classic cb radio

Posted on November 13, 2011 | 4 Comments

The classic look of a CB radio. I got to ride in a big-rig truck for a few hours the other day. Hey good buddy, lookin' for some (3-legged) beaver on I-77, 10-4! 😀

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4 responses to “classic cb radio”

slackwrdave | November 13, 2011 at 12:11 pm | Reply

Originally posted by 0x29a:

I'd thought about a linear amplifier

A "LEEN-yer"! That's how people around here pronounce it.The first CB my dad bought was a Radio Shack (Realistic) Mini 23 (23 channel before the band was expended).After I got my hands on it, there was no turning back. So many radios, mikes, wires, coax, antennas, tenna rotors, beams, ground planes, Shakespeare "Big Sticks".All that stuff and I never had a "leenyer." I did, however, always want one.
0x29a | November 13, 2011 at 12:11 pm | Reply

Yup, I have the same model. Mine's been "tuned" to put out about 35 watts. Not sure what to do with it now, though. I'd thought about a linear amplifier back in the day, but decided that I anyone I wanted to talk to didn't need to be so far away. 🙂
0x29a | November 13, 2011 at 12:11 pm | Reply

Originally posted by slackwrdave:

After I got my hands on it, there was no turning back. So many radios, mikes, wires, coax, antennas, tenna rotors, beams, ground planes, Shakespeare "Big Sticks".

Holy crap, Dave. What'd ya have the Big Stick connected to? How many watts were you pushing? Were you just running CB, or did you wander in to Ham territory?So many things to play with, and so little time.
slackwrdave | November 13, 2011 at 2:11 pm | Reply

Originally posted by 0x29a:

Were you just running CB, or did you wander in to Ham territory?

I got so enthusiastic for radio that I had to make a decision as to whether to start operating a CB in violation of the legal restrictions, which can be a quite fun activity, or to get a Ham license. Ham radio was enjoying a surge of popularity at the time due to the CB craze, so finding out how to make the jump was easy. I easily got a Novice license due to a course at a nearby community college. I then skipped the Technician and got a General class. After a few months, I upped it to Advanced. Advanced class no longer exists, but as long as I don't let it expire, I can keep it until I do. I never got the top dog, the Extra class. I felt the benefits were slim compared to the work involved to get it, and many of the "Extra" people I met had a sucky attitude, so I decided to stop at Advanced.The Shakespeare CB "Big Stick" ran extremely well on the lower end of the 10 meter Ham band. 10 meters was working fabulously at that time due to the solar cycle, and the contests on that band were fun as hell, all with an old CB antenna!To the chagrin of my parents, I covered the house and yard with tri-bander beams, quads and dipole antennas. They complained sometimes, but they realized that my excessive dedication to the hobby kept me totally out of trouble, so they let it go.For a high-schooler, I felt I did a lot of cool things. The Cold War was still roaring away, but I talked every day with people all over the USSR. We all got to know each other by first name and were more or less friends for a long time.I had a 2-meter portable rig in my car, and in the days before easy mobile phones were available, I could use the Ham rig to auto-patch into the phone system and make phone calls from my car, much to the envy of my friends.It was a great hobby for me for years, then I woke up one day and didn't want to do it anymore. I still keep the license current "just in case."I never had a linear. Hams just called them an "amplifier" so as not to sound like a CB'er, lol. My rig would put out about 100 watts, and I never went for more. I did sometimes use a club station that had a 2 kilowatt amp and a giant tower. We used to say we could light cigarettes in Asia with that station.