CB radio

mikeecho

About 15 yrs ago while as a spectator at the rally of the lakes, a lot of guys were using CB radios.

Is it a dead art ?

Come back, 10:4

80sDiesel

I have one in an old landcruiser that i use in the mountains in west waterford. The wife has one in the holiday house to beckon me home.

Edgarfrndly

I spent years on CB radio in the late 90's (both locally and internationally dxing on sidebands). It kinda started to die out as the internet became more popular.

Spook_ie

Believe it or not
https://www.maplin.ie/p/midland-78-plus-cb-transceiver-40-uk-channels-rs68y
https://www.maplin.ie/p/tti-tcb-560-multistandard-cb-radio-n81ce

a few in stock in Ireland before they close down

mikeecho

I was thinking of picking one up,
. They are fairly cheap. But didn't oboe if anyone still uses them.

Del2005

Are they not illegal to use while driving now?

Not 100% clear from the below Statute but I have a recollection that they banned hand held microphones around the same time they bought in the law on mobiles

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2006/act/23/section/3/enacted/en/html

god's toy

Like a lot of boards.ie users that are still kicking around, I was a huge radio user in the 70's, 80's and 90's but also like all the analogue things over those years it has gone digital and online now. I'd say at this stage more people in Ireland use apps like Zello than the actually have a radio in the car or home. (You can have those app on Andrion/IOs and Windows)

Still have one hooked up and fire it up from time to time but apart from a bit of skip now and then it's mostly dead.

You can get phones that even look like the handhelds we used back in the day, even have dedicated PTT (Push To Talk) buttons on the side just for Zello and other 'cb radio' apps use.

I have this one :

More info here::
https://megahertz.shop/hamradio/index.php/product/sure-f22-plus-3g-wifi-android-unlocked/

Ubbquittious

Not much happening on actual CB I think. More on 2m/70cm but you need a license for them. Theres a good network of repeaters for thosr bands too

Edgarfrndly

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Not much happening on actual CB I think. More on 2m/70cm but you need a license for them. Theres a good network of repeaters for thosr bands too

Yeah, I studied for the B license back in the day but never got around to doing the exam.

mikeecho

I'll give the whole thing a miss.

There's other things I could be experimenting with.

CiniO

In Poland still very popular, but slowly dying.
It was always popular with truck drivers (nearly every single one had it), and then from around 2003-2005 suddenly plenty of car drivers got CBs as well, so they could share info about traffic, checkpoints, speed traps, or just a chat or asking for directions.
It was literaly millions of drivers having them, with one in every few car with a big antenna on the roof. I also used it a lot then.

Now I think it's dying, mostly due to mobile apps which are used for the same purpose (traffic info, checkpoints info, speed traps info).

Cee-Jay-Cee

I had a President McKinley 240 channel CB waaay back in the early 80’s with a half wave dipole antenna mounted on the garage roof.

There were hundreds of people using it back then. I’d spend hours at night talking to people all over the place. Range was impressive and I could get people 100 miles away and when the ‘skip’ was good you could pick US users but couldn’t speak with them as they were using much powerful amplified sets.

When I got my first car in the late 80’s I fitted a Sharp 40 channel AM and the obligatory DV27 antenna on the roof.

My dad also had a ham radio and had a Yaesu Homebase and a huge 40ft pylon with antenna on top. He would regularly talk with people all over the world. It was very popular back then but I’d imagine it has died a death with the introduction of the internet/skype etc. It was regulated and AFAICR you had to sit an exam of some sort to get your licence which you then had to renew every so often.

Ubbquittious

Edgarfrndly wrote: »

Yeah, I studied for the B license back in the day but never got around to doing the exam.

I have the license but I never used it. Never found the cash to invest in a good rig and I was never quite sure what to buy with all the digital modes coming out now and becoming popular.

god's toy

Yep digital killed the analogue for sure but I'm still an avid shortwave radio Fan.

Anyone hear of HamSphere.com? (Ok admittedly kind of pointless) it's essentially voice over IP but using radio like conditions on your device of choice. So you would have skipp like conditions (in real time) and all the other stuff that would affect your 'instant' communications ... Think of a chat room with skip. Lol it's odd...

Ubbquittious

god's toy wrote: »

Yep digital killed the analogue for sure but I'm still an avid shortwave radio Fan.

Anyone hear of HamSphere.com? (Ok admittedly kind of pointless) it's essentially voice over IP but using radio like conditions on your device of choice. So you would have skipp like conditions (in real time) and all the other stuff that would affect your 'instant' communications ... Think of a chat room with skip. Lol it's odd...

Jees I'm surprised someone went through the bother of making something as fake as that.

Loads of the lower frequencies will end up going to waste as they don't have the capacity for pumping gigabits through them so they might as well be used for a bit of craic. There's something nice about being able to communicate without the help of telcos and megacorps to relay your signal

dieselbug

Ah the memories

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SERnoR0jAu4

Tropheus

I remember having one back in the early 80s. There were very popular back then. IIRC, they were technically illegal, but it wasn't enforced. Not sure about the legal status now, but they most likely are legal if Maplin are selling them.

9935452

Lads at contracting /silage still have them in tractors.
Handy to have them when there is no overtaking spots /long passages .

Tropheus wrote: »

I remember having one back in the early 80s. There were very popular back then. IIRC, they were technically illegal, but it wasn't enforced. Not sure about the legal status now, but they most likely are legal if Maplin are selling them.

I think the other poster means they would be illegal to use on whilst driving on the road as they are a handheld device

dieselbug

9935452 wrote: »

Lads at contracting /silage still have them in tractors.
Handy to have them when there is no overtaking spots /long passages .





I think the other poster means they would be illegal to use on whilst driving on the road as they are a handheld device

They were made legal on FM iifc because they were causing a lot of problems with interference on other systems.
Lads sitting in their cars outside mass on a Sunday morning chatting away and the broadcast coming through loud and clear on the pa inside the church:) and many other examples like this.

SpitfireIV

Jaysus, CB's eh. The parents got me one for Christmas in '97 totally by surprise, loved it!! A CB Master 400....as basic as they got really, but still had a decent reach. Had it set up at home but it was interfering with the neighbours TV so set it up in the auld fellas car (Fiat UNO ) complete with big aerial on the roof and all! I had a clever idea one time of mounting it in the car with a bracket which involved me stupidy putting a screw through the PC board.....that was the end of the CB Had some good chats on it though...

Edgarfrndly

SpitfireIV wrote: »

Jaysus, CB's eh. The parents got me one for Christmas in '97 totally by surprise, loved it!! A CB Master 400....as basic as they got really, but still had a decent reach. Had it set up at home but it was interfering with the neighbours TV so set it up in the auld fellas car (Fiat UNO ) complete with big aerial on the roof and all! I had a clever idea one time of mounting it in the car with a bracket which involved me stupidy putting a screw through the PC board.....that was the end of the CB Had some good chats on it though...

I remember keying up on 27mhz with my burner and cutting out the kid's RC cars. (Their controllers operated on the same frequency) Good times.

Malmsteen

Was very active on Cb in the early eighties when it was massively popular, had all the lingo off and even Dx'd a few countries abroad in the summer months. Planning buying a rig and was just wondering do people still use the 10 codes and the old Cb lingo or is it just open Mic?

god's toy

Malmsteen wrote: »

Was very active on Cb in the early eighties when it was massively popular, had all the lingo off and even Dx'd a few countries abroad in the summer months. Planning buying a rig and was just wondering do people still use the 10 codes and the old Cb lingo or is it just open Mic?

Mostly open mic now from what I hear.

If your into DX'ing, We had some amazing skip the last few days on 11m. UK were booming in also.

GM228

Del2005 wrote: »

Are they not illegal to use while driving now?

Not 100% clear from the below Statute but I have a recollection that they banned hand held microphones around the same time they bought in the law on mobiles

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2006/act/23/section/3/enacted/en/html

No, not illegal.

The law is in relation to holding a "mobile phone".

“ mobile phone ” means a portable communication device, other than a two-way radio...

Wishbone Ash

dieselbug wrote: »

They were made legal on FM iifc because they were causing a lot of problems with interference on other systems.
Lads sitting in their cars outside mass on a Sunday morning chatting away and the broadcast coming through loud and clear on the pa inside the church:) and many other examples like this.

Was it not the other way around - you couldn't use channel 19 anywhere near a church on a Sunday morning as services were being broadcast on that frequency. That's how I remember it anyway.