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Post by MonkeyMan on Aug 2, 2021 6:36:49 GMT -5
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Aug 2, 2021 19:32:34 GMT -5
Yeah, it's pretty much what all of the Faceplant CB groups are talking about. Proposal has been approved, but not yet implemented. My personal take on this is that it's not so much that Cobra or President are trying to sell more total radios. FM has been included in export radios for close to 40 years now. Most serious CB hobbyists have at least one radio with FM in it already, and it's not all that popular. So I don't think that an FCC legal radio with FM in it is going to drive people to the stores in droves to buy them. No, I think the CB radio manufacturers are getting tired of making separate, more restricted radios for the US market, compared to their offerings for the rest of the world, and they want to consolidate their lineup hardware-wise. Most of the newest design radios are microprocessor controlled, so frequency range can be programmed in each radio according to country, while still utilizing the same hardware. Programming doesn't add to the cost, but using the same hardware for all countries reduces their parts inventory and assembly line complexity. Of course, I could be completely wrong...... ;-) |
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Post by MonkeyMan on Aug 3, 2021 7:03:03 GMT -5
Yeah, it's pretty much what all of the Faceplant CB groups are talking about. Proposal has been approved, but not yet implemented. My personal take on this is that it's not so much that Cobra or President are trying to sell more total radios. FM has been included in export radios for close to 40 years now. Most serious CB hobbyists have at least one radio with FM in it already, and it's not all that popular. So I don't think that an FCC legal radio with FM in it is going to drive people to the stores in droves to buy them. No, I think the CB radio manufacturers are getting tired of making separate, more restricted radios for the US market, compared to their offerings for the rest of the world, and they want to consolidate their lineup hardware-wise. Most of the newest design radios are microprocessor controlled, so frequency range can be programmed in each radio according to country, while still utilizing the same hardware. Programming doesn't add to the cost, but using the same hardware for all countries reduces their parts inventory and assembly line complexity. Of course, I could be completely wrong...... ;-) Yeah I think you nailed it. My guess is that it may spur 'some' additional sales here in the states. I'm sure some folks don't have any experience with FM on the CB radio, and once the marketing guys start blather about this "great new feature" those who must have the latest and greatest will be convinced they need this in their lives. |
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Post by cbrown on Aug 4, 2021 12:44:09 GMT -5
I wouldn't mind having the FM mode if they added high fidelity to the radios at the same time.
Like many other, I've played with FM on the 11M band, in fact one of the DX groups I belonged to used to have an FM call frequency of 27.655 MHz.
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Aug 4, 2021 20:44:24 GMT -5
I wouldn't mind having the FM mode if they added high fidelity to the radios at the same time. Like many other, I've played with FM on the 11M band, in fact one of the DX groups I belonged to used to have an FM call frequency of 27.655 MHz. You're not going to be able to do HiFi FM within the bandwidth constraints that we have. But we could have clearer enhanced fidelity with the proper preemphasis. Our local group spent a couple of years on FM back in the mid 80's. We were all within decent signal range and it was nice that someone giving you an S7 sounded the same as someone +20 db over S9. If you weren't looking at the meter, you'd never know. The sharpness and clarity were better than standard AM although HiFi AM sounds a lot warmer. But FM falls short when signals fall into the mud. The internal noise generated by the FM limiter/discriminator stages in the receiver just swallows weak signals. AM is superior in those situations, with SSB being the best. But FM will be something to play around with, probably best suited for local base-base ragchewing. |
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Post by cbrown on Aug 11, 2021 12:42:14 GMT -5
I was hoping that with the addition of the FM mode they would give CB a little more bandwidth.  |
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Post by 2600 on Aug 11, 2021 23:26:32 GMT -5
When the FCC expanded 23 channels to 40, it took them nearly a year to formulate and publish the new rules. Most importantly it took a long time for the new, tougher signal-leakage and interference limits to be finalized and published. You couldn't get a radio "certified" as a legal CB without meeting those limits. Not so easy to do before those limits are decided and made public.
I'll guess it takes them a while to revise and publish the regulations that will include FM mode. Don't expect to see a "legal" US-FCC 40-channel CB radio with FM before all that stuff happens. To be sold as a legal CB it will still have to be "certificated" as the FCC calls it.
73
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Aug 12, 2021 19:06:29 GMT -5
I was hoping that with the addition of the FM mode they would give CB a little more bandwidth. You really can't increase the bandwidth while still maintaining a 10 Khz channel separation. They would have to do something similar to what the UK did and have a separate FM-only channel scheme with wider channel spacing. But I don't think the FCC is in the mode to give any more channels to the CB band. |
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Aug 12, 2021 19:21:24 GMT -5
When the FCC expanded 23 channels to 40, it took them nearly a year to formulate and publish the new rules. Most importantly it took a long time for the new, tougher signal-leakage and interference limits to be finalized and published. You couldn't get a radio "certified" as a legal CB without meeting those limits. Not so easy to do before those limits are decided and made public. I'll guess it takes them a while to revise and publish the regulations that will include FM mode. Don't expect to see a "legal" US-FCC 40-channel CB radio with FM before all that stuff happens. To be sold as a legal CB it will still have to be "certificated" as the FCC calls it. 73 This is true. The wheels of bureaucracy turn very slowly. But this change is very small compared to the addition of those 17 additional channels and the revamping of the technical specs that accompanied it. From what I've read, this rule change should be implemented anywhere from 30 to 90 days from the time it was approved (Mid July). The Certification process, on the other hand, could take a bit longer, although that could already be in progress. But it's probably a safe bet that you won't see a Part 95 legal CB with FM until Christmas at the earliest. |
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Post by Dude111 on Oct 20, 2021 23:34:54 GMT -5
They should have doen this in the 80s!!
People jhad FM already on some radios and it would have saved peoples stuff from being bled so much!!
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