember that name alright. Those chaps would be on until all hours, 2 or 3am, maybe later.

I remember some young lad used to operate a "radio station" from Sandyford on one channel, can't remember which. Used to play music all day long!!

humaxf1

yer right there paulo. there was a good few of us on "22".

watty

CB a lot cheaper than mobile and more "fun".

I only got a CB or too recently even though I had a Amateur licence since 1972.

But if you want to experiment with beam aerials (illegal on CB) or modifiying rigs or building gear or transmitting using DRM (Digital Radio Mondial) or other stange modes, or TV (slow, fast or digital) then a Wireless Experimenter licence is the thing. Much easier now as (1) Actually having exams after a gap of few years, (2) Multiple choice instead of essay now.

Now, if I can only make up my mind which CB to fit in the car...

Also I think a vox handsfree mic stalk that plugs in to CB or other radio would be the way to go now for mobile operation.

I got a €4.50 electret mic stalk for PC and will do a little box with maybe ability to connect it via changeover switch to several radio sets.

Bluetooth would be nice, but I can't find a Bluetooth "host" with audio i/o to connect a bluetooth headset to radio. Using the Laptop (I added bluetooth on it to use Mobile headset on Skype) is possible and it could do anti-noise and filtering DSP too, but a bit of an overkill!

CB19Kevo

anyone know if the danita 40ch.cb's are any good.bought one while back as a spare nd wit so many wanting cb's at the moment,its not working for people who want to borrow it,only picking up stuff on fm,as apposed to my midland which is going perfect.

PauloMN

CB19Kevo wrote:

anyone know if the danita 40ch.cb's are any good.bought one while back as a spare nd wit so many wanting cb's at the moment,its not working for people who want to borrow it,only picking up stuff on fm,as apposed to my midland which is going perfect.

Not being funny here, but if it only picks up FM stuff, maybe it's an FM only set and all your others are AM? Did you get a manual with it?

CB19Kevo

nope its am/fm.
neways doesent matter that much once my cb is workin fine.
tanx

hawker27

used to have a set up about 10 years ago,had a president radio 240 channels am/usb/lsb,bv-135 linear pushing 200 watts on am/400 watts on ssb,all worked through a silver rod 21ft antenna.

anyone know if theres much going on on am/usb/lsb these days? i,m in kilkenny but its been 10 years since i was last on air,love to hear from anyone that has a current set up and whats the activity like these days?

is there many working hf radios on the unlicensed bands?.

The Muppet

Convoy got me started in 1978 with a president andrew J and mag mount purchased from a radio shop in malahide . Had numerous number of rigs and antenna over the years ending up with a Cobra 2000 wit all the modidfications and a Moonraker 4,( until it got windy ). I still have qsl cards from all over the world. Does anyone remember the CB rally to clonmacnoise?

Great Fun, oh I met my other half through CB as well.

telecinesk

PauloMn, 1 word >"Emmett"... lol I wonder if he took my advice about the wire dipole?

yeah guilty your honour. cobra148,nato2000 and a ehm thermionic amplifier of the bedroom warming variety. oops.. Still in attic and all functional since last outing in 1989... CH22 eh yes, that too. Antennas, hurricane charlie killed my hembro 1/2 wave, joke is 18 yrs later the stub is still on the antenna pole back there.

Now were more retro, yaesu ft7 in beautiful nick and a different set of bands.
Same old fun tho, old friends etc However now Im the DX due to my location being 1700km from the former front door.

Theres my cb rigs on youtube Paul, mail me for link, circa 1987 video. and on 22 also ..

OKenora

Late 70's to early 80's from memory for me. must have been posh cos my first rig was a President AR7 with a homemade whip on a groundplane in the loft which was quickly replaced with a President Mckinley (some switches not doing what the should have, wink wink) and a big h beam on a pole in the back garden. Had near every make of CB over the years, but now i have gone all respectable and have the ham licence.

billy the squid

must have been about 15 or so years ago had a second hand ham international jumbo, hooked up to a 5/8 wave antenna.

It had been modified to take in frequencies not normally taken up by it, ranging from about 26000 to 29000.

When the rest of the country's home bases were using channel 11 we in Limerick tended to do things differently and everyone was on channel 19.

you would hear the truckers say "**** it I'll talk to you when I get past limerick. because 19 everywhere else was for trucks.

CB ended quite suddenly down here, think they all fell out with one another or something and you never hear anything on CB down here now.

watty

Some CB still in Limerick. Not a lot. Perhaps Mobile Phones, Internet, Skype and PMR446s has taken the shine off it?

Churches mostly

telecinesk

Just a comment re churches. The irony is I use God as my dx beacon. Its somewhat amusing to hear some Dublin churches inc my ex local one drifting in here as Skip..

thread meanders off topic...

darkmaster2

I started in `95 after being an "SWL" for years. Istarted with a 40Ch president jimmy and went through loadsa rigs over the years. I got really into the DX side of things and confirmed something like 70 countries by QSL.

I actually ordered a wilson5000 antenna for the car last week. Should be interesting to see what the dx and local scenes are like these days.
I have an emperor shogun for the car and and kenwood ts140 sitting here at home antennaless

When I get the new antenna I`m gonna give a few trips up to the old mountains for the craic. Should be interesting

This is one of my fave QSLs, I called out on the 19 AM and got talking to a guy in serbia.

barrett1965

I was on CB in the eighties.

Breaker 11 for a copy.