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Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB's?

Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s?

I've never seen that befor. Thanks for posting it. Now here's the big question, how meny people have gotten in trouble for useing a linear on 11 meter (CB) in say like the last 10 years ???? I know it was a issue durring the late 70's and early/mid 80's, but with so meny linears out there (Being used) and I never here about anyone getting cought. (Only people that you even hear talk about the FCC is the really paranoid guys that run big linears, but still haven't had a visit from any members of the FCC) Is that just a old law that isn't inforced anymore ???? There are lots of old laws that arn't inforced anylonger.
 
Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s?

They are enforced but not near as often as needed to actually do any good. The FCC really doesn't enforce the cb rules much anymore except for when several compaints come to them. It's sort of like speeding.... unless you are causing a problem and/or being totally out of control you normally don't have anything to worry about.

5-10mph over the speed limit is breaking the law. An officer is not very likely to pull you over for it unless he is actively looking to give out some tickets though. If you're going 40+mph over the speed limit and driving recklessly then even a cop eating a donut will probably hunt you down to stop you.

Same goes for the FCC and illegal radios/amps. If you have a radio that puts out more power than allowed etc and are not causing anyone problems and just going about your business then you probably won't have any problems with the FCC unless they are doing a rare "sting" operation. If you are being a royal pain in the ass to everyone within 30 miles of you on the radio with interferance or obscene language etc then you're much more likely to get a visit or letter from the feds.

The ARRL newsletter and several other ham news sites post information from the FCC regarding enforcement action against CB and HAM operators. A few people I know personally have had troubles with the FCC for illegal amplifiers etc but in most cases they were being real trouble makers or selling equipment and caught the attention of too many people that didn't like what was happening.
 
Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s?

Aw, I hear ya. Most people I know with the really big linears don't turn them on till late at night, or they don't have any close nieghbors. I know one guy running 200 watts, but he lives 15 miles from the nearest town out of in the midle the hills. I can hear him, but usely need my nieghbor with a beam to relay what I'm saying.
 
Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s?

Rebel pretty much said it.
If your not causing problems and becoming a "Public Nusence" then its not a problem. Again, they need probable cause to investigate, but I bet some of those smokeys in the back counties monitor CB and when they hear someone giving a Smokey Report as they're passing the Smokey and obliterating his CB...He would call that Probable Cause.

Just dont operate in the 10M band...Please! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s?

[ QUOTE ]
Just dont operate in the 10M band...Please

[/ QUOTE ]

/forums/images/graemlins/deal.gif ^^^^yeah, what he said.
 
Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s?

[ QUOTE ]
Just dont operate in the 10M band...Please!

[/ QUOTE ]If 27.575 is 10 meter, then I'm guilty of doing that, but only once in a blue moon. I'm on the lowerside or 27.385 99% of the time I'm on the radio. My radio is capible of going way above channel 40, and way below channel 1 of the CB freqs.
 
Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s?

28.000mhz is the bottom edge of the 10m band. 27.406-27.999mhz is the "freeband"
 
Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s?

[ QUOTE ]
28.000mhz is the bottom edge of the 10m band. 27.406-27.999mhz is the "freeband"

[/ QUOTE ] Okay, so I'm in the "Freeband" every once in a great while. What can you tell me about the "Freeband" ???
 
Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s?

Well most of the freeband is actually assigned to various groups. Part of it is government, broadcast uplink, bussiness etc but is seemingly never used by these groups.

The most popular frequency is 27.555 USB, This is the international calling frequency of the Alpha Tango group and many other people use it the same way. From what I've seen most of the USB frequencies are mostly people talking internationally while LSB seems to be mostly folks in the USA talking state to state or locally.

There is a ton of DX groups/clubs online that talk on the "freeband" all the time. The Alpha Tango (AT) group is probably the largest and most organized/formal. I'm in a group called Sierra Fox (SF). They have a club/group on Yahoo. My number is 2SF596 but I rarely talk with those guys anymore...I sold all of my amps a while back and being mobile with no power = not much skip talking.
 
Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s? *DELETED*

Post deleted by Z3PR
 
Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s?

http://coloradok5.com/photos/data/500/4825Communication_Station.JPG No linear on my little set up. I try too stay leejit with it as much as possible. I really need to get my 60 foot tower put up. As you can see http://coloradok5.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=5362&password=&sort=1&thecat= , my antenna isn't very high. Just found out yesterday that I've been bleeding over on my nieghbor's el cheepo cordless phone. Oh well, I'm getting a filter too see if that'll take care of the problem, and when the tower go's up, I'll be adding a ground plain kit.
 
Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s?

If your running legal power and have a relatively clean setup (good coax with good connectors and terminations, properly tuned antenna (2.0:1 or better SWR), cable routed down to the ground before going into the house, etc.) and your getting into your neighbors cordles phone its not your problem. If your neighbor turns his phone over and reads the FCC cert it will say "This device must accept interference caused to it from RF transmittier) or something to that effect. There are external phone filters your neighbor can install to try and correct the problem.

Getting your groundplane antenna up higher in the air will help too. I smoked an answering machine here running a Kilowatt on 10M CW with the antenna mounted on the roof. Im not kidding, the machine started making all kinds of weird noise then smoke came out of it. I opened it up and had tosted several resistors and inductors /forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif
Wife was pissed, so I installed a 30' tower and put beam antennas up and noooo problems /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s?

Well going by the pictures he's shown off he's not running legal power (not a KW but more than legal) but as long as the radio hasn't been butchered then it should be clean enough to be able to avoid pissing off neighbors.

A filter might help but before he spends the money on that it is more likely that his neighbor's interferance problem isn't caused as much by harmonics as it is it being a cheap POS and his antenna being so low and not having a ground kit.

Without some sort of decoupling the feedline from the antenna, it is sending RF down the coax and making interferance much more likely. A ground radial kit is a good way of solving the problem.



Man did this post get hijacked or what

/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
 
Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s?

[ QUOTE ]
Well going by the pictures he's shown off he's not running legal power (not a KW but more than legal) but as long as the radio hasn't been butchered then it should be clean enough to be able to avoid pissing off neighbors.

[/ QUOTE ] 10watts AM (Very rarely ever on AM) and 20watts on sideband (99% of the time I'm on sideband). My radio does have veritable power, I normally run it at 50%. I do think the problem is comming from my antenna being as low as it is, and my nieghbors buying cheap crap. I do have a 60 foot tower that needs too get put up. I also plan on adding a ground plain kit when the tower go's up.
 
Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s?

at the moment i own an OLD radio, it doesnt get much distance at all, 2-5 miles on a good day. i would like more distance but not like across the country, just within the state or states close to mine, 2-5 miles isnt even local, just vicinity. it sucks, unless i am traveling in the same direction at the same speed as someone i cant really talk to them much. going 70 downt he highway in opposite directions 2-5 miles goes REAL quick. i plan on getting a good radio when funds allow, would a linear be good for me, or is there a better way to gain some distance. also what are some good CB sites? thanks.....
 
Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s?

[ QUOTE ]
28.000mhz is the bottom edge of the 10m band. 27.406-27.999mhz is the "freeband"

[/ QUOTE ]
i'll be damned... somebody that knows what freeband is...
i have a midland 79-290 that is unlocked and roams infrequently into the freeband areas. i have tried to sell it a few times and got tired of explaining freeband to everyone. lately i have just been lurking around the 10M freqs to try and learn CW. i am going to try to take my tech class test next week and don't think i am capable of 5wpm yet. oh well...

oh, and sorry for the postwhoring. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s?

[ QUOTE ]
at the moment i own an OLD radio, it doesnt get much distance at all, 2-5 miles on a good day. i would like more distance but not like across the country, just within the state or states close to mine, 2-5 miles isnt even local, just vicinity. it sucks, unless i am traveling in the same direction at the same speed as someone i cant really talk to them much. going 70 downt he highway in opposite directions 2-5 miles goes REAL quick. i plan on getting a good radio when funds allow, would a linear be good for me, or is there a better way to gain some distance. also what are some good CB sites? thanks.....

[/ QUOTE ] What antenna are you useing ??? A good antenna will make a big difference. I personally like the 102" Stainless Steel whip, and the K40.
 
Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s?

Prerunner,
2-5 miles is about all you should expect from a cb especially during the day. That's all they were designed for anyway. You should get a little better range at night once the "skip" dies down or in a few years when the sun spot cycle goes into the low activity years. /forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif

That being said, yeah you can do a few things to improve your distance. A better antenna will help and so will extra power.
The extra power will only help you transmit though so unless the people you're talking to have at least as much as you then you are still limited by the distance you can hear them. An antenna will improve both transmit and receive.

Even with an amplifier you still won't be talking around the whole state or to neighboring states unless you live in RI or near a state line. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Your signal is still limited to basically line of sight. Without getting into a long explaination why... just know you won't be able to reach more than 20-30 miles locally no matter how much power you have.

With enough power and the right conditions you can talk much greater distances by "talking skip" which is normally about 500 or more miles. Anything less than 500 miles away takes some funky conditions that don't happen very often. Also know as "short skip".

Here's a few links about cb's you might find interesting...

Radiotech.org has quite a few radio related forums.
Pacetronics is also linked on radiotech.org and sells all sorts of radio equipment (including amps)
CB Radio Forum powered by 1 Stop Electronics
Panther Electronics also sells cb equipment and has a pretty active forum.
CBtricks.com has a lot of information on modifing/repairing radio equipment and also has a very active radio forum.
Bigfoot Radio gives paying CK5 members a 10% discount on all products.

Also a search on google will normally bring up several other good choices.

/forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s?

[ QUOTE ]
i have a midland 79-290 that is unlocked and roams infrequently into the freeband areas. i have tried to sell it a few times and got tired of explaining freeband to everyone.

[/ QUOTE ]

The 79-290 is a pretty nice little radio. A lot of features in a small package. If I were in the market for a radio I'd buy it for a spare, or toss it in my wife's car. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
Re: Can a guy still find wattage boosters for CB\'s?

its a lovely rig for the money i have in it. i am going to be using it in my S&R rig when it gets setup. that sandwiched between and icom 2100 and a uniden bct7 plus all the various switch panels should pretty well take up the console area. i have a laptop going above all of that for WX Sat Vision and gps mapping. need to find a new delorme setup to run it.
 
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