CB Radio Re-Launch..What If????

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Bionic Budgie
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Hi Folks,

Thought I,d pass on part of an e mail sent to me by one of my CB mates..

'Meanwhile back at UHF, on a trip to Huntingdon recently I fell into conversation with a couple of truckers chatting on the way to Huntingdon then on the way back I found two more ... so I was chatting virtually all the way there and back on the A14 on UHF.

We didn't talk radio and I specifically avoided it but I did eventually ask each two why they were using the radio's they were and it was the same old answers..

Noise ... OLGA .... antennas .... crystal clear ... no installation required so portable from vehicle to vehicle ... so I got the impression that they had used CB'


I know I,ve discussed this subject before on here, but this e mail had me wondering 'What if....' What if CB Radio was 'Re Launched' on UHF. Shops offering cheap UHF mobiles and handhelds (available now).. offering small neat, good gain mobile antennae that don't bang on every over hanging tree limb or multi story car parks (lets face it..its just not fashionable to have large radio antennas on cars these days). Good Range, No noise, No interference from Olga/Eastern block..good, clean, reliable local communications not reliant on networks. I love CB Radio, I have bucket loads of memories of good times spent on CB and lots of nice people, but times change. 27mhz is not a nice place anymore, Olga/Eastern Block rubbish at 30+, noise, noise and more noise from every electronic device, noise from computer managed car engines..UHF does not suffer to any of this. I find CB on 27 going the way of the Dodo. Even our little group around here on channel 28 have got fed up and given up. Sure, the die hard DXers with still blast away on 555 but for local chatting..27 seems doomed. Talk on here is of the 'new' cb service with SSB..hands up all those who think it will make a s**ts worth of difference? SSB on 27 with no band plan, AM, LSB, USB, FM all on the same channels?? Count me out thanks. I have given up with CB (on 27mhz) in my van due to engine noise from my naff common rail diesel engine, at home, I fight noise from home hubs, cheap switch mode power supplies etc etc. I find more and more that I am struggling to talk to a station a few miles away, running a 25ft antenna and 80 watts, we then switch to UHF and carry on chatting, running very low power, less signal, but better signal to noise ratio. Clean as Snow Whites Bum! Also, is it just me, or have I noticed a massive reduction of trucks fitted with CBs recently?? Just an observation.

10-10
Bionic Budgie
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extremedave
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sorry i don't know anything about uhf so whats out there to buy at the moment? what range do they have?
thanks
Guzzy
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It's all down to active users.

If you can persuade enough people in your local area to take up UHF CB, then all is good. In my experience though, it's just very localised with very small groups making use of the UHF frequencies. Nothing 'open channel' at all.

As for truckers using 27MHz CB...

I drive 700 miles a week around the South East of England. I see lots of trucks with CB antennas. They see me with a CB antenna.

I hear nothing and get no responses.

If I make one or just maybe two fleeting contacts per week, I consider it a good week.

Even the amateur 2m and 70cm bands are pretty much dead during the working week. A bit more than CB, but not much. :(
needle bender
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hey budgie...cb relaunch on UHF....it aint gonna happen you know that!!...legal spec handhelds on 446 are a none starter as an alternative to 11 metres...so lets not go there again...Lets get real!!..No UHF frequencies are gonna be alotted to citizen band..and what with the VHF/UHF ham band underused...It would make more sense to deregulate the Two metre band ..but that aint gonna happen either!!...I have said this before Brits are good at moaning only!!..We are a nation of wimps..Lets sign a petition..lets do this,lets do that!...all talk...If you guys want UHF go pirate thats all you can do...as for noise on the hf band..we allow it!..we embrace the tecno thats killing two way comms...it will not end with the demise of HF...VHF/UHF Will go the same route....No insults intended..but either do something about it or shut up! :(
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Bionic Budgie
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needle bender wrote:hey budgie...cb relaunch on UHF....it aint gonna happen you know that!!...legal spec handhelds on 446 are a none starter as an alternative to 11 metres...so lets not go there again...Lets get real!!..No UHF frequencies are gonna be alotted to citizen band..and what with the VHF/UHF ham band underused...It would make more sense to deregulate the Two metre band ..but that aint gonna happen either!!...I have said this before Brits are good at moaning only!!..We are a nation of wimps..Lets sign a petition..lets do this,lets do that!...all talk...If you guys want UHF go pirate thats all you can do...as for noise on the hf band..we allow it!..we embrace the tecno thats killing two way comms...it will not end with the demise of HF...VHF/UHF Will go the same route....No insults intended..but either do something about it or shut up! :(
I am and I will.. Catch you sometime..446.145 Channel 12.
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needle bender
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446.145 you say??...My little radio only does 00625-01875??...you trying to make me do naughty things budgie??...Na mate.I'll stick with mids am mode!..with the odd look in on the 555...dont give up on the new am/ssb specs to soon mate..give it a try first!!!...yes, a band plan is needed...or it wont work!!!...UHF is fine,it would be nice to have it running alongside 11 metres!!!...but UHF aint happening here in Cornwall...446 is well used here in my neck of the woods..Business,etc..But not as an alternative to 11 metres!!!...446 is not cb radio!..and not intended to be...So unless our friends at ofcom introduce new frequencies for cb use,UHF will not take off...keep that 'ole 11 metre antenna flying a little longer...am/ssb still has a future!! :D :D :D
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Bionic Budgie
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needle bender wrote:446.145 you say??...My little radio only does 00625-01875??...you trying to make me do naughty things budgie??...Na mate.I'll stick with mids am mode!..with the odd look in on the 555...dont give up on the new am/ssb specs to soon mate..give it a try first!!!...yes, a band plan is needed...or it wont work!!!...UHF is fine,it would be nice to have it running alongside 11 metres!!!...but UHF aint happening here in Cornwall...446 is well used here in my neck of the woods..Business,etc..But not as an alternative to 11 metres!!!...446 is not cb radio!..and not intended to be...So unless our friends at ofcom introduce new frequencies for cb use,UHF will not take off...keep that 'ole 11 metre antenna flying a little longer...am/ssb still has a future!! :D :D :D
I think the point I was trying to make NB is that 'What If..' CB was re launched with a range of uhf radios..We,ve chewed this subject enough on here re 446 etc but I was just wondering if it would take off? Knowing this shite country..I know this will never happen..unless someone invents a way of putting ads onto cb radio.
.'This 10-36 was bought to you by Timex' etc.
.'This 10-33 was bought to you by Claims Direct..Are you paying too much for your car insurance?' :lol:
'This 10-96 was bought to you by NHS Direct' (Look it up!!)

Bye Bye..We Gone..
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needle bender
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I have always believed two way radio comms using VHF/UHF or HF should be available to all..With conditions subject to band planning only, and not an individuals ability to understand Ohms law!...Why do we continue to allow government ,the bankers and captains of industry to keep their jackboot heel on our necks while paying 85% of our money in taxes..Is this freedom and democracy..Dream on folks... :evil:
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Bionic Budgie
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extremedave wrote:sorry i don't know anything about uhf so whats out there to buy at the moment? what range do they have?
thanks
Mobile to Mobile, running a quarter wave antenna (about 4inchs long) running 25watts..about 10 miles, base to base running base antenna co-linear..about 20 to 30 miles. UHf is more sensitive to terrain..if your in a hole its pretty much line of sight, if you are on high ground..well I,ve spoke to stations 70 miles away ruuning a 5/8 wave pmr antenna (about a foot long) and 20 watts.

Its a good band...

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Guzzy
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I was recently running 27MHz with a Thunderpole TZ27 whip on a mag mount while travelling between Kemsley in Kent and Ashford in Kent. I happened upon a home based user in Sittingbourne in Kent who was calling out on Channel 19 (shock horror, it still happens! :lol: ), He was running an Antron on top of a big pole but I don't remember the rig he was using.

I started chatting to him as I turned onto the A249 from Kemsley, heading to J7 of the M20 and we had a good five minute natter on channel 21. As soon as I got over the top of Detling hill, it was all over. Signal disappeared.

Total distance between the two of us at maximum range?

Five miles, six maximum.

For practical mobile to mobile, or mobile/homebase/mobile chatting, it would have made no difference if we had been using UHF radios. 'Normal' 27MHz FM CB radio is just as much 'line of sight' as UHF radio.
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Bionic Budgie
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Guzzy wrote:I was recently running 27MHz with a Thunderpole TZ27 whip on a mag mount while travelling between Kemsley in Kent and Ashford in Kent. I happened upon a home based user in Sittingbourne in Kent who was calling out on Channel 19 (shock horror, it still happens! :lol: ), He was running an Antron on top of a big pole but I don't remember the rig he was using.

I started chatting to him as I turned onto the A249 from Kemsley, heading to J7 of the M20 and we had a good five minute natter on channel 21. As soon as I got over the top of Detling hill, it was all over. Signal disappeared.

Total distance between the two of us at maximum range?

Five miles, six maximum.

For practical mobile to mobile, or mobile/homebase/mobile chatting, it would have made no difference if we had been using UHF radios. 'Normal' 27MHz FM CB radio is just as much 'line of sight' as UHF radio.
I agree, 27mhz is better in hilly terrain as it does 'follow' the land better, BUT being HF, it suffers high levels of noise, interfernce from stations outside the UK (Bloody Russian Taxis!) and PLT and you need a large antenna to make it work to any degree, UHF does not suffer any of this, and a quarter wave antenna is only 4inchs compared to 9 foot on 27. I even made a half wave dipole 446 antenna out of some old RG58 and taped it inside my light beacon on the van, THE ultimate non sus antenna and it worked fantastic..and NO EARTH REQUIRED! Would work stuck to the inside of a windscreen a bit like the Pure Highway DAB aerials. Who wants to drive around with a 6 foot whip on your motor anymore..not me.
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needle bender
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Why are we back to UHF....We dont have it!!!...What we had was taken away...Its gone!..UHF has left the building folks...We have 27 mghz cb only!!...try making it work instead of moaning about it...So PLT...plugins and all manner of modern tec is killing the HF band...So we cry for a UHF service..Yeah, should be fine for awhile...until the cancer spreads...where do we go then??...microwave???...Stop bloody moaning!!...get ofcom to do their job!!...Cb is 11metres!!...the peoples radio!! :evil:
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Bionic Budgie
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Whos Moaning?? Not Me. I,m already using UHF mate and enjoying freeband radio. Had to smile when you mentioned microwaves..already there bud..its called a mobile phone :D Keep plugging away at 27 Needle Bender. Enjoy the noise, Russians and the Italians shouting at each other..I,ll be on UHF, enjoying chatting to my mates.

Ola, Ola Coka Cola..

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Guzzy
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A good shopkeeper knows that if his customers no longer want to eat peaches, but now prefer oranges. You stock oranges.

It's market demand. Simple as that.

It wasn't that long ago that Thunderpole didn't sell PMR446 radios. Now, not only are they selling PMR446 radios, they are also selling UHF and VHF radios.

If all you want to do is chat with your mate down the road, the last thing you want is Olga from the Volga (random skip conditions) stomping all over your signals.

The market is changing, customers are getting a taste for oranges. :wink:
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