"Sticky" stuff - News and wanted items

  • 1....Looking for these radios:
  • a....EF Johnson 4730 (preferred) or maybe a 4740

Saturday, December 25, 2010

What do I do with CB equipment and frequencies

Mainly nostalgia!   And it's fun to see what those "little" 5 watt radios can do.

It's also fun to run into others on the radio that enjoy CB radio.  Though that doesn't often happen.

I like to work with the old radios I can now buy that I wanted back in the 70's. 

My daughter has a CB in her car.  My son, daughter and I are all "drivers"  ...we like to be in the car tooling around, so we have used the CBs with that...just to see what we can get for range and for a good excuse to go out for a "little drive" on a nice day.

I enjoy repairing the radios and installing them.   The old radios are so easy to work on and seem very simple to me now.  And yes, I actually do have a commercial license for radio repair....

It's  fun to pick up the old radios at a garage sale or on Ebay and just try them out and compare them.

I will say this...just about every time I use the CB radios, I remember why I got into ham radio....
CB just doesn't go very far and has poor audio quality compared to most ham gear.  Some of the quality problem is from AM (vs. FM and SSB we use in ham radio).  A lot of it is due to poor design and lack of quality in the CB radios.  CB can sound decent with a good radio, microphone and speaker. 

On the road, it's fun to listen to CB to see what's going on with "Smokey" and just to hear chit-chat and help stay awake! 

Is it for everyone?  No....I don't recommend it for the most part, but it can be fun to listen.

If you need good radio communications between vehicles, go with MURS, GMRS or FRS (pretty much in that order).   If you spend a LOT of time on the road, it might be idea to have CB for the safety factor if cell phone service isn't around.   But don't expect much distance with an 8" rubber antenna.

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