Simon
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| posted on 9/10/05 at 09:32 PM |
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CB Radio
Just wondering, as I used to have one in an old car, whether anyone still uses Citizen's Band radio (in a car, rather than base station)
ATB
Simon
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SixedUp
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| posted on 9/10/05 at 10:48 PM |
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CB seems to have pretty much died out, being replaced by PMR446, which seems to be gaining in popularity, more for communicating in convoys than a
general communications mechanism.
PMR446 are those cheap handheld walkie-talkies you can get in Argos et al for about £25 for a pair.
Cheers
Richard
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UncleFista
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| posted on 9/10/05 at 11:04 PM |
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I'm pretty sure the original CB radios are illegal to use now, they were superceded by a new band/frequency/whatever and no-one bought the new
ones[1]
[1]All barely-remembered hearsay and rumour 
Tony Bond / UncleFista
Love is like a snowmobile, speeding across the frozen tundra.
Which suddenly flips, pinning you underneath.
At night the ice-weasels come...
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derf
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| posted on 10/10/05 at 04:24 AM |
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Not sure about the uk, but here in the US CB's are making a comeback recently. My parents always had a CB in every car they owned, and when I
got my first car I bought one too. 10 years later I'm still entertained by it. It used to be only truckers, but over the past 2 years I find
more people using them.
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Chris_R
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| posted on 10/10/05 at 06:34 AM |
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I bought some of those argos things and on the whole I was quite impressed by them, the range is a bit poor but other than that they're not too
bad for your money. I like the idea of CB though.
A bit of slapstick never hurt anyone.
http://www.chris.renney.dsl.pipex.com/
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Kissy
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| posted on 10/10/05 at 07:18 AM |
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I was into it in the late seventies when it was the illegal 27MHz AM units. I had a 100w linear amp (std output was 4w IIRC) and a multi channel unit
(Upper and Lower sidebands). Use to cruise the Somerset lanes at night in my mates Frogeye Sprite with this setup. As soon as the legal FM came
along (very limited range) it died out. On AM it was possible to talk all over the world when weather conditions permitted and you had a decent
aerial+amp. When I look back we were a sad bunch!
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Russ-Turner
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| posted on 10/10/05 at 08:37 AM |
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I used to do a spot of C.B.ing when i was a kid. Everyone had them in the Midlands and we were entertined for hours. No-one uses them on the South
Coast though. I've still got it somewhere.
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Rob James
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| posted on 10/10/05 at 11:23 AM |
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just recently I found out from a current cb user the old AM rigs (like we all had in the 70s are now very,very illegal and use of them carries a very
big fine, the latest are FM and are just as powerfull same price as 70s £65 will get you started apparently cb is still allive and kicking with
truckers and farmers.....cheers 10-10
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Messenjah
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| posted on 10/10/05 at 01:35 PM |
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my dad seems to know a reason why they may be illegal
apparently if you turn them up really high it can interfere with the electronics inside fuel pumps and either makes the price go up really high at
which point you say to the guy in the station the meters not working i only put in £10 worth
or it puts it really low and you get £70 of petrol for say £5 
atleast thats what his dad used to do
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derf
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| posted on 10/10/05 at 02:03 PM |
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Best thing about the cb is that the truckers ahead of you are usually kind enough to let you know which mile marker the police are running a speed
trap from, makes it very easy to speed with out worries of getting a ticket. The police here arent nice enough to permanently mount a speed camera
that never moves, they just plop their cars down where ever they feel like it.
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Kissy
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| posted on 10/10/05 at 02:48 PM |
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My mates dad (not the frogeye-owning guy mentioned earlier) did r/c pylon racing with his expensive Weber engined models. On a maiden flight with his
latest creation a CB interfered and locked his controls - plane just flew into the blue yonder never to be seen again. AM was all to do with
allocations of frequencies. I remember that it used to bleed over amplifiers in adjacent cars, so whilst listening to your 8-track you could suddenly
be an unwitting eavesdropper in a CB conversation. As for power, yes AM and FM both transmitted at 4w, but AM made better use of it and would reach
much further.
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rick q
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| posted on 11/10/05 at 03:00 AM |
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Here in the Great South Land, I wouldn't travel without one.
Once you get used to the "colourful" language some of the truckies use, it's all good. Haven't been surprised by a radar,
mobile patrol or cop bike on the highway in the past 5 years.
Great in emergencies as well.
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wilkingj
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| posted on 11/10/05 at 09:58 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Kissy
On a maiden flight with his latest creation a CB interfered and locked his controls - plane just flew into the blue yonder never to be seen again. AM
was all to do with allocations of frequencies. As for power, yes AM and FM both transmitted at 4w, but AM made better use of it and would reach
much further.
Thats a bit strange, as the 4 spot frequencies used by R/C models are specifically removed from the old AM CB's at manufacture. If you look at
the frequecy chart the are stepped over and missed out. unless the radio had been seriously modified those channels could not be transmitted on.
Also Most Model Aircraft moved rapidly onto the 35mhz band.
The only reason AM "Went Further" was simply due to NO other countries used FM (just one or two others). Hence there was NO ONE to talk to
on FM in other countries. Its no more technical than that.
27mhz gives more miles per Watt than almost any other band in the whole radio spectrum, provided you are operating during the Sunspot High Activity
periods. This is a 11 Year cycle that occurs when the Solar activity on the Sun's surface sends out MORE Ionised particles that charge up the
earths atmosphere and the radio signals bounce off that ionised layer (the F Layer if you really want to know.)
AM and FM are Modulation modes and have nothing to do with Frequencies. You can transmit in different modes on the same freqencies (channels) but not
at the same time 
1. The point of a journey is not to arrive.
2. Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
Best Regards
Geoff
http://www.v8viento.co.uk
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OX
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| posted on 11/10/05 at 10:32 PM |
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hehe well thats that then 
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Jago Swizz
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| posted on 3/1/06 at 07:17 PM |
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So has anyone fitted one to their kitcar?
If yes, how did you go on getting a good groundplane for the antenna?
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MikeRJ
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| posted on 3/3/06 at 10:13 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by wilkingj
Thats a bit strange, as the 4 spot frequencies used by R/C models are specifically removed from the old AM CB's at manufacture. If you look at
the frequecy chart the are stepped over and missed out. unless the radio had been seriously modified those channels could not be transmitted
on.
All it takes is a badly filitered power amp ("burner" and probably a mismatched aerial and you are broadcasting enough harmonics to
interfere with everything around you.
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Peteff
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| posted on 3/3/06 at 11:45 PM |
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20+ years ago but
Next door used to have an illegal one and it used to switch over our television and come in over the stereo when we were playing tapes so I asked them
politely to stop using it.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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omega 24 v6
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| posted on 4/3/06 at 12:00 AM |
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Ahhh yes happy days Rubber duck and 1-9 for a copy etc.
I used to run them up and down Scotland in the early 80's and have been chased by the post office guys a couple of times.
A good time was had by us all if I remember. Anyways it's bedtime and working in the morning so 10 10 till I see you again
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Avoneer
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| posted on 4/3/06 at 12:09 AM |
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Side...
Pat...
No trees were killed in the sending of this message.
However a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
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Jago Swizz
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| posted on 26/3/06 at 11:28 PM |
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eerrrrmmmmm,,,,,,Side In???? cccccchhhhrrrkkkkksssshshhh
P.S: Robocog - bit the bullet and fitted it in the end - an earth to chassis gave a 1.1swr, eventually...
...as long as the aerial was mounted above the rollcage, mounting it below caused the needle to hit the stops!
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