CB POwer

[N4JNW]

I'll agree with what's being said again..

I am proud to be a ham, a General class at that, but, I don't look at myself any better than the next guy. I was a Tech once upon a time.. Heck, I wasn't even a ham at one point!

CB'ers are in the same pot. We are ALL radio operators. Just different frequencies. I still get on the CB alot... I mean, 10 meter DX is fun as whiz.. But, there's nothing, like the thrill of CB sideband. You look at your average CB'er as a toothless redneck.. That's an improvement from some of the hams I've seen at hamfests.

Honestly over the course of several years, I've noticed more courtesy, on CB than I have on some of the ham bands! When I want to talk to someone, I like the response, "Yeah, jump on in here!", other than "The frequency is in use..".. No sh*t.. I know the frequency is in use, I've been listening to you talk for the better part of 45 minutes... I like the laid back atmosphere of CB. Ham is fun, but I do like to step out of line occasionally, crank in a bit of echo, turn the carrier up to about 70 watts and rip!

Now, don't get me wrong QRP is FUN STUFF... But, as mentioned.. Power is life..

Truth is, on these ham forums that I won't mention, you mention "I'm a CB'er", you get bashed. I wonder.. How MANY of the hams there started in CB? How many still have a CB radio? Once upon a time.. CB was in the same bracket as ham radio. You had to have a liscence to talk on CB. You had to behave, and you couldn't run illegal power. Back then, the FCC DID care.. I've been told many stories about 2 black suit guys coming over for a visit, one going up the tower with a hacksaw, the other scooping up equipment right down to the coax connector.

I am saddened that enforcement has gone the way of the buffalo.. But, with CB's readily available, and modifications all over the internet, you can't really blame CB for going south.

I am a ham. I am a CB'er. I OWE my ham license to my CB days. Without the little Cobra 19, countless 29's I've owned, or the Uniden Grant that I cut my sideband teeth on, I would not be as knowlegeable about radio as I am now. I still have lots to learn, and I'm like a sponge. I love soaking up information about radio.

 

[Highlander_821]

Nice post, KG4LJF! There is nothing in this world as cool as running 11 meter SSB DX when the band is hopping. I too like the informal, freindly atmosphere.

 

[klogd]

I am sorry but I very much disagree with this, or at leat the part that about the export radio being of better quality then a stock certified 11m(CB) radio. Once you monkey with it, the quality drops! Also, if one takes the thing to someone who doesn't know what he/she is doing-well that's a few hundred down the drain.

"monkeying" with the radio is best left for the qualified technician.
Several of the vendors that sell these "10 meter amateur" transceivers, such as the connex, galaxy, ranger product lines do a good job of tuning them up. If i can drop a few names for example: DTB-radio, clays radio shop, sparkys cb shack, radio active radios. Agreed, there are "golden screwdrivers" out there that can mess up a radio badly. When tuned properly, they will outperform a CB radio on transmit and receive.

One last thing-REAL ham radios don't have echo, talk-back, or even ROBOT voice features. If one must use one of these for 10m, I suggest the old ranger line (RCI 2950 0r 2970) as these are made for 10m-Using a Galexy 99 or some such is just a waste of money.

100% agreement. The 2950 and 2970 are the most stable/clean SSB 10 meter transceivers of the bunch.

One of the biggest problems though with these "10 meter" transceivers used on CB is their band switch. The truckers leave them in one band setting for CH19 27.185, but two clicks up on the switch takes them to 28.085. I'm sure you all know this is in the CW portion of the band. Its under-used by CW hams, so some truckers think they can just talk there.

Off to class C amps:

This is dead wrong. A class C amplifier is non-linear. Only a linear amplifier can be used on AM (or SSB) without causing huge amounts of distortion. And it matters not whether it's mobile or not.

Its true, a class-C amplifier doesn't have much linearity. non the less, the class C units made by davemade, eastcoast, fatboy, etc. sound fine on AM CB if they're not overdriven. AM has a 3dB peak-to-average ratio. The transistors usually used in amplifiers of this type are the 2SC2879 for finals and sometimes 2SC2290 as a driver. The drawback of class C for this use is the third order intermodulation is worse, otherwise known as bleed-over. And i'm sure you know that CBers arent too concerned with bleed-over, but how bad it is depends on how hard its driven.
Also the second-order intermod is worse, causing harmonics (TVI) which is why these are for mobile use.
It is true that if an operator is concerned about transmitting a clean AM signal they should be using an AB biased amplifier thats not even close to being over driven, But this is AM CB i'm talking about. SSB is different, the peak-to-average ratio is much higher, AB bias is mandatory. non-the-less, some CBers think they can use class C on SSB.

 

[corbintechboy]

Good modulation is what makes you loud. A good, clean, solid carrier is what get's the job done on AM..

On SSB, Good modulation IS what get's the job done.

You got no thing if you aint got that swing. I used to have a base setup and had a D104 power mic. When I would use the stock mic to yell at far stations I was lucky to get out on a clear night around oh 20 miles or so, plug in the D104 and I could easily talk 40+. Where a decent carrier will get you some distance, I would rather have that nice forward swing.

 

[N4JNW]

You got no thing if you aint got that swing. I used to have a base setup and had a D104 power mic. When I would use the stock mic to yell at far stations I was lucky to get out on a clear night around oh 20 miles or so, plug in the D104 and I could easily talk 40+. Where a decent carrier will get you some distance, I would rather have that nice forward swing.

You got a good carrier if you ain't got that swing...

On sideband, you have NO carrier. You are upper or lower sideband only.

I will agree, some foward "swing" is good. It indicates power going foward. You're one of those guys who like to see your needle flop all over the place, and you think that means you have a powerful radio. What it's really doing, is "spurting" power, and 99% of those radios sound awful.

I'll put my little Uniden 510XL up against whatever you've got, any day of the week. You might out talk me, but I guarantee, I'll sound cleaner, crisper, and be able to be understood at the other end.

 

[W9GC]

I'll put my little Uniden 510XL up against whatever you've got, any day of the week.

Challenge accepted. :lol:

 

[corbintechboy]

You got a good carrier if you ain't got that swing...

On sideband, you have NO carrier. You are upper or lower sideband only.

I will agree, some foward "swing" is good. It indicates power going foward. You're one of those guys who like to see your needle flop all over the place, and you think that means you have a powerful radio. What it's really doing, is "spurting" power, and 99% of those radios sound awful.

I'll put my little Uniden 510XL up against whatever you've got, any day of the week. You might out talk me, but I guarantee, I'll sound cleaner, crisper, and be able to be understood at the other end.

You got me all wrong. I gave up the hobby because of these people keying 200 watts to talk to there neighbor. I don't have a radio now. But I did used to have a really nice uniden pc76xl that I would of gladly took you up on that. I used to be all about a good sounding radio, showed my neighbors howto install filters so I would not interfere with there televisions/radios (bought them to after all it was my fault). I was never into the game of who was louder, I was more about listening for the faint voice then catch a break and use my great modulation to get a reply from 40+ miles away.My radios sounded great and I promise that. I would rather deadkey a watt and swing 4 then deadkey 4 and swing .25. That was my style and it worked for many years when we had a local group of nice guys and gals that talked on the local channels (I even did some work for REACT back in the day). I will admit that sometimes we broke the rules but I never used a kicker or did we ever try to talk over the other person, now somewhere along the lines that respect has faded. Oh, well! I got other toys to tinker with!