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Post by bobcat4109 on Sept 12, 2016 13:12:06 GMT -5
A little over a year ago we moved homes and I pulled my A99 down for the move and have yet to find a place (or really time!) to put it back up. Just for giggles I pulled out my Wilson 1000 mag mount on Saturday and an old Road Talker 4 SSB mobile and hooked them up......
nothing. Not a thing heard from end to end of the band.
From many areas out there .... what are you seeing? Is there still much traffic on the radio? Mostly at night? Anywhere out there do people still meet up in the evening and talk for a while?
Especially if you happen to be in the Houston area, I'd really like to hear from you.
I do have a Technician class license.....but somehow.... 2m/70cm just isn't the same.
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Sept 12, 2016 13:35:10 GMT -5
A little over a year ago we moved homes and I pulled my A99 down for the move and have yet to find a place (or really time!) to put it back up. Just for giggles I pulled out my Wilson 1000 mag mount on Saturday and an old Road Talker 4 SSB mobile and hooked them up...... nothing. Not a thing heard from end to end of the band. From many areas out there .... what are you seeing? Is there still much traffic on the radio? Mostly at night? Anywhere out there do people still meet up in the evening and talk for a while? Especially if you happen to be in the Houston area, I'd really like to hear from you. I do have a Technician class license.....but somehow.... 2m/70cm just isn't the same. Great topic! I'm sure the answers will vary greatly depending on area. The Houston area is (was?) home to Woody, of Woody-World CB fame. He was a big collector of vintage rigs and also, like many of us, nostalgic about the "good ol' days" of CB radio. I used to email him semi-regularly for several years, but he's dropped off the radar, so I don't know if he's still active at all. You also might want to consider the ability of your temporary setup to pull in more distant stations. Also, unlike years prior, not every local channel group is in there hot and heavy every night. Give it a few nights to see what you might hear. In my area (SE Pa.), there are very few channels that have regular activity. Over the road drivers seems to have spread out from channel 19, and pop up on a handful of channels while 19 is nearly dead, go figure....... Local groups can be found on 13, 14, 15 and 32, and some SSB activity on 37. Of course, when the skip rolls just about every channel is blanketed with S9 heterodyne, which begs the question, Where do all of those operators go, when the skip isn't in there? I have heard from other operators on other forums that if it weren't for skip, their radios would be completely dead. So I guess, I'm lucky to still have activity. Hopefully you do too.
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Post by KneeBiter on Sept 12, 2016 16:26:42 GMT -5
Over here in the Boston area and subs we have maybe 4 regulars on the ch we started and new people seem to pop on and off weekly. That is SSB. Then we have another dozen or so that stay on 38LSB and we talk to most of them if they pop on our freq but there are a few we shy away from . Then there is maybe 6 on 14LSB and a ton on 19AM. And a mix throughout AM channels. Some days its dead. I can turn the dial for an hour and hear nothing. Then some days it booming with people. There are still the regular agitators out there just like the 80s and 90s. Then you have the days when skip is rolling in. Those a good and getting less and less. Some days I ask myself why am I collecting all these big radios? I only need one to talk on. But I cant help myself. I love these big old tube rigs. Even If there was nobody to talk to I would still buy them. SICK. I’M SICK
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Post by bobcat4109 on Sept 12, 2016 22:01:35 GMT -5
Woody's World? Was in Houston? Wow. I'd have liked to know him. Thanks for the replies gentlemen. It's good to know there is activity on the site!!!!! First off....I have to admit... my antenna situation for my test....... Let's just say it leaves a little to be desired! I had that Wilson 1000 sitting in my bathroom floor (even in the chair it hit the ceiling!!!) and just screwed it on to the radio. No ground-plane/counterpoise, no nothing. So it wasn't the best of tests. It's sort of that I'd rather not spend the money on all the things I'd need to put the A99 back up if there is literally no activity in the area! I am thinking about building a quickie, throw down, inverted V antenna that I can hoist up temporarily against the side of the house. Go cheap..... just an SO-239 socket and the right length wire and a stand of PVC pipe to get it up in the wind... and just see what is there. The inverted V would actually be good for getting in on a little more distant traffic......I think they have a pretty high angle of radiation once you get them up a little bit. But truth be known, I really miss the CB activity that used to go on. 2m is okay but it seems most people just use it for to/from work (and no one is on when I am driving!!!!!) and all of the hobbyists are on 80m, 40m. CB....people used to do it as a hobby. They would have the radio on while doing other things.....or would even sit and just rag-chew for a few hours. Ham seems to be mostly "organized" activities. A "net" that lasts an hour.... you check in....shen they get around to your name.....you say hi... tell them the temperature and what you are doing today...then you turn it back....and THAT was YOUR TURN! It's OVER! Well I wish you both luck on your experiences here. Maybe one of these days I'll get a V up, point it that direction, and see what I can get out of it!!!!!!! Good evening to you both!!!!!! Bob
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,245
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Post by Sandbagger on Sept 12, 2016 23:45:55 GMT -5
Woody's World? Was in Houston? Wow. I'd have liked to know him. Thanks for the replies gentlemen. It's good to know there is activity on the site!!!!! First off....I have to admit... my antenna situation for my test....... Let's just say it leaves a little to be desired! I had that Wilson 1000 sitting in my bathroom floor (even in the chair it hit the ceiling!!!) and just screwed it on to the radio. No ground-plane/counterpoise, no nothing. So it wasn't the best of tests. It's sort of that I'd rather not spend the money on all the things I'd need to put the A99 back up if there is literally no activity in the area! I am thinking about building a quickie, throw down, inverted V antenna that I can hoist up temporarily against the side of the house. Go cheap..... just an SO-239 socket and the right length wire and a stand of PVC pipe to get it up in the wind... and just see what is there. The inverted V would actually be good for getting in on a little more distant traffic......I think they have a pretty high angle of radiation once you get them up a little bit. But truth be known, I really miss the CB activity that used to go on. 2m is okay but it seems most people just use it for to/from work (and no one is on when I am driving!!!!!) and all of the hobbyists are on 80m, 40m. CB....people used to do it as a hobby. They would have the radio on while doing other things.....or would even sit and just rag-chew for a few hours. Ham seems to be mostly "organized" activities. A "net" that lasts an hour.... you check in....shen they get around to your name.....you say hi... tell them the temperature and what you are doing today...then you turn it back....and THAT was YOUR TURN! It's OVER! Well I wish you both luck on your experiences here. Maybe one of these days I'll get a V up, point it that direction, and see what I can get out of it!!!!!!! Good evening to you both!!!!!! Bob Yea, you're not going to get good receive performance from an indoor antenna, especially one that's lacking the proper ground plane. You'd probably be better off with a walkie-talkie at that rate. I would also shy away from an inverted V antenna. They work well on the lower HF bands when communicating via skywave (skip). But they tend to be horizontally polarized and local CB activity is primarily vertically polarized. If I were you, I'd find a quick and dirty way to put up the A99 outside temporarily (Get a 10' section of TV antenna mast and lash it to a porch rail, fence post, or just push it into the ground 2 or 3'). That way you'll get a better idea of what you might be able to hear and get back to.
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Post by BBB on Sept 14, 2016 11:07:43 GMT -5
Make an 11 meter 1/4 wave vertical ground plane out of 14 awg copper wire, or the like and hang it from a tree branch. Just need the right length of the main vertical and the ground radials. Easy Peasy once you have the right coax connector to start with: Another method:
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,245
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Post by Sandbagger on Sept 14, 2016 13:04:38 GMT -5
Make an 11 meter 1/4 wave vertical ground plane out of 14 awg copper wire, or the like and hang it from a tree branch. Just need the right length of the main vertical and the ground radials. Easy Peasy once you have the right coax connector to start with: That S0-239 1/4 ground plane pictured works great at VHF/UHF frequencies, where element length is anywhere from 6" to 20". But when the element length approaches 9' at CB frequencies, it's not very structurally sound.
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Post by cbrown on Sept 15, 2016 13:04:27 GMT -5
11 M my way is sporadic at best. You hardly see a vehicle or home with an antenna mounted.
It's been like this since the cell phone basically became the thing to have.
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