CB Radio

Something else to think about: The C.B. bands are just teaming with people talking, while, for the most part, amateur radio repeaters sit idle and clubs die away. Perhaps we should start asking ourselves why? One thing that I'm sure amateur operators could do to make the hobby more enjoyable is to just loosen up! Don't take yourselves so darn seriously! Have fun!

I will be the first to admit that there are obviously some things that amateur operators could learn from CB'ers. The number of operators on either side is proof of that. There is obviously something about CB (besides the license, or lack of a license) that attracts a lot of people to the hobby

There are a few things that stand out, that I believe dedicated C.B. operators could do to add some "respectability" back into the hobby. This is NOT advice coming from some amateur operator who thinks he is "big stuff". This is from a life long CBer who started at the age of 7 and have no intention of ever stopping. It's not even a long list. It is an important one however. Here is what I think CB'ers can do (or not do) for the hobby:

Roger Beeps have their uses. At the end of each transmission you make on AM or FM is not one of them. A "Roger Beep" should be used when talking in side band (SSB) mode, where there is no carrier present, to let the person you are talking to know that it is his turn to talk. With no carrier to hear or see on the meter, you may just be taking a breath, or pause while you think for a second or two, and the person you are talking to may think you are done and start talking. The "Roger" Beep takes the place of saying: Roger?, 10-4?, Go Ahead, Over?, Etc., and tells your radio partner it is time for him to talk. In all other cases, it is just plain irritating. I have talked to a great many CB'ers about shutting their Roger Beep off. What I get from many is "I like it on". My response is usually: "Why?, Do you hear it when it's on? (I realize that some radios with a bunch of toys have "Talk back", a feature where you can actually hear yourself transmit.) The point being, your primary responsibility is to the person that you are talking to, not yourself! It is they that have to listen to whatever crap is spewing out of your radio and try to make sense of it.

AM/SSB -v- FM A quick word. I have talked to many CB'ers that think that SSB or Single Side Band is somehow related to FM, and further, that FM does not have a carrier. This is WRONG! FM has a carrier wave just like AM. In fact, SSB is actually a form of AM and has nothing whatsoever to do with FM. With SSB, a single side band of the AM signal is used (or modulated) and the carrier wave is suppressed. In FM, the carrier is not suppressed at all. FM carries a full carrier, but unlike AM, it is modulated by small variations in the frequency, I.E.. Frequency Modulation. The FCC does not permit FM mode to be used at "CB" frequencies (or below) due to the very wide band width used. Many of the "Export", or so called "10 Meter" CB radios, like the Galaxy and Tomahawk described below, include FM so they can be sold as "10 Meter". Even though there is no competition when it comes to the superior audio quality of FM, CB'ers never use it even when it is available (Lucky for the FCC, I Guess). The reason that I hear, when I ask why, is always that FM doesn't have that forward modulation "swing" that CB'ers are used to seeing. In fact, many rate how "good" a rig is by how much forward "swing" is present in the signal. Even though the FM mode is never used, it is worth mentioning that it would not be a good mode for a roger beep. Since the carrier is not at all suppressed, there will be an obvious signal loss when you un-key. Also, FM is nearly impossible to tolerate with the squelch open, so loss of the carrier will close the squelch, Etc., and be quite obvious without the roger beep.

Power Mics. "A radio will only do the audio that the radio will do". If you try to cram more into it, the electrical equivalent of screaming into the Mic., you get garbage. At least half of the people that I talk to on the CB are terribly over modulated. Many to the point of having to strain considerably to understand what they are saying. The sad thing is, CB'ers are so used to hearing each other this way, that if you ask someone for a radio check, they will tell you that you sound the best when you are distorted just short of being impossible to understand. I put this to the test a couple of times with my Galaxy. It will do about 135% of legal at just over 5% distortion with an RK56 noise canceling Mic. I "inherited" a power Mic. on a radio that I took in trade, so I wired it up for Cobra and Galaxy radios so I could get rid of it. Well, long story longer, one morning I decided to plug it into the Galaxy and start asking people that I normally talk to how it sounded. People took varying amounts of time directing me to turn the power Mic. up and down, along with the radios built in Mic. gain (normally kept at 70%). Each one, to varying degrees told me the radio sounded best right around 35% distortion. This is just the point where the high points are "trimming" and words are running together with "fuzz", but if you try, you can still understand most words. I was listening in on a headphone plugged into the monitoring equipment. I couldn't believe the CB "standard" of good audio. If I were to key up on an amateur band running audio like that, I would get complaints and probably letters from the "OO's".

Let's face it, power Mics. were designed to allow you to leave your Mic. at a distance from your face (on your desk), so that you do not have to hold the Mic. in your hand while talking. Another terrible side effect of power Mics. is that everyone is forced to listen to whatever channel your T.V. is on, your kids screaming in the background, your better half yelling at those kids, and ordering you off the radio. Occasionally, the unsuspecting radio operator engaged in the letting of unwanted air (farting) can also be heard. You can also see here how a hand power Mic. is just plain useless! You still have to hold it in your hand like a regular Mic., so it defeats it's own purpose. If you own one, you've been had by an industry that will sell you anything you will buy - no matter how useless! And please, if you just have to use one, please make sure you have a quiet room for your radio. There is nothing more irritating than trying to concentrate on distorted audio when the kids are louder than you are, Donald Duck is quaking on the T.V. and your better half is just going off about something in the background.

I want you to really think about this for just a moment. How much sense does it make to put a power Mic., designed to pick up your voice at a distance, into a situation where the background noise is almost always extremely high? Not much sense at all, right? The place I am talking about, of course, is your vehicle (heaven forbid, a truck!). This situation is what a "Noise Canceling" Mic. is designed for. It blocks out noises that are not in close proximity of the Mic. so that your voice is heard instead of the noise all around you. A hand held power Mic. is stupid, but putting one in a vehicle is just plain retarded. Oh, let's not forget the "noise canceling" power Mic. If you own one of these, I want to talk to you about some low calorie sugar and some safer bullets.

Once again, I feel like I can't say this enough, a CB will only take the audio that it will take. Legally, the modulation is limited to a certain point. This is usually said to be 100%. This means: 100% of legal. The FCC has limited the audio as well as the output power. (An amateur recently told me that they also mandate that the receive be cut back also. I have not yet verified this however.) If it were truly 100%, you could not exceed it. After all, 100% is 100%, right? There is no such thing as exceeding 100% of anything unless it was really not 100% to start with! Anyway, that is another subject. Most everyone knows that you can remove, or disable, the modulation limiter in a C.B. radio. This will make the radio take more audio. Once removed, you will probably be able to push the radio to distortion without using a power Mic.! Using the normal stock Mic., in the normal way, the radio will take and sometimes use, more audio. Add a power Mic., turn it up beyond what your factory Mic. will do and, congratulations, you are now distorted and sound like crap. Back the Mic. away from your mouth and use it like it was designed for, your audio will sound just as good as (not better than) the factory Mic. except that you will pick up a whole bunch of background noise that has the potential to make you sound like crap, or at the least, be very distracting, and perhaps, interesting to others. Unless you are using a desk Mic. and benefiting from not having to hold it to your face, and using the "lock down" or foot pedal on your PTT, well...., you've just wasted a bunch of money making yourself sound like hell.

Echo Mics can enhance the sound of a radio. However, the area where the sound is enhanced is a very narrow slot and really hard to achieve. The majority...., the VAST majority of the time, sound like they have their head in a barrel. I guess I must be one of very few who will actually tell you that..., if you ask me. Noise Makers like "Voice Changer, Robot, and an endless bunch of other crap.... I don't really need to say anything, do I? We are all adults here, right? Just because the radio has it (Like my Galaxy below), doesn't mean you have to use it.

Running Power above the 4 watts that are legal is pretty much necessary now days. Now, I am the last to encourage someone to break the law. What I am saying is, I understand why people feel the need to run power amplifiers or linears. If everyone woke up this morning and decided to turn theirs off, you wouldn't need yours anymore. This is something that you can easily see (hear) by listening to the 10 meter beacons. They are generally on quiet channels, in the same frequency area, and a good many can be heard on one watt. Some even less! Honestly, the chances of everyone turning their Amp off is about the same as the Government deciding they don't want to tax your paycheck anymore. That would be somewhere in the negative percent chance range. So you do need to run it, if your going to talk any distance at all. Where CB operators could help themselves would be to turn the power off when your talking to someone in the same town. So many operators run power all the time, regardless of who, or how far they are talking. The difference between 5 watts and 500 watts can barely be seen on an "S Meter" within the first mile or two. It honestly isn't going to help you up close like that. Where it does make a difference is out in the distance, say 20 miles. Out there, instead of your signal being all but non existent, it will be 10db over S9. So, if your talking to a guy in the same town, your power won't even be noticed, but to people 20 miles, or maybe 520 miles away depending on conditions, your signal adds to the noise that they must overcome to talk. If you would just shut down the power when talking to nearby stations, far away stations would not have to overcome your noise to talk. If everyone would at least shut it down when you don't need it, people would need it less, shut it down more, need it less, shut it down more. Hmmm, I think a pattern may be developing here.