CB Radio Talk

This is my 2nd day with my CB. A Bearcat 980SSB. I ordered it from **Non Sponsor**, had him do the high performance tuneup. Using a Maco Alpha 5/8 on my roof. I'm still learning it.
I talked with a guy about 30 miles away last night. He said I was coming in very clear and was impressed. Not much going on earlier today. Its almost 7pm here in Virginia and I turn on the radio and the airwaves are like Black Friday at Walmart. I'm scanning AM 1-40 and picking up more activity than on Side Band. A lot is bleeding over on side band from AM, high power amps I'm assuming??
I'm hearing a guy claiming he's in Louisiana...remember, I'm in Virginia. Then theres a guy from Texas. A lot of "Happy Thanksgiving" announcements.
"Cricket" is on AM24 from South Louisiana.

I hear activity on the side bands but there's a lot of interference, like a high pitch whine/humming. I adjusted the clarifier and lose the whine but its still not clear like on AM.

So the sky clear is in Virginia at 7pm. I'm not familiar at all with this "skipping", but is that what I'm experiencing?

[mod=MDY]edited **Non Sponsor**[/mod]

Skip even though it is illegal on the CB band is fun to do,, happy contacting!

3's

Greg

I had a guy by the name of "deerslayer" came through. I would of thought he was across the street he was so clear. He claimed he was in Lake Okeechobee Florida!!
I dont know what setup he had but it was spot-on!!
Deerslayer...if you're on here tell us about your setup...lol

Handle sounds familiar, probably a member here.

3's

Greg

so when transmitting in hopes of "skipping" what is the ideal setup?
Me:
Uniden 980ssb
I have the Maco V 5/8 omnidirectional antenna.
No amp.

ha....just made a contact in central Florida

I'm sure an amp helps
how about a directional antenna?

If you have the real estate a 3 or 4 element beam would be fantastic, you could even use the 5/8 as a vertical on top of the horizontal beam, just remove the ground radials, the beam will act as it's ground plane. An amp will never hurt, just get a good one, AB class for SSB.

3's

Greg

Deerslayer is a friend of mine, and yes he's in Florida...Don't think he's a member here tho, but he's been around for years... if you ever get a chance to go to the Manchester TN. Channel 28 Good time Gang Break in July, Deerslayer is usually there, along with allot of the people you might hear on channel 28 when DX is rolling....

trx680 wrote: November 24th, 2019, 6:01 pm I had a guy by the name of "deerslayer" came through. I would of thought he was across the street he was so clear. He claimed he was in Lake Okeechobee Florida!!
I dont know what setup he had but it was spot-on!!
Deerslayer...if you're on here tell us about your setup...lol

I have made contact with Deerslayer from my Base in southcentral Keystone.
223 said that and I'm using an IMax 2000 with a RM KL503 on either a President Washington with a Tug 8, a Galaxy 2517 with a Night "K" Eagle, or a Cobra 142 direct injected with a Berhinger sound board, berhinger dynamic mic and a Gray 300 amp.

Beam would definitely be better but HOA won't have it here, lol.

73,

Keep on pluggin' away...….

Mike

Channel 28 sure quite tonight

trx680 wrote: November 24th, 2019, 6:52 pm so when transmitting in hopes of "skipping" what is the ideal setup?
Me:
Uniden 980ssb
I have the Maco V 5/8 omnidirectional antenna.
No amp.

ha....just made a contact in central Florida

I'm sure an amp helps
how about a directional antenna?

If conditions are right pretty much any set up would do.What you have now is just fine. To be honest, yes an amp definitely helps but don't get wrapped up in the "big watts" thing. You will be surprised what you can do on very little power especially on sideband. For years 90% of my talking was on sideband with a little AB biased 2 pill amp into a 3 element beam stuffed in my attic. I talked to stations all over the country with that set up. Right now we are in a lul in the 11 year solar cycle so be patient as consistent skip will eventually return.

I've got to ask...

Three element beam in the attic....

Could you rotate it at all or did you just fix it in a direction that you knew was "hot" with signals/possibilities?

KP68 wrote: February 11th, 2020, 9:26 am If conditions are right pretty much any set up would do.What you have now is just fine. To be honest, yes an amp definitely helps but don't get wrapped up in the "big watts" thing. You will be surprised what you can do on very little power especially on sideband. For years 90% of my talking was on sideband with a little AB biased 2 pill amp into a 3 element beam stuffed in my attic. I talked to stations all over the country with that set up. Right now we are in a lul in the 11 year solar cycle so be patient as consistent skip will eventually return.

Bobcat wrote: February 11th, 2020, 1:20 pm I've got to ask...

Three element beam in the attic....

Could you rotate it at all or did you just fix it in a direction that you knew was "hot" with signals/possibilities?

KP68 wrote: February 11th, 2020, 9:26 am If conditions are right pretty much any set up would do.What you have now is just fine. To be honest, yes an amp definitely helps but don't get wrapped up in the "big watts" thing. You will be surprised what you can do on very little power especially on sideband. For years 90% of my talking was on sideband with a little AB biased 2 pill amp into a 3 element beam stuffed in my attic. I talked to stations all over the country with that set up. Right now we are in a lul in the 11 year solar cycle so be patient as consistent skip will eventually return.

Yes sir, fixed in one position pointed west from Pittsburgh PA. I lucked out in the way my townhouse was situated. The antenna would only fit either pointing east or west. I chose west. I made contacts from Alberta Canada to Mississippi and many in between. The antenna was suspended about a foot and a half above the attic floor. I bolted a 2" female pipe flange to a board that was about 11" wide by about 3' long and laid it perpendicular to the floor joists. Then I got a 2' long threaded pipe and screwed that into the flange and mounted the beam to that.Pretty funny but heck, it worked out great! If you think that's crazy, I'll tell ya all about how I cut out a 4' section of my plumbing vent pipe in the attic in order to shove an Antron 99 up through the roof to the outside!! HAHA!

THIS part of the post is useless without photos.....

KP68 wrote: February 11th, 2020, 11:59 pm If you think that's crazy, I'll tell ya all about how I cut out a 4' section of my plumbing vent pipe in the attic in order to shove an Antron 99 up through the roof to the outside!! HAHA!

Bobcat wrote: February 12th, 2020, 8:27 am THIS part of the post is useless without photos.....

KP68 wrote: February 11th, 2020, 11:59 pm If you think that's crazy, I'll tell ya all about how I cut out a 4' section of my plumbing vent pipe in the attic in order to shove an Antron 99 up through the roof to the outside!! HAHA!

Fair enough! Maybe this weekend I'll do a video at my old location so you can see what the heck I'm talking about. I'll post the link here.

Bobcat wrote: February 12th, 2020, 8:27 am THIS part of the post is useless without photos.....

KP68 wrote: February 11th, 2020, 11:59 pm If you think that's crazy, I'll tell ya all about how I cut out a 4' section of my plumbing vent pipe in the attic in order to shove an Antron 99 up through the roof to the outside!! HAHA!

Posted video in General Discussions.

From North Central WY, 25 miles from the MT border...…. skip is quite sporadic during the day, much better at night. The rig I'm using is a Galaxy DX-88HL using a Palomar TX-150 amp with a Hygain Penetrator 500 antenna on a 20' mast. RX is very good too. Almost can't wait for the skip to kick up again. Hang loose buddies!

Skip is when radio frequency bounce in the atmosphere, making it possible to make contacts hundreds, maybe thousands of miles, depending of the skip. I get skip signals from USA almost daily, something which didn’t happen since the 80’s.

USB activity above channel 40 on USB is great. People as far as Europe, Mexico, South America can be heard here in Puerto Rico.

I am using vertical antennas an hear a lot of people during the day. Then when the night falls, skip conditions fall.

On channel 6 when skip is good, some USA guys hit almost 40 db’s in my HF rig. That’s impressive. Locals get whipped out when those kilowatts hit the air !

Conditions are getting back.

I see other folks here have made contact with DeerSlayer as well. I'm from the Cleveland area and Mr. Slayer comes in quite clean and clear up here. Lately I've been hearing a lot of Florida and even as far south as Jamaica. Mother nature is doing her thing and we're all at her mercy. 73. 047 buckeye