your cre-8900 is also technically illegal to use on 11m,, just use some common sense and don't be causing interference to others
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CB amp question
- Thread starter KJ4VRQ
- Start date
your cre-8900 is also technically illegal to use on 11m,, just use some common sense and don't be causing interference to others
Now here is an interesting thread...lol
There alre alot of ham ops that use power on 11 meters these days. They just arent inclined to tell you about it. This is clearly evedent on 38 lsb most of the time when the dx is running. Not hard to pick them out as they stick out like a sore thumb.
"All the amateur radio license holders around here, who talk on CB, use amps. They just don't post that info on internet forums."
This has been my experence as well.
hipacracy and "do as I say, not as not as I do" Are commonly weilded by most when this subject matter is aired.
There alre alot of ham ops that use power on 11 meters these days. They just arent inclined to tell you about it. This is clearly evedent on 38 lsb most of the time when the dx is running. Not hard to pick them out as they stick out like a sore thumb.
"All the amateur radio license holders around here, who talk on CB, use amps. They just don't post that info on internet forums."
This has been my experence as well.
hipacracy and "do as I say, not as not as I do" Are commonly weilded by most when this subject matter is aired.
Yes there are, tons of them no doubt. I am not one of them, hell I don't even have an amp for the ham bands and honestly never needed one. Closest I come to running power is when I "jump" on my ZD to about 130 watts.
Since I am the one who shot this thread off to this direction I will now try to end it. All I was pointing out to a newer ham that maybe running an amp on 11 meters where it is clearly illegal might not be the best idea. I then tried to point out that running it on 10 meters is perfectly legal (up to 200 watts). The OP is free to do as he wishes. As i said above there are tons of hams on 11 with big amps, I know several that do.
This is not and should never be a CB vs Ham site. Radio is radio just sometime its better to play by some rules.
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"This is not and should never be a CB vs Ham site"... Agreed.
However, In real world applications "rules" are subjective at best. It's is just a matter of what one beleives in OTHER than what is layed out by the FCC.
I don't see anything that is need of being "ended".
Just a friendly conversation with different points of view.
However, In real world applications "rules" are subjective at best. It's is just a matter of what one beleives in OTHER than what is layed out by the FCC.
I don't see anything that is need of being "ended".
Just a friendly conversation with different points of view.
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I know. It's a nice radio though but it's a cheat because it dead keys 10 watts with 50 watt pep
In my neck of the woods everybody ain't exactly kosher.
I think the ham's by being licensed have to abide by the rules set them or lose their ham ticket. Us chicken banders aren't bound except by the license by rule requirement.
In all fairness the ham operators who use amps on 11 meters around here don't cause or look for trouble.
You took the words right out of my mouth. I enjoy radio in general be it ham bands or cb. There are still people around here that use cb locally but you can't communicate without a little power due to the people that use extra power to try to "step on" other people. Yes, it is illegal but unless you are running freakish amounts of power and causing disturbances to piss others off, I don't think anybody really cares. I would think the FCC would be more worried about the idiots on 14.313! LOL
And yes, I am a "newer" ham. Actually prepping for the general exam and taking it next month!
RatsoW8
Supporting Member, W9WDX ARC Member - WD8T
I agree. Look at the FCC enforcement logs. They go after morons who flagrantly violate the rules over and over even after being warned. If you're responsible about it, don't tick off you neighbors or interfere with a licensed radio service then the FCC won't come knocking.
Good luck with your General ticket. I got that out of the way in 1988 and the Extra in 1989. The only part I ever worried about was the 20 wpm code but I caught enough of it to pass on the first go around.
The Feds can come to my house and take my equipment and fine me heavily as long as they don't touch my 22 LR ammo!
If it were me, I'd do my best to stay away from just about any solid state 11 meter amp for use in the house. They always have more harmonic content than their tube counterparts. At least 25% of them are plagued with self oscillation problems. About 90% of them do not have bias and 90% of the 10% that do have bias, suck because it's not regulated. In this case I'd even consider something with a pair of sweep tubes. Palomar 90A, Apollo Phase II (on eBay now), Afterburner, Thunderbolt 101 or anything with two tubes. Even if they are weak or bad it won't break the bank too bad having to find a pair.
You could also plan for the future and consider a small HF ham amp like the Ameritron AL-811. Once you cut the green wire to enable "10 meters" you'll find the 2000 driving it will produce just about the same output as all the others I've mentioned. You'll have to key it with a foot switch or push button but when you get into HF more you can put just about any HF rig in front of it and get 600 watts PEP or so. All of these options will place a much cleaner signal on the air.
You could also plan for the future and consider a small HF ham amp like the Ameritron AL-811. Once you cut the green wire to enable "10 meters" you'll find the 2000 driving it will produce just about the same output as all the others I've mentioned. You'll have to key it with a foot switch or push button but when you get into HF more you can put just about any HF rig in front of it and get 600 watts PEP or so. All of these options will place a much cleaner signal on the air.
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This has nothing to do with CB vs. Ham stuff. It does have to do with the attitude of running things well past their usual ability. Doesn't matter what kind of amplifier it is, if you push it it's going to loose quality of emission, get 'dirty'.
Also like it or not, the typical "CB" amplifier is a 'quick-n-dirty' way of getting higher power at the expense of quality. They are just not capable of doing amplification well because they don't have the 'filtering' that's required. That doesn't mean that adding some sort of filter at the output end is going to 'cure' it's problems. It means that the circuit it's self needs work. All the little 'extras' that a typical "CB" amplifier doesn't have. There are no standards for 'CB' amplifiers. There can't be because nothing says the builders of the things -have- to conform to any standards, so why should 'they'?
Nothing new in any of that, been that way since the beginning.
- 'Doc
Also like it or not, the typical "CB" amplifier is a 'quick-n-dirty' way of getting higher power at the expense of quality. They are just not capable of doing amplification well because they don't have the 'filtering' that's required. That doesn't mean that adding some sort of filter at the output end is going to 'cure' it's problems. It means that the circuit it's self needs work. All the little 'extras' that a typical "CB" amplifier doesn't have. There are no standards for 'CB' amplifiers. There can't be because nothing says the builders of the things -have- to conform to any standards, so why should 'they'?
Nothing new in any of that, been that way since the beginning.
- 'Doc
That's why I say if it's an 11 meter amp for the base go for the tube ones even if it means a pair of sweep tubes. If you just put the minimum amount of parts required to make a transistor amp work and the same for a tube amp, the tube amp is still ahead of the game in terms of spectral purity.
Even the cheapest sweep tube amp is biased because it doesn't require any extra parts. Just DC ground the cathode in transmit. Even if you don't add any filtering, the tuned tank output circuit in the tube amp provides a good deal of attenuation to harmonics. HF tube amps with directly grounded grids almost never exhibit self oscillations either.
The one good thing that can be said about a low end solid state amp is that the typical push pull circuit does cancel even order harmonics but does nothing to reduce odd order harmonics. In fact if you operate a solid state push pull amp out of the linear region, odd order harmonics spike up. Just about every one is designed and operated past gain compression. How many times have we seen a pair of transistors in a CB amp operating at 25 watts carrier?
Even the cheapest sweep tube amp is biased because it doesn't require any extra parts. Just DC ground the cathode in transmit. Even if you don't add any filtering, the tuned tank output circuit in the tube amp provides a good deal of attenuation to harmonics. HF tube amps with directly grounded grids almost never exhibit self oscillations either.
The one good thing that can be said about a low end solid state amp is that the typical push pull circuit does cancel even order harmonics but does nothing to reduce odd order harmonics. In fact if you operate a solid state push pull amp out of the linear region, odd order harmonics spike up. Just about every one is designed and operated past gain compression. How many times have we seen a pair of transistors in a CB amp operating at 25 watts carrier?