Any CB people here?

I haven't talked on a CB in years, ever since everyone in my area went to ham radio, then, of course, the internet, but I have a handheld radio that does seem to pick up some local chatter.

This handheld doesn't have the power to get much past my neighborhood, so I can't talk to anyone. What I want to do is get a used RCI 2950 or 2970, a power supply, and an antenna to complete the set.

Here's the problem. The city's CCR's don't allow any kind of antennas to be put up in trees or on houses. In fact, it seems most cities around So Cal don't allow them.

I'm thinking my next best alternative would be to use a dipole antenna, but there are drawbacks to it, such as it being directional, etc. I also need to keep this setup from bleeding over onto TV's, radios, and other such electronics...I know it will just from the sheer output power of the radio.

Is a dipole antenna going to be good enough for a 2950? I don't want any of the power coming back to the radio if the antenna can't handle the output..otherwise, POOF, there go my finals, and anyone who knows RCI radios, finals for them are not cheap, or easy to replace for that matter.

Also, I seem to remember Pyramid power supplies being good for a 2950...I don't want a crappy Rad Shack supply...those just underpower the radio. What should I get for a power supply?

I used to be a CBer, and not that many years ago, takled with somebody in the eastern US from Seattle on a handheld transceiver. Although I attributed this to atmospheric skip, this occurred at ~2:00pm on a sunny summer day - rather atypical of skip.

The_LED_Museum said:

I used to be a CBer, and not that many years ago, takled with somebody in the eastern US from Seattle on a handheld transceiver. Although I attributed this to atmospheric skip, this occurred at ~2:00pm on a sunny summer day - rather atypical of skip.

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Wow...that's quite impressive. I would imagine skip is the answer...I always thought typically the best time for skip was during the summer months. I remember sitting on a hill one summer day, talking on a tuned Rad Shack TRC-482 (did 25 watts, surprisingly) and talking to several people via skip...mostly the central US. Your handheld isn't "tweaked and peaked", is it? Maybe your elevation helped matters......

What I want to do is get a used RCI 2950 or 2970...

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Were you aware that both of those radios are illegal to use on CB?

Just curious...

JM-99

LaserFreak said:

...Your handheld isn't "tweaked and peaked", is it? Maybe your elevation helped matters......

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I always thought of skip as something that occurred mainly at night. My elevation was just a few feet above sea level (at Myrtle Edwards Park in Seattle), so that wasn't "it" either. And my handheld was not modified in any manner; not even a third-party antenna. Just a telescoping whip with center-mounted balun.

Jumpmaster said:

Were you aware that both of those radios are illegal to use on CB?

Just curious...

JM-99

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Quite aware. But that doesn't stop several people from using them as a CB :devil:

I think the FCC has bigger fish to fry than to bust a few thousand people that have these radios and use them as a CB. I seem to remember reading something that said they were concentrating more on the people who sell them as CB's, or provide the knowledge to their customers on how to modify those radios (among SEVERAL other makes) to work on CB, or CB's to ham frequencies. I think Ranger may have made it a little more difficult to modify the newer versions of those radios (the DX models) for CB operation, but the knowledge is still out there and quite easy to obtain.

Ok, so you know that would be illegal and just don't care.

That's great. Thanks.

JM-99

LaserFreak said:

What I want to do is get a used RCI 2950 or 2970, a power supply, and an antenna to complete the set.

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Well, we don't typically continue discussions of illegal activities. This admin has an FCC license and does take exception to blatant disregard of the law for no other reason than "I won't be caught." :thumbsdown:

Locked.