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A trip down CB memory lane..
Topic Started: Saturday, 27. April 2013, 23:25 (2,876 Views)
MadMark1
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163 Charlie Tango 020
A trip down memory lane .... I 'Think' i was 10 or 11 when i had my first A.M cb, My buddies had rigs also, General electrics, Stalker 5 and Midland 150-M...

I found this site, http://www.thetruckersreport.com/library/the-ultimate-cb-radio-page/ Its about early A.M/S.S.B CB's ... The history and CB rigs and antennas...

Nostalgia is a wonderfull thing .......... Isnt it. ^o)

How many of you were on A.M and what rigs and twigs did you have ?


Mark
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"It's not the class of license that the Amateur holds but the class of Amateur that holds the license"
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VoG
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MadMark1
Saturday, 27. April 2013, 23:25
How many of you were on A.M and what rigs and twigs did you have ?
I was there . . .

  • My Very First Rig was a really low-end Midland (can't remember the model)
    • that Rig cost a fortnight's salary at the Meccano Eyeball (M4 Severn Bridge Aust Services).
    • It was connected to a rather strange aerials that I've not seen since: a base like a DV27, with the butterfly nut, then the "whip" itself was only 24" long with the middle 12" overwound to make a loading coil.
    • I've no idea if it was any good as I didn't even know about SWR or Groundplane, so it is Testament to the amount of signals that I was able to receive anything at all.
    • But I remember listening to Tenspeed and his friend Brownshoe, and a local crowd that included Doogle, Mickey, and Snake.

  • My next set was one of the Sharp "Stealth" rigs with the controls on the Microphone. Ideal for a bit of Buzby dodging
    • That one was bought from one of new CB Shops in Cardiff, so some advice and learning was also available.
    • As it was a Stealth Rig, it had a Stealth aerial: the MS264 from Antenna Specialists. A Three foot steel whip with a mini-tuner in the feedline.
    • Turns out that although it was visually a brilliant aerial, and could return a 1.1:1 SWR, it broadbanded something awful (tried it with three different CBs)

  • I heard "Lady Raven" calling on 14 that she had some "Cobra SSB sets" for sale.
    • So the next was a Cobra 146: AM, USB and LSB but only 40 Channels.
    • A great rig, but the 40 Ch only was a Big Limitation for SSB
    • I'd come to my senses by then and used a Cherokee Half-breed (base-load) whip

  • By this time (1980-81) the waves were SO crowded it was a struggle to "find a clear one" so I decided to go for something with extra Channels
    • At my Local CB Store I spied on the shelf something that claimed 120 or 160 Channels AND a built-in 16w "Boost" button - so I had to have it.
    • To this day I still have no idea what that Rig was, and I have even less idea what the hell I did with that set when I eventually "Went Legal" in 1982.
    • I KNOW the radio was AM and FM (no SSB) and had a switch that TXed 4w or 15/16w. I also clearly recall talking to my friend Pendragon and going "HIGH" then, finding even Ch.02 High occupied, SUPERHIGH. So the set had MID HI and HIHI for sure. I think it had LO also.
    • I've seen a number of radios with the extra power, and some with the power and 80 channels. But never the combination that I remember that rig as having.
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MadMark1
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163 Charlie Tango 020
My first A.M was a General Electric '3-8504F' and a DV-27 on a wheel base... After that it was various other rigs including a very nice 'Stag-357' what a mint radio that was, Id'e changed antennas by this time and now had up a 'Alcom' 18 ft vertical, My buddies were into the 'Pole-cats' and K-40's on a ground-plane kit.... Although for some reason the antenna everyone wanted was a 'fire-stick 5 ft' .. And it had to be made by 'Pal' ...

Steve, Ive still got The General Electric and the Cobra 146 GTL ..... I had back then


I think it was around 83-84 ish that i had a 'Hy-gain 5' and a plug in the wall valve amp.... I was the 'man' or so i though ( dellusions of grandure ) Anyway it didnt last long as when i got home one day my father said ' Some blokes been here looking for you ' some bloke 'huh', About interferance, Name of David Draper .... the penny dropped..... ( The buzby's ) anyway he took all my radios including the valve amp and said he would return to make sure you've taken the illegal antenna down..... Ide had up a 'home-made 3 element yagi..... a thing of pure beauty. My dad was rather smug as he didnt get CB's at all and didnt really like them , He was :dance: ... My buddy and me took the Yagi down and i hack-sawed it up.... On orders from my Dad.... what a ******.....


After that it was various SSB rigs and more hi-power amps.... David draper didnt come back... :doh:



Some of the CB shops i remember were 'Silver banders and silver roosters' One of them was In Newbridge high street and we used to pile in there in our lunch break from school ( late 70's) and drool over the 'Pace, Kraco's and other fantastic rigs and twigs.... we even set up a CB radio in the science block of Newbrige comp school..... :thumb:



Mark
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"It's not the class of license that the Amateur holds but the class of Amateur that holds the license"
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Leurbost2006
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108 Charlie Tango 059

Turning 11 in 1981 i went straight onto ukfm but i always wondered how quick 40CH AM died out?
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108CT059
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Pigeon
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163 Charlie Tango 014

first was a midlan 3001 then a stalker 40ch am lsb usb my twig was the dv27 on a tin lol but worked wonders back in them days then many rigs and twigs every channel full good times.
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Scottydog
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26 Charlie Tango 441
My introduction to CB was a Midland 3001 am set purely for mobile use i then went onto a Higain V with a silver rod on the chimney stack.
This very quicky attracted the interest of good old buzby so it was taken down and up went the starduster on a 20ft pole in the back garden.
It worked really well on the standard power of the Hygain v,I then managed to get hold of a Ham International Concord 2 loved it to bits it
worked really well on the DX and had around half the new FM frequencies as well using the shift happydays indeed.I would have loved a
jumbo back then but it was out of reach pricewise :)

SD
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http://www.sunderlandusedoil.co.uk


26CT441@charlietango.co.uk

Member of H.A.R.C. (Houghton le Spring amateur radio club)
Member of N.E.A.R.S (North East Amateur Radio Society)
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MM3DKA
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108 Charlie Tango 029
Started in 78/79 with a midland 3001 and jaws mk2 and moved on
to ssb with a stag 357 then a colt 320fm black shadow. then had
to buy a rig with kc shift (higain V) to talk on cb27/81.
I can still remember shouting someone on 14 mid and them shouting back
hit your hi. The good ole days :D :D :D

Them midland 3001's and Higain V's fair get about lol
Edited by MM3DKA, Sunday, 28. April 2013, 10:23.
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SilverGhost
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26 Charlie Tango 429

age 18 in 1978 i had my second car mk3 cortina mounted a dv 27 on the boot
midland 3001 am inside, second rig presedent jon q am/fm mainly used at night :)
No matter where you go
there you are !

Omar
26CT429
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Leurbost2006
Sunday, 28. April 2013, 09:19
but i always wondered how quick 40CH AM died out?
From what I remember in my area the majority of the AM users left and moved to Legal sets fairly quickly. Some Breakers went onto the new sets on Day 1. Most changed within about 3 or 4 months and after six months the Soul was completely gone from AM.

At the heigh of AM, just about all of my friends had CBs. But, just a few months after 11/81 you couldn't find a single one of them on the Aunty Mary.

I think the reason was that we had campaigned and shouted for a Legal System for so long, that most of us felt obliged to use it.

:buzby: PLUS, back in the AM hayday, the Post Office was VERY active in catching AM CBers. Just about every week you would hear of at least one poor soul, and often more, that had AM radios confiscated and/or faced the threat of a Court Appearance, so most of us were relieved to finally get a set that wasn't likely to be gone (into the Buzby Black Hole) within days[1].



[1] In my own case it was "Life in Reverse". I had never once been"caught" by Buzby and had never lost a rig to the dreaded Yellow Vans, BUT, within three days of instaling my first Legal CB (an Amstrad) in my car (an old BMW 2002) some b'st@@rd broke into the car and nicked the damn thing.... So i had never "Lost" an AM set, but my first FM was gone within less that a week.
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MadMark1
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163 Charlie Tango 020
All 40 of the A.M channels were full of people chatting away ..

One of the Cb rigs i had and i loved it was a ' Pegasus 7 ' it was 120 channels A.M only, with low-mid-high power settings and a variable echo on a dual control, Squelch / echo .... It was a fantastic radio and it looks identical to a Colt 444, Ive never seen another Pegasus 7 since, I cant find any info on them or any photos of them on-line... It would appear Pegasus only made one and i had it.... :thumb:


Mark
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"It's not the class of license that the Amateur holds but the class of Amateur that holds the license"
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Leurbost2006
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108 Charlie Tango 059

i remember as a kid their was a local hero called Yellow Peril from Tunbridge Wells who actually got sent to Prison for having a CB....And off subject slightly i remember when i was 12 and got my first 40ch FM i used to speak to a lady in her '20s called 'Juicy fruit' ;) and now iam happy to say iam married to 'Juicy Fruit' :D
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Sam WD40
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26 Charlie Tango 747

1979 and my first set arrived Bristol 21channel AM followed by a Pearce & Simpson supertiger 40 that came from a American guy on Alconbury air base they where the days think there was about 10-15 people on around a 30square mile radio us of Kettering back then !
[marq=Left]STOP READING MY CRAP GO GET SOME DX DONE ![/marq]

M0SRW
26-CT-747
IF YA NEIGHBOURS STILL TALK TO YOU GET A BIGGER ANTENNA !

Failure is not an option! BUT smashing it with a BIG hammer is :bash:

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Nubster
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26 Charlie Tango 050

This was my first radio in 1977 in the old AM days with the old favorite antenna DV27 , after that came many many more radios and antennas :D
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Life is too short, so ave a laugh now n then never know you might like it
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CorBlimeyGuvnar
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Stalker VI 80 channels with FM added, mini centre mount twig on a dust bin lid in me room or on me old mans VW camper on a gutter mount. Many a great night spent camping out in the van (outside me house) and on the rig all night back in 79-80, couldn't use the rig much in the day, TVI was awful.
Still on the same rig when it went legal, but not for long.



26CT097
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Mudslinger
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I was later than most onto CB due to my age... I started in 1992 after I had saved up for a new Maxcom 20e and a Hembro Silver rod.

Quite a few of my school mates also had CB's , and around my town the airways were quite busy back then.

In 1994 I left School and I went off CB until a couple of years back. The bands are now very quiet but this time around I can afford all of the radios that I couldn't back then.
Edited by Mudslinger, Sunday, 28. April 2013, 20:14.
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Cozzmik
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26 Charlie Tango 465

In 1978 my father came home from work with a colt 295 am 40ch rig that was given to him by a work pal.He soon bought a 5 ft firestick and a groundplane kit that he put on our first floor extension.

It worked well and i had many contacts on the weekend early morning nets,soon i had my own cobra 148gtl dx and a silver rod up in the air.....


Good times :thumb:








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Turbo
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26 Charlie Tango 491

my first radio was a midland 100m 80 channel AM set which my parents got for my 13th birthday present a freind gave me a dv 27 which was mounted on a tin sheet with four alloy tent poles on the corners up in the loft, i had a 70 watt linear which i cant remember the make but it totally obliterated the surrounding tvs so was only used after 2.00 am, i use to talk all night at the weekends and sleep till dinner time my poor old dad hated my nocternal habits but i have to say i loved it, i eventually went legal through necessity as the am was dead and got a Lowe tx 40 which was a terrible rig, then got my superstar 360 with all the super hi's n lows went mobile in my first car did hill top dx and loved it again, came back to radio after 20 years and luvin it again...
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MadMark1
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163 Charlie Tango 020
My buddy had a very nice, Well it was new back then, A Midland 150-M , ... Really nice receive...

There was a couple on the rig just 5 doors from me, It did seem as though almost everyone had a A.M cb rig back then, Anyway they had a ' Chaser 5000 ' what a superb radio that was, It looked the biz and worked even better ... They also had a Mighty magnum ( Double-M ) antenna on the chimney... With that radio and that antenna they used to boom out... I tried and tried to wheel and deal to get them to part with the Chaser but not a chance...

Ive managed to get a Chaser 3000 and the Chaser 5000 now, considering both are over 30 years old now they work fantastic and are both in very good condition...


Mark
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"It's not the class of license that the Amateur holds but the class of Amateur that holds the license"
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Axle Jack
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43 Charlie Tango 006

I was 14 years old in late 1980. First radio I used, Midland 100M, then a Jaws Mk2. My first AM rig, Cobra 21GTL. And the ubiquitous DV27. I still have that DV somewhere.
Got my first FM in May 1981. Gecol GT868. Horrible bleedover so changed it for a Rotel RVC220.
I wonder if todays teenagers get as much fun from their youth culture communications. Web chat and smart phones.

Jack 43CT006
CBer in Lockerbie and Dumfries in Scotland - 1981 to 1999.
Now in Australia.
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Nubster
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26 Charlie Tango 050

What also makes me laugh was how 30 odd year ago how we use to be so really careful with our radios cos at the time in the early AM days there wasn't anywhere to get them repaired or didn't know who could cos you couldnt exactly walk in your local electrical repair shop (ahh remember them where did they go) and say fix it cos we wasn't surpose to have them ;) ;) but now there is some radios about that are 30 odd years old still going so they was tuffer than we all thought :D just a thought I wonder if the newer radios of today will be doing the same :$
Edited by Nubster, Tuesday, 30. April 2013, 08:32.

Life is too short, so ave a laugh now n then never know you might like it
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