CB Radio

Discussion in 'Functional Gear & Equipment' started by Wizbit7, Oct 8, 2016.


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  1. Wizbit7

    Wizbit7 Monkey

    Has or does anyone store a handheld cb radio with their emergency items
     
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  2. Ura-Ki

    Ura-Ki Grampa Monkey

    I do as part of me emergency preps. I keep one in my trucks and one in my Sno-Cat. Coms get a little iffy in my A.O. so any thing I can add increases my chances. I do keep a small handheld Cobra in my Bob/GHB as well, in case I have to leave my rig and go on foot! Mine are all tweeked and peaked for long range/bad weather use, and I adapted it for Lipo Batteries and a small solar charger! Total weight is 3 pounds!
     
  3. T. Riley

    T. Riley Monkey+++

    I have an auto and hand held models just to cover all the bases.
     
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  4. Altoidfishfins

    Altoidfishfins Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    I have one that I purchased years ago. Seldom use it. HAM radio is superior
     
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  5. techsar

    techsar Monkey+++

    Yes, but I try not to use it. Don't need to pick up bad habits ;)
     
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  6. William Warren

    William Warren Monkey+++

    I have a kit-type "Emergency" CB set in the trunk of my car, but it's too heavy for an emergency bag. The kit has battery leads, two antennas, and a smaller portable CB transceiver.
     
  7. T. Riley

    T. Riley Monkey+++

    I have Ham, shortwave, and marine as well. But I foresee the need for short range communications, to be able to talk to someone on my 47 acres without everyone in town listening. Cheap two way walkie talkies with a 1/4 mile range seem like a good option. CB's with their limited range fits in there somewhere. Thinking about using a marine port band for local communications. As I am a long way from any large body of water, won't be too many people monitoring these frequencies IMO.
     
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  8. stg58

    stg58 Monkey+++ Founding Member

    Last edited: Oct 9, 2016
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  9. Tevin

    Tevin Monkey+++

    Absolutely! I have about half dozen CBs on the shelf, with simple home brew dipole antennas for each one. I pick them up at swap meets for five or ten bucks each, clean them up, test them, then wrap them in plastic for storage.

    I do not want them for my own use. They are intended as giveaway items for when SHTF. I have a ton of my own ham radio gear. CB does not offer me anything that I can't do better with my ham stuff.

    My plan is to give away complete CB stations in SHTF, thereby discouraging the horde from drifting onto the ham bands. It also makes it easy for me to collect intelligence by listening in.
     
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  10. Motomom34

    Motomom34 Monkey+++

    We have two. And I planned to used them in vehicles if needed. But I really like @Tevin's idea of giving them away. I have seen them really cheap at yard sales. Good idea
     
  11. Homer Simpson

    Homer Simpson Monkey+++

    I have several Uniden handheld CB radios as preps. I an not the biggest fan of those particular radios as they eat batteries and have no 12v input jack. I will however press them in to service as needed to supplement the mobile and base station radios. I do find the handhelds great for listening and of limited use transmitting due to range with such a small antena. I would depend on a mobile with a gell cell and a dipole mainly for most of the handheld uses. Another thing I dont like about the Uniden radios I have is the lack of mods that can be done. WSHTF I plan to "freeband" my Galaxy radios, but not before SHTF.

    I find it interesting a ham is talking about illegally modding a 10 meter radio to 11 meters.

    I can see where ham can have its place, but the cost vs benefit vs 11 meters is just not there for me. I can talk 10 to 30 miles mobile to mobile with legal stock radios most days, more on ssb, so it fills my need. WSHF, I will break out a receiver to LISTEN to ham, but I see no need to talk.

    That is my plan, not for everybody, but it works for me.
     
    Last edited: Oct 9, 2016
  12. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    IMG_0003.JPG IMG_0004.JPG I just mounted my Kenwood TS-480 HF Ham Radio in our NEW to US, White Toyota 4X4 Pickup Truck.... The only antenna I could come up with, for mobile Ops, in a hurry, was a MONSTER CB 1.5Kw Trucker Antenna... (pictures at 11pm, and AlaskaChick had a fit). We used it on CB Ch19 all the way home from Utah... Was nice to keep up on what was happening in front of us, and we unjoyed the banter with the Truckers, when they noticed the Monster Antenna, go by on our little Truck...

    CB is fine for such Comms, but we would not "Put all our Comm Eggs in that one Basket"... We also have the TM-D710a mounted in the truck, and as a Dual Band VHF/UHF Radio it gives us Ham, Public Safety, EMS, MURS, FRS/GMRS, and Marine, plus Aircraft RX, all in one Box. The two TH-D72a Handhelds basically duplicate the 710a for Portable use and are in the Truck when we travel.

    I also pack a pair of the SECURE PHONES, for local Encrypted Comms (MonkeyNet) should that be needed, as they are small and fit in the BOB. @T. Riley...You might look into these for your Short Range SECURE Comms needs.

    IMG_0005.JPG
     
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  13. arleigh

    arleigh Goophy monkey

    I have severe of the whole range of radio communications but the are al being put away in faraday cages for preservation .Important to note , maintain the operating instructions for the equipment , ham radio particularly can be a bit complex in selecting frequency .
     
  14. Homer Simpson

    Homer Simpson Monkey+++

    Wow, illegal use of a non Part 95 Subpart E radio by a licensed ham operator on 11 meter band. It would seem that the beloved rules that ham operators love to tout only really apply to those outside the ham club. There seems to be little recourse when the ham radio gods take a notion to illegally come to grace us with their presence on 11 meters. Dont even dare to even think about transmitting on ANY ham band without paying the proper tribute to the various ham radio gods. Should you accidentally transmit on a ham band, pray that the black FCC helicopters and suvs show up before the local vigilante ham gang shows up to put your head on a pike.
    Just one of many reasons I dont have a ham license, or would never admit it if I did. It is just not in my nature to be that elitist.


    Back to the op. Proper storage for emp shielding is vital. The weakest part of a handheld is the atenna. A dipole can be rolled up and put in your bag easy, and strung up when stationary. The best 11 meter mobile antenna is a 108" whip, but that is hard to walk around with, and usually requires a ground plane that a handheld would not have.
     
  15. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    @Homer Simpson I hope you were addressing me with your comments.... As a ReTIRED FCC Resident Field Agent, I have been monitoring HF Frequencies, for decades, and Yes, even transmitting on them, on occasion. For your information, the Commission does NOT have any BLACK Helios... They barely have enough trained Field Agents to keep up the maintainance on the few DF Trucks, that they do have. You must be confusing the FCC, with the NSA... or the .MIL and their Comm Units...
     
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  16. William Warren

    William Warren Monkey+++

    I'm curious: the way all the "Ranger" and similar radios are advertised for 10/12 meters, I thought that they could already transmit on the CB frequencies. The ads always seem to show their "channel" selector set to "40" or some other number below it, implying that they're ready to go on 11 meters as soon as someone buys one. Not so?

    William Warren
     
  17. William Warren

    William Warren Monkey+++

    BTPost, look, I'm sorry, OK? I know I promised that your Alouette III would be delivered last month, but I made the mistake of taking one congressman for a ride, and they're calling me up every hour now. The refractive surface and radar-transparent coating is a trip: I have to call the control tower when I'm ten miles away and IDENT with a new code, or they freak out and demand that I go talk to the FAA guy.

    Before the end of the month, OK? I promise: I'll have it on this month's Galaxy run to Eielson. You can pick it up there if you like: just show your "Retired" "FCC" id, no problem, I promise. Just remember that you have to push the RIGHT pedal when you pull pitch, and you'll be fine!

    William Warren
    P.S. Who in the world came up with that "FCC" story? All that time we did in project Phoenix, and they doc'd you to the FCC? Jeesh.

    (Edited to correct "User" label)
     
  18. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Not so. Transmitters are constructed to prevent transmission on frequencies that are not authorized for the intended customer. That is not necessarily true for receivers that have no capability for emitting rf. Some, but not all, ham gear can be "adjusted' to work on otherwise unauthorized range of frequencies. (And some cb gear can be similarly "adjusted." Both adjustments are illegal, but if done correctly are not detectable without hands on testing of the gear. Now, a licensed ham is NOT restricted to authorized ham bands. He can use cb bands/channels as long as his gear meets the requirements for rf control and no one checks his gear for type certifications. (That will fail him expensively) on the spot if it isn't certified and his gear goes to the crusher or whatever the FCC does with non compliant ham gear.

    For those that are not familiar, cb channels are very specific frequencies and tightly controlled in the radios. Ham gear is not limited to specific frequencies, and can tune any frequency within the authorized bands. It's illegal as hell to modify them for other "channels" but it is done. Just don't get caught.

    That set of illustrations showing "40" on cb gear (not ham gear) is a channel designation, not the 40 meter band. As I suspect you know if as you say you are a licensed ham, and it ain't clear to me why you pointed that out. I have not looked at the Ranger radios you mention, but it is physically possible to make a radio that will do both ham and cb bands. I would think it a chore to get them type certified as well as set up for continuous tuning on the ham bands.

    I've been wrong before, so corrections willingly accepted.
     
  19. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    Only the OEM can reCertify a Radio, if it has been modified, in a way that might cause nonCompliance with the Type Acceptance Document, issued to the OEM, after it was originally tested, and Type Accepted... and Transmitting "Out of Band" would be such a Modification.... if caught by an FCC Field Agent, they get a US Marshal to confiscate the Radio, and it is inspected, and the Destroyed.... HOWEVER, These Days that is such a RARE Sercumstance, as to be, almost FANTISY.... The Commission just does NOT have the Field Staff to do that anymore, unless the issue is Interference, with Public Safety, and an Immenent Safety of Life & Property Issue. Then they pull out ALL THE STOPS....
     
  20. Homer Simpson

    Homer Simpson Monkey+++

    @BTPost I was addressing anyone using an illegally modified ham radio on the 11 meter band. Is it not illegal to modify a ham radio to transmit between 26.965 MHz and 27.405 MHz? For those who don't know CB channel 19 is 27.185MHz, about smack in the middle. The FCC as I have studied (though I could be wrong, it has happened before, and will willingly admit it if proven so) is quite clear that CB radios shall only transmit 26.965 MHz and 27.405 MHz, with a maximum of 4 watts (12 pep on SSB) of power. The FCC also declares that "ham" radios shall not be capable of transmitting 26.965 MHz and 27.405 MHz, among a few other places. Am I correct in my studies? Has something changed in the last 6 months or so?

    Yes there are many 10/12 meter radios that from the factory will not transmit between 26.965 MHz and 27.405 MHz, the mods to change that are just a Google search and can usually be done in minutes. Owning a "modded" radio is illegal, owning a radio that can be modded that is not is usually legal, though some radios are so easy to mod that the FCC has banned them.
    QTH.COM: FCC information regarding Illegal CB Radios
    A life long friend who is a ham that I do respect, once told me that the only reason 10/12meter radios exist is to be modded illegally for 11 meters.
     
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