Will NFM Save CB???

It is obvious you don’t know much about the early history of cb.

A lot of things were legal until I think around 1963 when they addressed issues that they thought were important.

code squelch as it was called by a few was never illegal, it would be useless with the amount of people on the bands still there.

 

I never said CTCSS was illegal. It is just not as compatible with Amplitude Modulation as FM. Yes, there was a lot of tweaking with channels and different things in the late 50's and early 60's but I think your assertion that I know little of the early history is unfounded. The FCC dropped several important balls, early on.

To make matters worse, the ARRL and greedy hams helped kill a great concept in personal communications in the early 1970's. There was a proposal to carve out a chunk of the mostly unused 220 MHz ham band and create a Class E CB. The proposed Class E would have fixed the problems the FCC overlooked with Class D.
Among other things, Class E CB would have:
1) provided somewhere between 40 and 80 Narrowband FM channels (early 70's protocol). I forget the exact number, but it was considerably more than the 23 channels then available on Class D. There is almost zero detailed info on the net today, though numerous articles were published about this proposal in the early 70's.

2) Allowed up to 25 Watts output.

3) Been on VHF, allowing for very efficient, much shorter physically, antennas on mobiles and portables. Unlike 27 MHz, which will barely xmit or receive a few feet from inside an automobile without an outside antenna, 220 would have allowed for very decent transmission and reception from inside of vehicles and buildings without outside antennas. Additionally, cross country and international skip would have been eliminated.

The hams and ARRL whined bloody murder about the idea of taking frequencies from hams and giving it to "undisciplined CB'ers". That band saw little use back then because gear capable of operating it was scarce and very expensive. The hams won and traffic on 220 remained scarce. Some time, I believe in the 80's or 90's, the FCC auctioned off chunks of 220 to business interests, mostly UPS, I believe. The hams still lost a piece of their little used band. Today, there is probably more affordable 220 capable ham gear than ever, but it is still under-utilized in most parts of the country. Even at that, the gear is not "that" plentiful. As the CB hatred by hams has gradually waned over the decades, many would likely have found Class E useful for keeping in contact with non-ham family and friends, much as they do today with FRS/GMRS.

 

Hams have been their own worst enemy for a very long time. when I first got into radio every one else was my grandparents age.....and still are for the most part. There really isn't much middle ground with those guys. They are usually pretty die hard disks. Most are a their way or the highway types. I found a few that were decent and open minded, but they were few and far between. Radio is dying (literally) because of their attitudes. Hard to draw in a new and younger crowd when your not very accepting. Plus the cost of entry is fairly high. I'm kinda hoping that sdr will change that. I also think that low cost kit (and assembled) qrp radios could be a nice teaching element, if someone was willing. I'm going to start getting some more for my kids, so when we go out camping, we can use the qrp radios. Anywho, my thoughts.

 

The best way to do that is to manufacture an unreliable product that needs to be replaced once in a while.

 

I disagree. The numbers have been declining for awhile now. Most younger folks are not interested. Out of all the folks I know under 45, only 1 (besides me) is a ham. This is out of prolly 100 or so guys at church. How many folks under say 30 are knocking down your door to learn?

 

That really isn't true. The number of licensed hams did fall some between 2003 and 2007 but have been sharply increasing since then:



I know a number of younger hams in my area. The local ham club I'm a member of is administering new license exams to about 5-10 people a week. I admit it is hard to get today's kids interested in it when they have the Internet, but I've had some success at it as a Radio merit badge counselor for our scout troop.

 

In the GMRS repeater group I am a member of, out of hundreds of members it looks like about 45% also hold a ham ticket. If you feel like doing the math get your calculator and go to www.nggmrs.com

 

I agree the amount of licenses have gone up. I believe that is due to the prepper crowd. I know alot of them that went out and got them.....I mean....alot. however, none of them are what I would call active. It's more of a just in case kinda thing. They all went out and bought HTs and stuck them in the corner or a bag and that was that. I want to be wrong. I'm just not seeing it.

On a side not, I really want to get more into cw and qrp radios. I just think it would be fun.