shootin skip

[lone-wolf]

On the boat we keep receiving signals from Georgia. From PEI to Georgia is a pretty good piece. They're so annoying we've got to shutoff the CB.

 

[ccrunner1]

i really need to get mine tuned properly.

wow this is probably the longest thread i ever started

 

[Scrambler82]

ccrunner1,

R U going to become an Amateur Radio Operator (HAM) after all this...

such inspiration.

There is one thing, IF you intend to do it legally you still need to take "the test".

Luck to ya

Oh ya, remember HAM VHF/UHF Radios usually work with an FM Signal and are a LOT quieter than CB which uses an AM Signal and the best part is a HAM can run 1500 watts LEGALLY.

 

[Bill]

You don't tune a radio. Well, not the radios we use today. You "tune" the match to the antenna. CBs don't use a lot of power and will likely take quite a bit of mismatch before being damaged, and I'm inclined to think you would have to leave it keyed up for an extended period of time to damage it. However, a good match to the antenna allows the maximum power to reach the antenna increasing overall performance.

Power ratings: Part 95 regulations limit RF output to 4 watts carrier power for AM, or 12 watts peak envelope power for SSB (sideband). That is a 4.75 db gain, which is better than any of the commercially available BASE antennas available. Mobile antennas have a net loss. Additionally, there is gain and improved signal to noise ratio in a SSB receiver. About 9db total gain using SSB over AM. That is a difference of 4 watts to 32 watts. This assumes the receiver uses a narrower filter for SSB than it does for AM. A narrower filter reduces noise.

http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Documents/cfr/1998/47cfr95.pdf (see page 564)

Total output power for Amateur Radio (Part 97) varies depending on license class, band, geographic location, or in some cases, a combination of band and geographic location.

Generally, power output is limited by peak envelope power, but effective radiated power is used in some circumstances. Effective radiated power is transmitter output, minus feedline loss (loss in the coax), plus antenna gain.

http://www.w5yi.org/page.php?id=142

It is safe to say the best mobile CB installation has an effective radiated power less than 4 watts.

 

[AllanD]

On the boat we keep receiving signals from Georgia. From PEI to Georgia is a pretty good piece. They're so annoying we've got to shutoff the CB.

I refer to that as "Coastal tropospheric ducting".

Happens all the time year round on 10meters.

particularly if you live near the coast, the 10meter band is usually open from New England and NY NJ to Florida in the late morning.

when I lived in NJ I could hear the operators in Florida and the US Virgin Islands working the operators in CT and MA, but I couldn't hea CT or MA myself.

CT or MA is a hard place to work from Northern NJ because it's too close
to work by ionispheric propagation modes.

some old time hams will deny that 10meters or CB will propagate by what are traditionally "VHF/UHF" porpagation modes, but when I point out that the original "UHF connector" was invented it was invented for 29-30Mhz Radar!

The British "Chain Home" radar made famous during the battle of britain operated on 29Mhz.

so if you can reflect a "low" frequency radio signal like that off of distant aircraft the idea that the signal can get trapped under a thermal inversion isn't at all "Far fetched"

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