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Possum_lodge
Junior Member
Username: Possum_lodge
Post Number: 32
Registered: 5-2014
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2014 - 10:52 pm: | 
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I was at a yard sale the other weekend and saw a old CB radio sitting on a table. Asked the owner what he wanted for it and he said make me an offer.
I looked in my pocket and fished out $.69
SOLD!
I brought it home, hooked it up to a power supply and a antenna and it was receiving fine.
When I tried to transmit, the capacitors were no good and it died.
If nothing else, I at least got a microphone for $.69!
The down side is that there is no mounting bracket and it does not do single side band.
If it did, I would just change it to 10 meters and use it in the phone portion of the band...
Neat little radio, up and down buttons on both the face and the microphone and a digital display...
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Press_man
Advanced Member
Username: Press_man
Post Number: 774
Registered: 5-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, June 12, 2014 - 6:44 pm: |
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40 ch? Either way, worth the caps. Older radios can bring good cash if working properly. Make good converts for cw or SSB in 10m.
73 Pressman
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Possum_lodge
Junior Member
Username: Possum_lodge
Post Number: 33
Registered: 5-2014
| | Posted on Friday, June 13, 2014 - 8:34 am: |
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It would take more work than what it is worth to re engineer it to do SSB.
I moved away from CB about 1980 when the oldtimers either left or were driven out when the CB craze got too crazy.
I had never seen this model.
Most everything that I did was with a Knight Kit, Robyn, Regency Range Gain, Tram, Eico radios..
It was a lot different when everyone had a call sign and acted like ladies and gentlemen.
I was attracted to that kind of radio exposure, it was a lot more like amateur radio today, although a lot of it was actually better than amateur radio today - because everyone was afraid of the FCC and what might happen if they misbehaved. |
Press_man
Advanced Member
Username: Press_man
Post Number: 775
Registered: 5-2008
| | Posted on Monday, June 16, 2014 - 2:48 pm: |
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I've listened in on the low bands and some of it is worse than CB. In fact more Extras that I know are tightening the screws on some of the operators at 160-40m. The language that's being used is as bad and worse than CB. Now you have an idiot that can legally run loads of power and wipe the band out at will, so, here cometh uncle.
73 Pressman
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Possum_lodge
Junior Member
Username: Possum_lodge
Post Number: 35
Registered: 5-2014
| | Posted on Monday, June 16, 2014 - 8:05 pm: |
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Power has very little to do with range or performance.
The people that normally operates on 75 and 160 has normally been the problem due to the fact that most people do not have antenna's big enough or high enough to get on the top band.. Not to mention that the Technician Class people has no Privileges up there.
In the late 70's - early 80's, many people that were CB'rs migrated to Amateur Radio legally to find a quiet place to talk.
Many of the old timers refused to talk with those guys because they thought that they knew it all - so most of the people that would have been the Elmers for those guys coming along were lost.
The people with the General and Advanced class license were the ones that took over and they brought their CB ways with them, not that it didn't already exist before that.
Today, if you don't have 1000 - 1500 + watts, especially on AM, you might as well forget it trying to work the top band.
There is a lot more atmospheric noise to deal with and you aren't going to set the world on fire with 100 watts and or a G5RV antenna.
Swearing, not using their call signs, jamming official ARRL recognized nets, most of the •••• that goes on, is not normally associated with the new operators. It is very cliquish and unless you are in the buddy club, you probably won't make a lot of friends unless you are attracted to that type of behavior.
It's not against the rules to swear, the only thing that will get you in trouble is when you are mention human anatomy - sexual parts and sexual acts.
Much of this has to do with free speech and our constitution.. Because we do not broadcast to the general public, most morality rules do not apply to amateur radio. If a non ham takes it upon themselves to put up an antenna and buys themselves a receiver and then happens to hear something that they think should be inappropriate - then they can choose to shut their radios off and not listen. |
Dale
Senior Member
Username: Dale
Post Number: 2093
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, June 19, 2014 - 3:33 pm: |
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midland had some nice older radios. if ya can get
it fixed i would. considering ya only got .69 cents
into it now. midland had a ssb model i THINK was capable of above 40. i think the model was 77-285
had a detatchable face too
dale/a.k.a.hotrod
cef426
cvc#64
454 [dx numbers]
38lsb
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Press_man
Advanced Member
Username: Press_man
Post Number: 776
Registered: 5-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, June 19, 2014 - 6:58 pm: |
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Actually; the hobby is like buying shoes. A newbie SHOULD spend time monitoring the bands to see if he/she wants to invest in it. If the shoes have mess on them, then report it to sales, in this case FCC! One does not have to buy a Ham rig to listen in, SWs are still being sold.
Sexual acts? Indiana has a bunch of Alternate Life Stylers advertising and shaking the bushes like some kind of dating service on 2m. Morality rules "do" apply and if Hams don't Police themselves, and soon, then say goodbye to decent radio that even kids could have enjoyed.
I have over the years repaired rigs, put up towers and built antennas for some of these oh so wonderful Advanced and Extra class operators. There are so many of the upper crust that only got the ticket because they can learn by the saturation method and pass a test.
As far as Ham filling up with CBers, the first transmitting radio ever built was operated by a CITIZEN.
Yes; you are correct about power not being the all powerful Godhood. No height and no gain usually brings out the power mongers though and starts the wars when there's no band sharing due to omnis. At 60 ft and stacked home brew 10 element 2m beams and 5w I've had way more fun and enjoyment than others with 50w on a Diamond Omni.
73 Pressman
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Possum_lodge
Junior Member
Username: Possum_lodge
Post Number: 37
Registered: 5-2014
| | Posted on Friday, June 20, 2014 - 9:53 am: |
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Depending upon the length of the boom, the spacing between the elements, the size of the elements, the way you drive the driven element - Gamma Match etc, how you phase the two antenna's and how you space the two 10 element / 2 meter beam antenna's, you could get as much as 15 db of gain out of those antenna's. 11 db for the 1'st antenna and possibly another 2.85 db of gain for the second, minus 2 db of loss in the phasing lines.
Then again, unless you used LMR 400 or Belden 9913 - you could loose half of what you gained in the feed line at that frequency using 100+ feet of coax. ( 60' up the tower, 12' between the two antenna's and the combiner and another 40' into the shack )
So lets say 9 db of gain using a transmission loss calculator.
We start out with 5 watts, double it - 10 watts, double it again 20 watts, double it again 40 watts.
So essentially you are radiating about 40 watts from a 5 watt signal.
Then you have your height gain, depending upon your antenna's height above average terrain, if your house is at the top of a hill, you get more benefit than if it was at the bottom.
Even if the land was flat, the earth still curves 8 inches per a mile.
60' of height would equal about 12 db of gain compared to the same antenna 10' off the ground.
Without being able to see what is in the first and second Fresnel Zone there is no way to predict what a persons signal might do in that situation.
My own experience is between several vertical antenna's, a Diamond V2000 and several beam antenna's. Each antenna was installed at 30 + feet off the ground at a location that was almost at the top of a hill. The problem was that the hills around the house was higher than the hill the house sat on.
In this situation, the Diamond V2000 out talked a 4 element and a 6 element 2 Meter Beam antenna, or performed equally well and did not suffer from fading from not having the antenna pointed directly at the signal I was trying to receive or transmit to.
I would predict that the new Diamond repeater type dual band vertical antenna would smoke all of these other antenna's.. I think the ad said it was 24' long! The V2000 is only about 9' long!
If I increased the height of the mast on the tower from 30' to 40' - it would be like increasing the power almost 10 db.
60' would do very little for me on two meters, but might help some on 6 meters if the band was no open.
The reason is because I can already hit most of all of the 2 meter repeaters within a 48 mile radius.
The ones that I cannot hit, are due to the fact that they were built where the repeater owner owned the land, not because it was in a prime location. Or the tower was built by the county for county communications with no consideration for longer distances.
To the north, I have a mountainside that is 1800+ feet in elevation while I am only 1400+..
The disparity in height blocks most of the signals from the north.
I would have to put up 450' of tower, just to get over the mountain, and truthfully, there isn't a lot of intelligence on the 2 meters - especially to the north, so I wouldn't be gaining anything.
In my logbook, I have almost 40 contacts from last weekends VHF contest on 6 meters.
Having a 6 element beam on 6 meters would probably help my cause a lot more than on 2.
70 CM UHF is more line of sight, all of the hills around me blocks the UHF signals from more then 40 miles away and there are very few band openings that opens up the whole way to that frequency.
When the band does open ( Tropospheric Ducting ) usually occurs when there is ground fog - anticyclonic weather with a high pressure and usually at night or the early morning when no one is on the air.
With Echolink, The Wide Area Network, D-Star, and the new Yaesu Digital / Analog repeater networks, you don't need much of a radio anymore to talk long distances on the Chicken Band - I mean 2 meters....
Basically what has happened in my area is that the mentality has shifted from trying to be a ham and having to buy Amateur radio equipment and large beam antenna's to buying a handheld radio and talking on the one local repeater they can hit portable.
When I even suggest that they spend money and buy some real radio equipment, their hackles goes up and they get real defensive and start telling me how they can't afford to buy anything and they only have a Technician or General Class License and that they don't want to do anything.
The frequencies are being used like a telephone and the buddy club groups develops and we have lost all touch with reality.
That is what I like about the C.B. radio...
No one owns a channel, no one owns a frequency.
No one can tell you what you can and can't do and no one can throw you off their equipment just because they don't like you.
Using some intelligence, you can do just as much with 25 watts SSB as a person can with 100 watts AM. The problem being that the same type of mentality being used on the Amateur Bands is also used on the CB. No one wants to spend hundreds of dollars on a SSB rig when all they want to do is talk to their friends locally on AM...
Everyone would like to have a big tower and a beam antenna, but very few actually goes to the expense of building a tower and buying a antenna..
Everyone wants everything handed to them - FREE...
And that is my honest opinion... |
Press_man
Advanced Member
Username: Press_man
Post Number: 779
Registered: 5-2008
| | Posted on Friday, June 20, 2014 - 6:30 pm: |
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Have you been by my QTH there PL?
I'm on a hill about 2/3 of the height up and have a large salt river and the Atlantic CLOSE! The river is 1/2 mile and the Atlantic about a mile to the east.
I like 9913 coax, 400 is OK but is copper clad allum while the 9913 is copper. My tower is a 50ft Alluma Tower crank up, got my eyes on a 70ft A.T. three section crank up.
With the dual 10s if I did go to high power, I was bringing up repeaters most couldn't hit. I could be on 146.85 in Brevard County and bring up a machine west of Melbourne. I could turn south and work into Key Largo w/5w and full quiet with 45w. Fl's east coast is pretty flat. Old TV log antennas make nise 2m and 220 beams with kittle work.
73 Pressman
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Possum_lodge
Junior Member
Username: Possum_lodge
Post Number: 39
Registered: 5-2014
| | Posted on Monday, June 23, 2014 - 9:14 am: |
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I had a friend that worked in broadcasting for many years in Florida.
Before I became involved in amateur radio, I was involved in television DX along with being a short wave listener since the 70's and a CB'r since about 1969..
The theory is that the whole state of Florida is at or near sea level. If it was not for competition, a group of broadcasters could get together and could put up 5 towers and cover the whole state of Florida with one signal for each of the major broadcast networks.
About 6 years ago, during the DTV transition we discussed in great length the problems associated with Florida and Tropospheric Ducting.
You get up in the morning and turn on your television with your antenna aimed directly at the tower in Tampa and you receive a station from Fort Walton and can't seem to find the signal for the Tampa Bay station, even though you can see the light blinking on the tower.
Range does not impress me down there, especially with two meters, due to the fact that it does not take a lot of effort to hit the repeaters - if they were built properly and if their antenna was put a couple of hundred feet off the ground, because a 50 watt transceiver and a dipole antenna would probably talk 65 miles in all directions.
The only limitations you have to reception is the curvature of the earth and the atmospheric and solar conditions. Two meters should give you a range of about 65 miles - and in Pennsylvania - as with most of the world, this is about as far as you can expect a UHF television signal to travel even with One Million Watts of transmit power and a 1000' tower.
I knew some guys from Tampa Bay, in the summer they liked to hang out at their QTH and talk on 10 meters. I talked to them on a almost daily basis for a whole summer. Lee and KC were my favorites.
Unfortunately they got to the point of where they started using amateur radio like a telephone and the conversations went stagnant. 28.415 was the home frequency.
One night a guy was sitting in the grocery store parking lot, with a old 25 watt Radio Shack Mobile and a K40 antenna and was talking with the guys and he complained that my signal sounded weak and that maybe I ought to get a little more power.
When I explained to him that I lived just outside of Punxsutawney Pennsylvania and that I was running 25 watts into a Solorcon A99 - he couldn't help but to be impressed - because he thought that I was local...
25 watts was all the power that I could get out of the borrowed Ranger 2950 that I had..
A salt river a half of a mile away does not help you when it comes to transmitting and receiving.
It is the earth directly beneath the antenna that counts. Along with whatever is in your first and second Fresnel Zones... |
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