I thought I ought to pop in and introduce myself. I was a CBer back in the AM days, around 1978 to 81, then went over to the legal FM. It was totally taken over by wallies, so I packed it in, in about 1989. In 1991 I took the RAE and became a licenced ham. I stayed active on the ham bands until 2006, when I blew up my mobile rig and my base rig within a couple of weeks of each other. I remained inactive until just before Christmas when I decided to have a go at fixing my mates Midland 38 rig. He had blown the RF output transistor, so I ordered a new one, fitted it and brought it back to life. To test it, after trying it into a dummy load via the SWR Meter, I got an old Shakespear 1/4 wave that was lurking in the garage and tuned it against a four wire groundplane on top of the 6 ft trellis in the garden. It worked and over a couple of days i've renewed some old CB friendships. I now have the Shakespear on top of my Tennamast, which I didn't take down as I knew the radio bug would bite again at some point, so here I am, thanks to Colins duff radio.
BTW, my mates radio is now back in his car and working a treat, now we have sorted out his antenna and coax problems.
I now have the itch to get my ham gear repaired and get back on the bands but I will also be active on the CB.
Sorry for the long waffle. I'm like this on air as well.
Cheers
Phil
