ham radio noob question (1 Viewer)

[ravenplague]

Hey guys.
I always had cb radios in my trucks and preparing to purchase a ham radio. I'm still practicing the online tests to prepare for the exam.

My question is can I monitor cb channels, especially 19, with a single band 2m radio? I Appreciate the traffic help and cop lookout from the truckers. If I can just monitor the channels, I would be stoked. I understand that I can't reply with a ham.

Thanks!

 

[leucadiacruiser]

Good luck on your test. Great hobby and powerful tool for off road travel once you tap into repeaters. I've got two radios for off road use- Uniden CB hardwired and Baofeng dual band handheld with an antenna mounted on my roof rack. I'm pretty sure they're two separate beasts frequency wise but someone else may chime in and correct me.

 

[1911]

My question is can I monitor cb channels, especially 19, with a single band 2m radio?

No. CB is ~ 27 MHz and AM, and 2 meters is ~ 146 MHz and FM.

Good luck with your test.

 

[OregonLC]

FCC prevents comingling of the bands on the same device. I believe it's due to the power restrictions on the computer band. Would be nice to have a single device though.

 

[Elbert]

you might find a scanner that can do both....i know some scanners cover the ham bands but not sure of the CB frequency range.

 

[Dragos80]

Good luck with the test. It seems as if you need to pay more attention to the frequency/band chapter of your study, antenna length in relation to frequency used.
There is one Ham Radio than can receive 27MHz but cannot transmit. Maybe that's all you need if you only want one radio to it al and only want to monitor the 27MHz freq. You will run in some trouble though with the antenna. I would say maybe use a dual frequency antenna setup, or one than can adjust itself according to the frequency used (very expensive).
Wouxun KG-UV950P

 

[Dragos80]

After reading the specs on the above radio, it looks like it will not help you at all, unless you are in EU. It only uses 27MHz in the FM band, not AM.

Reading more reviews, it seems able to pick up the AM band with some software mods. Read before you buy.

I would recommend dual radio setup, not one to do it all.

 

[Dragos80]

I'm home alone and got nothing to do, so I searched some more stuff about wouxun on you tube. Apparently there is a way to add 11m channels in the radio's memory.
This video explains how to do it.


There is also a dual frequency 27/144 antenna.
http://www.sirioantenna.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=50_46&products_id=227

I'm not sure how the SWR will be when switching from 2m to 11m. You may have to adjust it.

 

[ntsqd]

FCC prevents comingling of the bands on the same device. I believe it's due to the power restrictions on the computer band. Would be nice to have a single device though.

Um, quite frequent to see dual band mobile radios capable of TX/RX on 2M and 440Mhz.

Here's some for sale new in the US:
http://www.theantennafarm.com/catal...radios-67/vhf-uhf-dual-band-mobile-radios-91/

Here's even a Tri-Band mobile radio:
http://yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=Di...310507ECDE68CC3C01&DivisionID=65&isArchived=0

It is the antenna tuning that can become impossible.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

The FCC specifically forbids using Ham equipment for CB broadcasts. You need 2 radios and 2 antennas. No amount of wishful thinking is going to change that. But, then there's nothing at all wrong with having 2 radios, and you already have the CB, so I don't see a problem. More radios is good!

If you are studying for your test, you should know that 2 meter is no where close to CB frequencies, which is essentially 10 meters (It's actually 11 I think).

In the Ham world there are many radios capable of broadcasting and receiving on 10m frequencies, but using it for CB just isn't an allowed practice.

Good luck with your test.

 

[Dragos80]

Yes, there are tri and quad band radios, but not ham/cb radios.
This import version has that. Of course "import" denotes a gray area.
You can have ham radios with multi frequencies but not CB band (11m) at more than 4W of power.
All the HAM radios have way more than 4W of power, which makes them illegal if used on 11m.
All the "imports" have a lot more than 4W of power and that makes them illegal, again on 11m not ham.
The reason people buy import CB's is because of the extra power they come with.

http://www.kenwoodusa.com/Communications/Amateur_Radio/HF_Base_Mobile/TS-2000-B2000-2000X

Essentially with HAM radio you are only limited by the type of license regarding the frequencies and power you can use.

http://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cm...E0B37BD528EE1A56F1&DivisionID=65&isArchived=0

"160 through 6 Meters - SSB/CW/FM/AM/DigitalWith efficient dimensions of 14.4" x 4.5" x 12.3" (W x H x D) and weighing in at only 22 pounds, the FT DX 3000 is a solidly packed transceiver ready to give very high performance on all Amateur Radio bands from 160 to 6 meters.

• General Coverage Reception from 30 kHz to 56 MHz

• FM & AM - Wide and Narrow modes included"

http://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cm...8BE5568D7E2B5E2131&DivisionID=65&isArchived=0

"
FT-991 ALL-BAND, MULTIMODE PORTABLE TRANSCIEVER

The FT-991 is the next generation in all mode, all band MF/HF/VHF/UHF transceiver with C4FM (System Fusion) Digital capability. The FT-991 includes multi-mode operation on CW, AM, FM, SSB, and Digital Modes (Packet, PSK31, RTTY and C4FM), with 100 Watts of HF/50mhz Capability (50 Watts VHF/UHF). "

 

[Dragos80]

The FCC specifically forbids using Ham equipment for CB broadcasts. You need 2 radios and 2 antennas. No amount of wishful thinking is going to change that. But, then there's nothing at all wrong with having 2 radios, and you already have the CB, so I don't see a problem. More radios is good!

If you are studying for your test, you should know that 2 meter is no where close to CB frequencies, which is essentially 10 meters (It's actually 11 I think).

In the Ham world there are many radios capable of broadcasting and receiving on 10m frequencies, but using it for CB just isn't an allowed practice.

Good luck with your test.

Correct.
The radio I linked above (4 band mobile one) would be legal for the intended purpose... Ham only with a proper license.
To be used as a CB radio it needs to comply with the legal requirement of not using more than 4W during transmission. I think you can tweak the power setting on it so you can properly reduce it with the limits of the law.

But it won't do you any good if you think it can work simultaneously on 2m and 11m (CB spec). So in order to talk on 2m and listen to truckers' traffic report on 11m (CB) you need two radios. It will not work on those two bands at the same time.

It will work just fine on HAM 2m and 70cm simultaneously.

Two radios are the best setup.

First find out what people in your area or group use the most for communication on the trail. 2m or CB? Get the one that can help you stay in touch with them.

CB 11m on FM is far superior to AM, but here in US it is illegal and hardly anyone uses it. It will not help you at all.
If you want more power and access to repeaters on 2m, but everybody else is on CB, you made the wrong choice again.

 

[Fosters]

Just pony up for a shack in a box which will have coverage for transmit on ham bands and the ability to listen on 27mhz...after all once you get your tech you will want your general...and thus the purchase will be justified.
Go scouting out for an icom 7000 or a yaesu ft857d on eham.com or qrz.com classifieds

 

[another]

Study for the general test. When you test for (and pass) your tech, you can sit for the general for free. Radio Shack trunking scanners are/were the bomb for monitor only use. You can/could listen to damn near everybody except the new VIPER digital police systems. For CB/Ham take a look at this http://www.worldwidedx.com/threads/converted-10-meter-radios.24879/. Known as "exports" these radios are modified to rx/tx on both 10 and 11 meter bands. 10 is Ham, 11 is CB. Not sure if owning one is illegal, but operating one might be.

 

[abruzzi]

Just pony up for a shack in a box which will have coverage for transmit on ham bands and the ability to listen on 27mhz...after all once you get your tech you will want your general...and thus the purchase will be justified.
Go scouting out for an icom 7000 or a yaesu ft857d on eham.com or qrz.com classifieds

This is your answer, but remember that a 2m mobile costs $150, and a FT857D costs $800. Also, to receive the CB bands requires a second antenna. If you don't transmit any HF, it doesn't need to be tuned, but there is a separate input for the HF bands and you'll need something plugged in there. Compare all that extra cost to just adding a $50 CB radio and $30 antenna.