Re: Anyone use CB radio?
Hey guys, I'll let you in on a little secret-<br />Get an antenna that puts your signal on the horizon instead of up high in the air to "warm the clouds", and you will get out as well with 5 watts as you will with 100 watts with a lower gain whip antenna. No joke! And it will be legal, too. SSB will always be heard farther than AM, as most of you know. Better yet, it will cost same or less than an illegal amp, and it will vastly improve what you can hear, unlike the amp.<br /><br />I have somewhat routinely made contacts 80-100 miles away with my 2 watt hand held ham radio on 440 Mhz.(FM), a strictly line of sight frequency all because of a home made gain antenna. And boy do I hear better, and my neighbors have nothing to gripe about. Only thing is directional is a good bit harder when mobile, though longer whips are more efficient at keeping the signal down where it can get the job done than shorter whips.<br /><br />I'll throw out the invitation to you all that since you have the good sense and manners to get along on this fine forum: consider upgrading to ham radio. There is a whole big world of radio beyond CB, as I myself found out some years ago. I still know some fine folks who use CB- no problem there, but you have to put up with a lot of nonsense from the idiots out there. The Technician Amateur license is fairly easy to get nowadays. Just pass a couple little multiple guess tests and get your license. Radio Shack has study guides. The you can talk as far as you'd care to with others who for the most part will give you no static at all. The ham community is a pretty tight knit group of really decent folks, much like the gang here. <br /><br />Stu KD6NEM
Hey guys, I'll let you in on a little secret-<br />Get an antenna that puts your signal on the horizon instead of up high in the air to "warm the clouds", and you will get out as well with 5 watts as you will with 100 watts with a lower gain whip antenna. No joke! And it will be legal, too. SSB will always be heard farther than AM, as most of you know. Better yet, it will cost same or less than an illegal amp, and it will vastly improve what you can hear, unlike the amp.<br /><br />I have somewhat routinely made contacts 80-100 miles away with my 2 watt hand held ham radio on 440 Mhz.(FM), a strictly line of sight frequency all because of a home made gain antenna. And boy do I hear better, and my neighbors have nothing to gripe about. Only thing is directional is a good bit harder when mobile, though longer whips are more efficient at keeping the signal down where it can get the job done than shorter whips.<br /><br />I'll throw out the invitation to you all that since you have the good sense and manners to get along on this fine forum: consider upgrading to ham radio. There is a whole big world of radio beyond CB, as I myself found out some years ago. I still know some fine folks who use CB- no problem there, but you have to put up with a lot of nonsense from the idiots out there. The Technician Amateur license is fairly easy to get nowadays. Just pass a couple little multiple guess tests and get your license. Radio Shack has study guides. The you can talk as far as you'd care to with others who for the most part will give you no static at all. The ham community is a pretty tight knit group of really decent folks, much like the gang here. <br /><br />Stu KD6NEM
