CB radio killed by Albert Reynolds in the 70's

Sh1tbag OToole

Hi

Just seen this article on the journal and was wondering does anyone here know how much truth there is to it, were there any laws passed back then to ban CB and was the reason really to stop people having the freedom?

http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/irish-history-you-werent-taught-at-school-1735174-Oct2014/

watty

The only private Radio transmission EVER legal till CB was made Licence Free & Legal was The Experimenter Licence. (Now renamed Amateur Licence). CB would never have been legal outside USA anywhere in Europe till it was specifically legalised in various countries. Thus Albert Reynolds did not really ban CB. It was already illegal.

This is the same reason that so called "pirate" Radio in UK was on Ships, as until they changed the law to extend territorial waters.

From the eighteenth century until the mid twentieth century, the territorial waters of the British Empire, the United States, France and many other nations were three nautical miles (5.6 km) wide. Originally, this was the length of a cannon shot, hence the portion of an ocean that a sovereign state could defend from shore.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_radio
This article is misleading. The UK didn't like R.Luxembourg and R. Normandie, (1930s) but they were perfectly legal and never Pirate Stations. After WWII R.Luxemburg restarted. These were simply commercial Radio stations that ran English programs at night and accepted UK advertisements. A BBC presenter was sacked in 1930s for being on Luxembourg.

In the Late 1960s the Uk (and Dutch) unilaterally extended the territorial waters from point of Broadcasting (the 12 mile and 200 mile economic zones came very many years later). Around the time of start of R1 they made it illegal to buy adverts/air time on a Pirate station. Luxembourg wasn't affected as it wasn't a Pirate station.

Caroline http://www.modestoradiomuseum.org/radio%20caroline.html
Mostly accurate. I recorded one of the close downs (the first maybe) of Caroline in the Irish Sea, probably on a Grundig Cub portable in 1967 (A Christmas present from the Grandparents, I think I got it in 1966, or possibly 1965. I only discovered recently that it had to have been second hand)


CB was causing increasing interference to VHF TV and Cable TV. It had always been illegal anyway, so they made more of an effort to clamp down on it.

Problem was importers and companies too, selling badly filtered power amplifiers and poor quality CBs. This is STILL a huge problem, today with illegal CB power amps, Illegal USA SRD gear (interfering with Mobile Phones and DECT), FRS (like PMR446, but frequencies are wrong). Illegal video links.

USA and other countries use different bands.
Equipment may be fake approval or poorly made.

If so called "White Space" is legalised it will be a disaster for TV broadcast. But Comreg and Ofcom WANT to kill TV broadcast!

Now while you decide what to read next, here on the Light Program we will play "A Walk in the Black Forest".
Then you can listen to "Letter From America" on the Home Service.

dxhound2005

CB had it's day, just like many other fashions come and go. I never heard the argument made before that it was popular due to the scarcity of phones at the time. I remember every Sunday night listening to a local net where everyone called in to the controller with their location and details of their equipment. It used to get dozens of stations from a wide area. All lost in the mists of time now, you won't find anything about it on Google. There is nothing to stop the same happening again, but it never will. Breakers having a bit too much body lotion before filling up with motion lotion and finishing up in the body shop is thankfully less of a feature of modern times as well. (Drunk CB drivers having accidents and finishing up in hospital).

There are still some people trying to revive offshore radio. But that will never happen either.

jmcc

Sh1tbag OToole wrote: »

Hi

Just seen this article on the journal and was wondering does anyone here know how much truth there is to it, were there any laws passed back then to ban CB and was the reason really to stop people having the freedom?

Absolute rubbish of a claim. The legislation had no effect and, from what I remember, the specification was a bit screwed up and there weren't any FF approved CBs on sale. Don't think that anyone at the time took a bit of notice. Legislation didn't kill CB radio, a combination of boredom and the skip fading due to the sunspot cycle did it. The same ebb and flow cycle can be seen with many social media sites (Myspace, Bebo etc.)

Regards...jmcc

martinedwards

In the north, Legislation DID kill CB

Once it was legalised it just wasn't any fun anymore!

before legailisation there was very little swearing, very little music being played, hardly any jamming.

we were a band of brothers on the wrong side of the law using radios that cost a months wages, and if you were a pain to other users, the Govt agency got a phone call and your rig could get confisgatede.

once legalised, loads of kids were bought rigs by their mums and it all went bad very quickly.

Main reason I did my ham test.

GekkePrutser

I did CB in Holland where it was perfectly legal (though only 40 channels on 4W FM). It still is today though the activity is dead like it is here.

I think it also declined because of the rise of the internet and computer communications. When the cheap baycom modems became available, a few people (including myself) started with CB Packet Radio that soon led to a big uptake from the voice users. Everyone eventually got tired of the slow speeds and turned to the landline BBSes which could be accessed with much faster modems. Most of the enthusiasts left the bands and the 'idiots' remained, ruining the experience for everyone else.

I miss it though, coming home at night and tuning into my home channel #7 to hear lively conversations of what was going on around town. Or having antenna problems and people spontaneously calling to the house to offer help... It was great. Eventually I did have enough of the poor range and I got my license, the CB was already declining then so that was the end of it for me.

watty

But when was it legalised in Netherlands? It wasn't always legal.

The original CB was AM only (originally legal) USA only). FM was much later, perhaps 25 years later, and Europe.

1945 or 1948 USA: Expensive UHF CB, two specs.
1958 USA: Cheaper AM 27MHz CB (many home base would have been valve/ tube), probably early vehicle sets hybrid. Only 23 Channels. 40 Channels was later 1977.

It was illegal in most other countries till late 1970s / early 1980s and often the specification was incompatible with USA CBs (Usually FM rather than AM and different channels), which continued in most cases to be illegal. SSB was only legal very much more recently. In most countries using a directional or beam aerial or a repeater or data modes is still illegal on "CB". The UK legalised a CB system in 1981, incompatible with USA models. In contrast most of the rest of Europe legalised CB on USA channels, but often FM, or AM, FM and SSB. The Old 1981 UK channels now are approximately Community Radio band in Ireland. Some countries legalised 80 rather than just the USA 40 channels.

Italy has perhaps poorest enforcement of CB laws, thus most illegal CB power amps are Italian made.

I don't know when USA legalised CB.
For local Mobile use the FM mode is best. For DX the SSB mode is best (fiddly to tune). AM is rather pointless as the power inherently is about 1/4 of FM or peak SSB.

I think as "collector" items I have UK, USA and European type CBs. The UK FM 4W Harvard Handhelds (four!) have massive telescopic whips and take a huge number of rechargeable AA or one less Alkaline and a dummy cell. Much more range than PMR446. I think only legal for UK now. They can be modified to 10m Amateur use for FM 10m Repeater or direct.

GekkePrutser

watty wrote: »

But when was it legalised in Netherlands? It wasn't always legal.

The original CB was AM only (originally legal) USA only). FM was much later, perhaps 25 years later, and Europe.

Yes I'm not sure, when I started with CB it was the late 80's (I was still in school then) and it was already legal. There used to be a 'license' (which was free of any exam requirement, it just had to be paid for) but when I started that was already abolished. SSB and AM were illegal, only 4W FM with 40 channels with unmodified equipment. Though practically speaking many people were operating outside those boundaries and only those actually causing interference would get caught. It was a real starting ground for amateurs, most of my friends started the same way.

My radio was an old, heavily modified 22-channel one (changed to 80+ channels) but I never got in trouble with it as I only used the official 40 ones. I just couldn't afford a 40-channel one

Antenna

I actually did a brief monitor of activity on the regular AM CB channels yesterday afternoon around 5PM - plenty of eastern U.S. voices coming through due to skip . No doubt the ones easily audible using equipment with a lot more power than 4 watts

watty wrote: »

I don't know when USA legalised CB.

according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_band_radio#Origins ., 27MHz CB was introduced in the USA in 1958 using spectrum mostly taken from amateur radio, initially it was 23 channels, expanded up to 40 channels in 1977.

BTW Watty I'm very surprised you have not been active in threads (such as below) about RTE's planned closure of their only remaining LW/MW transmission (252kHz LW), I thought you would have had a lot to say about it :

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057295463

watty

I have a lot to say,

But it's pointless, RTE management have proven they do not listen, they care nothing for PSB mandate or consumer, they like BBC are enamoured with Twitter, DAB, Web streaming etc.

DAB and Celebrity Presenters are a waste of money. The MW should never have been scrapped.

It was inevitable that when Digital Radio Mondail failed to take off they would kill LW as they did MW as a cost saving.

Internet WILL NEVER be a substitute for Broadcast.
DAB is a failure, UK needs x6 as many TX sites as low power fill in to equal UK VHF coverage.

FM doesn't give full coverage.

AM is complementary to FM for National Talk stations and disasters. There is no place for ANY kind of Digital Radio Broadcast, not just DAB is the problem. It's not the same as TV. Digital Radio of any kind can't replace FM. AM is needed for National coverage of key stations and allows foreign listeners at night (Day time in Wales, N.I. Cornwall and Devon).

We should have continued and upgraded the test SW in 1948.

But TOTALLY pointless to engage with the morons running DCNER, Comreg and RTE.

Dude111

Sh1tbag OToole wrote:

Just seen this article on the journal and was wondering does anyone here know how much truth there is to it, were there any laws passed back then to ban CB and was the reason really to stop people having the freedom?

I thought the movie CONVOY had a big impact on CB..

CB is a good thing..... its analogue

watty

The film is one of the few as result of hit Music (Yellow submarine comes to mind ...)