Maximum Wattage?

[Hans]

Did you realize that post is 3 1/2 years old, and was in sarcastic jest?

 

[gman1971]

LOL, 1.5 kW?  hahaha, that's basically centimetre band radar!! just make sure you're several hundred feet under the antenna when you key that thing...  

 

3 1/2 years!! and counting... but... who is counting?

 

G.

[Mindmaster]

On 6/28/2017 at 3:11 PM, mainehazmt said:

But. Buttttt I'm a ham I'm allowed 1500 watts......

Bit of a necro, but specifically.. You are supposed to use the minimum power required to communicate as a ham. It's on the test, lol.

Seriously though, I can't imagine what you'd need 1500 watts for... Few of us have a 500+ foot antenna to stick our comms on to really get value.

[wayoverthere]

2 hours ago, Mindmaster said:

Bit of a necro, but specifically.. You are supposed to use the minimum power required to communicate as a ham. It's on the test, lol.

Seriously though, I can't imagine what you'd need 1500 watts for... Few of us have a 500+ foot antenna to stick our comms on to really get value.

how much power do you suppose they're running for these things?

 

[WRKC935]

6 hours ago, wayoverthere said:

how much power do you suppose they're running for these things?

 

30KW plus.

The actual setup for many of these is a special custom wound plate transformer that takes a very high amp alternator and connects the 3 phase output that is typically held to 50 or so volts and steps it up to a proper plate voltage for the tubes they are running. 

[n4gix]

CB idiots. I wouldn't want to be cooked by RF exposure!  

[Lscott]

9 hours ago, n4gix said:

CB idiots. I wouldn't want to be cooked by RF exposure!  

Yeah, and they can have an FCC engineer there using calibrated equipment to measure the RF field strength and determine who the winner is to receive the top prize of a $10,000 plus fine.

[SUPERG900]

"Officer, arrest that man for reckless redneckitude!"

[Hans]

47 minutes ago, SUPERG900 said:

"Officer, arrest that man for reckless redneckitude!"

If reckless redneckitude was a primary offense, I would be doing life by now.

[serrasalmus]

yep im in that category, of being locked up under the jail also....

[AdmiralCochrane]

Some CB'er drove by my house today yelling "Audio! Audio! Audio!" Came in clear on my stereo speakers

[Hans]

A few years ago, I moved to the inner city of my hometown after many years of farm life in the country. I saw these gigantic antennae with spiral bases on these cars and vans around the hood. Naive me got excited and asked if they were amateur operators, innocently hoping to strike up a conversation about their rigs. They got downright mean, vulgar, and in some cases threatening for simply asking that one question. After a while, I realized these were chowder-heads running high wattage on CB. Mornings and sometimes in the evenings, their ear raping interference comes through my computer speakers and my headset when playing video games. It is super annoying.
 
ETA: These guys know they are causing massive interference. They simply don't care for anyone but themselves.

[SUPERG900]

Quote

A few years ago, I moved to the inner city of my hometown after many years of farm life in the country. I saw these gigantic antennae with spiral bases on these cars and vans around the hood. Naive me got excited and asked if they were amateur operators, innocently hoping to strike up a conversation about their rigs. They got downright mean, vulgar, and in some cases threatening for simply asking that one question. After a while, I realized these were chowder-heads running high wattage on CB. Mornings and sometimes in the evenings, their ear raping interference comes through my computer speakers and my headset when playing video games. It is super annoying.
 
ETA: These guys know they are causing massive interference. They simply don't care for anyone but themselves.

"In the old days, we used to..." <insert your cb revenge story here>.

[Hans]

1 hour ago, SUPERG900 said:

"In the old days, we used to..." <insert your cb revenge story here>.

If I took that path in the city, I would spend all of my waking hours rampaging. The inner city is very annoying. Fortunately, I am easier going with age.

[Lscott]

Things on 11m started really going to crap when the FCC dropped the license requirements and effectively quit policing the band.

[Hans]

4 hours ago, Lscott said:

Things on 11m started really going to crap when the FCC dropped the license requirements and effectively quit policing the band.

Things certainly got worse but it was pretty wild when we had a license. Then again, I am no fan of Uncle Charlie. Funding and influence always corrupt regulatory agencies. It's unavoidable.

[Lscott]

15 hours ago, Hans said:

Things certainly got worse but it was pretty wild when we had a license. Then again, I am no fan of Uncle Charlie. Funding and influence always corrupt regulatory agencies. It's unavoidable.

Things got stupid because there was no accountability or meaningful enforcement action. 
 

Years ago I went round and round with a number of people on the “rec.radio.cb” news group. There was a hard core group who had no regard for FCC rules, couldn’t care less who was interfered with etc. Because of the lack of FCC licensing and no real enforcement they felt “entitled” to do whatever they wanted and had no fear of repercussions. A few of them were the most narcissistic people you would have the miss fortune to ever meet. 

[jwilkers]

A few years ago, I moved to the inner city of my hometown after many years of farm life in the country. I saw these gigantic antennae with spiral bases on these cars and vans around the hood. Naive me got excited and asked if they were amateur operators, innocently hoping to strike up a conversation about their rigs. They got downright mean, vulgar, and in some cases threatening for simply asking that one question. After a while, I realized these were chowder-heads running high wattage on CB. Mornings and sometimes in the evenings, their ear raping interference comes through my computer speakers and my headset when playing video games. It is super annoying.
 
ETA: These guys know they are causing massive interference. They simply don't care for anyone but themselves.

Yeah. Still at it. They run their overpowered inbred radios and make local communications impossible.

Sent from my SM-A125U using Tapatalk

[jwilkers]

Things got stupid because there was no accountability or meaningful enforcement action. 
 
Years ago I went round and round with a number of people on the “rec.radio.cb” news group. There was a hard core group who had no regard for FCC rules, couldn’t care less who was interfered with etc. Because of the lack of FCC licensing and no real enforcement they felt “entitled” to do whatever they wanted and had no fear of repercussions. A few of them were the most narcissistic people you would have the miss fortune to ever meet. 

Yeah. I was on that group too. Did the same.

Sent from my SM-A125U using Tapatalk

[pcradio]

On 10/30/2021 at 6:54 PM, Lscott said:

Things got stupid because there was no accountability or meaningful enforcement action. Years ago I went round and round with a number of people on the “rec.radio.cb” news group. There was a hard core group who had no regard for FCC rules, couldn’t care less who was interfered with etc. Because of the lack of FCC licensing and no real enforcement they felt “entitled” to do whatever they wanted and had no fear of repercussions. A few of them were the most narcissistic people you would have the miss fortune to ever meet. 

I remember CB, from the 90's. It was wild. I don't want that kind of behavior to move into GMRS. The amateur bands feels different, from self enforcement, not anything so much with what the FCC is actively doing. Maybe that is the secret. We can help keep things civil. I'm not into DMR yet, but I have the feeling that talkgroups will becoming chat rooms (voice, naturally). This will probably mean rooms for different purposes. Maybe wild rooms? Don't know.

Why does anyone get on the radio anyway? With GMRS, it is because you are with a small group, hiking or otherwise. With Ham, because you are coming home from work and want to chat, you are and older retiree and want to chat from a base station? I don't know why everyone does what they do. But with CB, it seemed about being crazy in public.

 

[MichaelLAX]

3 hours ago, pcradio said:

I'm not into DMR yet, but I have the feeling that talkgroups will becoming chat rooms (voice, naturally). This will probably mean rooms for different purposes. Maybe wild rooms? Don't know.

 

Brtandmeister's flavor of DMR mostly segregates the Talkgroups geographically, although some "idea defined" TGs are sprouting up, too!

Back in 2018 I purchased the cheapest DMR Ham HT available (less then $70), the Radioddity RD-5R, which is basically their GD-77 in a Baofeng format.  That way all of my Baofeng accessories work on it, including my higher capacity batteries.

I always intended to upgrade to a more expensive unit, but to this day, I am still happy with the RD-5R and now there is an "Open Firmware" project that started a year ago and it seems to give the unit more capability. 

[n4gix]

5 hours ago, pcradio said:

I remember CB, from the 90's.

Being an "old fart" I remember CB from the early 60's. It was wonderful. Folks were polite, everyone used their call signs, we formed local clubs and sponsored "Coffee Breaks" at the nearest Interstate Rest Area nearly every weekend during the summer and major holidays. REACT teams were a real thing then too.

About the same time the FCC eliminated licensing, it all went to shit and has only gotten worse ever since.

[Hans]

1 hour ago, n4gix said:

Being an "old fart" I remember CB from the early 60's. It was wonderful. Folks were polite, everyone used their call signs, we formed local clubs and sponsored "Coffee Breaks" at the nearest Interstate Rest Area nearly every weekend during the summer and major holidays. REACT teams were a real thing then too.

About the same time the FCC eliminated licensing, it all went to shit and has only gotten worse ever since.

In the 1970s in our city it wasn't so kosher; especially at night. It sounded similar to today but less impolite between individuals. Still there were a lot of shenanigans, keying over others, illegal wattage, sexual content, etc.

[mbrun]

Being an "old fart" I remember CB from the early 60's. It was wonderful. Folks were polite, everyone used their call signs, we formed local clubs and sponsored "Coffee Breaks" at the nearest Interstate Rest Area nearly every weekend during the summer and major holidays. REACT teams were a real thing then too.
About the same time the FCC eliminated licensing, it all went to shit and has only gotten worse ever since.

That is what I remember from my early years in CB too. Enjoyed the friendship, REACT and the community service side of it. Dropped it completely however in the early 80’s. Held on to the equipment for years (I don’t know why) and finally donated it to Good Will just a few years ago.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

[n4gix]

My fondest memories are of the really l o n g d i s t a n c e contacts I made using my 200 milliwatt handi-talkies to another young boy in California: from Ariington, Virginia to San Francisco, California! What a hoot that was back in 1958. Noise floor non-existent, skip propagation was King!