Peak N Tune Myth

More musings ridgeline, I asked for references. The military-industrial complex created the first test equipment and they were not doing it to make amateur operators happy, their goal was twofold. Making the military happy and making money. Tube testers were created and marketed for the broadcast radio and TV market. Businesses did not survive back then by focusing on what were at the time small markets such as the amateur community, they designed and built products for the large markets. Ham operators fought against the creation of CB radio in 1958 over the loss of their 11 meter allocations and again in 1973 to keep them out of the 220 MHZ band. To their own detriment by the way as CB was a dwindling market the first half of the 80's as the skip cycle bottomed out and the 'Smokey/Bandit' popularity was in decline. The fun of skipshooting as the cycle started to increase brought millions into (or back into) the hobby providing the financial impetus for the manufacturers who began bringing us the first 'big (Export) radios'. Companies only build what they think they can sell, when they see a market. As to your WWII era creation of CB while true the equipment was too expensive at those frequencies thus causing it's demise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_band_radio

"The citizens band radio service originated in the United States as one of several personal radio services regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). These services began in 1945 to permit citizens a radio band for personal communication (e.g., radio-controlled model airplanes and family and business communications). In 1948, the original CB Radios were designed for operation on the 460–470 Megacycle UHF band."

Later attempts were fought against by the amateur radio community.

"An unsuccessful petition was filed in 1973 to create a Class E CB service at 220 MHz, which was opposed by Amateur Radio organizations[6]"

'Ham' radio itself was nearly destroyed by Congress as a side note of historical interest which even gives insight into the now common name. There are 2 or 3 popular theories for the name but below is most accepted:

Why radio amateurs are called "HAMS" (from Florida Skip Magazine - 1959) Have you ever wondered why radio amateurs are called "HAMS?" Well, it goes like this: The word "HAM" as applied to 1908 was the station CALL of the first amateur wireless stations operated by some amateurs of the Harvard Radio Club. They were ALBERT S. HYMAN, BOB ALMY and POOGIE MURRAY. At first they called their station "HYMAN-ALMY-MURRAY". Tapping out such a long name in code soon became tiresome and called for a revision. They changed it to "HY-AL-MU," using the first two letters of each of their names. Early in 1901 some confusion resulted between signals from amateur wireless station "HYALMU" and a Mexican ship named "HYALMO." They then decided to use only the first letter of each name, and the station CALL became "HAM." In the early pioneer days of unregulated radio amateur operators picked their own frequency and call-letters. Then, as now, some amateurs had better signals than commercial stations. The resulting interference came to the attention of congressional committees in Washington and Congress gave much time to proposed legislation designed to critically limit amateur radio activity. In 1911 ALBERT HYMAN chose the controversial WIRELESS REGULATION BILL as the topic for his Thesis at Harvard. His instructor insisted that a copy be sent to Senator DAVID I. WALSH, a member of one of the committees hearing the Bill. The Senator was so impressed with the thesis is that he asked HYMAN to appear before the committee. ALBERT HYMAN took the stand and described how the little station was built and almost cried when he told the crowded committee room that if the BILL went through that they would have to close down the station because they could not afford the license fees and all the other requirements which the BILL imposed on amateur stations. Congressional debate began on the WIRELESS REGULATION BILL and little station "HAM" became the symbol for all the little amateur stations in the country crying to be saved from the menace and greed of the big commercial stations who didn't want them around. The BILL finally got to the floor of Congress and every speaker talked about the "...poor little station HAM." That's how it all started. You will find the whole story in the Congressional Record. Nation-wide publicity associated station ""HAM" with amateur radio operators. From that day to this, and probably until the end of time in radio an amateur is a "HAM."

Yes I still remember the post by one I will not name attacking Mike5511 for using the term 'hammers' (as if it were as bad as a racial slur) towards amateur operators. Perhaps that member is unaware of the history of the name, I as an Extra and even before under my first ticket have used that name often to describe myself as well as others - for decades. A small digression but a bone to pick which has been hanging out there for a long time in my mind. But I digress.

"Where do you think Lafayette radio stores came from - the ham market.

Radio Shack was the same thing."

One merely needs to investigate the focus on their product line and marketing history to see this is a patently false statement. I asked for references not unfounded beliefs.

You mentioned Lafayette Radio Electronics Corporation, between it and Royal Crown two of the companies which are part of my fond memories of 40 plus years ago. If as you say Lafayette was founded for hams then that would have been their market focus, yet it was only a tiny portion of their line, they actually had more money in CB which not only nearly destroyed them over their infamous 23 channel disaster, it in the end cost them so much they lost the ability to expand and compete with Tandy. I know for I was there. Truth be told I despise Tandy to this day and forever for their part in ending what was to me the greatest place on earth for an electronics experimenter in that day. You could buy pre-wound loopsticks, air variable capacitors, on and on the list was endless, none of the incredibly large number of components were available at ratshack which by the way got worse as they aged to where today it is a phone and computer store and little else. Today thanks in large part to the forced demise of Lafayette we are stuck ordering components from China on eBay. Possibly yet another digression but another bone to pick (decades old) for me.

In any case you cannot credit amateur radio for Lafayette, their single largest focus in electronics was the audio market which is evident to anyone who knows their history.

If as you say you credit ham for CB (even though they were the greatest single detractor from it's creation) you can only do so based upon the work of one man, who was a ham, Alfred J. Gross. If you include him then yes he played a large part but he was in it for the money possibilities he realized existed so he founded his own company to market his ideas. He also received an immense amount of flak from his peers in amateur radio back in the day since he did not get on board with the efforts to derail the CB bands allocation. He fought for it. CB'ers do have much to thank him for. Yes I have no doubt for 14 years he has been tossing in his grave over the monster of too much echo, roger beep, and the Tarzan toys all being broadcast at once by a single station. Multiplied by far too many stations no doubt. While his dream was a good one I am sure the result left much to be desired.

You were crediting ham for the 'peak and tune' know how. Actually Secret CB (Seligman SP?) is more likely and expanded by Lou Franklin if we are going by percentages. That and many hobby articles written in CB magazines of time past. I believe it is better to provide key names which can be researched in lieu of beliefs or opinions.

"I never said invented, I said that they would never have had watt meters and other service things that are common today. It is something that a common CB'er would never have know about if it wasn't for hams."

I simply do not buy this. If amateur radio had never existed and only CB was allocated, those knowledgeable in electronics would have been taking advantage of equipment and components commercially available. Blanket statements without foundation or evidence. In fact if one looks carefully at the history the first ham stations were in effect CB if we carefully define the service. CB - use of radio gear by unlicensed citizens on whatever frequency using whatever gear they do usually modified built and/or experimented with. This is exactly how the service which became amateur radio began. Too many using only store bought gear for too long has made you all forget this, I tried to mention it in my previous post but I imagine it fell on deaf ears.

You credit amateur radio for the creation of allied electronics, patently untrue. Hams merely welcomed their creation as a source of hard to find components and over the years CB became a very large market share for them. Virtually identical to the history of Lafayette. Ham radio was not the reason for their foundation nor was it the main focus of their inventory or product lines. If you carefully study the marketing history you will see that the greatest amount of money spent by hams went overseas to companies such as Yaesu, not to American companies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_Radio

I can repeat the same story for Olson, kits and audio equipment was their main focus including their own speaker line, ham radio was an insignificant portion and had zero to do with the companies founding. Kits for audio gear and CB radio were the main products in the Olson line. You can see some here:

http://audiotools.com/dead_o.html

http://www.oldtuberadio.com/manufacturers/olson/

Olson RA-590, Olson RA570, Olson Side-Bander, Olson Side-Bander II, Olson Spotter 2, Olson Spotter 23, Olson Spotter 3, Olson Spotter 3A, Olson Spotter RA530. You guessed it, their biggest selling radio kits were CB not ham.

While at over 36 mb the Olson 242 page 1974 catalog is too large to include you can find it if you search for the file Olson-1974-Catalog.pdf. If we discount items considered dual use for ham or CB such as rotors or various electronic parts and components, you will find very little for specifically ham yet several pages of CB radios complete as well as kits. Their main focus was always audio gear.

Honestly with the web today the history of these companies is so easy to research I find it hard to believe you would post your words as 'facts', assuming the members would be too lazy to study it for themselves. Maybe you are correct but it does not make your 'facts' true.

Since I have learned the futility of trying to explain anything to this crowd I will end this post here. I only bothered for those who are truly interested in the facts.

 

OK. You want references?

Ham - the term seems to be used long before amateur radio was around, even before people experimented with radio outside of the lab - source is Western Union's Operator's Manual, chapter one about history >>1898, 1903.l It is also mentioned in their training manual.

"The military-industrial complex created the first test equipment and they were not doing it to make amateur operators happy, their goal was twofold. Making the military happy and making money. Tube testers were created and marketed for the broadcast radio and TV market."

Test equipment wasn't a result of the military industrial complex or the creation of it but rather several things outside the military happened long before the military was in need of it. Sorry ... Everything from watt meters (source 1931 Radio - earliest source I can find but I think I've got copies of QST in the 20's showing how to build them) to Oscilloscopes (1935 or '34 RCA publication about scopes for the common shack) to Modulation Meters (1936 Triplette catalog) to a bunch of other stuff that came before the war and had ZERO to do with the military. I'll give you the military used it but it wasn't the military or the federal government's need for it that created any of it. Even Frequency meters were around long before a BC-221 was. I've got or had a number of test equipment for the amateur market from the early to late 30s' including a pretty stable RF generator built by Triplette.

Tube testers were made for testing tubes. I don't know about TV market, because the ones I've seen from the early 30's didn't seem to have tv in mind. Broadcasters? Not really, they were used for receiving tubes more than transmitting tubes so I don't see broadcasters using them, they just replaced the tube. Radio repair people? I can see but then again the ones I've seen have a limited use.

I still stand by the idea that if it wasn't for amateur radio, these things would not be used by CB techs.

It seems CB was borne out of an idea in the early 40's about civil defense but didn't get much play. The UHF band wasn't even thought of, UHF was something like 2 meters at that time. Source - US government's manual on Civil Defense 1949/Several radio publications for the UHF thing.

The idea was to allow people who had little or no radio knowledge to use a communication device in case of emergency or other reasons but not to converse source IIRC is the US congress hearings in the late 40's. There are a bunch of articles written about Civil Defense that came out in the late 40's with some comparison to hams and their community spirit and a citizen radio service was discussed.

Yes the UHF equipment was expensive and yes a lot of hams didn't want 11 meters to go but it wasn't their choice and the market was too small. Also I remember that 11 meters was shared with radio control stuff However there was a company who made over 100,000 radios for the original CB band so it couldn't be that expensive.

It is amazing we forget about the red scare and the entire CD thing, a lot of programs and systems were created to help the population take care of itself until the "authorities" get there. CB was one such thing.

Again the technology filtered down to the cb market during the late 50's and 60's.

Allied electronics?

No ... Allied Radio - a precursor to Allied Electronics and the whole tandy thing.

The catalog I have of their's that said that they were started as an outlet to builders of radio equipment and it looks like it had a lot of focus on hams and their needs. Sorry but if you want to argue with anyone, do it with them. I've got a radio shack catalog somewhere, I think it was from the late 40's but I can't find it. It pretty much was geared toward the same purpose. A lot of companies got their start with these niche markets, still works today by the way - << that's a fact too.

The same goes for Lafayette, I just don't have a catalog but a letter that was in the book from some company in NY called Wholesale Radio which states the company (Lafayette) is there to provide the "best components" to the Amateur radio builder. I know they were kit builders after a while but the catalog has no kits in it ... if Wikipedia says one thing and the letter says another, I believe the letter, They sold the same thing as Allied, components. the same for Heathkit, which didn't build amateur equipment at first but they did later. It is interesting to go through those catalogs just like going through Warsarski's (sp?) and Whitney catalogs from the 40's through the 70's.

By the way, I also know that RCA and GE both had a group within their engineering divisions and their marketing group devoted to amateur radio. Both had newsletters and design notes (just as Motorola, Eimac, Mallory, Turner, and others) just focused on amateur radio. Why would these companies put any effort into a small insignificant market?

The same goes for Zenith, Philco and a couple other companies who made consumer radio receivers.

I don't know if these things are on the internet (I think the RCA stuff is) but I have a whole lot of things from each of these companies mentions about ham radio in one form or another.

AND by the way, if it wasn't for Hams experimenting, we wouldn't have a lot of theories about wave propagation, some TV technology (you do know that Amateurs were working fast scan TV on the bands in 1938? I've got a really cool ad from RCA and the book it is for - Television experiments, 1937) and a lot of technology/ideas that were used during the war (like portable operation) was thanks to hams.

So there are some facts.

 

What you describe gadfly is diametrically opposite to this spirit, and portraying those who like to experiment and attempt to improve their stations in a negative light would indicate to me you are nothing more than a 'licensed radio operator' who is void of the founding spirit of 'ham'. (Quote)

Wrong again. I started out at the age of 8 (or less) listening to Dad's old Philco "shortwave" floor model radio. I became fascinated with radio back then. I can remember my Mom yelling from the kitchen, "TURN OFF THAT RACKET"!!!! The teletype coming in between AM transmissions drove her nuts. "Experimenting"? It REALLY got to her when I would tune an "heterodyne" and pretend that I was "flying" a B17 bomber. (It sounded like airplane engines. I knew nothing about dipoles, verticals, impedance matching. My first "antenna" for receiving was a wire run to the window screen. We lived WAY out in the country amid John Deere tractors and hay mowers, horses, chickens and cows. There were NO hams within 40 miles (that I knew of). We also moved a lot, so life was quite unsettled--and always to the country so Dad could also farm some. Getting TO books about radio, flying were only available thru the Bookmobile (remember them?), and there was never such books on it----mostly about agriculture and farming + some novels and adventure stories. Amateur radio had to wait until adulthood, but I got involved in a youth "cadet" program that also had to do with radio and how to use them. Thru contact with various radio people, ham and non-ham, I learned quite a bit. Thru the process of "smoking" more things that I'd care to admit, I learned how to NOT do *that* again! Primarily, one of my interests became antennas. Experimenting, building and testing. Finding out what worked and what didn't. I put together an AM mobile on 75 meters, with an 807 with a dynamotor PA deck. I wound a 75 Meter coil and a smaller impedance coil at the base. At first, there were no "SWR meters" commercially available: we used milliamp meters and volt meters to measure the amount of antenna current. Then we made crude voltage-based "SWR" meters, that showed mimimum "SWR" . In those days, one could go to a hamfest and find dynamotors for a couple bucks. I found one still in the box, still covered in cosmolene (sic). Perfect for my 50-60 Watt AM transmitter. It was 600 V DC @.....was it 150 Mils . I've still got one that's 1000V @ 350 mils (WHEW! what a dead key) Yep those were the days. Leave your transmitter on for 30 minutes and your battery was FLAT! About 20 Amp filament draw! I combined that with a tunable adapter that worked with the car's receiver (Gonset?) Used to love to listen to the Mississippi tugboats up around 5 MC AM. Funny thing about that huge 1000 V dynamotor. One day a buddy of mine and I were in the shop goofing around. Got to wondering if it was "stuck" or if we might make an nostalgic HF amp powered with this thing. So we set it up on the bench and prepared to see if we could "start" it. We forgot how much starting torque this monster had, so when we touched it off with 12V, this thing came to life and jumped off the table, making for our FEET! WHOA!!!!!! You never saw a couple of hams doing such a wild 'dance" in your life!!!!! We simple forgot to anchor it down.

Another funny story. I helped this same ham set up a 160 Meter mobile with a hu-mongous "Texas Bugcatcher". 160 is a difficult band to do mobile. One of the things that one has to deal with is "corona"--the "Saint Elmo's Fire-like" display that can appear around the cap hat or the tip of the antenna.
Now "Jim" at that time had make his living repairing commercial, ham, and CB radios. While we were outside his shop fine-tuning this monster whip, a customer came up. Jim keyed up on 1923 MHZ@ 500 watts. BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!!!!!!! Blue fire surrounded the antenna. The customer yelled, "GOSH A-MIGHTY", jumped about 2 feet in the air and RAN!!!!! Man, I almost rolled on the ground!!!!


Now. The thing about "Peak & Tune" is, you know that these things are mostly smoke and mirrors and they are designed to take advantage of people's innocence. If you are honest, you will admit these "Peak & Tune" jobs do little to enhance CB performance. At the base of it all, CB radio was NEVER intended for experimentation; it was for short-range, two way, economical communications. These hack jobs, usually performed by some behind-the-truckstop butcher. It was not supposed to be used to "talk skip". It was not have "extra channels" nor extra power. This is why there ARE tests for the amateur operator in the hope that the taker will LEARN something along the way--and do so LEGALLY. The result of 'experimentation' by CBers and their accompanying outlaws usually is interference to CBers and other legitimate users. When there is friction between CBers and hams, it is usually because of such interference and/or the presence of the CBers ON 10 and 12 Meters. Whether it is a CBer OR amateur causing it, they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

 

Because so many hams have Service Monitors and spectrum analyzers. I sre there is the exception that spends big money on test equipment.

I know several Motorola Engineers and techs whom are also HAMs, they dont have this over valued big head lots of HAMS seem to have.

This forum is for truckers and sub topic CB radios, take your HAM bantering back to ARRL. Even those of us that have our tickets find this to be counter productive.

File under who cares and move on,

 

So you suggest that we as hams shut up and let people get ripped off or stop giving advice about how things work so they can better use their equipment?

 

When I want the truth without BS, I go to one of the ham forums to get it.

 

@ Powder Joints: I guess they figure if they whine loud enough and long enough CB will become what they want it to be...........it won't, but it gives them something to complain about.

NO......some of the hams on here are very helpful, too many are arrogant and condescending. It gets old and changes nothing.

 

That's funny.

I don't think you ever read some of the 'stuff' that goes on in their forums, it makes this stuff look informative and strictly to the point.

 

BUT you aren't likely to find any useful radio theory that applies to CB in the way drivers perceive it and whether it is truly accurate. For example...and we've discussed it before.....those things truck stops and CB folks call "ground planes". The way they are presented, it is made to appear that one of these things 'helps' your signal. it *may* look 'cool', but, in reality, it does absolutely nothing. The perception is, well....the tech at Acme CB Shop had to re-tune the antenna, and WOW. "I'm really walkin' the dog now"? Actually, it is, in ham circles, called a capacitance hat" and because it adds this "capacitance" to the antenna, it makes the antenna too LONG for 27 MHZ. So, once the "hat" is added to the whip, and it is tuned to minimum SWR, etc., you' re right back where you started!!!! A true "ground plane" is just what it says; a surface or device attached TO ground! NOT to the whip itself!!! Is a cap hat useful? It can be. Like for..............getting the antenna shorter. Or (horrors), tuning an antenna for those "uppers" you ain't supposed to be on! But then, you can simply snip the whip and get the same result!

Another case. Drivers sometimes tilt their antennas WAY forwards--even almost horizontal thinking it somehow helps their signal. Yes, it is sometimes necessary to tilt some for clearance reasons...........................BUT! First of all, it does NOT 'help' your signal despite it looking "cool" to *some* drivers. The scoop is, tilting your antennas almost horizontal HURTS your signal, especially for local work. Its something called "Polarization", or "Polarity". Most trucks' antennas are "vertical"---sticking straight UP or thereabouts. When you are talking to another truck---say 3-5 miles down the road---this difference in "Polarity" will reduce your signal (attenuate) quite a bit!!! IF you are working "skip", it doesn't matter all that much HOW your antenna is facing because signals/radio waves tend to "tumble" on their way and also bounce off the ionosphere. But a horizontal 'wave" at close range represents a "mismatch" when the wave reaches the other end, so it is lower in intensity! A 20-25 degree tilt won't make much of a difference, but laying the antenna almost on its side WILL!!!!

These things are presented to help, not hurt. I'm sorry some of us do not want their own perceptions challenged as how radio REALLY works!

GF

(also a former truck driver)