Ham Radio and Schneider National

For years I was a hard core CBer; I would have all of my radios peaked, get the best power mikes, and always make sure that I had a linear that I could use when I needed it. For those of you who were like me, I just want to say that when you get you ham license and start participating in QSOs with other hams, you will start to see why HAMs have such a dim view of CBers. MOre than likely too, you will not being hanging on CB as much as you will on 2m or .70m Ham bands. With ham radio, you can boost the wattage that you feel comfortable with. Most hams try to use as little power as possible, which is very different from serious CBers who feel that they need to boost. Hams are careful to take to others and show respect. They dont whistle or have the stupid gimmicks like echo or play some type of sound when ever they key up. When ever I hear this stuff I get sick. Once you go ham, you will probubly not go back to CB. I still like CB but I can only take it for so long before I go back on 2 meters. CB is dead too, so for those of you who were like me, get your tech license and get a nice 2m rig.

 

I can appreciate this, but CB isn't a hobby for me like amateur radio is for you-It's a tool I use every day for my work. If it wasn't, I honestly probably wouldn't talk on any radio. I don't whistle or transmit anything besides my voice. My whole point in defending the CB community is that I bet that 90-95% of us only use the radio like I do, as a tool. I would bet that a large portion of the instigators in the CB community that irritate the hams are the hobby CB folks, not the truck drivers. If switching to ham was an option for me, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but it's the wrong tool for the job.

 

The truckers have always been very pragmatic on CB use. in fact, I can remember back in the 1970s that CB was fun because of the small community, which was sported by mostly truckers, that seem to know what they were doing. It was like their own little world. Im starting to see this happening again. But I cringe when I hear those echo mikes and rodger beeps out there that werent there in there in the past.

 

I hear the same thing about Ham radio....that it's dying off.

 

I don't think EITHER is dying off the bands are in the poorest condition since 1913 .... now when the skip come back watch how much will be out there..

 

Ham radio is alive and well and growing the only problem as said earlier is the bands are in bad shape with very little sun spot activity. I still manage to make 3 or 4 contacts a day on 20 and can still talk to my trucking freinds on 20 when we get the right conditions. At night i still check in on 75 meters into arkansas every night and texas as well so its not dead or sick it is getting better every day. I still run APRS and have friends and family keep track of me all over the us as i drive around doing my job. Check out map.findu.com/kd5drx-14 you will find out where i am and where i am going 24 hours a day and you will get hooked on Ham radio if you ever get close to an operator and see and hear how it works.

 

An old friend K1VBD used to drive a company truck over there he had problems with them also but he had been there for years so could get by with a few things other couldn't. He finaly quit but if you use ham sticks and quick disconects you should be able to run a bare foot radio and just take it loose when you go in for PM's

 

But where you HEAR that is from other CBers who really don't know the actual statistics and numbers. Amateur radio has not been "dying"; quite the contrary! It has remained just about steady or showing slight increase since the '50's. It is pretty proportional to the population. There are around 600,000 licensed hams in the US. I don't know the worldwide figure.
There is NO way to tell how many CBers there are since there are no license statistics anymore. We know that there once MILLIONS in the '70's when licenses were still required, AND it shrank when the fad (and it WAS a fad at the time) died. When cell phones, computers, email, fax printers, etc, came along, it died some more down to a hard-core of CBers who, perhaps, were CBers during that time, remained so, and, of course, the truckers who use it as a tool of the trade like I used to use a tape measure! And, of course, there are the "concrete" CBers, I call, 'em who are absolutely died-in-the-wool, stereotypical, will-break-the-law-and-absolutely-will-not-change, types that won't hesitate to turn all knobs to the right, run the biggest splattering amp they can, don't care who they stomp on, and dare anyone to do anything about it!!!! It is THESE people that cause the hams' derision of CB.

Like kd5drx said, ham radio is MUCH more civilized, MUCH more effective, and MUCH more FUN. Like some of you guys, *I* run a small 6 channel Realistic with which I LISTEN to find out which lane is blocked during "brake checks". Bruce says these are illegal (and they are..............BUT there is a caveat in the law) If you have OWNED a radio since before the law was enacted,and PLL was introduced for 40 channel radios, and you have the paperwork for it, it is legal. I bought mine on special in 1976, and it is STILL working!!!! I don't CARE to have the "biggest and baddest" CB on the block! I don't even WANT to hear CBers 15 miles away!

See? Not ALL Radio Shack stuff is "junk"!!!! SO, I use mine just to listen. It gets on my nerves pretty darn quick, so it gets cut off a LOT!!!! So I have BOTH; CB for traveling, ham radio (mobile & base) for FUN and company. I keep both "tools" separate. It works out very well!

GF

 

CB has died. Its been a bad death too. I remember the 1970s and it was becoming more popular every year. Now its hard to even find someone. Now compared to ham radio, ham radio is pretty stable. There are new people comming into it every year. They publish these statistics too so people can see them. There are a lot of older people in ham radio and many of them are dying off now. But the bands are full at 2m and 440. Once people get into ham radio they usually stay there for years. Compare that to most CBers who saw it as a fad (not truckers though).

 

*I* run a small 6 channel Realistic with which I LISTEN to find out which lane is blocked during "brake checks". Bruce says these are illegal (and they are..............BUT there is a caveat in the law) If you have OWNED a radio since before the law was enacted,and PLL was introduced for 40 channel radios, and you have the paperwork for it, it is legal. I bought mine on special in 1976, and it is STILL working!!!! I don't CARE to have the "biggest and baddest" CB on the block! I don't even WANT to hear CBers 15 miles away!

See? Not ALL Radio Shack stuff is "junk"!!!! SO, I use mine just to listen. It gets on my nerves pretty darn quick, so it gets cut off a LOT!!!! So I have BOTH; CB for traveling, ham radio (mobile & base) for FUN and company. I keep both "tools" separate. It works out very well!
Why is this considered illegal? I know that 23 channel models have more audio then the 40 channels. Is this the reason?