Shoot Skip

I was told once that the FCC did consider switching the operating mode of CB to FM but decided agaist it for the same reason AM is used in the commercial aeronautical band.This reason is....? Anyone know???.(I'm sure Bruce will answer)

 

YES FM IS TOO WIDE BAND ...... at least in 1976 .....

But sadly is just what would work well moble IF I was to rewrite FCC rules when switching from 23 to 40 I would have made the 17 new channels either FM or gone to SSB only and used the 5 class c ones for FM only ...

But I'm shure the 25 users nation wide of class C CB would have put up a stink .....

Today we have digital modes like PSK-31 why are they not legal ???? and why does the 5 RC/Class C channels sit there when they would TODAY be a good spot to allow either PAK-312 or even very narrow band FM .....

Just my opinion

Bruce

 

I said "IS" because it IS. AM/FM use different frequencies normally but its not because of the mode of transmission.

 

are you talking about 27 MHZ RC channels? Those are WIDELY used.... hell, i still have some RC equipment from when i played with the adult RC cars (3cc nitro engines that can do 70+ mph...., electric motors that can do 25+ MPH...), mine is 75 MHZ FM and PCM (a digital mode iirc). 27mhz sucks for RC because of CB basically...hahaha)

Honestly, look at how CB is these days. The people that are on it are mostly truckers who dont have a clue how it works, or *care* how it works, etc. The general public doesnt use it except in "redneck" areas, and look at the way most people look at "rednecks" and "truckers". I wish the general public would get back into CB. Most people think its useless and think that we dont need it with the internet and cell phones. I happen to be very interested in radio communications and am infact pursuing a HAM license.

Also, CB is intended for very short range use and attempted communications beyond 150 air miles distance is illegal. The OP on this post is doing something illegal. AM is cheap and works pretty good for very short range communications.

Also, channel 19 (or the equivalent) will always be a very, very "dirty" frequency. No matter what mode or frequency its on, it'll be that way because its being used by thousands of people at the very same second, because of its short range intended use. Someone talking on it from very far away might not be hearable as a voice but it can be hearable as interference. Thats what happens when the general public is allowed to use such a very small bandwidth. Everyones on the same frequencies talking to eachother

And all those morons with big radios really ought to check how much interference they're causing. I've seen people block channel 1 through 15 in michigan from using thousands of watts on channel 6 in TEXAS. Not even skip. Just blasting it through with ridiculous amounts of power. And those morons dont even use it to talk. They just sit there being obnoxious ####heads with it. And they think its cool that they're blocking almost half of the CB band. I imagine they're blocking channels under 1 too, but I didn't have the radio i have now back then.

Anyone who has a CB that can get on other frequencies can tell you how much cleaner the background noise is on other frequencies. About 40 channels below and 40 channels above it, the background static clears up. I havent found anyone to talk to over there to find out though. My radio can get on 10 meter but not the channels that are commonly used.


Honestly i think the more intelligent of us (everyone on this thread that knows what theyre doing, and the rest just need to learn more about it first) should move to 10 meter or even another band (after getting licensed) We should establish a highway channel just like channel 19. We should conveniently not tell the idiots about this. I'm planning on converting my galaxy 99 back to a 10 meter radio (not much to it) and de-tune it to proper settings (its probably way overmodulated, etc). 10 meter also uses very similar antenna tuning.

 

Well you also have to remember at one time back in the 1970's almost everyone had a CB and one of the issues that stemmed from it was with everyone trying to use it at one time, it was noisy as hell. I believe that's the reason CB use by those not in the trucking industry began to decline in the 1980's.

While this is true, you also cannot dictate what mother nature is going to do. Therefore it might be illegal to shoot skip if it's more than 150 miles, but IMO that's no reason to say "Where ya from?...Oh wait you're over 150 miles away? OOPS you're too far away...I can't talk to you no more then!"

Also AM is more prone to interference noise than FM is. That's why I wished CB would be on FM as opposed to AM.

Yep...and there's 40 channels to use too.....most of the other 39 I've found to be less noisy than channel 19.

Those "morons" also usually have a ton of amps too. That's where all the power and interference come from. It's not so much the radio, though a maladjusted radio can cause issues too.

I've yet to wonder off into that band. Learn something new.

That's why some are going ham. Get an entry level techs license and you can run on 2 meter and 6 meters and even 70 centimeters as well as a small segment of the 10 meter band. I'm pretty sure those bands run on FM which is probably going to be more clear and cleaner than the AM CB radio. Eventually I'm going to test for my tech license.

 

Lastest state on 2 meters

 

Yeap, stay away from the RC channels, especially the air based channels. You could kill someone if you get on one of them and interfer with some of these RC aircraft. I fly RC regularly and have seen what these planes can do when they get interfered with.

 

RAT .......

Bombs away .....

I ran a 6 meter repeater back in the 70's and the RC boys decided to use ( illegaly ) the 52 mhz band. Your right CB is bad enough and CBers need to watch out for RC aircraft but 52 mhz ia a really bad spot to fly your plane ......

We could hera the buzz-zap control signals on our repeater input and tracked them down to a field about 2 miles from the repeater site.
After talking to the UNLICENSED users we decided to get our point across by using our 100 watt 6 meter FM radios while they tried to fly and it worked very well 100 miliwatts vers 100 watts guss who won ....

They got the hint ......

 

Yes you can,you just have to be in the right place at the right time to do it. You also need the very best antenna and coax set up,with a low SWR and you would be shocked to see how far you can be heard. You would also need to be on a relativity clear channel because if you on say...ch 28 with a lot of guys running power you will have a problem being heard.

I have been out west high in the mountains or out in the flat lands and talked all over the U.S using just a barefoot export radio so it can be done.Even got my named called on ch 6 when the boys were at it hot a heavy using a Galaxy 48T so you dont need a helluva alot of power to talk skip. You just need too be in the right place,have your antenna and coax set correctly with a high quality antenna like a predator 10K and no matter if your using a 20 watt cobra 29 or a 50 watt Galaxy you may be surprised how far you can talk.

Your antenna and coax is way more important than the amount of power you have. Good coax and antenna can make a $10 radio sound like a $500 export and cheap coax and antenna will make that $500 radio sound like a $10 piece of crap! These guys that think power along is all you need to get out and it doesn't matter what kind of antenna or coax you use are missing out and wasting there money on that big amp or radio,power along will not do it,you have to have to total package if you want to talk or you will sound just like every other wanna be big radio. Sounds like a big dog in the truck stop but 5 miles down the road they don't even make the needle twitch!


On and if you really want to talk DX then get your self a RCI 2950DX,make sure if has been set up with SSB performance in mind and you can talk all over the world,you cant do that on AM unless you have a #### load of power!

 

As stated earlier in the thread: