Linear Amp Question

tubes dont splatter.............

 

They sure do when dropped. Also, the signal will splatter when tubes are overdriven.

 

Alright, I've been retired now, for more than a year, and haven't checked in here, for several years.
Look, folks, y'all can do as you please, it's no skin off my butt.
I ran power, and I ran dirty signal power, when I was CB'ing. Then, I learned a bit about doing it right. I've had my ham ticket now, since 1988, and I was REALLY into listening to the guys who know their stuff, before that. There isn't a CB. On the market today, using AM, that doesn't splatter. That splatter multiplies, with the power multiplication factor, of an RF amplifier. Use a substandard amplifier, and that is multiplied, even more.
Unless you are running some modern design amp, like an Acom, SGC, Tokyo Hi-Power, or a few other good class AB2, mobile amps, you ARE putting out a dirty, wide, signal, on AM. It IS, the nature of the beast. I haven't been on 11 meters, in more than 20 years, and I really don't care, if you tear up the whole band, and then some. If you do, it increases the possibility, of 11 meters returning to the Amateur service, and y'all can use FRS, GMRS, OR MURS. I really don't care. I was simply trying to give the best information that I could, to someone who asked a question. Take it for what it's worth, to you. If you want to tell me that I'm a kook, and full of it, how has that hurt me? I really don't give a rip. but, if you want to learn a little something, about RF, I suggest that you stop listening to the guy who makes a living, screwing YOU, out of your hard earned money, by "modding" your radio.
For the same money, that you spend, buying a Galaxy, Connex, or other factory modded radio, for an inflated price, you can buy a Kenwood 570, Icom 7000, Kenwood 480, Yaesu 857, Icom 706, or any other of a plethora, of OTHER good radios, and have it modded, to 11 meters, and have a great 100 watt radio, without an external RF amplifier. Better yet, buy an old Motorola Spectra, 50 watt radio, and have it programmed for FRS, MURS, OR GMRS, and get off of the 11 meter band, which was a poor choice, to begin with, for the class D, citizen's radio service. Those Motorolas sell for pennies on the dollar, compared to a Galaxy, or a Connex, and are 100 times the radio.
take it for what it's worth. I don't care. But I'm trying to tell you, that there are better, cheaper, options out there, if you're willing to listen to someone, who isn't trying to make a quick, easy, buck, off of your sorry butt.

 

Sorry to say, but you don't.
There's a reason why people get tune-ups, and add amplifiers, to radios. 4 watts, on 11 meters, is a piss-poor way to try and talk. Reference my previous post.
The #1 thing a knowledgeable person will tell you, is, a good antenna, is about 75-80% of the battle. On ham bands, where I can run 1500 watts output, as well as most other hams out there, with a good antenna, and 100 watts, I can talk around the world. That said, "Propagation" sunspot cycle activity, and "MUF" come into play, and can affect that, GREATLY.
Get a good quality radio, my preference was always Uniden, (as they designed ALL OF the radios being sold by Cobra, Midland, Galaxy, Connex, etc.), install a good noise canceling microphone (find an Astatic B.U.M. 1, if you can), take it to a reputable technician (LICENSED, with a Class II RadioTelephone Operator's License, or better), and have it checked out, and adjusted, so that it is transmitting as close to 100% modulation, on AM, as possible.
If you feel the NEED for more power, get one of the amplifiers, which I mentioned in the previous post, or a Metron, and have it professionally wired, for use, with your radio.
The easiest way to get a good, clean signal, without attracting too much attention, would be to get a ham ticket, buy an Icom 706, and mod it out, then use it. But, be prepared. You will find yourself, migrating, more and more, towards the 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 40, 75/80, and 160 meter bands, as well as 6, and 2 meters, and up, in frequency.
Look, many are going to call me names. Hams will consider me blasphemous, for telling you about the quality of an Icom, vs. the quality of a Galaxy. CB'ers, don't want to hear, how cheaply made, their favorite radio brand is. But, you must ask yourself this question, first. What, does DocHolliday have to gain, with this story?.........NOTHING.
I have just spent the better part of the last hour, typing this, and the previous post, when I hadn't logged in, in more than 3 years. WHY, would I take the time, to answer this stuff, in this manner, unless I was simply trying to put good info, out there, for those who wish to learn?

 

They WOULD be, if a CB had 55 channels. Those frequencies would equate to channels 51 (27.515) and 55 (27.555), if there were that many channels. They are currently assigned to either landline telephone wireless handsets, remote control for toys, or military use, if I remember right. Current CB channels, from channel 26, and up, coincide with the first two digits of their frequency, AFTER the decimal point. 27.265, is channel 26. 27.405, is channel 40, and so on. Prior to the expansion of the citizen's radio service, in the late 1970's, expanding Class D to above 27.255 (channel 23) only channels 20, 21, and 22, did similarly.
It is convoluted, how they arrived at what is, the channelized frequency spectrum, of the Class D Citizen's Radio Service, but needless to say, it starts at 26.965, and goes up, mostly, every 10 kilohertz, to 27.405. Between 3 and 4, 7 and 8, 11 and 12, 15 and 16, and 19 and 20, there is an extra 10khz gap. This has to do with the earliest remote controlled toys, and other technology, of the day.
you could get more detailed information, but I think that going beyond this, to anyone, but the most dedicated, of interested parties, is getting too technical.

 

I said AB2, and should have said AB. I am a bit mired in my old boatanchor, vacuum tube, radios!

 

Isn't that the truth. And especially when the federal government mandates CB is a local service, yet uses a band that is known for skywave propagation.

 

This is how good the sky wave probagation was cool history:

1942 During WW-II, Rommel's Afrika Corps used 27 MHz for short range tank communications. Confused SWL'ers (I believe in Virginia and Georgia) finally figured out what they were listening to. The US Gov't set up listening stations to relay the info back to Patton. Short range in a pig's eye!

 

That's probably the relay. It closes the circuit (to key the amp) when it senses current coming in from the radio.

 

I know old thread. Most people who spend thousands of dollars on radio equipment would be happy to talk 30 miles. Lots of people who have spent $0 have easily talked 30 miles to my receiver using a company paid radio in a brand new truck with Factory antennas. If 4 watts is such an inefficient means of communication why did it work so well for those people on the flat lands of the Mojave Desert and the Flatlands of Illinois and the Flatlands of Nebraska?
Ironically it's the people who are not trying to prove anything to anybody that happened to get the best performance.