CB Radio

gbee · 08-07-2010 10:47am

deckie27 wrote: »

Lads I was thinking of getting a CB for my campervan to talk with others while driving in convoy What and where would you recommend? on a low budget Thanks

http://www.moonraker.eu/CB-Radio/CB-Transceivers/Moonraker-CB-Transceivers/MOONRAKER-MINOR-PLUS-80-CHANNEL-CB-RADIO

Plus the antenna, about another 20UK ~ Maplin sometimes have bargain units ~ but watch their prices like a hawk, you can be charged double or more.

You should find working CBs kits for €80 ~ to chat in convoy you all need to be on the same frequency/modulation ~ and this may not be the same channel number between the various models.

You only want a simple basic set to talk to another similar set. UK CBs have different frequency allocations as does the EU and Ireland. Modern CBs can be switched to different bands and are more orientated towards the DX community, but they are more expensive and not found in the bargain bin, normally.

Second hand and on adverts.ie there are good units from time to time at fair prices. :cool:

Felim_Doyle · 15-10-2010 12:10pm

Are there any more threads on the boards discussing Amateur Radio, Citizens Band (CB), PMR446 etc.?

Félim M3HIM
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK
Sandymount, Dublin 4, Ireland

deadman walking · 30-10-2010 4:29pm

breaker 19,breaker 19,this here is scooby doo lol jees this brings back memories:D will be putting a starlet on the road soon and i was wondering what is a good rig to get for down around waterford? i want something that can get the trucker channel as well as having good range for across the country.cheap option and money no object option please:D

maxextz · 19-11-2010 11:37pm

post your call signs and years people maybe we've talked before.

mine was dirty harry dublin in the 80s.

Felim_Doyle · 20-11-2010 5:17pm

I was known as the Space Shuttle in the late seventies and early eighties. I used a variety of kit in the few years I was active, partly because I repaired and modified equipment for others and got to play with their gear for a few days but I also had loaners from a dealer I knew for a while.

It all started with a President Veep (the American term for a Vice President - VP) 40 channel AM only rig. It was the VP because it was President's smallest and most basic model of the time although later versions of it added FM and a local/DX button as I recall (or was it a display bright/dim button). My aunt who lived and worked in Florida brought it home as a present. I had been interested in radio and electronics before that but having a proper transceiver of my own really go me enthusiastic about it. My aunt had also previously supplied me with pictures and posters of the Space Shuttle and its SRBs being tested, so that's where I got the handle from.

My best rig was a President Adams which had AM, USB and LSB and which I modified to operate outside the standard CB range of frequencies and power. I even used it on the 10m Amateur band using a valid club call sign. I also had a Radio Shack unit (I forget the exact make/model) which was based on the same Uniden board and chip set as the President Adams and so was effectively the same radio but just not as nice looking.

Félim M3HIM
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK
Sandymount, Dublin 4, Ireland

maxextz · 20-11-2010 8:43pm

ahh the president veep;) this was the first cb i had seen and had to get one.
i also had the president adams but it was a bit deaf:(,my favorite was the cobra148gtl dx mk1 a great radio and i modded it myself which was real easy with that model.the mb8719 pll chip;).
then ended up with the yeasu ft101zd.

Felim_Doyle · 22-11-2010 11:35am

Ah, yours has the AM/FM button. I don't even remember mine having ANL but I'm pretty sure that it did have two buttons. I hope that it is still in my parents' attic and that my brother has not been too flaithiúlach with my old kit. He has loaned some to people in the past, never to be seen again.

A great starter rig and got me to Norway on my first attempt at using it, with a wire dipole strung across some gorse bushes in the Dublin mountains and powered from the car. My brother and I were being super cautious to begin with and we didn't want to operate from home or be seen with an aerial on his car in case the authorities confiscated the equipment. However, once bitten by the bug we threw caution to the wind and ended up with an Avanti Astro Plane antenna on my parents' house. Hardly the most discreet way to go about illegal activities.

Avanti AV-101 Astro-plane

maxextz · 22-11-2010 2:51pm

unfortunately the pics are not mine but i never noticed the veep i have posted has fm on

,mine was the same as yours.

ahh the dublin mountains i remember them well the things we used to do to gain higher ground.:D

i was on from about 78 to 89 then when the skip dropped out i lost interest but for the time it was great craic.although today i think there is no need for cb as communication is just so easy.

Felim_Doyle · 23-11-2010 9:56am

Yeah, these aren't my photos. either, just links to pics. on other web pages.

Well Solar cycle 24 is on the way up since 2008 with an expected peak in mid 2013 so things should start to get interesting from hear on for a few years.

Dust off that old kit and get those antennas up!

Mike 1972 · 23-11-2010 11:01am

Went to college in Limerick in the early 1990's didnt have two pennies to rub together so couldnt afford a rig

(plus I was more interested in pirate radio at the time) but I had one of those cheap "multiband" radios (paupers scanner) which could pick up all manner of wierd and wonderful things.

CB was huge in Limerick at the time. Many breakers used insane amounts of power (400 watts not uncommon -when 4 watts was the legal limit* :eek: ) mostly on AM (with the occasional SSB or FM transmission) out of band frequencies were used quite a lot.

Used to be quite a lot of messing which was usually annoying but could sometimes be entertaining. It was quite common for a couple of breakers to exchange insults which gradually escalated into threats of armed violence (and dark hints of underworld connections) and arranging to meet up in some of the less salubrious parts of the city in order to "settle" whatever (by that stage almost forgotten) dispute sparked the whole thing off in the first place. One time I mentioned this to someone in the know along with the handles of the two main culprits and was told "those two lads are the best of friends but come out with some awful $hyt€ when theyve drink in them"

A few years later I was passing through the city and checked out the CB band only to find it completely dead

* Probably a moot point since nobody bothered with licences

skodacbradio wrote: »

why is channel 4 (truckers channel) scrambled here in waterford and is there a way of unscrambling it. 10-4

Single Sideband ?

Felim_Doyle · 23-11-2010 11:55am

Felim_Doyle wrote: »

My best rig was a President Adams which had AM, USB and LSB ... I also had a Radio Shack unit (I forget the exact make/model) which was based on the same Uniden board and chip set as the President Adams and so was effectively the same radio but just not as nice looking.

A little research on the web seems to suggest that the Radio Shack rig I mentioned was most probably a Realistic TRC-449.

Is anyone still running one of those?

Was there a modification or later revision of the board which enabled FM on this and the Adams?

Félim M3HIM
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK
Sandymount, Dublin 4, Ireland

Mike 1972 · 23-11-2010 7:24pm

Another feature of CB radio is/was "skip" (or Sporadic E propagation for the more technically knowledgeable) every so often athmospheric conditions would cause the band to be filled with wall to wall signals from countries hundreds/thousands of miles away (Italy was a particularly common one)

Skip was more common in Summer/daytime and followed the 11 year sunspot cycle. CBers had a love/hate relationship with the phenomenon. Some welcomed the opportunity to make contact with fellow breakers in exotic locations. Others complained it blotted out all the channels with incomprehensible gibberish making local contacts practically impossible.

On one occasion (c 1986) the minister for communications was asked in the Dail how many people in Ireland had bothered to take out "personal radio" licences.

Dáil Éireann - Volume 365 - 09 April, 1986

Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - CB Licences.

6. Mr. Reynolds asked the Minister for Communications the number of CB licences which he has issued; and if he has any proposals to change regulations for the issue of such licences.

Mr. J. Mitchell: There are 11 current personal radio or CB licences. I have no proposals to change the existing statutory regulations which I regard as satisfactory.

Mr. Leyden: Did the Minister say 11?

Mr. J. Mitchell: Yes.

Mr. Leyden: The question from Deputy Reynolds is about the number of CB licences issued throughout the country.

[351] Mr. J. Mitchell: The answer is 11. It is surprisingly low.

Perhaps one of the reasons it was so low was that nobody had a clue where/how to apply for one.

maxextz · 23-11-2010 10:31pm

Felim_Doyle wrote: »

A little research on the web seems to suggest that the Radio Shack rig I mentioned was most probably a Realistic TRC-449.

Is anyone still running one of those?

Was there a modification or later revision of the board which enabled FM on this and the Adams?

Félim M3HIM
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK
Sandymount, Dublin 4, Ireland

i think i remember seeing an adams with a silver sticker over one of the scan buttons might have been fm.

maxextz · 24-01-2012 12:04am

is cb radio completely dead now?

delma_s · 25-01-2012 9:55am

maxextz wrote: »

is cb radio completely dead now?

not really, talking between friends

I am looking to borrow SWR meter to calibrate my aerial , somewhere in co. cork, or dundalk area, anyone has it ?

endplate · 29-01-2012 12:14am

I still have my old system a cobra 140 gtl. Same as mentioned earlier. I used the ham international power supply only a few days ago to run a car air pump to reinflate the bladder in my water pressure pump:D. Sadly my mag mount antenna is water damaged (rusted) and doesn't work now. My handle back in the early nineties was red five.

delma_s · 29-01-2012 11:47pm

delma_s wrote: »

not really, talking between friends

I am looking to borrow SWR meter to calibrate my aerial , somewhere in co. cork, or dundalk area, anyone has it ?

P.S bougth it from maplin for 30eur :rolleyes:

SeamusG97 · 10-04-2012 1:23am

Anyone remember The Chopper from near Macroom early 1980s? As a Ham radio person he was the main man. I think he took a dim view of messers (like me and many CB users at the time) but he was a great man for a chat and I think everybody respected him for what he valued. I suspect that now he is on twitter and not worrying about the atmospheric conditions that may or may not allow a conversation with Italy. Given that thirty years later communication is free and we can text/tweet/email/post on facebook or do anything via the internet Is CB dead?

deegs2 · 08-03-2013 8:39pm

I just dug out my old CB radio and installed it into my van...put it on ch 12..breaker breaker anyone out there? NO ANSWER..so I tried ch 19..breaker breaker anyone out there? s.h.i.t.e......anyone in the south east have a CB let me know and we can try communicate sometime..

Magnum · 08-03-2013 8:58pm

deegs2 wrote: »

I just dug out my old CB radio and installed it into my van...put it on ch 12..breaker breaker anyone out there? NO ANSWER..so I tried ch 19..breaker breaker anyone out there? s.h.i.t.e......anyone in the south east have a CB let me know and we can try communicate sometime..

There are definately a few radios around but most use sidebands 27.555 usb,
I've not heard anyone on 19 in years...

deegs2 · 09-03-2013 12:15pm

Magnum wrote: »

There are definately a few radios around but most use sidebands 27.555 usb,
I've not heard anyone on 19 in years...

19 years..nuts to that :eek:...we will have to get the movement started again

Magnum · 09-03-2013 12:27pm

deegs2 wrote: »

19 years..nuts to that :eek:...we will have to get the movement started again

What the comment should have said was I've not heard anyone on Ch19 in years....

deegs2 · 09-03-2013 12:35pm

Magnum wrote: »

What the comment should have said was I've not heard anyone on Ch19 in years....

yea I know what you ment..i was only jokeing about it..seriously tho...nuts to that..CH 19 was and is (I think) for truckers y/n ? and CH 12 was the calling channel ?

Magnum · 09-03-2013 1:25pm

deegs2 wrote: »

yea I know what you ment..i was only jokeing about it..seriously tho...nuts to that..CH 19 was and is (I think) for truckers y/n ? and CH 12 was the calling channel ?

Never knew if CH12 was the calling channel, when I just had the 40ch CB a few years ago we always used ch19, nowadays rigs have got a lot better with ssb and all that stuff.

I think the mobile phone has taken a lot away from the cb, any truckers that I've heard of late were using cb's that have sidebands which meant they were calling on 27,555 usb and moving to another freq to have the QSO....

deegs2 · 09-03-2013 1:33pm

I may as well disconnect my 40 Ch radio so and look out for a ssb instead ..Thanks

Magnum · 09-03-2013 1:39pm

deegs2 wrote: »

I may as well disconnect my 40 Ch radio so and look out for a ssb instead ..Thanks

No problem, glad to help, the skip is very good at the moment so you may even get some contacts outside of the country.

god's toy · 09-03-2013 2:22pm

deegs2 wrote: »

yea I know what you ment..i was only jokeing about it..seriously tho...nuts to that..CH 19 was and is (I think) for truckers y/n ? and CH 12 was the calling channel ?

Was always ch 11 the breakers channel from the 70's and 80's has it now changed?

deegs2 · 09-03-2013 2:40pm

god's toy wrote: »

Was always ch 11 the breakers channel from the 70's and 80's has it now changed?

CH 11 that was it

deegs2 · 09-03-2013 2:41pm

I used to have a "handic 50" with a 3/4" Ariel we used to blow the neighbors TV's when we transmitted back in the day

god's toy · 09-03-2013 2:49pm

deegs2 wrote: »

I used to have a "handic 50" with a 3/4" Ariel we used to blow the neighbors TV's when we transmitted back in the day

Wonder if that still the case today? TVI I mean, with everyone gone digital now would a CB radio that did wipe out a TV back then still do it now?

Maybe grounds for lashing up a antron 99 and finding out!

deegs2 · 09-03-2013 3:29pm

god's toy wrote: »

Wonder if that still the case today? TVI I mean, with everyone gone digital now would a CB radio that did wipe out a TV back then still do it now?

Maybe grounds for lashing up a antron 99 and finding out!

go for it:D

bassy · 09-03-2013 3:34pm

deegs2 wrote: »

I may as well disconnect my 40 Ch radio so and look out for a ssb instead ..Thanks

I'm selling a nice superstar360fm with am.fm.lsb.usb.cw.
go to hobby radio section there's a pic of it.

Dude111 · 14-03-2013 5:39am

I have one but my antenna (the whip) blew down in strong winds months ago! (i dont get out well presently)

deegs2 · 14-03-2013 9:42pm

can you attach a link to that?

bassy · 14-03-2013 10:10pm

deegs2 wrote: »

can you attach a link to that?

http://www.adverts.ie/2619185

wideangle · 20-03-2013 11:06pm

Hi
I got back into the hobby last summer.I am based in Cork City.

There is usually 3 of us on most night's on AM 19,from various part's of the city.I have a president Lincoln and a antron 99 home base antenna.

I listen to the usb dx station's when condition's allow but only ever made one contact so far to a guy in Romania.

A friend and I went up Corrin wood's summit last Friday afternoon with the radio's.
Here is the video:

The American talking was from Florida!!

73's

RayzorT3 · 26-03-2013 12:19am

Last summer while pulling into the local pub car park in the jeep I got talkin to an English lad in the costa del sol, clear as day and on a mobile set up with a 5 foot whip. Rarely driving round would you here any irish contacts, although lately I've noticed a lot of jeeps, vans and some cars with cb aerials knocking about.

deegs2 · 26-03-2013 12:06pm

are you talking about the original kind of CB radio ? like a 40 channel and using ch 11 as the calling channel ??? (not ssb)

dahamsta · 28-03-2013 3:10am

I was just about to install a CB in my car as I have a spare DIN slot, thought it would be quiet down my way (east Cork) but that I might pick up a few people tootling around while I was in Cork during the week. Is it really that quiet? There wasn't hundreds of us around back in the nineties, but there was more than three!

Killianfarrell · 13-06-2013 10:45pm

I have a cb but cant get any irish person on it and im in galway So any one evre on

wideangle · 14-06-2013 7:04pm

Have you tried ch 19 am,should be some trucker's on it from time to time.If you have it in your car try and get to car/truck show's usually people travel to show's with them in their cars/trucks.

wideangle · 14-06-2013 7:10pm

dahamsta wrote: »

I was just about to install a CB in my car as I have a spare DIN slot, thought it would be quiet down my way (east Cork) but that I might pick up a few people tootling around while I was in Cork during the week. Is it really that quiet? There wasn't hundreds of us around back in the nineties, but there was more than three!

It's a bit like the surfer's in Dublin,people drive around with surf boards on the roof of their car's,but there is rarely surf in Dublin.As with c.b. down here in Cork plenty of car's and van's driving around with c.b. antenna on their roof but no body on it.

I have a c.b. in the car now again 40 ch am/fm and only ever talked to the other friend I have on it.In the past month I have driven to Tynagh Co,Galway,Co,Waterford,and all around Co Cork,and not one local person answered my call out's.

visual · 29-06-2013 10:39pm

CB's where good in their day but that day is gone.

I was picking up a lot of people from Germany and some from England, guess the skip was good.
Never hear any one around Dublin on mine... well maybe the odd truck driver but its rare enough.

silverharp · 05-07-2013 1:57pm

the only thing I can remember, is "are you modulating?" not even sure what was meant by it

Fuzzy Clam · 07-07-2013 12:20am

silverharp wrote: »

the only thing I can remember, is "are you modulating?" not even sure what was meant by it

Modulation is the audio carried on the radio wave. i.e. FM (frequency modulation) or AM (amplitude modulation) or sideband modulation.
I suppose what it meant was "on you on air?"

Dan Jaman · 07-08-2016 11:45pm

Dragging this old thread up - again

There's quite a lot of relevant history in it, so worth a read.
Anyway, I was given an old (ancient) Sharp 40 channel AM-only set a few weeks ago. Of course, there's nothing doing on it, as I suspected, even though it's working fine.
However, keeping a scanner ear open on the 11m band for the past couple of weeks revealed some interesting skip conditions and for the past several days the SSB has been alive with hundreds of calls from all over Europe, especially in the morning and early afternoon. Nothing on AM though, but I didn't expect there would be.
No matter, I bought another old set - a HyGain V with a few bits and pieces and have assembled a homebrew 102" whip with radials in the attic space, so will have a go at getting out on this rig sometime soon.
12Watts of mighty power.... jeez, the Italians, Spanish and the Germans sound like they're running from their own local hydro-schemes. The same ones sound like that on the amateur bands, too. Funny that.

CB Radio

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