Any channel plan for FM?

[K9KLC]

Nope, nothing at all on 25. If it makes you CB'ers feel better I just got yelled at on a ham repeater. I was using a DMR repeater on a talk group that had not made a peep all day. A friend of mine called me on it to test his radio and in less than 60 seconds Mr. Repeater Police started giving us a warning. And we wonder why ham radio is dying.

Warning for what exactly. I'm confused here.

 

[prcguy]

One way to push this forward is to have Congress mandate all CB radios be capable of AM, FM, and SSB after a certain date to be legally sold in the United States. Before everyone loses their heads, we did it with mandating UHF TV channels be added to television sets, we did it by mandating 40 channel CB radios and not 23 channels once the additional frequencies were approved, we did it with baby monitors and Part 15 walkie-talkies moving to 49 MHz, and we did it with the 1610-1700 kHz expanded band that was added to AM radio receivers once that proposal passed muster. There is always a transition period with any new or updated technology, but I'm not sure most manufacturers will sign on, nor will users voluntarily upgrade unless there is a legal nudge from Uncle Sam. After the initial faux hysteria it will become commonplace and no one will have an issue with it.

The gubament has their fingers in way too many things, why would you want them to dictate what features my CB must have? That's almost as bad as my guber-ner with his mandate that says I can't buy a gasoline powered vehicle after 2035 in my state.

 

[jhooten]

Were these all locals? If not, maybe 25 is becoming the nationwide FM channel? ......

Aside from one of the local guys when we first got the radios the closest was a little over 150 miles.

 

[slowmover]

One way to push this forward is to have Congress mandate all CB radios be capable of AM, FM, and SSB after a certain date to be legally sold in the United States. Before everyone loses their heads, we did it with mandating UHF TV channels be added to television sets, we did it by mandating 40 channel CB radios and not 23 channels once the additional frequencies were approved, we did it with baby monitors and Part 15 walkie-talkies moving to 49 MHz, and we did it with the 1610-1700 kHz expanded band that was added to AM radio receivers once that proposal passed muster. There is always a transition period with any new or updated technology, but I'm not sure most manufacturers will sign on, nor will users voluntarily upgrade unless there is a legal nudge from Uncle Sam. After the initial faux hysteria it will become commonplace and no one will have an issue with it.

Spec change a good idea.

SSB/FM makes sense for plenty of uses currently ignored

Doesn’t make old ones functionally obsolete, either.

The tiny version AM/FM/SSB almost upon us:
AQUARIO RP70 Mini

Not one I’ll recommend as there’s a limit involving usefulness & size. Also not cheap.

It’d be great to instead have a detachable faceplate type. Which the proposed change would foster.

.

 

[K9KLC]

Multiple people I know and talk to have used FM long before it was ok to do so and or may or may not have been in the actual CB band in this country. 26.805 has been used for along time now that I can recall on FM, and there were quite a few people on it even dating back some years ago now. Obviously we were using modified ham gear to get there. Given FM has been around a long time on the import type radios and so have amplifiers, a little power on FM beyond what the legal CB's provide is honestly great for local or even DX coms.

The scope of a lot of CB type conversations always seem to lean to the export type radios these days. Unless you're using them honestly on 10 (or 12 if it's included) meters they're just as illegal on CB as anything else is including the 100 (or in some cases 200) watt ham stuff.
What many of ham transceivers lacked was that stupidly loud audio on AM, and at that, many could be modified or properly adjusted to provide good AM Modulation, dating back to the tube type stuff.

If not, maybe 25 is becoming the nationwide FM channel?

This is interesting I've never honestly checked that exact frequency or at least not in a number of years. I'll stick that in my HF rig and see if it picks up stuff on occasion, that would be neat honestly.

 

[K6GBW]

Warning for what exactly. I'm confused here.

He admonished us for using an open system that has multiple linked repeaters. He suggested we could use a local talk group. Problem was we weren’t in range of the same repeater. That, and we were literally doing a test that took less than a minute. I’ll never understand these guys that hoard frequencies and build a huge system and then get upset when someone actually uses it. The whole idea just seems to go against the amateur ethos to me.

 

[K9KLC]

He admonished us for using an open system that has multiple linked repeaters. He suggested we could use a local talk group. Problem was we weren’t in range of the same repeater. That, and we were literally doing a test that took less than a minute. I’ll never understand these guys that hoard frequencies and build a huge system and then get upset when someone actually uses it. The whole idea just seems to go against the amateur ethos to me.

Agreed. Let's just put it up and let it sit there. I told people all the time in the late 90s, when I had my repeater system on the air, the greatest compliment you can give me is use the thing! It was a linked system, analog, all RF linked and I didn't care if they were talking from Joplin MO to up by Vandalia IL or using their stuff locally. It was all good. I didn't go thru all that effort to just have it sit there.

 

[K6GBW]

We live in the time of the radio 1%ers!

 

[W8UU]

Spec change a good idea.
SSB/FM makes sense for plenty of uses currently ignored.
Doesn’t make old ones functionally obsolete, either.

Exactly. What's out there now will not be obsolete. New all-mode CB radios just make sense now that it's not 1964 and we're not operating with front mount crystals for transmit and variable tuners for receive. This is unlikely to happen with today's deregulation-minded FCC, unless Motorola or another large corporate electronics manufacturer thought it would be a good idea. In that case, Congress would have a new law on their desks and an NRPM would be drafted before you could say Make CB Radio Great Again.

 

[ladn]

Calling out on 146.520 also got no response.

I'm surprised loud mouthed Orange County stations didn't get back to you.

 

[prcguy]

He admonished us for using an open system that has multiple linked repeaters. He suggested we could use a local talk group. Problem was we weren’t in range of the same repeater. That, and we were literally doing a test that took less than a minute. I’ll never understand these guys that hoard frequencies and build a huge system and then get upset when someone actually uses it. The whole idea just seems to go against the amateur ethos to me.

You wouldn't be talking about the Winsystem would you? At one time I could see six different repeaters key up on that massive bloated system covering the same area. What a horrible waste of repeater pairs where there is otherwise no way for anyone to get a repeater pair in So Cal. A long time ago it was an interesting system and seemed to work ok but now it only serves itself.

 

[KB4MSZ]

I hear FM conversations on 26.805 and 26.815 right now.

 

[K9KLC]

I hear FM conversations on 26.805 and 26.815 right now.

Actually, so do I.

 

[slowmover]

You wouldn't be talking about the Winsystem would you? At one time I could see six different repeaters key up on that massive bloated system covering the same area. What a horrible waste of repeater pairs where there is otherwise no way for anyone to get a repeater pair in So Cal. A long time ago it was an interesting system and seemed to work ok but now it only serves itself.

“Open the pod doors, HAL”

.

 

[K6GBW]

You wouldn't be talking about the Winsystem would you? At one time I could see six different repeaters key up on that massive bloated system covering the same area. What a horrible waste of repeater pairs where there is otherwise no way for anyone to get a repeater pair in So Cal. A long time ago it was an interesting system and seemed to work ok but now it only serves itself.

No, it was a DMR system. I avoid the Winsystem like I avoid Tattoine and Corisant.

 

[jhooten]

No, it was a DMR system. I avoid the Winsystem like I avoid Tattoine and Corisant.

Wasn't Corisant destroyed by the Empire?

 

[K6GBW]

Details man….details!

 

[wa8pyr]

Today I drove across Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. Just for laughs I had a CB running scan. Except for skip stations in Georgia and Texas I heard nothing, nada, zip, zilch.

On the way back I called out on multiple ham repeaters and also got no response. Calling out on 146.520 also got no response. I'm starting to feel like this whole radio thing is a lost cause! I mean seriously, if you can't find one single swinging Johnson on radio in a county of 10 million people I just don't know where you can!

Black Friday? Good luck. Everybody was too busy shopping. Gotta buy that crap from China as fast as they can....

 

[CAvoyager1960]

I mostly use SSB, some AM (simple base station) I was curious so I read the thread. Maybe it's just my situation but FM is super noisy for me (maybe something in the building?)

 

[K6GBW]

FM should be quiet compared to AM and SSB. Not sure what you could be hearing. Honestly the CB service would have just been better to make it SSB only and call it good. You get the most power out and best range with it. Having competing modes on only 40 channels is gonna create a mess. Oh wait...CB's already a mess so I guess it doesn't really matter.