Hi Jim and AM gang, While I was here at the keyboard yesterday I decided to turn on the HF rig for to have something to listen to while I worked. I started at 29.999 MHz and then headed down, sometimes I do a continuous tune to see what's out there. I wasn't watching the dial as I was tuning and heard some SSTV signals. I looked up to see the frequency was 27.7 something! SSTV ON 11M------Gezz what a waste!
Then I keep going down to check for possible DX on 12m and then I heard a very loud sounding British station using SSB. It was around 25.500 and he was using a Icom 756 Pro! He sounded very nice and he didn't act like the typical CBer with the Jerk lingo. He described his antenna as a monobander up 60 plus feet with a boom nearing 30 feet!!! It just seems weird to hear a bootlegger on SSB using ham gear that sounds better than 99.9 % of the Ham stations I hear on the bands. I guess I am getting old, I remember some of these guys using Collins 32v's, KW-1's, Johnson 500's and Henry amplifiers in the mid 1970s. In fact I got two of my Johnson 500 from CBers that burned them up and didn't know what to do with them. One time I was tuning a dead 10m band and went up above 29.7 I heard loggers up in the NW. I haven't heard them since. You never know what you will see or hear out of these guys. I am not sure they still do this but 20 years ago you could catch "freebanders" below the Ham CW bands using Drake, Kenwood, and Yaesu equipment. It has never been easier to get a Ham license, it just doesn't make sense to me. 73 de jay.. From: "Jim Candela" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <amradio@mailman.qth.net> Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2002 10:12 PM Subject: FW: [AMRadio] Illegal 27 MHz dealers > > > I asked my Nephew who is into Monster car stereos just what he's seen > concerning Monster Mobile CB. His reply is below. > > Regards, > Jim Candela > WD5JKO > > > -----Original Message----- > From: tonyandtoni [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, August 26, 2002 8:48 PM > To: Jim Candela > Subject: Re: [AMRadio] Illegal 27 MHz dealers > > > I haven't seen any of it around here. When I lived in Little Rock, I saw my > fair share of it. The crowd was mostly men and they supposedly put > $1,000 each into a pot to "enter" these keyoffs. They'd set up a base a > mile or so away and everyone would key up at the same time on a designated > channel. The guy with the strongest signal would drown all others out and > thereby take the pot. > > Of course, I never actually witnessed these events. I did however see my > fair share of 1Kw and up Linears in some of these guys cars. Some of the > systems had MANY (up to 7) alternators that were any where from 200 amp and > up EACH. Unlike us car audio guys, they didn't believe in using auxiliary > battery banks to maintain voltage -- they accomplished this directly from > the alternators. I remember one guy came in with about 3Kw in a late model > Buick. He had a single 300 Amp Les Deville alternator (like you'd see > strapped to the motor of a BIG firetruck) and two runs of 4/0 power cable > run underneath the car to the amps in the trunk. If memory serves me, he > did have one additional battery under the hood. He also had all the ECM > harnesses under the hood wrapped in some kind of lead shielding to keep the > car running when he was on the highway! He popped the trunk and had equally > large braided ground straps from the frame of the car run up to the amps as > well as the ground plane of the antenna. I was floored. He keyed this > thing up and the base of his antenna (at LEAST an inch diameter at the base) > was glowing RED in about 10 seconds. You could FEEL the RF in the hair on > your arms. That shit CAN'T be good for you. > > We got in pretty good with them and sold them LOTS of 1/0 gauge wire, gold > plated battery clamps, distribution blocks, and all the other stuff that > they needed to install these wild systems. I also saw my fair share of > "upgradable" linears. Some of them were built for 1Kw operation and had > empty slots where you could plug in extra Motorola TO-3 devices to double or > even triple power. From what I understood, it was NOT illegal to sell these > amps. It WAS however illegal to install them. Most of the guys installing > these BIG systems were quite talented but not licensed whatsoever by the > FCC. I guess that's how they got around it. > > Hey listen, us Car Audio guys ain't that crazy! > > Tony > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jim Candela" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Tony & Toni Candela" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Monday, August 26, 2002 6:41 PM > Subject: FW: [AMRadio] Illegal 27 MHz dealers > > > > > > Tony, > > > > Is this stuff still going on? > > > > Uncle Jim > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Charles Ring CSRE > > CBNT W3NU > > Sent: Monday, August 26, 2002 9:01 AM > > To: amradio@mailman.qth.net > > Subject: Re: [AMRadio] Illegal 27 MHz dealers > > > > > > > > > > Ed Sieb wrote: > > > > > Hi Brian, > > > > > > It's worse than you think! > > > > > > In the last few years, a new type of CB activity has become very > popular - > > > the "Keydown Superbowl". > > > A group, or club of CB'ers will organize a meet where the participants > get > > > together to compete over who has the biggest linear, with the most > power. > > > Amps with power levels of anywhere from 10 KW to even 50KW are operated, > > > (often into ruggedized vertical antennas). > > > > > > > > > > I have heard of these events and the subculture that supports them, and I > am > > guessing that the FCC hesitates to go after them for the same reason as > cops > > hesitate to go after a well-armed biker gang - the real possibility of > > violence. > > > > Also realize that their claimed power levels are most likely very > > exaggerated, > > not that it isn't enough to make them the world champs of harmful > > interference. > > > > On a more normal scale there is never a hamfest where i dont see a > selection > > of > > awful looking illegal CB amps. At the last one I saw one painted black, > > which > > reminded me of this (written by Rod Newkirk?) from an old QST: > > > > A CB with mind full of static > > thinks Uncle is undemocratic > > He daily demands > > a dozen new bands > > for his secret black box in the attic > > > > > > 73 de W3NU > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > AMRadio mailing list > > AMRadio@mailman.qth.net > > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio > > > > _______________________________________________ > AMRadio mailing list > AMRadio@mailman.qth.net > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio >
