Hand Held CB radios

[CDN_Cruiser]

You can get a radio that will both transmit and receive on 2M and CB - I was playing with a rig last night that could do this....although it's not legal (although CB is such a free for all...)...and it will cost you some $$ to make it happen.

The radio I was using was one of the somewhat 'new style' radios that can handle both VHF and HF and, when matched to an autotuner and an antenna that can be tuned can handle this task when the radio is *modified* - surprisingly in this case with a software vs. the more traditional hardware mods. We were using 2M, flipped to the CB freq (he had them stored in memory, along with FRS), hit the tuner button, the antenna made an adjustment, lowered power to 5W...and the rest is history.

All this can be yours for >$1,000

Cheers, Hugh VE3HMC

edit - ps I don't think this is of any real value to do, but is a nice to have if you have the radio for other purposes. As others have said, once you switch to 2m, you tend to throw the CB away, given the power of this system. My Kenwood HH can receive a full spectrum, so I can monitor CB if I wanted to...which I generally don't!

As group of friends are doing an 'adventure trip' up to my old stomp'n grounds in Canada's Arctic this winter (along with a few US folks) and we're planning to use IRLP to stay connected for the trip. I'll sit by the fire drinking scotch with my 5W HH and will talk to them as they cross the country!

 

[Kofoed]

Perhaps somebody can take the lead and come up with a basic amateur radio FAQ to dispell myths and show how fairly easy it is to get a license.

The FCC actually wants people to get licenses. They just want to make sure you know the rules, how radios operate and use safe practices.

 

[MrMoMo]

Is the US Tech licence really that easy to get? I am studying away for the "Basic" licence in Canada, and it does not seem that easy at all. I would not consider myself an idiot, I work with electricity all day, I understand it, but the questions on the practice tests keep coming up with questions on Yagi antennas, Skip refrations, Ionosphere, tropsphere, field strenth in volts per sq. meter, wavelength to frequency conversions (not hard if you have the formulas) I get questions like this...

"In a CW transmitter the output from the _____ is connected to the driver/buffer
a)power amplifier
b)telegraph key
c)master oscilator
d)power supply.

I'll get 10 questions in a row like that, then 10 like that about FM transmitters.

Just seems much harder than what you guys have to do? - or am I just dumb.
So far I have increased my score from 58% to 65%........ Maybe when I get up to about 90%consistantly I'll go for it.

 

[aim]

The US Tech license is trivial. I studied for about 10 minutes while in the LC on the way to the test site (while at lights and passed without any problems. My Physics degree is 15 years in the past, and the wording threw me off, but most questions are common sense and you only get a few specific ones (can you use HAM radio on a cruise ship?) out of the large pool. I fared rather poorly on the online practice exams myself, when I got a series of 5 or 10 exposure questions. I meant to study more, I really did, but ran out of time. At US$14, the risk wasn't that great.

Is the US Tech licence really that easy to get? I am studying away for the "Basic" licence in Canada, and it does not seem that easy at all. I would not consider myself an idiot, I work with electricity all day, I understand it, but the questions on the practice tests keep coming up with questions on Yagi antennas, Skip refrations, Ionosphere, tropsphere, field strenth in volts per sq. meter, wavelength to frequency conversions (not hard if you have the formulas) I get questions like this...

"In a CW transmitter the output from the _____ is connected to the driver/buffer
a)power amplifier
b)telegraph key
c)master oscilator
d)power supply.

I'll get 10 questions in a row like that, then 10 like that about FM transmitters.

Just seems much harder than what you guys have to do? - or am I just dumb.
So far I have increased my score from 58% to 65%........ Maybe when I get up to about 90%consistantly I'll go for it.

 

[CDN_Cruiser]

MoMo - Great to hear that you are doing this - I should be able to call down the lake to you with no problems! At the risk of being flamed, the Canadian teat is a bit harder (100 multiple choice questions vs 35 IIRC) and does seem to focus on a bunch of strange things, but there is some logic (see below) given how you access HF bands in the future (which is different than in the US).

I'm not a huge fan of the structure of the test / lessons (ie it is a 'foundational' approach that believe you must understand how electricity works to understand radios and is highly theoretical in nature). I would love to see a somewhat revamped lesson / test that still captures some aspects of the theory and also more on the use. I did a bunch of self study and then did a weekend course.

IIRC K-town has a good group - actually you have the Canadian Signals Regiment (my G-father's old regiment) there - so there has to be someone that can help you!

Part of the reason why our test is strange is that this is really the only 'knowledge / theory' test you write before you have access to the HF freq. To get that you (currently) just need to pass a Morse test. If/ when they revamp the test structure I would imagine that Industry Canada will end up with a much easier Basic test and a more complicated 'theory' test to access HF.

Please let me know if I can be of any help!

Cheers, Hugh