Shoot Skip

I'll be honest with you, after 30 years of playing CB radio, I have been amazed myself at what can be done with a stock radio when the planets align properly. after all that time of the few past decades, I just last week was able to make the trip from here in Southern Maryland to California. I thought Arkansas was a long trip. I was using a Texas Star DX250 at the time of the DX contact, but, I also am only using a Cobra 148GTL with a 102" fiberglass whip that's about 11 years old, so my power inclusion makes up for my antenna shortcomings, but, the point is when the conditions are right, you don't need much to make it happen. I do operate a cb repair business, but, I also know I am a "mud-duck", however, I have proven my set up to be as good as anything else over the years.

 

Thats funny, never could work skip with my handheld with a rubberducky

 

I have costa rica on 10 ssb with a 4 watt ht and rubber ducky. Also work skip on 6 fm with a ch-50 ht and rubber ducky

 

SSB is closely related to AM.The easiest way to understand it is when you switch from AM to USB you are only using the top half of the channel without a carrier and LSB uses the bottom half of the channel without a carrier.It is more technical than that but it will give you a general idea of what is happening.CB signals will skip using any mode.

 

Nope. SSB is just an alternate mode of operation from the AM band. It is however a more efficient mode of operation of the AM band.

In other words when you use SSB, you're still on the AM bands but since SSB does not use a carrier like AM does, you are not wasting power in the carrier and therefore it allows you to be able to talk further on SSB than you could on AM.

FM mode is completely different mode altogether and is typically used by ametuer radio from what I understand.

 

its still am just uses half the channel more efficiently.

Actually FM is on the exact same frequencies you'd run AM on. I have an FM CB radio. However, it is an illegally modified amatuer 10m radio tahts been recalibrated to have CB frequencies centered (it gets about 500 channels anyway) That aspect seems to just be more useless knobs though. No one ever talks on that crap.

 

FM CAN BE ...... on the same channels

Ther problem with FM is the MODE is illegal on CB but it's a good mode.
FM SHOULD have been legalize when the change to 40 ch happened since it could have been restricted to the unused RC ( CLASS C ) channels as a so called sknney band FM mode and fit in the 10 khz spaces just fine ....

Same goes today for digital someone needs to propose this to the FCC ....

The 10 meter FM frequencies are 29.600 simplex and 29.620, 29.640, 29.660 and 29,680 mhz for repeaters and when 10 is open you can hear them world wide.

 

Right. You could be on channel 19 which is 27.185 mHz and be on FM, AM, LSB or even USB and you're still on 27.185 mHz...just that the FM/AM/LSB/USB dictates what mode you're going to TX/RX on.

Although if you're a licensed ham and your radio isn't set to work on the CB band you could use an export on the 10 meter area that you're licensed to use....just that you probably wouldn't find too many hams using an actual export radio.

 

Good idea. I would think an FM CB radio would be far better than an AM one. Makes me wonder why didn't the FCC think of this one.