grandpa's old 80w and 200w CB amp's,what do you think?

rickcdewitt · Oct 29, 2007

hey all,whats your thoughts on running a "i'll talk when i want and you'll talk when you can" CB system?i only use a cb on the trail or very limited two lane use right now but i heard that i might be able to talk to my cousins in arkansas with the right antenna.i know about the legality but a lot of old boys around this logging country run amps.should i use the 80w or the 200w and melt my antenna? i have an swr meter and a bunch of literature on tuning,and had pretty good luck with the other systems i've set up.anyway what do you think(including all you CB cops out there)? thanks.

PARKINGLOT · Oct 29, 2007

If you want distance, go with ham gear. That's that I did. CB's are useful, but only to a point...

rickcdewitt · Oct 30, 2007

i've never used ham,is that like the wide band or whatever the tow truck drivers and cops use?ham has much better range doesn't it?i already have a cb set up and it works fine for what i do(besides then all my wheelin buddies would need ham).anyone use a cb amp before? my grandpa could talk a few states away when the weather was right,and the guy running the local taco truck talks to his truck driver brother in michocan mexico from here with a megawatt setup.i know cb is like am radio but it can definitely can be improved.

PARKINGLOT · Oct 30, 2007

see, one of the things is, yes, you may be able to get alot of distance with a "juiced up" CB, but not alot of people have them, so who are you going to talk to? Not to mention all the people you can't hear, with regular CB's that are yelling at you for walking over them and your too far away to hear them.... There's alot of freight haulers with "big CB's" i'd like to punch, they start talking on a channel like they own it and walk all over everyone...

rickcdewitt · Oct 30, 2007

yeah i hear yuh guy.i don't want to be rude out there those amps they use are like a thousand watts.its a little off topic from what i'm after,i was rambling.i have a smallish firestik and just want to pump it up a little if it will handle it.i don't hog channels or play games with people like broadcasting my stereo and stuff like that.the etiquette rules are there for a reason just looking to bend them.

samsonitesamsonite · Oct 30, 2007

FYI CB amps are now illegal in many states. Many of the frequency's interfere with cable TV.

4x4junkie · Oct 30, 2007

How far are you trying to talk (Arkansas to ??)
Chances are NO amount of power will be able to reach them right now, atmospheric (solar) conditions are not sufficient for propagation of 27MHz frequencies.

At the peak of the sunspot cycle however (probably in another 3-5 years), it's possible to talk across the country using just 12 watts on single sideband (no amp needed).

samsonitesamsonite said:
FYI CB amps are now illegal in many states. Many of the frequency's interfere with cable TV.

CB amps have never been legal in ANY state (Federal law prohibits them).
Cable TV however is a "closed" system. If ANYTHING should interfere with it, it's usually because of a breach in the shielded cable somewhere (loose or broken connector, etc), and would be a problem with the CATV system.

CB amplifiers are much more likely to interfere with over-the-air TV reception. They can also cause interference to audio equipment (TV speakers, stereos, etc), as well as on some phones (usually corded phones and answering equipment, but less often on high-end cordless phones).
I've heard a story or two of them bleeding over the 2-way radios in cop cars as well, resulting in being harassed by them. In the past they never had jurisdiction to do anything about it (it's a federal issue), although I'm not sure if that has changed (I recall they were trying to change the law on it some years ago, not sure if they ever got it passed).

.

rickcdewitt · Oct 30, 2007

lets not go off the deep end guys we're talking about pretty small amps and trail use.cool info on that sun cycle stuff though.where the hell would you hear something like that?

4x4junkie · Oct 30, 2007

Huh??

You asked about CB amplifiers. How is any of this "off the deep end"?

This applies to ANY amplifier regardless of how big or small it is (or even an imported radio that puts out illegal power itself).

Also, you should NEVER use any sort of amplifier if you're with a group on a trail, chances are you'll just overpower everyone's radio around you resulting in distorted reception (and you could wind up damaging their receiver, too).

rickcdewitt · Oct 30, 2007

4x4junkie said:
Huh??

You asked about CB amplifiers. How is any of this "off the deep end"?

This applies to ANY amplifier regardless of how big or small it is (or even an imported radio that puts out illegal power itself).

Also, you should NEVER use any sort of amplifier if you're with a group on a trail, chances are you'll just overpower everyone's radio around you resulting in distorted reception (and you could wind up damaging their receiver, too).

sorry i was referring to the interstate cb chatting,trying to direct the thread back away from the thousand watt stuff.just diden't want my first post misinterpreted.solar flares and talking to china sounds cool but i don't think that would include my truck. i mentioned it earlier while rambling but i'm not talking about that,just the possibility of augmenting a smaller antenna instead of having a 10 ft antenna.if i can't tune it with the amp i won't use it. also as far as i know 4 watts is the limit but you can buy cb's with built in amps up to 7 or so.no offense ment that was cool info on the sun.where did you hear that?

any info is welcome i'm trying to learn as much as i can about these old amps.also don't the truckers keep from blowing out each others cb's somehow?you know they use them in the same parkinglots.

samsonitesamsonite · Oct 30, 2007

4x4junkie said:
CB amps have never been legal in ANY state (Federal law prohibits them).
Cable TV however is a "closed" system. If ANYTHING should interfere with it, it's usually because of a breach in the shielded cable somewhere (loose or broken connector, etc), and would be a problem with the CATV system.

CB amplifiers are much more likely to interfere with over-the-air TV reception. They can also cause interference to audio equipment (TV speakers, stereos, etc), as well as on some phones (usually corded phones and answering equipment, but less often on high-end cordless phones).
I've heard a story or two of them bleeding over the 2-way radios in cop cars as well, resulting in being harassed by them. In the past they never had jurisdiction to do anything about it (it's a federal issue), although I'm not sure if that has changed (I recall they were trying to change the law on it some years ago, not sure if they ever got it passed).

.

I said most because I wasn't sure of all states laws.

I work in cable. Insight communications. If you have the SMALLEST ingress problem, CB amps can cause problems in the whole plant. The stories you have heard about police radios is true, we get interference form them in our FD radios. Not only that, if at the right frequency it can interfere with aeronautical communications.

4x4junkie · Oct 30, 2007

Look up some CB radio forums on the net (HAM (amateur) radio forums, too), there should be a lot of info available about sunspots and the 11-year solar cycle (and how it affects the different frequency bands).
There are also plenty of books available on the subject as well.

Most of my knowledge on this dates back to the late 1980s-mid 1990s when I was heavier into the radio.
Not sure if I ever talked to China, but Australia and New Zealand were almost daily (afternoon) contacts for me (I've talked to Japan a couple times too). It was common to hear Europe in the early mornings as well.

PARKINGLOT · Oct 31, 2007

wow junkie, I never took you for a radio guy too. (I wonder what you DON'T know about...)

I've never worried about blowing a CB out before, I run my stock Cobra 19. I mean, I usually run with other guys, like, 100 or so feet apart. Don't need a big CB for that. If we get some moron walking us, we just switch to another channel..

rickcdewitt · Oct 31, 2007

where i live is very mountainous and most of the wheelin is in canyons and tight trails.i thought the amp would be able to reach around the rock a little better.out there you're 10-20 miles from the cops or someones house.its like parkinglot said,ideally we should all switch to ham but for now i just want more performance,and hopefully the terrain i use it in will help keep interference to a minimum.it would be aweful to shoot down a space shuttle with the cb,i'de have to through on a turban and leave the country after that. :icon_twisted:

good suggestion about the cb forums,probably not as lively as here though

i've been looking up the firestik site and thumbing through some old books.

4x4junkie · Oct 31, 2007

Lol, yeah, I've had a few nice radios and stuff for awhile now, but about all I ever use it for nowadays is trail communications. The ratio of decent people to drunken losers/social misfits doesn't allow as much enjoyment out of it as a hobby as it used to (especially lacking are any wheeler types, now that virtually all the local hilltop stomping grounds around here have either been bulldozed for housing projects, or in some cases, locked up by hikers for their own exclusive access (who complained about people dumping up there, but yet they STILL trash the place up with their own fawkin' plastic water bottles, energy bar wrappers and other garbage :flipoff:

).

rickcdewitt, unless you wheel all alone (not a very wise thing to do though), I see no reason you would ever need an amp for any type of trail use... a stock radio by itself will go a mile or more through even the twistiest canyon if you have a decent antenna. You seem determined to use it though, so just make sure you still have a decent SWR when it's running, and that you aren't bleeding all over the channels. It would still be decent common courtesy to turn it off if others with radios are around you though (or if others are trying to communicate on another channel nearby).

grandpa's old 80w and 200w CB amp's,what do you think?

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