There's been a nagging problem hanging around for a long time, DECADES in fact. It's manifested in numerous ways such as interference to consumer electronics (really the users of such), man-made interference on the Amateur bands, and perhaps the occasional blurring of the lines in the minds of the public between ham radio operators and CB'ers.
ave you seen the ads? Mostly on eBay, but they can be found in a lot of different places. I mean the ones where nefarious companies, past and present, domestic and abroad, produce power amplifiers solely for the "10 m band". Just for grins, go to eBay and do a search for amplifiers in the ham radio section. There you will find not only legitimate HF amplifiers but also a variety of scruffy, often banged up boxes with a variety of names. "Fire Bird Swinger", "YAK SHACK", "Stryker", "PRIDE", "SMOKIN 256", "SkyRanger", and my favorite: The "Bimbo 100 Biamplifier" (<no really, you can't make this stuff up!).
If you're old enough to remember when CB ["Children's Band"] radios were restricted to just 23 channels, then you know why many CB'ers never, well, grew up. The code; they never got past learning Morse Code, the gateway into Amateur Radio back in the day. In fact, I recall the code test being administered first before the written test, for Novice and General, 5 & 13 wpm, respectively). But I get it, not everyone is able to pick up the code, even extremely intelligent people I have encountered over the decades. I don't know what the "magic" is to learning the code, but as we all know the FCC finally dropped the code as a requirement to entering into Amateur Radio. But here we are many years after the fact and CB radio is still with us. Now there are many people who aren't particularly interested in radio and so they don't bother getting their ham license but still would like to have the convenience of having a two-way radio without going to all the trouble of getting licensed as Amateur radio requires or even for GRMS. That's fine, there are many individuals whose outdoor activities would be a good fit for two-way radios, on a rare occasion that they would need them. Yet, here we are still with either rusty bucket CB radio amplifiers, or even newer freshly-minted amplifiers made for CB radios.
We still have the element of those who are not willing to put in the effort to get licensed to use amplifiers with a radio legally. Is it simply an educational process that many of these people who risk huge fines are not aware that with a modicum amount of effort they can get licensed in the Amateur service, and do so much more without breaking the law? Or, is it that some people just look for ways to rebel, not wanting to comply with any requirements? One argument an associate of mine made some years ago was he didn't like the idea of having to answer to any government agency. And so he went about his way breaking this law and that law just to get on the air anyway he could, operating from the shadows. Whenever he had questions about antennas or technical issues he was encountering, he wouldn't hesitate to reach out to those of us he knew were licensed ham radio operators for advice. He and so many others like him still to this day believe the only way to be heard at any distance is to put an amplifier on their radio in order to be heard. The amplifiers are often poorly designed, constructed, and rarely with a single thought of being in compliance with FCC regulations. Do you realize that the maximum power allowed in CB radio is 4 watts? That's QRP! And yes, if you know how to work with it can be quite rewarding.
What can we do? I've often thought if I was a very wealthy person I would buy up every single one of these junk amplifiers I see on eBay for the sole purpose of getting them off the street. That however is a unrealistic expectation and I really don't have that kind of disposable income. Many of us got started in radio by first becoming CB'ers, yet once we were introduced to Ham radio, we freely left CB radio behind. So what can we do to improve the art, the practice of radio communications just this side of commercial or professional radio? As tempting as it is to mock those still languishing in CB while we stand in our lofty places having passed one or more licensing exams to get us into the Amateur service, perhaps we need to remember what it was like not to have all of the privileges we enjoy in the Amateur service. Even a Tech licensee has far greater operating privileges than a CB operator. Perhaps what we need to do, or keep doing is to befriend our CB radio friends and without mocking, without passing judgment on them, invite and encourage them to join our ranks. They don't have to get rid of their CB radio equipment. That will take care of itself. As long as we are good Elmer's demonstrating correct operating practices which means in part obeying the law, they too can achieve a sense of pride in obtaining their Amateur Radio license. In time, those CB radios in their cars, trucks, and man caves will be put on the shelf and eventually find their way to the curb just like 8-track tape stereos and 300 baud dial-up modems.
As I see it, we can continue to ignore the CB element, or we can buy up all of the CB junk including amplifiers that we come across, or we can help CB'ers realize that they really can get their ham licenses.
| KBKZ2105 | 2021-03-03 | |
|---|---|---|
| Re: House Cleaning? | ||
| Who wrote this? Reply to a comment by : KJ4DGE on 2021-01-30 I do not own any amplifier. Sometimes listening to the AM'ers on 80 meters I think it would be nice to have one though. Never hear any HAM's (that I can tell anyway) using cheap 10 meter amps on 10 meters or any other band. I do hear amateur extras using Ameriton or older amps sometimes bleeding 5kc on either side of a QSO I am having or trying to have with someone. They seem to think the bigger the signal gives them some right to interfere with others. You can try to tell them there is a net they are messing up and most of time they move down some more but sometimes they cuss you out and then make you a topic of conversation with their "friends". This is not about "amplifiers" its about being heard over and above what is needed to carry on a conversation. I recently talked to a nice fellow in Fla. He was running a hex beam and 1.3 Kilowatts into it. He stated I was S9 and sometimes 10 over at his QTH. I was running a Xiegu G90 at 20 watts into a homebrew vertical on 20 meters. I have been licensed almost 20 years and am a no-code general. I started out in radio on CB like so many others and only used 4 watt base stations. No desire to go back to that though. SO if you want to rant about CB that's fine but nobody will want to buy up amplifiers to solve a non problem that also exists with real licensed HAM's doing the same thing with real amplifiers on the ham bands, just turn the dial, life's too short. | ||
| KQ6IG | 2021-03-01 | |
|---|---|---|
| House Cleaning? | ||
| I think it's a mistake to assume people are operating the CB band because there is some impediment preventing them from becoming hams. In the past, I have tried to recruit people from CB to Ham Radio. I was told that they don't want to be hams. They want to be able to chit-chat without worrying about call signs and other restrictions. Plus, FCC enforcement these days is practically non-existent. You can watch people operating illegal gear on the CB band on youtube. They can do pretty much whatever they want without fear of the FCC. So, in their eyes, they have it pretty darn good. | ||
| LNXAUTHOR | 2021-02-25 | |
|---|---|---|
| House Cleaning? | ||
| my view is that the licensing is only a first, small hurdle... the real learning comes later on with age and experience... haven't seen the latest licensee stats, but if licensing and renewals start getting expensive there could be a lot more unlicensed operators | ||
| LNXAUTHOR | 2021-02-25 | |
|---|---|---|
| House Cleaning? | ||
| my view is that the licensing is only a first, small hurdle... the real learning comes later on with age and experience... haven't seen the latest licensee stats, but if licensing and renewals start getting expensive there could be a lot more unlicensed operators | ||
| K1FBI | 2021-02-22 | |
|---|---|---|
| House Cleaning? | ||
| I look at CB as the gateway drug to Amateur Radio. If we act as A-holes to those who already have an interest in radio, it will be hard to attract them to our side of the hobby. | ||
| AH7I | 2021-02-15 | |
|---|---|---|
| House Cleaning? | ||
| The REAL need for cleanup is RFI from consumer and telecom devices. 50+ years on the air and I've yet to be interfered with by a CB operator. I did meet Marlon Brando on 11 m. Talked to him on 10 as well. | ||
| AC9XH | 2021-02-15 | |
|---|---|---|
| Re: House Cleaning? | ||
| I personally think its a resident troll who; 1.wants you to think he hates no code licensees. 2.hates CBers but bashes hams 3. lists alot of amplifiers the poster "knows" which are primarily used in the CB circle. kinda makes you wonder if its some of the 80 meter offenders hey? personally I would go back to the wait requirements of upgrading. when i was a novice you had a certain time to upgrade, then if i remember correctly you had to hold a previous license for at least 2 years? before attempting to upgrade o Extra. Why? because the FCC, at the time wanted hams who could technically repair,modify and build their equipment and KNOW IF ITS LEGAL .PERIOD. the ham crams do nothing to teach troubleshooting and repair. This was what came from your fellow elmers. and if you were good at it you could become an elmer too.Remember the daily discussions on 2 meters locally with fellow hams on building,modifying,etc. WHETHER YOU ARE A CODE FREEK LIKE MYSELF OR A NO CODE LICENSEE, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO BUILD SEVERAL TYPES OF ANTENNAS,SIMPLE TRANSMITTERS,IDENTIFY MOST OFTHE COMPONENTS ON A CIRCUIT BOARD AND EXPLAIN WHAT IT DOES,EXPLAIN SSB,CW,FM,PROCEDURES AND DRAW OUT A SIMPLE CRYSTAL CONTROLLED TRANSMITTER AND EXPLAIN WHAT EACH COMPONENT DOES without,without running to the internet every 5 seconds for help.After all if you are aham radio operator, you should be very very knowledgable on radio fundamentals. Used to be when i took my extra, the written exam was a basis for getting ready for the commercial radio telephone license.Local radio shops and stores that repaired electronics equipment like tv,radio stereo,etc hired these guys. I was one of those guys. interview at one of the companies i went to work for,consisted of a written exam similar to the 2nd phone commercial license,then discussion of what you got right and what you missed.If you had a gift of gab,you didnt make it past the secretary. if you actually studied and experimented with electronics and could apply the fundamentals correctly when trying to solve their test problems, then you were hired if you could demostrate how to operate the ocilliscope,dvm,vtvm,esr meter,flyback tester, etc.If the poster knew anything at all about electronics, he wouldnt focus on no code licensees,or CB. Just the illegal rf amplifiers that are mistuned,built wrong and over driven by radios the operators really dont know anything about except crank the appliance with more power. Reply to a comment by : KB6QXM on 2021-02-03 How is it that when we reply to an article, the site shows our callsign, but we have no idea who wrote this article? Now to comment on the article and the author. Instead of getting triggered by all of the dirty "CB" amplifiers, why not focus on helping out THIS hobby. Instead of trying to convert CB radio operators to become Amateurs, how about assisting with the obvious issues with this hobby? CB radio and amateur radio will suffer the same fate. The hobby will grey out. In a recent eham survey, the average age of amateur radio operators that answered the survey were over the age of 66. Local ham clubs and the ARRL should doing a youth outreach. If there is no way to get the youth interested in the hobby, amateur radio and CB radio will die off when the baby boomers die off. Work to eliminate the strangle hold that HOAS and CC&Rs have in reference to antennas and towers in the majority of new housing complexes. No antennas, no amateur radio. Clean up the appearance of the majority of the websites that are dedicated to amateur radio. Most of them look like something out of the early days of the internet. Have the amateur radio sites have news feeds using phone apps, both Android and iphones. Post articles related to amateur radio on Social Media. The image of amateur radio is that it is an old person's hobby. I work in the Silicon Valley. I do not mention that I am an amateur radio operator, as that puts an automatic "old person" tag on you and the Silicon Valley does not like "old" workers. The license bar has been lowered with the dumbing down of the tests, publishing of the question pool and the elimination of the code tests, so now this just needs elmering on the part of the ham to the youth or others to help them get licensed and on the air. Direct them to virtual testing sites due to Covid. There used to be tower parties, but now that is a courtesy that is no longer done much with new hams. I do not know why the author of this article became so upset about CB radio amplifiers or CB radio in general. CB radio is dead for the most part with the advent of cell phones. My suggestion is to clean up and save this hobby instead of complaining about a something that is really a non-issue. | ||
| AC9XH | 2021-02-14 | |
|---|---|---|
| Re: House Cleaning? | ||
| I agree.Most who do this are deliberately trying to tear down this hobby.get it disbanded and no longer here.Why? dont know unless someone is paying them to do it.FCC knows every violator and does nothing but hand slaps. I would make it a felony. minimum 5 years prison or 150000 fines payable after trial and if they cant or wont pay ,prison.period.Why? if they are going to intentionally interfere with other hams just for the heck of it, just think what they will do to a legitimate distress call for help. Reply to a comment by : VE3TMT on 2021-02-07 Have you listened to some of the ops on 75 lately? I hear plenty more intelligent ops on 38 LSB. | ||
| AC9XH | 2021-02-14 | |
|---|---|---|
| Re: House Cleaning? | ||
| the poster forgets that you have interference from broadband over powerline, smart meters,outdoor bug killers, etc. Also the tv manufacturers are putting out junk. open one up and see if there is any filtering for rf interference. practically none at all. The poster also starts coming after hams in its post about remembering where we all came from. sounds like a wag the dog op. divide us by getting us to argue. Reply to a comment by : AC9XH on 2021-02-14 might be a fellow who cant understand the question pool and keeps failing the exams. I noticed his remarks in the beginning about unlicensed blah blah blah and then towards the end he quotes loftier licenses.hmmmm interesting he bashes CBers, but also bashes the licensed ham. definitely a troll. Reply to a comment by : AC9XH on 2021-02-14 I agree. Alot of inexperienced hams will buy cheap kits to get on the air and put out alot of harmonics and spurs. some of the kits being bought directly from the companies put out alot of slop.and the hams remarks whho bought the lovely overseas kit? ohhh the harmonics and spurs are in milliwatts.I contact other countries in milliwatts. As for the illegal amplifiers, if you can pick them up cheap , gut them for the parts or rebuild them or start boycotting ebay and others who sell these junk amps. Simple solution. As for the CBers, I hear them all the time on ch 19, and other channels. Its a freeband service and the FCC knows they all run skip,etc. I have found that some interference comes from our own community.Guys running a kw into a multiband that they "THINK" IS PROPERLY ASSEMBLED OR TUNED BECAUSE OF THE ATU IN THEIR RADIOS.And not fully understanding the concepts of impedance matching and fundamentals of an antenna itself. I have met some very intelligent CBers who operate ssb and legal power for their service.But they dont want the ham license.Some say that others look down on them and act better than them. the holier than thou attitude from some local hams who think they run the county just because they are ARES,etc scares off others who would like to shake a hand,drink some coffee and talk technical. try having a conversation county by county or state by state on 2 meters.2 meters used to be filled with repeaters you could talk to someone. Now try it with CB. you can get someone with it or contact truckers who use cb alot. and im not talking about internet based ham radio either Im cw guy myself but do venture into ssb,sstv,digital etc. I see alot of guys trying for a juicy dx station,Some bad apples will tune up on others,swish the dial back and forth while transmitting,repeatedly transmit on top of another ham to get them to move because they THINK THEY OWN THIS PARTICULAR FREQUENCY. EVER HEAR OF QSY ?Several hams do this unfortunely.They forget to read the FCC rules. Or a dx station is calling and they constantly call the dx station, interfering in his or her contact until the dx station either qrt or recognizes them.FT8, some tune on top of you interfering with your copy. they do this over and over until you move. Why? probably an inferiority complex. Most hams are honorable and straight forward, but unfortunately we have our bad apples.Some who cant stand the new hams who did not have to take the code. Personally its a hobby, and some of the dinosaurs need to get over it. This troll posting is interesting. complaining of amplifiers.sounds like the troll doesnt like no code hams.HEY BUDDY GET A LIFE AND MAYBE GO UP TO ONE OF THESE NEW NO CODE HAMS AND LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT DIGITAL, OR A NEW WAY TO BUILD AN ARDUINO BASED TRANSCEIVER AND PROGRAM IT TOO!!!!!. We all have our strengths and weaknesses .This is what makes this hobby GREAT. If everyone did what the dinosaurs wants us to do,we would all be extinct.!!! Maybe you can go to the next CB jamboree and meet some nice people, pass out flyers on ham radio,extend a friendly hand and share some coffee with them.as for the illegal amps, boycott ebay hurt them where it counts.But dont bash a group of radio ops who may not be the source of your interference while you are watching wheel of fortune. And to finalize, if it is a CB operator just talk to them and find out whats going on. remember, boycott ebay and others who push the junk amps. If the company is selling equipment that operates in the ham bands and is calling the radios CB,maybe some of you big dogs can bring up a lawsuit since the radios are infringing on alot of spectrum we hams use and incurring interference and are technically illegal for not being FCC certified. But dont bash other groups. Shame on the poster. what a whiney assed troll. sounds like his momma took his walkie talkies away when he was a itty bitty spark. NUFF SAID Reply to a comment by : KJ4DGE on 2021-01-30 I do not own any amplifier. Sometimes listening to the AM'ers on 80 meters I think it would be nice to have one though. Never hear any HAM's (that I can tell anyway) using cheap 10 meter amps on 10 meters or any other band. I do hear amateur extras using Ameriton or older amps sometimes bleeding 5kc on either side of a QSO I am having or trying to have with someone. They seem to think the bigger the signal gives them some right to interfere with others. You can try to tell them there is a net they are messing up and most of time they move down some more but sometimes they cuss you out and then make you a topic of conversation with their "friends". This is not about "amplifiers" its about being heard over and above what is needed to carry on a conversation. I recently talked to a nice fellow in Fla. He was running a hex beam and 1.3 Kilowatts into it. He stated I was S9 and sometimes 10 over at his QTH. I was running a Xiegu G90 at 20 watts into a homebrew vertical on 20 meters. I have been licensed almost 20 years and am a no-code general. I started out in radio on CB like so many others and only used 4 watt base stations. No desire to go back to that though. SO if you want to rant about CB that's fine but nobody will want to buy up amplifiers to solve a non problem that also exists with real licensed HAM's doing the same thing with real amplifiers on the ham bands, just turn the dial, life's too short. | ||
| AC9XH | 2021-02-14 | |
|---|---|---|
| Re: House Cleaning? | ||
| might be a fellow who cant understand the question pool and keeps failing the exams. I noticed his remarks in the beginning about unlicensed blah blah blah and then towards the end he quotes loftier licenses.hmmmm interesting he bashes CBers, but also bashes the licensed ham. definitely a troll. Reply to a comment by : AC9XH on 2021-02-14 I agree. Alot of inexperienced hams will buy cheap kits to get on the air and put out alot of harmonics and spurs. some of the kits being bought directly from the companies put out alot of slop.and the hams remarks whho bought the lovely overseas kit? ohhh the harmonics and spurs are in milliwatts.I contact other countries in milliwatts. As for the illegal amplifiers, if you can pick them up cheap , gut them for the parts or rebuild them or start boycotting ebay and others who sell these junk amps. Simple solution. As for the CBers, I hear them all the time on ch 19, and other channels. Its a freeband service and the FCC knows they all run skip,etc. I have found that some interference comes from our own community.Guys running a kw into a multiband that they "THINK" IS PROPERLY ASSEMBLED OR TUNED BECAUSE OF THE ATU IN THEIR RADIOS.And not fully understanding the concepts of impedance matching and fundamentals of an antenna itself. I have met some very intelligent CBers who operate ssb and legal power for their service.But they dont want the ham license.Some say that others look down on them and act better than them. the holier than thou attitude from some local hams who think they run the county just because they are ARES,etc scares off others who would like to shake a hand,drink some coffee and talk technical. try having a conversation county by county or state by state on 2 meters.2 meters used to be filled with repeaters you could talk to someone. Now try it with CB. you can get someone with it or contact truckers who use cb alot. and im not talking about internet based ham radio either Im cw guy myself but do venture into ssb,sstv,digital etc. I see alot of guys trying for a juicy dx station,Some bad apples will tune up on others,swish the dial back and forth while transmitting,repeatedly transmit on top of another ham to get them to move because they THINK THEY OWN THIS PARTICULAR FREQUENCY. EVER HEAR OF QSY ?Several hams do this unfortunely.They forget to read the FCC rules. Or a dx station is calling and they constantly call the dx station, interfering in his or her contact until the dx station either qrt or recognizes them.FT8, some tune on top of you interfering with your copy. they do this over and over until you move. Why? probably an inferiority complex. Most hams are honorable and straight forward, but unfortunately we have our bad apples.Some who cant stand the new hams who did not have to take the code. Personally its a hobby, and some of the dinosaurs need to get over it. This troll posting is interesting. complaining of amplifiers.sounds like the troll doesnt like no code hams.HEY BUDDY GET A LIFE AND MAYBE GO UP TO ONE OF THESE NEW NO CODE HAMS AND LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT DIGITAL, OR A NEW WAY TO BUILD AN ARDUINO BASED TRANSCEIVER AND PROGRAM IT TOO!!!!!. We all have our strengths and weaknesses .This is what makes this hobby GREAT. If everyone did what the dinosaurs wants us to do,we would all be extinct.!!! Maybe you can go to the next CB jamboree and meet some nice people, pass out flyers on ham radio,extend a friendly hand and share some coffee with them.as for the illegal amps, boycott ebay hurt them where it counts.But dont bash a group of radio ops who may not be the source of your interference while you are watching wheel of fortune. And to finalize, if it is a CB operator just talk to them and find out whats going on. remember, boycott ebay and others who push the junk amps. If the company is selling equipment that operates in the ham bands and is calling the radios CB,maybe some of you big dogs can bring up a lawsuit since the radios are infringing on alot of spectrum we hams use and incurring interference and are technically illegal for not being FCC certified. But dont bash other groups. Shame on the poster. what a whiney assed troll. sounds like his momma took his walkie talkies away when he was a itty bitty spark. NUFF SAID Reply to a comment by : KJ4DGE on 2021-01-30 I do not own any amplifier. Sometimes listening to the AM'ers on 80 meters I think it would be nice to have one though. Never hear any HAM's (that I can tell anyway) using cheap 10 meter amps on 10 meters or any other band. I do hear amateur extras using Ameriton or older amps sometimes bleeding 5kc on either side of a QSO I am having or trying to have with someone. They seem to think the bigger the signal gives them some right to interfere with others. You can try to tell them there is a net they are messing up and most of time they move down some more but sometimes they cuss you out and then make you a topic of conversation with their "friends". This is not about "amplifiers" its about being heard over and above what is needed to carry on a conversation. I recently talked to a nice fellow in Fla. He was running a hex beam and 1.3 Kilowatts into it. He stated I was S9 and sometimes 10 over at his QTH. I was running a Xiegu G90 at 20 watts into a homebrew vertical on 20 meters. I have been licensed almost 20 years and am a no-code general. I started out in radio on CB like so many others and only used 4 watt base stations. No desire to go back to that though. SO if you want to rant about CB that's fine but nobody will want to buy up amplifiers to solve a non problem that also exists with real licensed HAM's doing the same thing with real amplifiers on the ham bands, just turn the dial, life's too short. | ||
| AC9XH | 2021-02-14 | |
|---|---|---|
| Re: House Cleaning? | ||
| amen, I choose to run cw myself because I love the tones and knowing a language that the SPIES USE .How cool is that? I agree its not a team sport or hobby. each and everyone has and had their reasons to join this hobby.And I agree nothing we say on this forum will change the haters in this hobby. Reply to a comment by : N9AMI on 2021-02-12 CBers do not want to be on ham radio. They don't want to be under rules. Some hams use cb radio. I have and talk to the cbers locally on occasion so I know the views. Worrying about changing the minds of people who don't want a ham lisc is a waste of time. Worry about all this Chinese garbage people buy baufong radios etc. But cheap hams will always buy the cheap stuff. Its rather amazing the attitudes today with all the new extras the last 8-10 years. They know nothing technical, and just memorized the questions to pass. I blame the ARRL and the push for essentially more subscribers. Ham crams do nothing except to raise the numbers of hams and dumb down the pool of operators abilities to know electronic theory let alone proper operating. Ever been on FT8? Its QRM time. Nothing anyone says here will change a thing including these comments. So I choose to enjoy the hobby for me. This isn't a team sport or team hobby. When I loose the enjoyment factor of restoring and operating vintage rigs and playing with the newest tech I will close up the doors in the studio and move on. | ||
| AC9XH | 2021-02-14 | |
|---|---|---|
| Re: House Cleaning? | ||
| I agree. Alot of inexperienced hams will buy cheap kits to get on the air and put out alot of harmonics and spurs. some of the kits being bought directly from the companies put out alot of slop.and the hams remarks whho bought the lovely overseas kit? ohhh the harmonics and spurs are in milliwatts.I contact other countries in milliwatts. As for the illegal amplifiers, if you can pick them up cheap , gut them for the parts or rebuild them or start boycotting ebay and others who sell these junk amps. Simple solution. As for the CBers, I hear them all the time on ch 19, and other channels. Its a freeband service and the FCC knows they all run skip,etc. I have found that some interference comes from our own community.Guys running a kw into a multiband that they "THINK" IS PROPERLY ASSEMBLED OR TUNED BECAUSE OF THE ATU IN THEIR RADIOS.And not fully understanding the concepts of impedance matching and fundamentals of an antenna itself. I have met some very intelligent CBers who operate ssb and legal power for their service.But they dont want the ham license.Some say that others look down on them and act better than them. the holier than thou attitude from some local hams who think they run the county just because they are ARES,etc scares off others who would like to shake a hand,drink some coffee and talk technical. try having a conversation county by county or state by state on 2 meters.2 meters used to be filled with repeaters you could talk to someone. Now try it with CB. you can get someone with it or contact truckers who use cb alot. and im not talking about internet based ham radio either Im cw guy myself but do venture into ssb,sstv,digital etc. I see alot of guys trying for a juicy dx station,Some bad apples will tune up on others,swish the dial back and forth while transmitting,repeatedly transmit on top of another ham to get them to move because they THINK THEY OWN THIS PARTICULAR FREQUENCY. EVER HEAR OF QSY ?Several hams do this unfortunely.They forget to read the FCC rules. Or a dx station is calling and they constantly call the dx station, interfering in his or her contact until the dx station either qrt or recognizes them.FT8, some tune on top of you interfering with your copy. they do this over and over until you move. Why? probably an inferiority complex. Most hams are honorable and straight forward, but unfortunately we have our bad apples.Some who cant stand the new hams who did not have to take the code. Personally its a hobby, and some of the dinosaurs need to get over it. This troll posting is interesting. complaining of amplifiers.sounds like the troll doesnt like no code hams.HEY BUDDY GET A LIFE AND MAYBE GO UP TO ONE OF THESE NEW NO CODE HAMS AND LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT DIGITAL, OR A NEW WAY TO BUILD AN ARDUINO BASED TRANSCEIVER AND PROGRAM IT TOO!!!!!. We all have our strengths and weaknesses .This is what makes this hobby GREAT. If everyone did what the dinosaurs wants us to do,we would all be extinct.!!! Maybe you can go to the next CB jamboree and meet some nice people, pass out flyers on ham radio,extend a friendly hand and share some coffee with them.as for the illegal amps, boycott ebay hurt them where it counts.But dont bash a group of radio ops who may not be the source of your interference while you are watching wheel of fortune. And to finalize, if it is a CB operator just talk to them and find out whats going on. remember, boycott ebay and others who push the junk amps. If the company is selling equipment that operates in the ham bands and is calling the radios CB,maybe some of you big dogs can bring up a lawsuit since the radios are infringing on alot of spectrum we hams use and incurring interference and are technically illegal for not being FCC certified. But dont bash other groups. Shame on the poster. what a whiney assed troll. sounds like his momma took his walkie talkies away when he was a itty bitty spark. NUFF SAID Reply to a comment by : KJ4DGE on 2021-01-30 I do not own any amplifier. Sometimes listening to the AM'ers on 80 meters I think it would be nice to have one though. Never hear any HAM's (that I can tell anyway) using cheap 10 meter amps on 10 meters or any other band. I do hear amateur extras using Ameriton or older amps sometimes bleeding 5kc on either side of a QSO I am having or trying to have with someone. They seem to think the bigger the signal gives them some right to interfere with others. You can try to tell them there is a net they are messing up and most of time they move down some more but sometimes they cuss you out and then make you a topic of conversation with their "friends". This is not about "amplifiers" its about being heard over and above what is needed to carry on a conversation. I recently talked to a nice fellow in Fla. He was running a hex beam and 1.3 Kilowatts into it. He stated I was S9 and sometimes 10 over at his QTH. I was running a Xiegu G90 at 20 watts into a homebrew vertical on 20 meters. I have been licensed almost 20 years and am a no-code general. I started out in radio on CB like so many others and only used 4 watt base stations. No desire to go back to that though. SO if you want to rant about CB that's fine but nobody will want to buy up amplifiers to solve a non problem that also exists with real licensed HAM's doing the same thing with real amplifiers on the ham bands, just turn the dial, life's too short. | ||
| K4PIH | 2021-02-13 | |
|---|---|---|
| House Cleaning? | ||
| Wah Wah Wah, blame CB'ers for all the ham radio problems! Get a life! The days of CB and Smokey and the Bandit are over. This is just more pissing and moaning by a troll that likely doesn't have a amateur license or even own a radio, not even a Bofeng. Hey clown, if you really care about amateur radio you would do good to concentrate on amateur radio issues and quit blaming others for your problems. | ||
| KF0DQJ | 2021-02-12 | |
|---|---|---|
| House Cleaning? | ||
| I had a guy tell me that CB was like going to a rock concert and HAM Radio was like going to church. The more I hear from all the "Cliffys" with a LICENSE the more I think about that. Like our Pastor often says - ride your own ride. | ||
| N9AMI | 2021-02-12 | |
|---|---|---|
| House Cleaning? | ||
| CBers do not want to be on ham radio. They don't want to be under rules. Some hams use cb radio. I have and talk to the cbers locally on occasion so I know the views. Worrying about changing the minds of people who don't want a ham lisc is a waste of time. Worry about all this Chinese garbage people buy baufong radios etc. But cheap hams will always buy the cheap stuff. Its rather amazing the attitudes today with all the new extras the last 8-10 years. They know nothing technical, and just memorized the questions to pass. I blame the ARRL and the push for essentially more subscribers. Ham crams do nothing except to raise the numbers of hams and dumb down the pool of operators abilities to know electronic theory let alone proper operating. Ever been on FT8? Its QRM time. Nothing anyone says here will change a thing including these comments. So I choose to enjoy the hobby for me. This isn't a team sport or team hobby. When I loose the enjoyment factor of restoring and operating vintage rigs and playing with the newest tech I will close up the doors in the studio and move on. | ||
| K8QV | 2021-02-10 | |
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| House Cleaning? | ||
| There's a lot of competition, but "the Barney Fife Award goes to......." | ||
| NN2X | 2021-02-07 | |
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| House Cleaning? | ||
| Two Solutions 1. FCC...You can't clean up, unless you have a big stick. That does not exist today 2. When number 1 is strong, than it is Ham license itself must be hard to obtain..Not like today Not hard to get, easy to Obtain! My son (KI5FJE), who had no interest in Ham radio, passed over the weekend at age 12... It is to easy, memorize a pool of questions, and presto.. Easy to obtain, no risk to play by the rules = What you produce? 80 Meters...and so on... NN2X / Tom | ||
| VE3TMT | 2021-02-07 | |
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| House Cleaning? | ||
| Have you listened to some of the ops on 75 lately? I hear plenty more intelligent ops on 38 LSB. | ||
| K0UA | 2021-02-06 | |
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| Re: House Cleaning? | ||
| Are you sleepy? Perhaps you should go to bed earlier. Reply to a comment by : K8DO on 2021-02-06 (Yawn) Reply to a comment by : K0UA on 2021-02-05 Yeah. Makes you wonder which of our resident trolls wrote this article. They were so proud of it, they decided not to put their name to it. Reply to a comment by : W4AMP on 2021-02-04 Mega troll article by an anonymous source. Bless their heart. | ||
| K8DO | 2021-02-06 | |
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| Re: House Cleaning? | ||
| (Yawn) Reply to a comment by : K0UA on 2021-02-05 Yeah. Makes you wonder which of our resident trolls wrote this article. They were so proud of it, they decided not to put their name to it. Reply to a comment by : W4AMP on 2021-02-04 Mega troll article by an anonymous source. Bless their heart. | ||
| K0UA | 2021-02-05 | |
|---|---|---|
| Re: House Cleaning? | ||
| Yeah. Makes you wonder which of our resident trolls wrote this article. They were so proud of it, they decided not to put their name to it. Reply to a comment by : W4AMP on 2021-02-04 Mega troll article by an anonymous source. Bless their heart. | ||
| KD7YVV | 2021-02-04 | |
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| House Cleaning? | ||
| I saw on the Zed that Amazon is requiring companies to prove that their equipment has received FCC certification. That still won't stop Ebay or Craigslist listings. It is what it is. People want a cheap deal and will buy the stuff China sells. We don't manufacture in the USA like we did a couple of generations ago. It is what it is, want to clean up the bands? Don't buy the cheap stuff. | ||
| W4AMP | 2021-02-04 | |
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| House Cleaning? | ||
| Mega troll article by an anonymous source. Bless their heart. | ||
| KB6QXM | 2021-02-03 | |
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| House Cleaning? | ||
| How is it that when we reply to an article, the site shows our callsign, but we have no idea who wrote this article? Now to comment on the article and the author. Instead of getting triggered by all of the dirty "CB" amplifiers, why not focus on helping out THIS hobby. Instead of trying to convert CB radio operators to become Amateurs, how about assisting with the obvious issues with this hobby? CB radio and amateur radio will suffer the same fate. The hobby will grey out. In a recent eham survey, the average age of amateur radio operators that answered the survey were over the age of 66. Local ham clubs and the ARRL should doing a youth outreach. If there is no way to get the youth interested in the hobby, amateur radio and CB radio will die off when the baby boomers die off. Work to eliminate the strangle hold that HOAS and CC&Rs have in reference to antennas and towers in the majority of new housing complexes. No antennas, no amateur radio. Clean up the appearance of the majority of the websites that are dedicated to amateur radio. Most of them look like something out of the early days of the internet. Have the amateur radio sites have news feeds using phone apps, both Android and iphones. Post articles related to amateur radio on Social Media. The image of amateur radio is that it is an old person's hobby. I work in the Silicon Valley. I do not mention that I am an amateur radio operator, as that puts an automatic "old person" tag on you and the Silicon Valley does not like "old" workers. The license bar has been lowered with the dumbing down of the tests, publishing of the question pool and the elimination of the code tests, so now this just needs elmering on the part of the ham to the youth or others to help them get licensed and on the air. Direct them to virtual testing sites due to Covid. There used to be tower parties, but now that is a courtesy that is no longer done much with new hams. I do not know why the author of this article became so upset about CB radio amplifiers or CB radio in general. CB radio is dead for the most part with the advent of cell phones. My suggestion is to clean up and save this hobby instead of complaining about a something that is really a non-issue. | ||
| K1JRF | 2021-02-03 | |
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| Re: House Cleaning? | ||
| Checked and I don't think the fcc has anything to do with regulating social media stuff. Just not part of their mandate, those companies are not licensed by the fcc. So that being the case what are they doing? Is it that much work to run spectrum auctions? Hell for 1% I'll post them on my ebay store and get them done in 7 days and the fcc can go tackle 80 meters:) Ok back to reality. John Reply to a comment by : K6CRC on 2021-02-01 Some good points. First, how many care about CB or the bands? No overlap with Ham radio or any other service, at least in the US. And, there is that small possibility that a trucker can use CB to save someone' life where there isn't cell service, his rig doesn't have SatCom. And more likely, there aren't any other Hams monitoring even if he/she were licensed. Granted, the old CB amps are an issue if they are splattering like they use to. Were the bane of TV viewers and Cable companies for a long time. But, realistically, the days of CB is numbers, as some would say about Ham Radio. Cell phones for most people, SatCom and business cell for truckers. When the Internet Satellite constellations are all up, you have the broadband everywhere. Who need any radio then? Hobbyists like us mostly. Yes FCC should be on this CB thing. But, they are neck deep in FB/Social Media policing and managing the billions in Spectrum Auctions. A few loons with 500 watt CB rigs are 150db down for them. Hams are justifiably proud of their accomplishments. But likely the CBers just want to talk, not be enlightened technically. But, you are correct, a good example of professional attitude could add some to the ranks of our hobby. | ||
| K6CRC | 2021-02-01 | |
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| House Cleaning? | ||
| Some good points. First, how many care about CB or the bands? No overlap with Ham radio or any other service, at least in the US. And, there is that small possibility that a trucker can use CB to save someone' life where there isn't cell service, his rig doesn't have SatCom. And more likely, there aren't any other Hams monitoring even if he/she were licensed. Granted, the old CB amps are an issue if they are splattering like they use to. Were the bane of TV viewers and Cable companies for a long time. But, realistically, the days of CB is numbers, as some would say about Ham Radio. Cell phones for most people, SatCom and business cell for truckers. When the Internet Satellite constellations are all up, you have the broadband everywhere. Who need any radio then? Hobbyists like us mostly. Yes FCC should be on this CB thing. But, they are neck deep in FB/Social Media policing and managing the billions in Spectrum Auctions. A few loons with 500 watt CB rigs are 150db down for them. Hams are justifiably proud of their accomplishments. But likely the CBers just want to talk, not be enlightened technically. But, you are correct, a good example of professional attitude could add some to the ranks of our hobby. | ||
| W4HM | 2021-02-01 | |
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| House Cleaning? | ||
| Sounds like a solution looking for a problem. | ||
| W9YW | 2021-02-01 | |
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| House Cleaning? | ||
| This is an enforcement issue. When commercial interests are wounded as opposed to amateurs, the FCC might revive engineering overview and enforcement. Perhaps first they'll examine all of the LED, solar panel DC-DC converters, ad infinitum for THOSE problems, too. Not until the money bags scream, will there be any change. | ||
| K1JRF | 2021-01-31 | |
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| House Cleaning? | ||
| Well it's a noble idea I guess but K0UA covered it well. And I'd like to add 2 things. First if everyone got together to buy up all these things on eBay etc people would make and sell more wouldn't they? Second, I know it's a beat horse around here but wouldn't it be nice if we could clean up our own house such as stuff that goes on on 80m as an example. Short of license fees used for enforcement by the fcc I have zero ideas on that one and not much confidence that would work either. The horse is out of the barn me thinks. | ||
| KD7YVV | 2021-01-30 | |
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| House Cleaning? | ||
| Even today, you can hear CB'ers try to to call skip and running hundreds if not thousands of watts of power. The funny thing is you hear them overmodulating their audio, splattering adjacent channels only to forget about the "conversation" a couple of hours if even that later. I do remember the 23 channel days and my dad's old callsign KYH0398 where he would talk to me in Yonkers from Manhattan. In those days, there were actual conversations with people, talking about their day. People were courteous and respectful. When CB went to 40 channels, and the licenses went away, that's when things started to go downhill. I'd liks to see the FCC get back into real enforcement and make the fines stick, none of this "hardship and inability to pay" nonsense. To me, that's the root of the problem. How can someone spend thousands on radios and amplifiers and then not be able to pay a fine when they've done something against the rules and are caught? | ||
| K0UA | 2021-01-30 | |
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| House Cleaning? | ||
| Buying up amplifiers to solve a perceived problem makes just about as much sense as a gun "buyback" program. In other words no sense at all. Amplifiers don't break laws, neither do guns. They are both inanimate objects that will hurt no one without human intervention. Some people can never get past the idea that inanimate objects are neither good nor bad, only humans and the way they use inanimate objects are doing good things or bad things with them. Look to the humans, not to the objects folks. | ||
| KJ4DGE | 2021-01-30 | |
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| House Cleaning? | ||
| I do not own any amplifier. Sometimes listening to the AM'ers on 80 meters I think it would be nice to have one though. Never hear any HAM's (that I can tell anyway) using cheap 10 meter amps on 10 meters or any other band. I do hear amateur extras using Ameriton or older amps sometimes bleeding 5kc on either side of a QSO I am having or trying to have with someone. They seem to think the bigger the signal gives them some right to interfere with others. You can try to tell them there is a net they are messing up and most of time they move down some more but sometimes they cuss you out and then make you a topic of conversation with their "friends". This is not about "amplifiers" its about being heard over and above what is needed to carry on a conversation. I recently talked to a nice fellow in Fla. He was running a hex beam and 1.3 Kilowatts into it. He stated I was S9 and sometimes 10 over at his QTH. I was running a Xiegu G90 at 20 watts into a homebrew vertical on 20 meters. I have been licensed almost 20 years and am a no-code general. I started out in radio on CB like so many others and only used 4 watt base stations. No desire to go back to that though. SO if you want to rant about CB that's fine but nobody will want to buy up amplifiers to solve a non problem that also exists with real licensed HAM's doing the same thing with real amplifiers on the ham bands, just turn the dial, life's too short. | ||