What am I missing?

[Mavrik]

Totally agree with this. I too am just getting back into the hobby from almost 15 years ago. Once again I just recently pulled out my radio shack trc 465 and bought a simple magnet antenna and installed it in the car. Haven't made any dx contacts yet but its been nice to hear the radio conditions and learning the ropes all over again.

Hoping the landlord allows me to put up an antenna. Totally wanna see what my cobra 2000 can do running barefoot from a base antenna. Best I ever had before and this is going back when I was in highschool was my trc 465 running off a power supply on an antron. And that was just as fun.


Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 Using Tapatalk 2

I had been off the air for a while too and now that I am back I thought all the loonies had been released and given radio's on their way out the door.

It is good to hear the popularity of the hobby is up and that the DX conditions are peaking but I am finding my old romping grounds 35-40 USB are no longer as civil as they once were. It sounds more like channel 11 everyday and its clone station 6 that didn't exist back then. Better conversations do exist above 40 and on the forums but above 40 there is another new language to learn. I do miss the quality local conversation we used to have in my area back when.

 

[KD0TDG]

Sniper... Whatever you do...do not give up on the hobby. We all can relate to your frustrations. You just have to experiment and surf the bands...or go Ham too to open up to more options. I do not spend much time talking to anybody and mudduck my way thru to a few people here and there on SSB. It's fun & trying all at the same time.

Good luck and maybe we will catch either someday on the band.

NKS

 

[Turbo T]

My 2 cents here...

As mentioned channel 6 is nothing short of overmodulated radios and loudmouths behind them. the reason they say "got down-got down-got down" and "bye bye bye bye" is because they run so many kilowatts, they have already cooked their brain cells.

As others mentioned, try SSB. Or better yet, study for your ham license. it's easy anymore and there's no code to have to learn.

As a technician licensed ham (read: entry level) you'll get to work VHF, UHF and you'll get a small sliver of the 10 meter band where you can make contacts all over the world. Then study and get your general ham license and you can use more of the HF bands....20 meters being one of them. In fact you may find ham to be more fun than CB.

But most of all, as others have said...don't give up.

 

[wavrider]

Pretty well sums of CB.
It can be fun, need to explore SSB and FREEBAND, oops that is legal??

A lot of fun fun on SSB and when you get up around 27.555 USB mode you will have a blast when conditions are good.

Now you can further the hobby and get your license for amateur. then on almost any given day you can talk to another station across the world. Using a 100 watts and a piece of wire

Ya, I need to find something good in this hobby. To be honest, I'm really interested in the hobby. I have spent an ever increasing amount of money to be able to enjoy the hobby. But to be honest, Ive been a little disappointed in the results I've received considering the time and money invested. Im not sure if it just has something to do with my area of the country and the activity encountered here but I have found basically 3 different groups of people who are always on the radio here in my area and I honestly have no interest in dealing with any of them.

Those 3 groups are.....

1. The channel 6 guys who only know how to "got down, got down, got down, bye bye bye bye" constantly all day every day.

2. The local "coffee club" on channel 4 who are always on but basically dont wont anything to do with anyone not in their little club. These guys are some really rude people.

3. And lastly (no racial slur intended here just stating the facts) mexicans/spanish speaking people who are on every other channel besides 4 and 6 usually playing loud mariachi music and speaking spanish so fast that you couldnt keep up with them if you were bi-lingual.

I really hope I find something soon to keep me interested in this hobby. A lot has changed since my first exposure to this hobby in the 70's. I want to make long distance contacts and have meaningful conversations with people in different parts of the world. That is what fascinates me about this hobby. If I cant do that then I should just cut my losses with the few thousand dollars Ive already invested and get out now.

 

[CB RADIO FREQ]

Ok Sniper 308, I am running a Galaxy DX-959 with about a 55 watts amp on channel 38 lower side band and I have talked all over the country. Texas is were I've talked mostly but I've also talked to indiana, florida, new york, ect. My antenna is also a base antenna from the 1970s mounted 15 feet off the ground in a tree and it is loud and proud. I would definately recommend the Galaxy DX-959 for a good ssb and am radio after it has been tuned up. If you ever do get on ssb my call sign is 747 in NY.

 

[BammBamm]

747 is not lying here as I have heard that radio and I'm about 50 miles south of Chicago. I didn't make the return trip but I heard it. I have used a 959 and a 949 and I'm actually thnking of buying another one. I have made 75% of my contacts on 38LSB and the rest on 27.555 both USB and LSB.