Is CB Radio dead? (It dosnt seem to be here in the Midlands)
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- Опубликовано: 8 июл 2024
- Lots of people are saying that CB radio is dead, mainly the UK FM 40, but today we look at how busy it is in my local area.
10 to 15 miles is normally how far you can get on UK40 FM, with that in mind the guys I speak to are about at that distance, but the QRM is high so I have to use a bit extra just to be heard. 
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Great video and Al CB radio is far from dead and growing. I just had my first contact with the UK and a few others. Had about 8 minutes or so and chatted with Mark outside of Yorkshire who I had made a few contacts with last run of skip, Great to hear from the old gang. Drew
Nice one Drew ill be listening bud , still a bit quiet for skip today here in the UK, The band is a bit flat, but like I've said I enjoy all the different modes and did speak to a US station last year on one of my FM rigs with only 4w. Its amazing what can be done at times. All the best and hope we catch you in the radio soon.
Hi Al, we were all talking on ch40 uk fm the other night here up in Scotland and got two stations from the Isle of Wight. Lots of us on up here in Edinburgh and the surrounding areas over to West Lothian and over in Dundee also stations over the West Glasgow and Greenock area so plenty of us in. When the propagation picks up most stations jump down to the 555's on ssb. So it's definitely still alive. Thanks for the video and hope to catch you on the airwaves 73's 👍🏻🏴🏴🇬🇧
Nice one bud, glad to hear that it is still alive in different places of the UK, we seem to be getting more and more join us on CH33, but QRM is the problem for most of us that is home base. Hope to hear you in the radio, haven't had much of the UK local skip yet this year, but I'm sure it will happen at some point 🙂
Well done Al another great video just set my dad up with a LCL ENTERPRISE 40 CB from the 80 rig he was listening to me chatting to Italy Thursday evening. Scotland and Ireland was booming Tuesday and Wednesday. Keep up the good work
Thanks bud. One ive been meaning to do for a while and its certainly seems to be different all over the UK so im guess im lucky here. Cheers
cheers for another great vid Al. conditions are very unpredictable on all bands at the moment all we can do is keep calling 73s
Thanks bud , yep conditions are all over the place atm, but it comes in and then drops off again, been odd this summer.
UK40 FM is basically dead around here in South Wales , Just the odd pockets of users still on but it's drastically quite to what it used to be only done five years ago ..... There's still plenty to work though on SSB when the Skip rolls in ..... But local UK40 FM is basically dead .
Shame what about the Sunday DX used to be a fair few people on that way, guessing it depends where you are , when I was in west Wales a few years ago on holiday, there were a few on I talked to, but yep SSB is very busy when the skip Rolls in. Thanks, I'm finding it interesting that there are pockets of people that are using FM in different places of the country.
Hello just came across your video ... down here out in the Weald of Kent pretty quiet but there are a few breakers out there ....on ukfm and the mids .... plenty of sideband activity... hearing and talking to people in Sussex, Essex and further afield as well as local Kent breakers . Good video 👍
Cheers, bud good to hear there is activity, im away in Devon atm and only 2 people on around here although great lads and ive had a great laugh talking to them both.
@@Al.26TC101 Yes we have a laugh up here on the CB ....on almost every day with it in the tractor ....see a lot of twigs on cars but not many reply to the shout of "eyeball".....take care 👍
And truely alive here in the Central South Al, always local activity and multiple nets. Keep up with the good video, i appreciate how much work goes into making them, regards Steve aka Enthusiast Steve
Cheers Steve and good to hear that its busy. I'll be down in Devon Autumn time so hope to get involved with some of the Nets. Ill be mobile on way down aswell. Hope to catch you and many thanks.
@@Al.26TC101 let us know when coming this way, we can organise a chat. 👍
Thanks Alan and Maxine for the short Qso tonight on 27.585.i have a short video of this qso on my channel....73 from the german french boarder Timo
Thanks Timo was great to get the QSO best 73
Good job. Nice looking shack. I have a 7300 on this end too.. 73
KP280 Western North Carolina
Cheers bud its took me alot of time and money to get it to where it is , but its worth it as a hobby I really love.
Sorry to hear that Henry is so chipper. I hope all goes well with his visit to the vets.
I'm glad to hear you have a local group using FM. I've recently had a couple of friends saying they have some old CBs in sheds and lofts, so maybe a possibility of getting something similar going here. Most folks seem to sit up in the freebanding frequencies with USB though, which is a problem for those digging out old sets from sheds etc.
I'll keep calling, I'm sure somebody will answer eventually.
73s
Al
I like both the DX on ssb and chatting on FM ceratinly room for both, be great if you can get a few more on. Also if conditions are right you can get some DX on the FM channels.
Henry is ok just an on going problem. Will have to see what happens as got to go back again in a few weeks. Cheers bud.
@@Al.26TC101 argh, thanks for reading my comment about Henry as it was intended. Fingers failing to keep up with brain.
I was out last night and listening to lots of farmers working on the harvest. I leave them to it as they don't need me interrupting their work.
Fingers crossed that I might catch you on the TC net tonight.
Very interesting, what should i be looking for in a starter kit? Plus being in an apartment. What about aerial? My older brother had one in the early 90s, a few did. Not heard of cb in years. Thanks
Well, I would certainly go for a radio with SSB on it (upper & lower sidband) as its all legal now and most activity is on sideband with skip or propagation from the continent also depends if anyone is on in your area. Im lucky here as its been busy on CH33 for many years I 1st came back on and purchased an Anytone 6666 or CRT9900 same radio. If you look back on my videos you will see antennas I have tried here, atm im using an SD-27 dipole but again ive been lucky to have one up out on my balcony as I had to fight to keep it up there. Let me know where you are and if your thinking of just CB and also if there's anyway you can get an antenna outside, there's all sorts you can do, like a hidden wire antenna. Lots of options , but its what works for you in your location at the end of the day.
Local is pretty dead here in CT, USA. There is local activities on 39 LSB locally. Mostly skip is still pretty active in the USA.
Always quite busy on ch33 UK FM.
Skip has been a bit weird of late, prob down to solar activity, but its changing, not heard alot of statside recently 😪. Cheers
pretty dead in the western united states. I'm not sure what the truckers are using now but their use of CB is drastically down from 10 years ago. CB was a staple of off-road vehicles, but Baofeng HT's ended that abruptly. I turned my CB on for a ops check last weekend and it took a half hour before the scan caught a single linear guy making a quick contact. I think its related to how bad the band was here years ago...Huge linears blasting echo mics and profanity all over. Now that its dead, it very well might come back if it weren't for the huge following that illegal Baofeng use has. Nice to see its viable and pleasant in the UK
It isnt what is was back in the 80s and 90s, but in some ways, I think that's a good thing, think I'm enjoying a lot more now and getting more into the technical side of things, we seem to be getting more people coming back to it each week. Hope it picks up for you and maybe try and listen out for us over the pond.
73 from West Coast of Canada
9AT102 Jeff.
Cheers and Beers
Fm use to be all I use to do back in 2008, it’s not so bad out mobile as you say, maybe we need more FM nets, hope Henry gets better soon
Thanks bud , Henry getting, old like me but hopefully he will be ok. certainly seems like other nets on Fm going on around the Uk , just depends where you are I guess. as always cheers 🙂
have you heard the bucket mouth on channel 19 every day on fm in and around the Manchester area and he uses amp to broad cast it all over the channels. Makes you want to give up cb radio all together
No ive not heard , I think the same happens In Birmingham, but i cant hear Birmingham that well, best thing to do if there are a few of you on is pick another channel and meet up and chat on there, people will find you when flicking about their radio. Good luck and don't give it up 🙂
@@Al.26TC101 lucky enough I down in the Hertfordshire area and is very quiet. I was listerning to those in the manchester area on my pc using sdr
i've heard him from standish, talking total rubbish just drones on and on, him and his mate.
Apart from a few locals that you hear very rarely on 19 it is very quiet up here.There was a few of us on last night on 555 and as we chatted a few more joined in so i guess folk are listening,maybe a little organisation up here might tease a few to come out of the woodwork.Thanks for the video.BTW is that lift shat grill metal?
I suppose it does matter where you are in the country, best FM can do is i think about 15 miles radious. Some places are a total washout while others have lots of breakers. Yes it is metal this whole building is metal and concrete.
Hi mate i from Birmingham I used the cb radio I got the cobra 148 with the echo chamber talk to lot of people near me i from Yardley I came back on the cb 2 years ago
I seem to struggle from here that way , but we do have what I call the Warwickshire Plateau in the way. All the best
Shouting out for Foxtrot Yankee group in and around Portsmouth. Channel 14FM. Great video. From YF34. ATB.
Chhers bud
Use ours, in our jimny 4x4s, and just got a 1/4 wave for static use, and occasionally chat to mr moonraker
Yeah ive heard the a few tyhat use radios in 4x4s if it works it works Cheers.
Great videos mate , is ssb legal in the uk now ? im just getting back into it currently going for my foundation license but im told it doesnt cover 11 meter ssb , so is ssb and DX okay to do now ? I used to be big into dx in the 80's and 90's Thanks in advance 73📻
Yes FM, SSB and AM all legal now, no license needed, all on mid block and the old UK 40 FM, thing is international calling channel is 27555.00 which is not in either of these bands, but we all use it, also alot of noise on the band if your in a city. Alot of stations from all over coming in on SSB atm aswell as we are going into solar maximum.
Good luck with it and happy to answer questions if It can be helpful.
P.S. The law does state 4watts FM and 12 watts SSB on a approved radio, but its up to you what you choose to do as I don't think many follow rules and regs on 11meters. It's a bit of a mind field, but sure you will get your head around it.
@@Al.26TC101 Oh brilliant thanks i couldnt quite find what i was looking for when i googled it , I have a FT DX 10 Witth 11 open and a President George 2 Not modded for mobile , Doing my foundation at the end of the month ! New regs coming in from ofcom so i see 👌Thanks for the information 73's
Nice job, Fm is not so good here in the states, at least where i am at! 73s Victor Tango 802
Hey Gazza cheers well as you can see in my location it is busy , but a lot of other parts there is no one on. back in the 80s we had stateside Booming in on UK40 FM they just popped in from no where and were 30+ for the most part and i was only 4w back then. Cheeers bud and hope to catch you soon.
FM is pretty quiet here in my part of nw england, 19 gets a few locals on all with burners so they can talk over anyone trying to get in lol, took my van shack to north wales a few months ago and it was dead, did notice driving along in the countryside with the rig on uk19 with the squelch up every house i drove past and the rig hissed with the qrm emitted from the house! i'm sure there are areas that get busy but i think people returning to cb's after 30-40 years are in for a let down as i think they are expecting something like the good old days. seem to a few rushing out to buy the thunderpole rig sets, i keep seeing their posts about how they cant hear anyone when they get on the air, thats why if i see a post asking what to buy i tell them get something with sideband as thats where the most action is. 73's Al, 26VL101.
Yep that is the best idea to get a radio that does ssb, fm and am, FM seems to be thriving here and many more seem to be coming back to it, but all the guys that speak to each other do have multiband rigs Cheers
Here Rochester, NY. Not much activity except by truckers on the interstates and thruways. CB still used by many farmers in rural areas. Otherwise ehhh no.
Thats a shame , there are pockets all over the UK , but Just a shame about the noise on FM in Citys here.
I gave up trying to hear them, seems very dependent on location. Here I get absolutely nothing. Good video anyway mate, its not dead just some will think it is if theyre in the same situation as me, If I went mobile it'd be fine.
I cant figure why you wouldnt hear any of them as they are spaced out from east to west of you. Odd that antenna needs to be higher. Hope you can eventually get something sorted. Cheers bud.
Hi do you fix a RCI Ranger 2950 CB radio thanks Kieran
Sorry no , i dont fix radios , just tinker about with antennas and radios.
Interesting the icom 7300 was very popular with the hams i was never a big fan of FM, much prefer AM or SSB
I started on FM , but had an AM board fitted in my CB radio, its where it all started for me and we have a good bunch who are on CH33 everyday. Although the noise (QRM) is getting worse
contrary to the belief that CB died a long time ago, I guess not, division 79 is very much active on ssb... 73
Yes very active here as well, but SSb is very busy and a lot of locals on the FM UK40 Cheers.
I’m always envious when I see the TC 101 and Fred in the Shed vids. You both seem to have lots of “normal” breakers talking about normal things. Locally we still have quite a few on, but most are drunks, druggies, or general miscreants lacking in gainful employment, and the chat is either them continually threatening to kill each other, or the quest to purchase and consume drugs, and of course there are almost continual mic keyers/ music players on 19.
There has been a few old breakers come back on lately but sadly they never last.
We did have a local net twice a week which generally started well, but the chair was a tinfoil hatter who always turned the chat to his own brand of rather extreme politics / paranoid anti government / new world order nonsense, and it either caused arguments or folk just turned off.
Oh dear sorry to hear that, I guess we are lucky, but it is a struggle with QRM most days. Im guessing the more people are on the radio in certain places then the more come back to it and join in. Hoping things change for you.
Makes me wonder why we don’t all try channel 14 rather than 19. Let’s try it - if you read this comment, spread the word & make some calls on 14. I’m sure there are lots of people like myself who’d love to have a civilised chat, try different rigs & aerials etc.
@HughJarse1968 Hi I always have a listen and a call and there some stations that do call out on 14. If you don't shout you won't know.
Cheers ALLAN love to hear cb on your channel, so sorry to hear about your little feller, It’s wrong how much they charge for ones best friend , but you have to do it, thanks again hope to speak soon Alan from Luton, 26-CT - 48-70 cheers 🍻👍
Thanks buddy ill make sure he gets better , he seems ok and he loves the beach so cant wait to take him away. Cheers.
Quite dead up here, unless you are on sideband, but they only appear when skip is running!
Shame, the youngsters ask what use is CB? They say they won't use it, but they have never tried it, but then mobile phones were not around back then. I think CB was a better way to meet other people. Most are using Ham equipment that are on, if using FM and you are receiving them on a CB, they tend to be very clipped as they are 5Khz wide and CB is only 2.5Khz wide in deviation. Fine if you have a cheap nasty CB like a Fidelity 100 (Great made radios) as they took in half the channels anyway, how people could use those radios in a city with the bleed-over beats me? The rest of The Fidelity range was ok-ish, the 3000 was the 1000 type board, just made to fit a plastic box, so laid out different. Anyway, with a crystal filter fitted it makes it hard to make out what some Ham sets put out as they are too wide at 5Khz! Anyway, I think it is starting to pick up in some areas, but only in home bases or static mobile. But it is still very quiet here. I don't see lorries with aerials these days either, any I do see tend to be tippers! Local traffic, will only talk to their buddies, either on 19 or a channel they use on their own group!
Hi Bob well these guys are always about on Ch33, but i do enjoy using both ssb and FM its all good and we have a few youg ones trying it out also, we seem to have a nice community here and it is growing. Hope your well bud and Cheers.
@@Al.26TC101 Nice to see it is growing again, it is a good hobby. Good for the old and lonely as well, though some people never give them a chance, I always spoke to nearly everyone back in the day!
Improving in health slightly, but feeling 150% better than I was.
just came across this video i,m up in the welsh valleys i,ll defo give a shout out on 33 to see if theres anybody about .. spannerman ..73,s
Hi only problem with FM here is we have alot of noise , but you never know if conditions allow , might make the trip,
37 uk fm .....South west ...Cornwall...
I was just down in North Devon last week, heard a few stations down in Cornwall and managed the contact. Only 2 guys on FM in the Woolacombe area, but was nice to get to chat with them and make a couple of friends along the way.
@Al.26TC101 plenty of old boys down here willing to chat...I'm north Cornwall next king arthers castle...near the beaches the rest of UK like to frequent every summer ...rock and polzeath are in my back garden basically lol.
Out of interest why do u use 101 in your calls sign ...I also use 101 in my call sign ..
Good question, if you don't know my favourite band is Depeche Mode and on one of their tours they released a video entitled 101 as it was their 101st concert on that tour, so it is sort of personal to me. Cheers
@Al.26TC101 excellent answer ...I use 101 because the of t800 series terminator model 101..always liked the sound of that stuck with me since seeing the film as a kid ...
It’s easy to think CB is dead, or your radio is broke, when the band is ‘out’.
The odd times the band is ‘in’, you can easily overload your receiver from all the traffic.
An old silent-key CB’er once told me the ghostly tones made by so many radios on the same frequency was like comforting music to him, all those people trying to reach out.
RIP Bald Eagle - Channel 18
Certainly not dead around this local area, but a lot of places that are very quiet and your silent key friend certainly was right about that may he RIP. Cheers
Hi just want to say theres a small click of bucket mouths that try to ruin the experience I've many radios but deside not to bother
Thats a shame, just got to ignore the bucket mouths, they may grow up one day.
CB radio around Belfast Northern Ireland is very quiet most times but anytime there are stations it's the usual foul mouthed idiots playing music etc etc and then I'd QSY to 40 meters and hear something similar...
Icom 7300 Hhmm. Why not use CB gear for CB frequencys and ham gear for ham frequencys...
No school like old school..
I guess I'm lucky really that we have a great bunch of breakers here on ch33 in Coventry area, I did explain why I was using the icom at start of video, as I won't hear the others if I wasnt using it.
No
lol just one hour a day thats a lot
Oh there is always someone on there monitoring, its just they meet up at 12pm every day on CH33, but always someone about on there
Few regulars come on here in East Anglia especially weekends, I get on when I can using the faithful old Hygain 5 8795-dx
Good to hear certainly seems like pockets of activity here and there.