My first SSB experience.

[Adrian]

Okay, I've been dinking around with an old Radio Shack radio for a couple of months, mostly just listening to the shouting matches on AM when skip's been rolling. Didn't seem like much more going on there than just... Well, shouting matches. I could hear the SSB'ers talking, mostly on 38, so I decided to come off a little money and get a 'real' radio. Well, I got my 2950DX off the UPS truck yesterday, and got it installed. This evening, I talked to 414 in Ontario Canada on it. It was a fairly brief contact, but that was a cool moment. Maybe under similar conditions I could've done the same thing on AM, but heck, AM's standing room only.

Since this forum doesn't get much traffic, I just thought I'd throw this in.

Adrian

[likes2grill]

I like to talk SSB even on my old sears 23 and made so great contacts with people from this forum and around the east coast.

[231]

Congrats' Adrian! The 2950 is a terrific radio and for what it's worth, I've been running pretty much strictly sideband for many years now. I don't mind AM mind you, I just like SSB better, that's all. Certainly it's easier to pick out contacts during the DX pile ups, too. For me it's just easier to listen to...especially when guys have their radio dialed in for some smooth audio.

Glad to hear you enjoyed it. I'm usually on 37 LSB as there are a whole bunch of us up here that yak there often. Maybe we'll hear ya' sometime?

73's

[Sporty Mike]

Cool Adrian!! Nothing like that first real dx contact that makes you say "wow...there's really somethin to this" I dabble a little with SSB, but really, if you have a little power and a good antenna, you can make alot of contacts on AM as well.

759...SSB and Am....Redbeard in Bham.
Aka, Mike

[kc4eoe]

Yeah, it has always cracked me up to see the boys on AM spending their kids college money just to compete with each other. Then you turn the dial up the band a bit with your out of the box SSB rig and talk all day long to just about anyone you hear. Wait till the solar cycle gets cranked up really good. We will be talking to Europe and Asia with and having the time of our lives.

[721HACKSAW]

I have to agree with whats been said here, SSB is a whole lot more enjoyable to me. Here in the Derby City we talk on 39 LSB. It's casual, we use first names, everyones respectible, no echo, or roger beeps ect....

[103mass]

Okay, I've been dinking around with an old Radio Shack radio for a couple of months, mostly just listening to the shouting matches on AM when skip's been rolling. Didn't seem like much more going on there than just... Well, shouting matches. I could hear the SSB'ers talking, mostly on 38, so I decided to come off a little money and get a 'real' radio. Well, I got my 2950DX off the UPS truck yesterday, and got it installed. This evening, I talked to 414 in Ontario Canada on it. It was a fairly brief contact, but that was a cool moment. Maybe under similar conditions I could've done the same thing on AM, but heck, AM's standing room only.

Since this forum doesn't get much traffic, I just thought I'd throw this in.

Adrian

SSB is great ..It good for people like us who can break a pile up on 38lsb with 30 watts

[Night Crawler]

Wait till the solar cycle gets cranked up really good. We will be talking to Europe and Asia with and having the time of our lives.

If it ever does I don't think it's going to happen this time around.

[Adrian]

Really need to get in the bed, I'm planning a long day tomorrow, but I wanted to add, spoke to 124 in Louisiana this evening. Again, a brief contact, there was a pretty high noise floor, but dammit, that's cool to me!

Adrian

[Adrian]

Dang sure didn't have any luck today. The skip was hitting it pretty hard all afternoon today, while I was in the Exploder, and I called a heap of times, but had no luck. When I got back to the house, I even strung up my homemade dipole in an oak tree behind the house and tried for a little while before dark. Nope, just wasn't happening for me today.

Adrian

[ussixtysix]

Yesterday was a pretty good skip day for me. Got some #'s in Fla. GA. TN. AL. Early morning was the best. Unfortunately I had a gig yesterday and had to take off for a while. By the time I got back it was in and out. Still better than most days lately, and fun as hell! Regular Am is good on the road but SSB Rules if you wanna go beyond the super bowl.
Still studying for my ham. Can't wait, will be a lot of fun.

[Raider747]

Looks like I am waking up this old thread haha,. My first radio was a cheap Radio Shack AM radio. I then bought another radio from a neightbor also a Radio Shack brand but it had ssb. It was night and day between the two (am to ssb). I soon found myself on SSB all the time and rarely on the am side. The first time talking DX was on my first HR - 2510. I was blown away when i first heard the DX. My buddy kept telling me about it but I thought he was lying haha. I was even more hooked on radios from that point knowing the oppertunity I had with better equipment and here I am today 18 years later still on the radio (besides some breaks in between).

[tractor guy]

I am about to enter the world of ssb. I just picked up my original old style 2 button Washington. Not sure what to expect, but I am excited. So far there are a few things I want to change. AM dk is way to high to push my old amp with. RX seems a bit timid compared to my Zachary T. I'll have to read up on the mods for this thing and see what I can do with it.

Joe

[Raider747]

Those are really cool radios for sure! I think I may have talked dx only a handful of times on AM but from the day I got that first ssb radio my am career was pretty much over. Just a preference I guess and the people I talked to locally were all ssb people so I guess it was either that or I talked to no one haha. I think you will enjoy ssb. LSB is where most people talk but you will here people on usb from time to time.

[tractor guy]

Yeah, I have wanted a Washington for a while. I picked this one off of ebay from a semi local pawn shop. It seems to be work OK. I do think I need to get it checked out at some point. I have notice a strong rx signal on AM causes the needle to show a huge rx on USB on all channels. It has been worked on at some point as it dk 10 and swings 20+ am, and it is showing about 30 peak on ssb. I need to get in and tune it down a little so I can use it with my K-500. I haven't had squat for local on am, but I have been listening to some guys chew the fat on 38 lsb all day. I think they are in Indianapolis which is about 20miles away. Looking forward to playing with this thing.

Joe

[HomerBB]

I like SSB very much, however, I would be less than perfectly honest saying I like it a lot more than AM.

[Radio Pig]

I to am looking forward to SSB. I have been used to using normal cb since 1977. After all these years I finnaly decided to invest into SSB. So this past late friday night i purchased online a new Galaxy DX 959. So I am really looking forward to recieving it and getting it hooked up. I have been checking out different makes and models of SSB radios for a month now. I read all the reviews for the Cobra 148 radios, and for the Uniden Grant XL radios, and the General Lee radios, Etc... The General Lee radios were just a little more than I could afford right now, and the Uniden Grant XL radios were all used ones as they no longer make new ones, so I wanted a new radio setup. So I ended up trying to decide between the Cobra 148 radios and the Galaxy radios. But after alot of thought and all the reviews that I had researched online the Galaxy seemed to rated a little better than than the Cobra 148's. So I found a really good deal on a new Galaxy DX 959 and I purchased it. One thing I did like about the Galaxy over the Cobra was the fact it comes with a frequency counter. As the cobra doesn't.

Anyway i sure look forward to getting it and trying SSB out. And as soon as I can find a good CB shop in spokane, I amgoing to get it completely tuned up to it's full potential.
So if anyone in the spokane/couer d' alene Idaho area knows of a good reputable CB shop in the area please let me know.

Great to hear you enjoyed your first SSB encounter.

[449]

Congrats on your new SSB radio purchase. I hardly talk AM, except on channel 19 when I'm on the road. I think and hope that you will enjoy SSB. Best of luck on your DX'ing.

[genesbro]

SSB is the best method for long distance comms not envolving skip. It works great on skip also just far surpasses am when it comes to reaching out the extra miles for local comms. I think you will have lots of fun using this format.

[barhopper 1]

Was when I got my first ssb rig SBE Console V many moons ago and I still got it and it stills works like the an old war horse!!

[crowhorse55]

Hi to all .. I am new here.. and to CB and to SSB.

I have not had a SSB first experience yet. However I am going to look at a Realistic TRC 449 this afternoon.

Any have or had a TRC 449... whats your thought on that radio? Thanks for any help..

[genesbro]

Hi to all .. I am new here.. and to CB and to SSB.

I have not had a SSB first experience yet. However I am going to look at a Realistic TRC 449 this afternoon.

Any have or had a TRC 449... whats your thought on that radio? Thanks for any help..

Welcome to all of this. I have been pro ssb ever since my first time using it and seeing how much clearer the contact is for long range contacts. With am the further away the contact is the more static there is with the signal. But with ssb the signal will be just as clear up till the signal is gone as it was down the block just not as loud until it is just gone.

[maters]

I love sideband. I have a few am monsters but talking from the beaches of NC to California, Canada , Mexico and a british trucker on 4 watts is a blast.

[Eskimo_Pie]

Dang sure didn't have any luck today. The skip was hitting it pretty hard all afternoon today, while I was in the Exploder, and I called a heap of times, but had no luck. When I got back to the house, I even strung up my homemade dipole in an oak tree behind the house and tried for a little while before dark. Nope, just wasn't happening for me today.

Adrian

Hey Adrian,

What Explorer do have? I've got a 1994 EX with 194,000 miles and counting. What year is yours? Also what mobile rig and antenna do you run? I run a Wilson 500 mag mount or a K40 mag mount with either a HR2510, Pres McKinley, or a Cobra 140GTL.

73's

Greg

[yamaha]

I allways had a old 19 or 29 around in the truck. I talked around NC and was hooked with that. Years later i got a 2000gtl for a good deal. she was sold as new old stock.I could not beleive my eyes and when she powerd up and was flawless my heart melted. It was my first ssb radio and my first radio check was from NY. I run it with a leagal carier and no linear and on ssb it gets out from nc to cali and makes me take back every thing i ever said bad about cobra.