Back on CB: “Hummingbird, You’re Smokin’ !!”
I still have a few CB radios here, which I use occasionally to talk to the locals here in Almere. One would think that the behavior of the average CB user would prevent a ham from going back there, but the opposite is true. They’re all radio lovers, and more well mannered than some licensed amateurs I encounter on 10.
Yesterday I scanned the 40 channels here, and heard a signal on channel 6 which I couldn’t recognize immediately. It proved to be an AM signal, so I switched mode and heard a few American truckers talking to each other. I thought “What the heck” and gave them a call, using my old CB handle “hummingbird”, plus my location. That got their attention, and we had a nice but short conversation. The band closed down a few minutes later. Great fun!
Hallo Hans, geweldig. Hier is wat dat de CB ook zo hoor, tuurlijk zijn er altijd een paar raddraaiers. De meeste vrienden op CB hebben de laatste tijd hun N-licentie gehaald. Maar er zijn er nog steeds die er nooit weggaan. En diep in mijn hart blijf ik ook gewoon een CBer. 73, Bas (CB handle “Dakduif / Roofpigeon”).
Haha, prachtig! Hier hebben de meeste CB’ers ook hun machtiging gehaald, maar er is nog steeds een groep van ‘hard core’ gebruikers. Super gezellig.
I’m surprised to hear you say ‘the band closed down’. What time was that? If 10m is anything to go by openings at present seem to follow their daylight hours. I hear stateside signals from lunchtime to half-way through the evening.
Hi Paul,
I had this short QSO around 19.00 my time (18.00 GMT), after which their signals dropped from S8-9 to zero in an instant. Didn’t hear anything intelligible from US truckers on CB afterwards.
On 10 meters there were still QSO’s to be made, but you can’t compare a mobile CB operator with ham stations pumping 1 KW into a 4-element Steppir, of course.
Hans
I take your point, but on the other hand I have heard lots of QRP ‘M3′ stations on 10m too.