Cb band needs Upgrade

Sadly, you are probably right about that. I well remember the uproar over "Class E" CB and the hams of the day messing their undies. Years later, 220 MHz was (and still is) largely unused, mostly due to a dearth of affordable gear for that band. The FCC sold a big chunk of that spectrum to UPS to be developed into a system they would find useful for their business... only it never happened. Today, the hams are still short that chunk of spectrum, 220 is still under-utilized by hams, and that big chunk of confiscated spectrum is also largely unused. How much better for all it would have been if the hams had a grip on their greed in the 70's and Class E had become a reality.

 

The only 220 repeaters in ga are connected to 2m and 440 repeaters so they get activity.

 

That seems to be the case in many places, sorry to say. While I appreciate the idea of linking the 220 machines to 2m or 440 repeaters to create an illusion of activity on 220, to me in some ways this seems counter-productive.

Let's say you have a 2m (or 440 or a dual-band) radio and can hear that link and talk to anyone who happend to be on it via any of those bands. You are a party to any QSO in progress and there is no real need or justification for you to go out and blow money on a 220 radio.

Now, what if the 220 repeater is a stand-alone? You hear people talking about what a great time they are having on the 220 machine and you are curious. If this goes on for a few weeks or months and you can't hear or otherwise participate, you just might be inclined to buy yourself a mobile or ht so you can be a part of things.

I believe such would stimulate a market and demand for 220 gear. Right now, a company called Bridgecom (I believe) has just released an affordable 220MHz ht and they also offer a mobile. If enough demand for 220 gear were there, at a minimum, Bridgecom and Alinco will keep making radios for that band. If things get really good, we will hopefully see more gear churned out by more companies, including the big three.

 

Baofeng (some don't like the Chinese radios, I know) has a 220 dual band HT as well. Pretty affordable. I was thinking of getting one.

 

I

In have been thinking of adding that to mine. What kind of distance are you getting on AM & SSB? And what are you maxing out at? Thanks

 

If the Stryker SR-955HPC could do split frequencies I'd get one. It has an optional CTCSS module but without the ability to split frequencies (more so than what the clarifiers will do) I can't use it on 10 meter repeaters. So I'm looking at one of the yeticom radios that will cover 10, 11 and 12 meters.