Somewhere (just found them!) I have a pair of CB handhelds. These are crystal controlled, single channel, radios. I seem to recall a 2-way QSO over about 1km with these back-to-back on their whips. This was a very long time ago!
In recent years I believe one can now legally use AM and SSB in the UK on CB. Like repeaters, I suspect 27MHz CB is much quieter now.
My question is does any reader use CB these days?
At one time it was quite popular with farmers on tractors locally. I suspect with licence free 446MHz gear (and the equivalent in other countries) use of CB channels has nose-dived.
Gear is low cost, so maybe I should give it another try sometime. At one time there were plenty of UK FM CB radios converted to 10m FM. This was popular with many. At one time 10m FM was quite busy locally.
5 comments:
Hello Roger, I'm actually a CBer. I'm only disguised as licensed amateur ;-) I still use CB but most of the time listening. SSB was a big upgrade and with a directional antenna and the right propagation worldwide DX is possible even with the legal 4W output. I started with a single channel AM HT in 1979, illigal at that time. 73, Bas
Thanks Bas. 27MHz CB is often busy when the 10m amateur band seems very quiet.
On pskreporter there is an 11metre band using a form of FT8, is that cb?
regards
ken g4apb
CB radio seems to been revived for people who used to be on it in the 80's.
There is a busy net that use channel 35 in London and surrounding areas and they have been on there for a few years with more and more people joining!
So are licensed so aren't fussed in getting there licence.
You may be suprised if you have a listen.
Re 10m FM - I have a 10m FM rig in the car. It’s an up-to-date CB which, with a simple wire cut, runs up to 15 watts FM or 8 watts AM, 8 memory channels, repeater offsets, CTCSS etc. Just need some activity now! I think there’s a 10m repeater been approved in the Norfolk/Cambridge area, so you might have someone to talk with soon. Actually there are several people in the Lincoln area who use 10 FM, so it’s not totally dead - we’ve even had Swedish stations join in with our round-table nets in the past, and the HB9HD repeater on 29.55/65MHz often comes through when there’s a bit of a lift.
Regards,
Keith G0RQQ
Lincoln
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