Any CBers out there??

[greenpondmike]

A lot of my ol CB friends stayed up late as I did and I bet many use flashlights regularly. I'm not only talking local, but nationwide since I have talked to people in other states when the conditions were right for skip waves to roll in. Just waving a hand. My handle was "redneck" and my skip calling handle was 185 the redneck. For all I know some of you may know me and know each other, but don't know it (if I said that right).
Mods, I hope this is an acceptable thread. If not please take it down.

 

[PoliceScannerMan]

Not a CBer but I'm a HAM, figured I would stop in and say howdy.

 

[Katherine Alicia]

I was on air for about 25 years and a rig doctor for about 20 of them as a sideline, but it was UK based and only FM (27/81) was allowed, but I spent many a happy hour on the tripple 5 making DX contacts, mostly European, though one summer we held the states for a good few hours on AM! I was using a President Adams (illegaly of course! LOL).
I spent several years on Echo Charlie freebanding as well.

 

[greenpondmike]

Not a CBer but I'm a HAM, figured I would stop in and say howdy.

Hello to you PoliceScannerMan. Some of the locals around here went to ham although I don't know their call sign. I studied up on it, but never took the test yet.

 

[greenpondmike]

Hello Katherine, sounds like you've really had some good times on short wave in the UK. I did a little dx and skip, but preferred to talk local, although one time I had ol Scott fooled into thinking he was talking to the war dog in quebec canada . If I understand you right about being a rig doctor I would probably have been taking my radios to you if you were local. Around here we had blue streak, agitator, short wave, corn bread and copper penny that worked on them. I only knew how to turn up the modulation (verable resistor or clip a diode) and power. I usually turned down the power and upped the modulation though and let it swing up and I had a hint of echo to make my voice fuller. I couldn't do a super mod, but I have 2 radios that have that plus turbo echo that short wave put in for me. Is a president adams similar to a president/uniden washington? My dad and I each had one. Short wave had modded my dad's and it would walk the dog and kick the cat barefoot.

 

[Katherine Alicia]

Hello Katherine, so If I understand you right about being a rig doctor I would probably have been taking my radios to you if you were local.

Yup, a lot of the work started off undoing the handywork of screwdriver jockeys that would deny they`d been inside messing and folks that had wired it up backwards to the power pack and wiring up new mics to their rigs. later it mostly centered around fitting Mid Block chips when it became legal so rigs would have 80 chans instead of the straight 40, it was often simple enough just needing to piggyback the IC cut a few tracks, free up the CB/PA switch for the block select and open up the VCO, it got seriously boring in the end though and I looked forwards to other jobs (I did a few pirate radio station builds too), one of the strangest jobs I has was one guy wanted me to take the guts out of one rig and put it into another case! it wasn`t a simple straight 40 rig either, one of them was a Cobra 148GTLDX with a load of mods done, I got £120 for that job though (pretty good back then).
I gave it up in the end after getting married, because I`d got a good rep, I had customers coming from all over the country (mostly truckers) as they passed the motorway junction by where we lived, that would knock at the door at all hours, drop off their rigs and pick them back up on they return journey, this was all normal for me when I was single, needless to say my partner didn`t take kindly to truckers knocking my door at 3am wanting to wire up a mic there and then, so I had to end it.
I started delivering Avon after that (I missed the extra income).

 

[greenpondmike]

Sounds like you are a very good cb technition- not gonna say "were" cause you still got it as long as you have good eyes and a stable hand. I was a kid when CB had its popularity explosion in the 70s and was happy when my dad got our first one. It was a cheap one (trans-sonic 23 channel). I wanted him to get the cobra 29 forty channel- the ones made in the phillapeans were well made.
You just reminded me about the "other" channels. We called them the expando kit or just upper and lowers- 40 upper and 40 lower with the regular 40 in the middle. Mix that with sideband and you have 360 channels. Red fox (not the actor) used to do roll call local on one of the extra channels.
I have been dormant for a few years, but I want to get back on there. Do you miss that Katherine? It's difficult to walk away from it because it becomes a part of you almost. Like I have said for a while though- a CB is only as good as the choice of people you have to talk to.

 

[Katherine Alicia]

I don`t remember the exact frequencies of the bands anymore, ch40 of the 27/81 band was 1 ch away from 28Mhz so ch41 for instance would be 28.xx MHz (also a mod I used to do, giving rigs a channel 41), now go down to chan 1 then go down another 15 chans (an invisble gap to most legal users) then you`re on ch40 of the GB/PR Mid block, which is the same as your straight 40 only we have to use FM.
some mods give another 40 below that called Low Block, unless you`de got a bander this normally required a seperate PCB to be fitted (the Commtron rigs were good for this).

I have been dormant for a few years, but I want to get back on there. Do you miss that Katherine? It's difficult to walk away from it because it becomes a part of you almost. Like I have said for a while though- a CB is only as good as the choice of people you have to talk to.

I`m not sure I miss CB as much as I kinda miss the old days (there`s nobody on anymore around here) and it was always nice meeting new people even if it was just for a few mins at a time, some are still friends to this day! one 15 year old kid I helped out with a powerpack is now 41 and close family friend (I was bridesmaid at his wedding), so yeah I think I miss the people the most.

 

[xxo]

Didn't know CB was still a thing. I had a lot of fun with them when I was a kid, mostly to talk to my Grandpa on the other side of town and to talk to the truckers on road trips.

 

[greenpondmike]

I forgot about FM. We tried it, but not on sideband. It seemed to have a higher noise level- at least in our area.
Do you remember 10k? Some radios came with a 10k switch and on some you had to install it. I still wonder how that works and why it only works on certain channels. It works well on channel 19. I think it takes you in between the channels and gives people more privacy because most radios don't have it although nowadays you don't really have to worry about overcrowding.
A lot of people have lost interest and a lot of good people have died off. I bought my truck from sly fox, booger fixed my single tube modulator and even put a fan on it. I saw bad boy and short wave not too long ago in the walmart parking lot. Short wave hasn't worked on a radio in a long time and I think he has some dementia.
Yeah, things have sure changed. A lot of the radio manufacturers have gone to using mosfet finals which might me better for a stock radio, but I don't think they do as well if you modify it. I like modulation more than power anyway. If you turn up the power it weakens your modulation although it gives you a higher carrier. I like to key up a watt or two and let it swing up to full power as I talk like I'm slinging my voice- and I'm louder. But with a super modulation kit installed full power is a good thing and you can get more power by installing a galaxy 1969-(I think) final. I don't know how to do a super mod myself, but instructions are still on the net. I got off of there because a certain person spent some big time money- 100+ foot tower on a hill with stack 4 beams, a very big base station and probably over a thousand watts. He is a nice, but tempormental fellow, but he started getting on people's nerves and they started making fun of him and even putting the conversations up on youtube. Just too much drama for me and several just wanted to brag about their equipment and expensive antennas. My 60 ft antron 99 half wave did just fine as long as I was tree top tall, but the trees got higher and hindered me a little. Someone on there was also two faced (I think) because after mentioning where I was getting my fresh cows milk the place quit selling it to the public. I had good times though- like the time I got a break and I said "y'all check this out" and then I cranked my chainsaw and revved it a few times. I enjoyed talking to my wife on the CB while I was at work- her handle was freckles because of the cute freckles on her nose. She sure sounded sweet on the radio and her voice would carry better than mine.
Sorry if I was rambling

 

[greenpondmike]

Hey xxo, they aren't as popular as they used to be. The "family" of cbers round here usually run 33, 31 and 29 I think. 19, the truck driver's channel is mostly dead at night nowadays. Mostly day cabs with local haulers still using 19 in the daytime.

 

[Poppy]

I ran with a CB in my car mainly in the '70's when they dropped the speed limit to 50MPH.

Then with a FuzzBuster, and a CB, I'd run the interstate @ 65 -70 mph and get called out as "Who is that Yankee Thoroughbred?"
My handle was "Sunshine Superman" given to me by a friend.

Back then truckers were gentlemen, no foul mouths, and wouldn't jam the channel playing music.

Things have changed! Yelling and screaming and foul mouthed language is more the norm. Terrible.

 

[scout24]

I use one on my motorcycle, mainly for ride group communications. I do have a plug in handheld and a " Lil' Wil" small Wilson antenna for long trips with the Wife.

 

[greenpondmike]

Hey Poppy, back when I got back into it from 2003-2012 channel 19 got so bad they started calling it sesame street and truck drivers would run those power inverters that put out a high noise level if you were around them and probably especially in the truck. Probably why they would have their kickers on while talking to each other at the same truck stop yet bleeding over on almost all the channels almost to channel 40. It was agitating, but they didn't care.
In contrast to that there were some good truckers out there also.

 

[bykfixer]

When I was a teen a friend of mine's mom had a top of the line Buick La-Sabre that had leather seats, electric everything and an AM/FM/8Track/CB entertainment. I remember his mom would keep it set where you listened to the radio until somebody on the CB spoke. His mom used to get so mad sometimes at people on the CB it was a trip. She would holler at people a lot.

My dad had a Midland if I remember correctly. That was around the time the movies Smokey & the Bandit and Convoy were out.

 

[greenpondmike]

Hey scout24, good to hear someone finds CBs still useful nowadays. There's probably a lot of younger people that never heard of one and could find uses for them. I believe they are the best thing for a group road trip. They're fun also- you can modify them all kinds of ways. There's also noise toys you can install. One truck driver (graywolf) had wolves howling on his radio. We would ask him to let his puppies loose and he would key up the wolves.

 

[greenpondmike]

Hey bykfixer, yeah the 70s was a good time to have a CB radio. Seems like people were all around better on them. Back then though you had to have a license to operate. The license requirement has been gone for decades now and the fcc doesn't monitor it like they used to and although not in letter of law, but in practice the fcc has turned the policing of it over to the local authorities for the most part at least. That is why it has become a free for all on there and you can hear some nasty stuff if you're not careful. Nowadays as long as you're not regularly interfearing with someone's television, baby monitor, church speakers and control towers etc, they will pretty much leave you alone. Gabby girl was way up near the Canadian border and came in like gangbusters on channel 28 when the skip rolled in. She was way out in the middle of nowhere, but she was running so much power it was only a matter of time before the authorities shut her down-I think they did because I haven't heard her since 2004 at least. I really enjoyed listening to her.

 

[scout24]

Greenpondmike- Like it or not, the frs and gmrs 2-way radios have taken over for kids and families. This may also spark an interest in ham or CB in kids, so I think it's a good thing. The last CB I had in a car was a Cobra in my commuter car. I'd catch a pack of folks running down into NYC in the mornings and they went further out than I did in the afternoons. Some chatter, but mainly regular "all clear" updates from the lead car at various checkpoints. It was good for shortening my commute times on occasion...

 

[Chauncey Gardener]

Scofflaw24?! Say it ain't so. :laughing:

 

[greenpondmike]

I have a pair of midland gmrs radios somewhere. Not being in a straight line, but up and down hills and near trees I was able to talk to my wife at 3 miles. I tried to find someone to talk to one time and I got some kid on there. Not quite what I wanted. I can see them being useful if a friend and I went hunting and needed to communicate. I really didn't start this thread to defend the usefulness of cb radios or to get the airwaves populated again. I don't recon we can go back except in memory only. They might be usefull though if the grid got shut down. I may have gotten carried away and took a rabbit trail contrary to what I was trying to do here. I really just wanted to see if anyone on here knows me or knows each other from those old days, but are unaware of it. For example: red man that used to live not too far from me moved to Kentucky a while back and maybe he's on here under another name. Others like green hornet and several others, but also some locals within the once 60 or 70 miles of my talking radius. A lot of the cb family around here stayed up real late talking, so I think they were more prone to become flashaholics than not.
I sure don't mind even hearing from ones I don't know and have enjoyed the thread so far and I think I got to know some of you a little better. Stranger or no stranger I enjoy hearing about everyone's fun with the hobby just like I do with flashlights.