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Post by bobcat4109 on May 17, 2018 12:11:24 GMT -5
For those of us who live in other places and, I must admit, are amazed that a thing like CRR still exists.....
would anyone be willing to tackle the question? How did all of you fall together? When did it start up? How long have some of you known each other?
I think it would be interesting AND a LOT better than current TV on the air......
Thanks, Bob
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on May 17, 2018 21:38:22 GMT -5
For those of us who live in other places and, I must admit, are amazed that a thing like CRR still exists..... would anyone be willing to tackle the question? How did all of you fall together? When did it start up? How long have some of you known each other? I think it would be interesting AND a LOT better than current TV on the air...... Thanks, Bob Well,if you've read the "Zero-Five" informational thread, you'll know that I like to write stories (Shameless plug for my Website here which has many such stories). So I can tackle this challenge with vim, vigor and all sorts of word games thrown in for fun.......... Well, I mentioned the "Zero-Five" thread, and that's actually a good jump off point for the origins of CRR. Those of us who live in the general Pottstown Pa. area, and have been around for a while remember the mess that was channel 21 about 10 years ago. About that time, there were almost constant jammers, interference, as well as knockdown, drag out, all knobs to the right, channel feuding. But while many of us engaged in this activity for varying degrees of lampooning and a few chuckles along the way, there was also a rising nostalgic longing for the "good old days" of CB (which for me means the 1970's). I had been slowly collecting vintage radios from that era (and older). I still had my original Lafayette Comstat 25, and Midland 13-885, along with a few other radios that I got for cheap and restored. My old time friend Pete (Spitfire 441), also had some interest in reviving those classic rigs. So just for fun, the two of us thought we might try to calm the situation down on channel 21 by trying to spark some interest in the classic radios. So we started Classic Radio Roundup on Sunday nights on channel 21. It was Pete, myself and "Ol' Zero-Five" himself - Gene, who were the first to start debuting our classic rigs. But many of the rest of the crew on 21 were not all that receptive to our efforts, so after a couple of weeks of hassle we decided to take our "show" to channel 13. Why 13? Well, the choice of 13 was also a nostalgic nod to my past CB'ing. Back in the 1978-81 time frame, my home channel was 13 and we had one of the best groups ever in my years in CB. So channel 13 became the new home of Classic Radio Roundup. At first it was just Pete, myself, Gene, and a few other people who enjoyed a bit of a respite from the hate and discontent on 21. But we couldn't completely escape it, as the jammers would sometimes come down just to bust our stones. But after Gene moved away in 2012, things settled down quite a bit. Then other people started coming out of the woodwork and joining our group. Many were old timers, who still listened occasionally, but wanted no parts of the mess that was 21 (which was probably the only local channel at that time). Some were sidebanders, who we knew from way back, who also had an interest in collecting old radios. And from there the group grew. We also changed from Sunday nights to Wednesday nights, from 8:00 to 10:00-ish EST. For a brief period, we tried running a "Sideband edition" of CRR on Sunday nights, on channel 16 LSB. But that was short lived as there was a group of semi-local people who ran on 16 AM and were not all that happy to hear us in there whump-whumping on SSB. The SSB roundup eventually morphed into our 10meter SNUBWAP net, which is still going on as well. CRR was a chance to showcase our vintage rigs, but it was also a chance to share knowledge and help each other in restoring these oldies but goodies. So a lot of technical discussions ensued during the roundups. Tube rigs were usually a little more finicky and required a bit more work to get back into shape. So there was always talk about changing out electrolytic caps, resistors, tubes and alignment issues. I also started streaming the roundup live over the internet so that anyone with a computer could listen in. I had check-ins from all over the country, and even some foreign countries. During the height of the roundup, we even had a live chat room on this forum, where people listening in, could throw in comments or ask questions. That didn't last too long as it became too much to carry on a conversation over the radio, while trying to answer people on the chat. Then Pete started "video-gating" CRR episodes (Just go to YouTube and search for "Classic Radio Roundup"), which I liked as it gave me a chance to hear what any of my radios sounded like on a given night. But the coolest feature that we eventually incorporated, was Pete's ham rig, linked with a remote control program and Skype, which allowed us to offer up a connection into our group to anyone with a computer. Doc Hammer from Kansas and High Tower from Canada were frequent visitors through the link. Doc Hammer even set his connection up, in such a way that he could transmit through a radio like normal (on a dummy load), and use another radio as the receiver, to feed into the computer, so he could still have the look and feel of operating a CB, even though he was going through the internet. We've been doing CRR for 10 years now, and things have kind of cooled down as of late. There seems to be a little less emphasis on the classic rigs, and it's become more of a general chit-chat. But we still try to run mostly vintage rigs, at least for the first hour. Then we frequently switch, to either a different classic, or sometimes to a Hi-fidelity setup or ham rig. Pete's internet link is no longer functioning, due to computer problems on his end. The laptop that I used to stream the audio on, went belly op many months ago, and I just haven't gotten around to rebuilding it. Pete's tablet, that he used to videogate CRR's, got a virus, and so we haven't done a 'gate for a while. But we still keep plugging away and having fun doing it.
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Post by bobcat4109 on May 18, 2018 9:50:07 GMT -5
Sandbagger, thanks for taking the time. That was a very interesting write-up.
Yeah, I originally found CRR on YouTube and loved listening to them and missed it when I noticed that they were no longer coming out. It is great to hear that there actually still IS an area where something like this goes on.
In 1977 we moved into a house in Deer Park, TX and on my BLOCK of my street one house had both a Starduster and a PDL II Quad, two other houses had verticals. All over the town you could drive and find various antennas every few blocks. Also, even in my little town there were two CB shops and several more in Pasadena (neighboring city). No shortage back then.
Now? Hardly any evidence that CB ever existed. I think I know of one house that has what looks like an A99 on about 3 sections of tower... and that is about it.
We moved to another house about 3 years ago and I took down my A99 and never have put it up at the new house. All of my radios are pretty old and crufty. I am currently tearing into a Cobra 21LTD (an oldie, not a Classic). It belonged to my father-in-law who passed in 1995. I know that it used to work but started having low audio problems so I am planning to recap it and see what that does for it. Assuming I can get it to work I will put my A99 back up and see what is going on.
Thank you again for your time spent in answering.
Bob
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Post by bluemax on May 18, 2018 14:05:16 GMT -5
Well Bobcat, sounds like you need to investigate Doc Hammer's set-up and get hooked up yourself. I admit, I'm old school and didn't understand how he could be in Kansas and sound like next door. Cat's out of the bag now. I got into CB with a buddy from the neighborhood in 10th grade, I think. About 4 years ago I decided to buy a new radio, as my original had long since gone away. So I wasted a bunch of money on a 10 meter Ranger, put up a dipole, and tried it out. I'm pretty high on a hill and my range goes right over most of the guys on CRR. I happened to talk to a few of them once in a while, then started listening in more, then started looking into old radios. I wanted to get an old classic myself. I bought an old radio from a Goodwill store in Indiana, same as my old original. When I opened the box, a damn near dropped over. I really believe (by three unique markings) that I bought back my old Robyn SX101, which went with my old truck to auction in 1989. Since then I've picked up a couple more classics; my newest is on the website here under TEST AREA. I don't know when the last time was I turned on the Ranger. It's too much fun talking on and about these old beauties. I didn't have a radio budget when I got going, so I started making home brew antennas. I stopped when I finally got my 28 foot copper pipe J pole tuned pretty good on Ch13. And these guys have all been extremely helpful and patient with me and my questions. So is my wife.
73
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,245
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Post by Sandbagger on May 18, 2018 21:07:18 GMT -5
Sandbagger, thanks for taking the time. That was a very interesting write-up. Yeah, I originally found CRR on YouTube and loved listening to them and missed it when I noticed that they were no longer coming out. It is great to hear that there actually still IS an area where something like this goes on. In 1977 we moved into a house in Deer Park, TX and on my BLOCK of my street one house had both a Starduster and a PDL II Quad, two other houses had verticals. All over the town you could drive and find various antennas every few blocks. Also, even in my little town there were two CB shops and several more in Pasadena (neighboring city). No shortage back then. Now? Hardly any evidence that CB ever existed. I think I know of one house that has what looks like an A99 on about 3 sections of tower... and that is about it. We moved to another house about 3 years ago and I took down my A99 and never have put it up at the new house. All of my radios are pretty old and crufty. I am currently tearing into a Cobra 21LTD (an oldie, not a Classic). It belonged to my father-in-law who passed in 1995. I know that it used to work but started having low audio problems so I am planning to recap it and see what that does for it. Assuming I can get it to work I will put my A99 back up and see what is going on. Thank you again for your time spent in answering. Bob I hope we can start gating (and streaming) CRR again. It might increase interest again. There are a couple of other groups that do a similar thing. A bunch of guys we know in South Carolina run "Old Radio Night". And our friend Dennis out on the west coast runs "Old Tube Radio Network", both of which you can find on YouTube. And there are probably others out there. Judging by the crazy, insane prices that some of these old rigs are fetching on E-Bay, SOMEONE is buying them. Yea, back in the 70's, there were a LOT of people around. I had 10 people less than 1/4 mile from me, and an additional 25 people less than a mile from me. To say that bleedover was a an issue would be an understatement. On the other hand, there was always someone to talk to (or fight with ;-) ) Now, the closest person to me is just over 3 miles. The average distance of the other CRR stations is 10 miles. A BIG difference from then to now....
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Post by ytradio on May 19, 2018 8:13:08 GMT -5
I did not put 2 & 2 together until now, but I have been reading your stuff for a while now Sandbagger. It started several years ago while I was searching for some ham radio sights, that I stumbled on a guy's story sight on Anglefire. It was all about his days of 1970's era CB in and around Middletown MD. I am a 12 hour shift worker that spends a lot of my time in a control room, and the night shifts are very boring. So when I found this guy's sight it was a good way to pass the time, and I had re-read it a time or two. Then it vanished, and I Googled CB stories, and found Shadow 7's sight. After reading his I searched for CB stories again and started reading yours. I am still coming across pages that I haven't read yet, and it is always a pleasure to find a new one and help the time pass in the wee hours. Reminds me very much of my early CBing days. 73 Whitey
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,245
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Post by Sandbagger on May 19, 2018 9:10:58 GMT -5
I did not put 2 & 2 together until now, but I have been reading your stuff for a while now Sandbagger. It started several years ago while I was searching for some ham radio sights, that I stumbled on a guy's story sight on Anglefire. It was all about his days of 1970's era CB in and around Middletown MD. I am a 12 hour shift worker that spends a lot of my time in a control room, and the night shifts are very boring. So when I found this guy's sight it was a good way to pass the time, and I had re-read it a time or two. Then it vanished, and I Googled CB stories, and found Shadow 7's sight. After reading his I searched for CB stories again and started reading yours. I am still coming across pages that I haven't read yet, and it is always a pleasure to find a new one and help the time pass in the wee hours. Reminds me very much of my early CBing days. 73 Whitey I miss that site from Maryland. He had some interesting stories to tell, especially the the one about his strange creature encounter at the top of the mountain where a supposedly "secret" military base was located. Shadow 7 (Gary) did a great job documenting the people in the Clifton NJ area. Here are a couple of other sites that you might not have found: www.retrocom.com/ Mostly about 60's vintage tube rigs and the escapades of a group in Milwaukee Wi. www.7954471.com/ One of the oldest sites out there. Run by another friend, Woody, who grew up in Connecticut, and now lives in Texas. www.shadowstorm.com/cb/ Our friend and forum member, Night Ranger (also an occasional CRR participant, when the skip's in), runs this site, telling of his times growing up CB from Rock Hill South Carolina.
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Post by ytradio on May 19, 2018 14:05:36 GMT -5
I have looked at all 3 of those before, but the company security software keeps Woody's and Night Ranger's sights from loading so I have looked at those a little from home. I wouldn't want to surf on my own time and not get paid for it now would I. By the way, Night Rangers picture from his younger days is just darling.
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Post by bobcat4109 on May 23, 2018 13:14:22 GMT -5
That is an interesting story indeed! What are the odds of getting your own radio back? !!!!! I am very interested in the JPole antenna. I like the design. I have seen the video on YouTube from Dave Tadlock on building an 11m Jpole and it is interesting. How do you have yours mounted? 28' is a long antenna! I'd be interested to hear more about that. Thank you for responding! Well Bobcat, sounds like you need to investigate Doc Hammer's set-up and get hooked up yourself. I admit, I'm old school and didn't understand how he could be in Kansas and sound like next door. Cat's out of the bag now. I got into CB with a buddy from the neighborhood in 10th grade, I think. About 4 years ago I decided to buy a new radio, as my original had long since gone away. So I wasted a bunch of money on a 10 meter Ranger, put up a dipole, and tried it out. I'm pretty high on a hill and my range goes right over most of the guys on CRR. I happened to talk to a few of them once in a while, then started listening in more, then started looking into old radios. I wanted to get an old classic myself. I bought an old radio from a Goodwill store in Indiana, same as my old original. When I opened the box, a damn near dropped over. I really believe (by three unique markings) that I bought back my old Robyn SX101, which went with my old truck to auction in 1989. Since then I've picked up a couple more classics; my newest is on the website here under TEST AREA. I don't know when the last time was I turned on the Ranger. It's too much fun talking on and about these old beauties. I didn't have a radio budget when I got going, so I started making home brew antennas. I stopped when I finally got my 28 foot copper pipe J pole tuned pretty good on Ch13. And these guys have all been extremely helpful and patient with me and my questions. So is my wife. 73
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