Probably my first "exposure" to amateur radio came from books I recovered from the dumpster behind Radio Shack. Myself and a rather "nerdy" friend from the other end of the street would make a trip through the woods to the Salem Avenue Radio Shack in Dayton about every other week. We were less than 9 years old. I am still amazed at the things we would find in that dumpster. Piles of books and "How to" manuals, tons of merchandise with little or nothing wrong with it. One time they were giving away 4 cell flashlights with a certain purchase. When the promotion ended, all of the remaining flashlights went into the dumpster. We got two unopened boxes of 24 and one partial box. We would always find batteries with the plastic wrap still intact. They, for whatever reason, were always their "brand" and always "Heavy Duty", seldom Alkaline, but there were tons of all sizes and never used! I guess maybe they had a fresh date or something? I really don't know. I do know that I saved my parents a ton of money because I used these batteries to power my handheld CB for years. Anything that was fairly inexpensive that was either damaged, returned, or discontinued ended up out there. There were a couple of times when we found brand new stuff that cost hundreds of dollars. We couldn't understand it at the time and assumed it would be totally junk when we got it home and out of the box. It wasn't. Years later, it dawned on me that an employee probably threw the stuff out to pick up later, we just beat him to it. Serves him right!
I amassed a huge volume of information on the subjects of Amateur radio, CB and Class "A" CB (GMRS, which few new existed at the time) Unfortunately for me, most of the literature, especially of that time period, made Amateur Radio seem way more complicated than it really was. Morse Code was a big part of licensing back then also. If I'm not mistaken, you had to learn Morse at 20 WPM to get any license at all. I would start to look over these books and booklets only to become frustrated and give up. I only wish I had known then, what I know now! Those books were actually trying to teach "theory" rather than showing you the questions and giving you the answers! I guess the folks back then didn't have the benefit of turning on their personal computer (Yeah, right!) and taking a sample quiz that included the correct questions along with the correct and incorrect answers of the multiple choice questions. You really needed to learn some of this stuff!
Many, many times in my life, I have come back to the thought of getting my "Ham Ticket" only to remember how complicated it seemed. I would get sidetracked and let it go again. This was really unfortunate because when I finally made up my mind to get my license, I studied less than a week and passed all tests except CW. Up until this time, I filled in the (perceived) void left by the lack of Amateur radio with just about anything and everything I could get my hands on that didn't require a test to use.
At first, this was C.B. Radio. When I was a very young man (before the '70s boom), CB was not very crowded, required a license, and the rules were at least loosely followed. Besides the well known channel 9 for emergencies, truckers were using channel 10 and the migration to channel 19 had just started. There were also channels for monitoring or "calling" channels to make your initial contacts and then move, and a loosely adhered to "Band plan" that included channels for business and channels for chit-chat. There were even channels used by boaters as an unofficial "marine" channel. All side band communications were on channel 16 (and there wasn't really much of that at all!). Use of "out-of-band", or "freeband" channels were not very widespread. The most used out-of-band channels were 22-A and 22-B. These were remote control channels that were sandwiched between channels 22 and 23. They were later absorbed in the 40 channel expansion. Use of power amplifiers certainly existed, but were few and far between, and really not needed. You could talk half way around the world on quiet channels with the 5 watts allowed by law. Use of profanity was rare. It was really very much like Amateur radio only the license did not require a test. Of course, all of this "good behavior" went out the window in later years. Side band operators have managed to retain some control.
One of my earliest experiences with "skip" was on the regular A.M. radio broadcast band. I try to blame years of working the night shift on my current inability to sleep, but in reality, I never really slept well at night. I remember sitting up nearly every night as a young man, looking out my second story window with my transistor radio. Our house had a large porch that extended around two entire sides of the house and the porch roof came right up to my window sill. The porch extended 8 feet from the house, and the porch roof was 10 feet. So, right outside my window, I had a 10 foot by ? (maybe 60 ft.) deck. The 4/12 pitch could make it hard to lay things down, but no problem to sit on. I remember how I used to marvel at the fact that I could tune in radio stations from all over the country, and many times, foreign speaking stations outside the country. As I got older, I also remember taking my girlfriend out in my classic '62 Pontiac (which was totally restored and only had A.M. radio) and parking near a spooky covered bridge and tuning in "mystery theater" that ran on a New York station every night at midnight. You would be surprised at how consistently I could tune that station in! It must have been one of the "Clear" stations that were allowed to push up to 500,000 watts back then. I know that WLW in Cincinnati ran 500,000 watts (Yes, 500,000, not a typo, not 50,000, 500,000, really! Check out the shortcut.) for awhile, but had to cut back due to complaints from Canada.
In the days when there was no cable, and on average, a major metropolitan area had an average of two T.V. stations, it was likely that those stations were in the 54 - 88 MHz range (Channels 2 - 6) and UHF T.V. was not yet "invented", I noticed on one of my many "Up All Night" sessions that, when the conditions were right, many times at night, I could pull in other T.V. stations. Sometimes these stations were very far away. This was the birth of a hobby that has persisted to this day. With the invention of (or mass production of) directional T.V. antennas, which, I am sorry to say, worked much better than my "home brew" versions, this hobby took a major leap forward. Currently, I keep one of the better, long boom, antennas hooked to my T.V. with a rotor, despite cable T.V., Etc., so that I can switch over late at night and "scan the band". With the internet, it's a lot easier to look up station call signs to see where they are from. Due to cable, satellite and T.V's that scan the band and only include the active channels that it finds at the time of the scan, locking the rest out, most people never see it, but sometimes, every other channel has a station on it! Hard to believe when some of them are above 600 MHz!
Working in the Law Enforcement / Detective fields gave me the opportunity to use various forms of VHF/UHF radio equipment. I also had the opportunity to learn about repeaters, as well as the differences between Mobile Repeaters, Base Repeaters, Mobile Extenders, Etc. This also allowed me to learn about CTCSS tones, DTMF tones, talkabout (direct/simplex) channels and a bunch more which gave me a head start with Amateur radio.
After getting my P.I. License and starting my own business, it gave me the opportunity to design my own radio system based on location, distance, number of units, Etc. That was a lot of fun, and again, the license was as simple as filling out a paper and sending a check - no tests! We used Repeaters on UHF in the big city and VHF with Mobile Extenders for long shots through the country. Even though the uses are different, it was really no different than setting up 2 meter and 440 amateur radio systems.
When cellular phones hit the market, I HAD to be one of the very first to have one! I had to sign a big, long contract, and a release form so this big truck could come out to my house and install this phone in my car. After getting my car out in the yard under a shade tree, they proceeded to strip out kick panels, carpets, trim, Etc., until they had this somewhat large (by today's standards) unit installed in the trunk. Then they had to run this 1/2" line from the trunk, through the interior to a big mount that they put on the transmission hump that held the actual receiver. They ran the power wires under the car to the engine compartment and directly to the battery. Another had to go through the firewall to the ignition switch. Lastly, they had to hide a coax on it's way up to a 5/8" hole they drilled in the roof for the antenna. It was a 5 db gain antenna and the phone ran the full 3 watts. The hole mounted antenna was recommended over a magnet mount, or worse, a through the glass antenna. At the time it was installed, there were a total of two, yes two, cell sites in the entire Dayton area. One was on top of the hill near Miamisburg, OH (near Dayton Mall), the other was on top of a high rise in downtown Dayton. Get more than 5 miles from either of these sites and, guess what, no service. All of this only cost me $1,300.00 (including sale price and discounts). It was just one more "radio" that I could get without that Ham ticket. I'll bet it wasn't a full week before I had uninstalled the phone, shortened the line to the receiver, strapped the cradle directly to the phone, chopped off the power cord and added a cigarette lighter plug and purchased a magnet mount antenna. The worlds first portable phone? I doubt it was the first, but it was my first, and the first I had ever seen. "Bag" phones hit the market a year or two later. No one even considered the use of the 700 Mw "handheld's" that are the norm now. The system was far too sparse at the time.
Just before I made my decision to get my amateur radio license, the FCC approved a new Citizens Band Service Called: The Multi Use Radio Service or MURS. This is a "No license required" service like our current 27 MHz CB with one important difference: It is in the VHF (High) portion of the spectrum. Right in there with the Public Safety frequencies and not far from 2 meter Ham. In fact, it was taken from five channels of the Business Radio service. Business operators assigned to these frequencies may continue to use them with their previous privileges like power, Etc., but no longer have to get a license. They do not have priority over unlicensed citizen users.
This was music to my ears! Basically, a 2 meter amateur radio band with no license necessary! I immediately got on E-Bay and found a couple of radios tuned to one of the five frequencies and put up a nice, high gain antenna on the shack (No restriction on antenna gain. Same height restriction as 27 MHz CB) and another on the mobile.
It didn't take long until I added several hand held units. We were finally able to carry on a reasonable conversation between our mobile and base, not restricted to content (like amateur) and we could use nifty things like CTCSS to block out other users! I poured over the rules and found a restriction on the use of repeaters. I was thinking about adding a "mobile extender" to give our hand helds a little boost from the parking lot when we were in a store. The way I read it, It does not restrict the use of "record and forward" type repeaters. Don't take my word for it, read it for yourself. Even though I am a licensed "Ham" now, the MURS service still has it's place. Like talking to your spouse about picking up a gallon of milk, or just shooting the breeze without having to worry about your call sign. Another neat thing, two of the frequencies are in the 154. MHz range, and the remaining three are in the 151 MHz range, which is compatible with many 2 meter rigs (Watch that pesky 2 watt power limit!). NOTE: Each shortcut takes you to a different, informative page!
Why is the FCC being so generous? Here is what I think happened. It is just my opinion and may or may not be fact:
Several years ago now, Radio Shack (may they rest in peace) teamed up with Motorola and decided to offer inexpensive business band radios to the public. They came up with many, many models. Almost everything Radio Shack sold was a renamed Motorola. Most were either 1 watt or 2 watts. Some were crystal controlled, many were set up using a set of "dip" switches that would set frequency (most limited to a few to choose from) and tone. A couple, like the BTX 127 stood out because you could program in any frequency from 148 MHz to 157 MHz. The BTX 127 has become the sought after MURS radio. They also came up with a small mobile unit that originally put out 5 watts and was the cousin of the BTX 127. It was called the 19-1210. It has become the second most sought after MURS radio. They fit the later models with a "Pot" to cut the power down on the MURS frequencies, but it let the other channels go at the full 5 watts. The "Pot" is large and blue and is even labeled in plain english, all you have to do is get it and turn it up. I also discovered an "Audio Pot" that, if not turned up too far, makes these radios sound fantastic. Anyway, back to the subject.
For whatever reason, every radio offered for sale, was set at the factory for 154.600 MHz. If I'm not mistaken, this was a channel designated "Low Power" and is used extensively by fast food restaurants as a "Drive Thru" channel. If you happened to get a two channel model, the second channel was always set up on 154.570 MHz. Another frequency used much the same as the first. Wal-Mart is another big user of these two frequencies.
Radio Shack did not require any proof of license to purchase these radios, and since the employees would starve without the commission made on sales, they would be sold to anyone who walked in the door, regardless of what their stated intended use was going to be. Soon enough, the FCC had a problem. Thousands of unlicensed radios floating about on the two previously mentioned channels. A lot of these people probably intended on getting a license, but they have the radios, they work well right out of the box, they pushed the button and talked. They didn't hear anyone say: "Hey! What's your license number?", so why get a license?
In keeping with the FCC's past record of: "We'd rather switch than fight", they pulled three more channels from the business service and invented the Multi Use Radio Service. Problem solved. They no longer have a bunch of unlicensed people running around talking on business channels. That was the quickest way to deal with it, and the only way that would actually work. They didn't bother to ask for a license because the problem came from a bunch of people who were willing to risk talking without a license! A lot of good it would have done. Hey! Kinda makes you think that there just might be some intelligence hidden somewhere at the FCC!
Strange as it is, both Radio Shack and Motorola opposed the creation of the MURS service and immediately discontinued selling the radios. I think they expected some kind of fallout over the entire situation from the FCC and thought that if they played it up that they somehow were not interested in making a profit, the FCC may see what great companies they are and not nail them. Or maybe later they might say they were not aware that there was a problem and point to their swift action when they learned of it. I think they are still waiting for the other foot to fall..... on them. Wouldn't it make more sense, now that it is legal, to sell the crap out of the radios and make the money they wanted in the first place? Instead, they make it next to impossible for a person to purchase a new radio that meets the MURS specifications since they were created to fit the radios that were on the market causing the problem! Oh well, from a "Radio Shack" point of view, I guess it all makes perfect sense.
One other potential problem exists with the policy of "Grand fathering" licensed stations to continue at their previous license status, but no longer having to keep up the license. This makes it impossible for MURS users to police themselves since there is no way of knowing if a person was a plumber that had a license that allowed 110 watts, or bought his first radio yesterday. Looking at it a different way, since neither you, or the plumber have to get a license or identify yourselves, no one will know if you should be running 2 watts, or 110 watts. Makes you think that no one intended on enforcing the rules to begin with. After all, it was tacked on to Part 95 and we know how well that has gone! I would say that if it catches on, it will quickly be out of control like our 27 MHz CB.
All I can say is, It's there, It doesn't require a license, It's FM, You can use goodies like CTCSS, Why not use it?
