Radio Discussion Community

Hi there,,yeah you will pick up the skip from the usa in your neck of the woods...Try channel 6 cept/mids am mode to listen to the superbowel contest,,its a rather rowdy i can push out more power than you contest...you will need to drink a bottle of whisky and have at least 1kw of power to be able to join in the mayhem!!!...if you have ssb capability try 27.555 mhz usb to listen in on the freeband calling channel.....ps any good at building linear amps by any chance???

You will need to drink a bottle of whisky and have at least 1kw of power to be able to join in the mayhem!!!

So basically it's as violent and ugly as a prison riot without the blood & guts?

I have a CB Master 2040 Am rig that I bought by mistake due to an incorrect description on eBay. I tried it out last night at the seafront at Mumbles Lighthouse in Swansea. I have found out that it is a 'Mid Block' rig. I do not know what frequencies that covers, (if anyone can shed some light it would be greatly appreciated). Is it continental CB frequencies? I'm sure it's only a 4watt output rig too.

I sat down there for a couple of hours calling for a copy on 19 but mostly 30 to 40 but nothing at all. It was only on my car set up which has a mini springer so I wasn't expecting miracles. I ended up giving a 'roger break' to a guy across Swansea Bay and into Port Talbot. Wow!

I drove home thinking, 'this CB malarky could end up like fishing, sometimes you get something and sometimes you don't'! I just hope its not like the fishing I used to do as a kid, 5 years of sea fishing and I never caught a fish......FACT!

Hi,yeah cb radio is a bit like fishing...if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time you wont catch anything...you are limiting yerself having only the cept band and am mode!!!..you need to get hold of a multi euro transceiver am/fm modes which covers uk fm and cept/mids ...or a simple uk fm only transceiver....try calling on channel 31 with your am rig...there are am users about...but the fact that its illegal puts many cber's off...and make for high ground!!!...hight makes all the difference.i myself dx from the site of an old iron age settlement here in cornwall...and have made copies into north devon,somerset,south wales ireland using a whip antenna and without the aid of a linear amp...so dont give up

I'm not up to speed on the whole 'cept' band thing.

I have a tti 550 which is an 80 channel FM. It'll only do the UK40 when it's in the UK and it picks up the fact that it's on the continent and will then allow for the other 40 channels to be used. I can't manually switch between them.

The AM rig I have is mid block, (from what I've learnt). But I don't know what mid block is! I'd like to know what frequency range it is though.
I'd also like to know what people are mainly using i.e. LSB, SSB, USB etc. Again, I'm don't know what frequencies these work on.

Hi,i'm confused at you saying you cannot switch your tti 550 between uk band and the eu???...the eu band is legal to use in the uk!!!...you should be able to manually switch bands,,where on earth did you get the idea that your tti will only select eu band other side of the channel...I think you have been the victim of a wind up!!!!...I myself have a tti 770...i dont know much about the 550,,but i thought it was a euro multi band radio also!!!...if you dont have the manual google the info!!...the legal uk fm frequencies run from 27.6012 to 27.9912....eu fm which is legal in this country also, runs from 26.965 to 27.405...the eu band is also known as the mids,cept or even fcc band..,am/ssb operation are illegal in the uk at the moment but changes are on the way...the free band frequencies are generally between 27.415 to 27.855 with 27.555 being the calling channel...usb is the mode used..so you will need an all mode transceiver...all info regarding cb radio,,frequencies used..modes etc can be googled...anyway start by sorting your 550 out...

The 550 is a multi channel rig but the button you have to press to switch between UK and EU gives a null/warning bleep when pressed and the little 'UK' lettering on the screen stays there. I'll consult the manual later and will let you know.

My Silver Road antenna and coax arrived yesterday but now I'm moving house and don't have enough time to pass wind, let alone head for the hills!

I have just realised something too, the Big 30 on the 2nd Nov which I am really looking forward to, might well be missed by yours truly as I'll be going in for an op on the 20th of this month so I'll not be able to drive! Further to that, Charlie Tango are having a Big 30 style on 6th of Nov and I'll be away for that weekend!

Perhaps my Beautiful Lady will drive me to a suitable location and with some gentle tuition through the car window, she'll be able to set up my mast and antenna..............................it's worth a try!!!! NOT!

Hi karl,dug out my tti 770,,your 550 should have the same configuration as my radio..the only difference being that the 770 has a couple of extra buttons to play with...i was wondering are you getting confused between mids cept etc...and modes of operation???...am/fm/ssb???....if you select mid band for example...those frequencies remain constant...if you then switch from fm to am only the mode of operation is changed it is still the mid band....in the uk at the moment only fm is legal..so in effect we have 80 channels..uk/eu...getting back to your 550 to get the eighty legal channels select ue ...it should give you the eighty legal fm channels...should you want to select am on mid band try switching to E...you then have the choice between am/fm 4 watts....

Hi,yeah listen out for CT672...i can do south wales 4 watts...but you will need high ground...

I've just typed a long reply but it didn't send and I lost it's content. Here's the shortened version.

This is going to sound really stupid by the way but I think I've grasped the mode thing now!

Mode = Musical instrument i.e. guitaris AM and drums is FM

Band/frequency = Microphone.

You can use the same Microphone to play either a guitar, (AM) or drums, (FM) through/over.

Does that make any sense or am I way off the mark?

Hi Karl,

I see where you are coming from but I think you are slightly off the mark.

Using your analogy, maybe try to think of the Mode as the Language you are singing in. If you don't understand the language (i.e. your radio is on the wrong mode - AM rather than FM) then you won't understand the words (transmission). You will still hear it but it will be gobbledygook!

Andy

Hi,,yeah see where yer at...in simple terms fm is used for short range communication...tiz the most widely used and only legal mode on the uk and eu frequencies in this country...am which in my opinion is the better mode to use and is a lot easier on the ears than the harsh fm!!! and many cber's do make use of it...in many eu countries am is legal......ssb on either upper sideband or lower sideband is a dx mode (long range comms)...used mainly on the so called freeband frequencies...but it does lack fidelity and has a slight donald duck received audio...but ones ears do attune to it with use...yeah,the choice of mode does not alter the frequency you are using...

........and the penny drops!

Thanks guys.

Next little venture is going to be trying to install an homebrew dipole into the loft. It'll on be able to go in horizontally but I'll give it a bash for something to do!

Just got to finish moving house first. 'She'll' hit the roof when she finds out the amount of time I've been spending online geeking it up!! Her words, not mine.