> LOL - and then there were those who had the Siltronics sets. They used
> to be on 27.415 or Channel 41 as we called it. This was in the days
> before I got my amateur license.
When the FCC was preparing to open the additional seventeen channels
for CB, the CBers were already using the new channels with those
Siltronics sets and other illegal units. In fact, I had one of those
folks confront me at work and brag about how he used his 'slider' (CB
slang for a VFO) to go outside the bands allocated for CB. He said
they were even thinking of going up on the 10 meter amateur radio
band. It was disgusting to see someone who cared absolutely nothing
about encroaching on other services and breaking radio laws and
treaties.
When I was out doing radio maintenance for the company two-way
radio system, a CBer asked my working buddy (Jerry) to use our watt
meter to check the power output on his radio. I generally refused
such requests because if we did it for everyone, it would encroach on
company time and make it more difficult for us to meet our objectives.
But, Jerry said he would loan our wattmeter to the guy. He told him
to use the reverse scale on the wattmeter because that was the only
way our wattmeter was going to read something as low as four watts.
The guy came back and talked Jerry into coming over and doing it for
him as he said the meter was full scale. When Jerry did this, he
discovered that the CB radio in this guy's truck was putting out
nearly two hundred watts. That was the last time Jerry ever
volunteered our equipment or agreed to help someone with Citizen's
band equipment.
There was such a huge amount of misinformation running around
among the CBers. I couldn't believe some of the things they would say
and I can't imagine where they were getting information like that.
For example, another one of our radio technicians (Ed) saw a
fellow at a truck stop installing a power mike on his CB. He claimed
that with the additional audio power in, that there would be more
radio power out. When Ed told him that this was not true, he told Ed
(our experienced, FCC licensed radio technician) that he was wrong.
He said that all of the CBers were doing it and they were getting a
lot more power out. Ed didn't try to argue with him any further.
One fellow asked me to help him figure out why the antennas on
his car weren't working properly. I told him I couldn't do it on
company time (to be polite), but he told me about it, anyway. He had
the truckers antennas mounted on a Volkswagon fastback. He told me
that what the truckers antennas were for was to keep from 'messing up
your SWR' when you had a 'huge metallic load' behind you. I had
learned never to try to correct CBers on their information because
they would usually tell you you are wrong. So I didn't correct him.
But there was no way he was going to get enough separation between
those two antennas for them to work properly on a Volkswagon fastback.
He also told me that you had to keep your power mike turned down or
'Uncle Charlie' (an old expression used to refer to the FCC) would get
you for running too much power. I knew it was an effort in futility,
but I explained to him why that was not true and how cranking up the
audio too much would corrupt your signal, not increase the radio
power. He looked at me kind of baffled. I was very surprised he
didn't tell me I was wrong.
A ham radio operator friend of mine (Ross) had a two meter rig in his
car. Ross would periodically have some CBer pull up next to him on
the road and show what channel they were on by holding up the correct
amount of fingers. My friend made the mistake of holding up two
fingers (intending to tell them that he wasn't on CB but rather was on
two meters). The CBer turned his set over to channel 2. Ross told me
he had since given up on trying to explain to CBers the difference
between ham radio and CB.
Another fellow I knew (Jim) was in Florence, SC. Jim was parked in
front of a beauty salon waiting for his wife to come out. He was
having a good, long conversation with another ham who was in
Fayetteville, NC on his two meter set while he waited. A CBer pulled
up behind him and parked. He saw Jim talking on his radio and he
dialed through all the CB channels trying to pick him up. After a
while, he got out of his car and walked up to Jim telling him 'Good
buddy, your CB isn't modulating'. Jim responded by telling the ham in
Fayetteville to about this CBer and asking him to tell the guy where
he was located. He responded that he was in Fayetteville, NC. The
CBer's eyes almost popped out when he heard that come over Jim's
radio. He went back to his car, pulled his CB out, set it on the
sidewalk, and took it apart to work on it. When Jim's wife returned
to the car, Jim got out and spoke to the guy explaining that that CB
would never pick up his signals. The guy insisted that his radio
would pick up any CB. Jim informed him that his radio was not a CB
then got in his car and drove off leaving the poor guy sitting on the
sidewalk with his CB completely disassembled. While funny, I think it
was also a little mean.
The Citizen's Band radio service spawned the biggest pool of
misinformation I've ever heard of. And certainly it led to complete
chaos on a number of radio bands. It was very poorly planned and the
FCC never had the manpower for enforcement.
Also, I believe that this thread was started by wondering what
happened to television channel one. The six meter amateur band is
from fifty to fifty-four megahertz. That should explain much of it.
Regards,
Fred, WB4AEJ
http://www.wb4aej.com
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And that was the main conflict with
television 'channel one' I think. A conflict with other services in
the 50-54 megs area. CB radio operators did have a lot of ignorance.
It was almost impossible to explain to them about the relationship of
carrier power and modulation, for example, or height of the antenna,
or how radio waves can 'skip' across bodies of water, such as Lake
Michigan, and how using 3.5 watts with 90-95 percent modulation with
an antenna on the top of an eight story apartment building on the edge
of Lake Michigan (north side of Chicago) could _easily_ get you a nice
clean signal in Benton Harbor, Michigan or Michigan City, Indiana. I
often-times had people curse me out, tell me to 'quiet down out there'
when I was operating totally legally. I would tell those people, "take
your cheap, toy radio back to Walmart where you got it, and ask them
to please refund your welfare check for last month." They could not
understand a four watt radio (assuming it was legal) could only put
out _four watts_ distributed between the carrier and the modulation.
Too much carrier you could not be heard; too much modulation you would
splash all over the band. They would 'peak up' their radio for closer
to five watts, and then complain when you said you could not hear
them. They did not understand the relationship between watts of power
and decibels either, and when I would take the time to explain it all
to them, they would tell me I was 'full of xxxx' and cuss me out. The
analogy I would often times use was to tell the person, take an empty,
sort of small, glass, put it in the sink and turn the water on full
blast. Come back in a few minutes and see how much water is in the
glass. Very little, most of it splashed into the sink or on the floor.
Now, turn the water down to a slow, steady stream, and watch the glass
fill up nicely with cold, fresh water. Some would listen, some would
cuss me out even more. PAT]
Path: telecom-digest.org!ptownson
Date: 18 Mar 2005 10:01:00 -0800
From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Attacked by a Dog Which was Playing
Message-ID: <telecom24.121.12@telecom-digest.org>
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 24, Issue 121, Message 12 of 12
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Patrick Townson wrote:
> Buffy is _huge_ dog of the Australian Cattle Dog variety.
Best wishes to recover quickly from your wounds. Unfortunately with
pets even attempts to show love and affection can result in human
injury if they come at the wrong time or are unexpected.
Trying to adopt an animal, especially one that was mistreated, is a
very noble and honorable thing. But it is not an easy task to break
old habits and earn a new trust. Good luck, it sounds like you've
made great progress.
We have some feral cats in the neighborhood I want to adopt and have
tried over the years to lure them with food and kindness. They always
kept their distance (although they would eagerly take the food if I
stayed far away). I described their behavior to my vet and he said
they were feral and that they could not be domesticated. One has been
around for seven years, which isn't bad for feral.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Try each day to move their food closer
to where you are sitting, then just sit there quietly; they'll
eventually decide to come closer for their food. They will never come
to you if you keep chasing after them. But each day, make sure they
can see/smell the food, but have it a bit closer and closer until it
is eventually only a few feet away. PAT]
Fred Atkinson (fatkinson@mishmash.com)