CB dead or alive

Go onto ebay.ie and search EU.

I hear skip on 27.375 which is channel 37 on LSB he heard me straight away, not sure if Polish ? anyway limited English couldn't make out what he was saying because his audio was not very clear with echo maybe with headphones it would be better in fact headphones is always best.

27.555 strong signal Barcelona calling Central/ South America.

Would be cool to hear North America.

Yes, you'll need to buy a power supply.

Haven't got PW in a while.

Right now I'm running the FT-891 off a 8.4 AH Zippy LiFeP04 battery, lithium, I had an RC charger lying around so decided why not get a battery for the radio, tiny and light and can run the radio for several hrs with some TX at 100w and listening.

I also have a 12v 45ah Lead Acid for when I went portable before I got the LiFeP04 pack. This is very convenient when the power goes, can run the radio at 100 watts for many hrs. 12V lead acid need to be kept charged fully unlike Lithium which likes to be at around 30-50% charge when not in use, which applied to power tools, lawnmowers stored for the winter.

I do like Lead Acid a lot because it's cheap and provides plenty of power and you can charge easy with a solar panel but unlike LiFeP04 doesn't like to be run down to low charge and has way less cycle life. In reality you'd want to be using only 50% charge of a lead acid battery but still 20 off Ah of battery can keep a radio going for a long time and when needed use the 40 Ah and/or use a solar panel but you need a very clean inverter.

Yes, the original has 21 watts then the Lincoln II and II+ have around 30-35 watts and do all the CB freq. Nice radios and do the full CB band. + they do 12m which will be handy when you get the license.

Another great radio is the yaesu FT-450 D, a very under rated radio in my opinion, and I love the way all the buttons light up at night but you'd need one open for 11m. It would be a good radio when you get the license, forget the Icom IC-7300, I had it and it is a very noisy radio with very harsh audio. I hated it.

Just talking to Tom in Bunclody, he said he was running a Superstar 9000 at around 25 watts and Antron 99 Antenna, he said I was quite strong but he was very weak with me.

on 27.555

Was back on 555, I was talking to a chap in Wexford and he said FM can work better when conditions aren't the best, might be worth a try but I think getting some lads off SSB might be a challenge lol.

555 seems to be the place lots of People hang out, they listen but don't call and then say it's quiet 😀

I have ordered the Albrecht AE-2990 AFS which might arrive by Friday, beauty about this is that it has SSB and 10m.

I love making distant contacts on minimal setups.

Bassy and I will be on 27.035 which is CH7 on a normal 40 CH CB if anyone would like to join in you're more than welcome.

We'll be on FM as I have tested now with bassy and a lad last night in Wexford, vastly superior sound quality over SSB however if someone is struggling to make it we can switch to USB as SSB tends to get out better. But I have been quite impressed with FM.

It will be after 10.30 before bassy can join but if anyone wants to go on earlier let me know.

I am very impressed having such quality local QSO vs crowded 80m band with lots of static and QRM.

Can't believe there are not a lot more on CB and FM.

Wile I do enjoy 80m rag chewing sometimes it can be a bit hectic and next you know you're in a QSO with 10+ others.

This is a nice looking radio I have to say! Lots of buttons and switches I wish ham gear looked like this today, I'd gladly trade the waterfall for radios like this!

Check out his channel, got some great DX with old radios and low power.

Yeah, if they made a HF radio like that I'd buy it tomorrow.

Screens are fine and all that if you have a radio like the FTdx-101 where the radio is large enough to have a screen and buttons, my dream radio, but when you have say a smaller radio like the FTdx-10 ergonomics suffer due to having nowhere to put buttons and knobs and then needing menus, same with the 7300, I'd gladly have a radio like that above that worked on HF with good performance, don't get me wrong, the FTdx-10 is an amazing radio but Yaesu and Icom seem to think endless menus are the way to go, I think they fear if a radio doesn't have a screen and waterfall then no one will want it.

The 450D is another radio that was both nice looking and had good ergonomics and I just bought a 2nd hand one and will hopefully have it by the weekend. I love the way it lights up the buttons.

Why can't they make a radio like above with a monitor out for those that care more about looking at the screen and flicking through menus than talking ?

I'm selling my FT-891 because I want a radio that caters more towards base use. It's widebanded too, 500 Euros. I think the 450D will meet my needs perfectly.

I love using the old FT-77, nice simple basic and easy to use, no bells and whistles, too little bells and whistles maybe but I like using it.

Yeah the radio manufacturers don't get it though, I mean, menus have their place for rarely used functions like Mic EQ etc but stuff like bands and mode should have dedicated buttons like the new FTDX-101, this is the way the FTDX-10 should be laid out, if they had just used a very small screen for frequency and s meter and simply use the monitor out for people who want the screen because ergonomics suffer the more screen and the less buttons you have.

One reason I'm sell the 891 for the 450D. For portable ops the 891 is fine but using it as much as I do it can be a chore.

The Kenwood TS-590 SG is another example of a great to use radio and they do it what I consider properly, have IF out to connect a proper SDR for those who want that and screen but the radio is perfectly usable and great to use without it because it has everything you need on the front panel and menu for those settings you only need to set once.

11m pretty active now, Hearing South America.

I got the FT-450 2nd hand today, in absolute mint condition. Very nice radio shame it's no longer in production, love the way it lights up.

Going to sell the FT-891 as I don't work much portable these days since I don't work shift any more don't have the days off as I used to.

The 450D is nicer to use as it has more buttons but Yaesu really need to make a radio like it for those who want a cheaper radio that's still a good performer.

I have her on the Imax 2000 at the minute and plan to swap it from the shack/Imax 2000 to the sitting room on the Chameleon MPAS 2.0. I have an old Yaesu FT-77 that I would love to mod for 11m, it's a lovely radio to use, I love that style of radio.

Anyway, see the 450D below, the camera of course wants to make everything brighter than it is, it looks a lot better in the flesh in a darker room.

What's the craic lads ? gone quiet here.

Anyone active on 11m lately ? haven't been on it in a while myself.