VIDEO OF THE DAY: MONK IN QUARANTINE

YOUTUBE VIEWING - ANDERSON POWERPOLES - RIGRUNNER 4012

THINGS I RECENTLY STUMBLED UPON AT YOUTUBE - FUNNY AND INSTRUCTIONAL

SNAP-CRACKLE-POP-SMOKE GOES HIS AMP

"I JUST GOT DOWN"  (he's no longer living, but the videos live on)

MOVING UP TO HAM RADIO

THIS IS HAM RADIO

FROM THE STUCK-AT-HOME CORNER.....

Like everyone else, and being at home every day, it didn't take long for me to realize how crappy my shack looked due to wires being run-hung-dropped-laying EVERYWHERE, so I did something I normally don't do - I grabbed my DX Engineering catalog and looked for a way to clean it up.

For some reason I've always shied away from Anderson Powerpoles because (to be honest) they seemed intimidating to me. Other concerns (i.e. - financial) had also played a part in my reticence because I didn't have a decent crimper. By gazing at the price of connectors + a Powerpole crimper I'd always channeled my money into other things, like radios, microphones, antennas, and yes - more power cords.

I had some extra cash left over from a recent sale of a radio so this time I took what I needed, jumped online to DX Engineering's website and ordered a Powerpole crimper, some connectors, and Rigrunner 4012 DC power outlet panel.

Just to be sure I didn't screw up the incoming connectors I found a great step-by-step video on YouTube that showed me it was as easy as everyone had told me over the years (that video is just beneath this article).

In minutes I was be-bopping all over the shack, crimping everything I could think of (much like someone who gets their first label maker and suddenly labeled items are everywhere). The power leads within the shack are now organized, crimped, and easily plugged/unplugged into the Rigrunner, which is wired directly to my big power supply. For the first time, the light's on my two watt/swr meters actually work.

I can kick myself for not do this sooner, but I'm glad I finally took the plunge! 

(next project: big antenna switch and same-length coax jumpers). The video below should really set your mind at ease regarding doubts about difficulty...

 

HOW TO CRIMP THOSE POWER-POLE CONNECTORS (RECOMMENDED VIEWING)

HERE ARE A COUPLE MORE CLASSIC CATALOG PAGES:

73

WOODY

RADIO CROSSWORD PUZZLE

CROSS WORD'S AGAIN

RADIO & SOCIAL DISTANCING

(EDITORIAL)

That crossword puzzle I attempted (a couple posts ago) never really worked well, but after spending a lot of time searching old hard drives, I found the original software that I used before 2010. Here are two links, one is a java driven page for real time solving and the second is a plain HTML page that you can print out and work on the puzzle at your leisure, and I'll do another one next month!

CB AND HAM RADIO IS SOCIAL DISTANCING

In the beginning, CB was created, and all was well. It became popular, and then it became a fad. During this fad, in the mid-70's while driving into Houston down I-45 at least 75% of the cars I saw had CB antennas on them, and everyone was trying to talk at once with a "coffee break" on Friday's almost every other exit, from one I-Hop or Denny's to another. And then it wasn't a fad, and it was quiet again, but people were still lurking on the channels (yes, there were other factors like the 40 channel radio bloodbath - but I digress). 

"we've been practicing social distancing for over one hundred years..."

The late sixties was my introduction to two-way radio by way of CB. Ham radio had been there for decades earlier, but if I'm being honest with you I'd have to say that CB base station radio had a cool factor going for them that Ham radios of that same period did not. My friends were all on CB and I decided that this 11m band would be my home for awhile (approx. 15 years, before a ham license).

I guess we've all read recent stories about people who can't deal with the isolation, whereas a radio operator may not even blink when it comes to staying home - we've been practicing social distancing for over one hundred years.

Before the mad chaos of the mid-to-late 70's it was a much less technical world. At home in Connecticut, we had 2 VHF and 2 UHF TV stations so getting local news was rare, and even national news was usually on once a day. There was one local newspaper which had only a few pages, and two larger newspaper editions: The Hartford Courant (early morning) and the Hartford Times, delivered each evening. I had the misfortune of getting up at 4 a.m. to sort and deliver the Courant. Peddling a bike while loaded down with papers wasn't the easiest thing to do with a foot or more of snow on the ground... If someone required their news faster than that they had to turn to their broadcast radio, CB radio, or Ham station.

"I got pretty good at forecasting when school wouldn't open, or how long it would stay closed"

Besides using CB to talk among friends I remember getting much of my local news and information by sandbagging some of the adult (over-25) frequencies as well as asking truckers on channel 10 about things like road conditions after a severe snowstorm, current weather conditions regarding a Nor'easter that was headed out way, to even asking about the origin of that smoke rising on the horizon. Using this information I got pretty good at forecasting when school wouldn't open an how long it would stay closed.

I've typed enough (for the moment) about the good 'ol days, but what about ham radio? Well, there's plenty of fun to be had on the ham bands too. You have the ability to go up or down the frequencies to find the best amateur band of that moment. Some bands like 80m are great in the early morning, possibly for within the state communicates in the late afternoon, and most other times it's good to move up in frequency like 40 or 20 meters. There are plenty of ways to get your signal out, and many frequencies to do it. 

6 meters, a.k.a. the magic band can work well locally, and hundereds if not thousands of miles during e-skip. You'll find AM, FM, and sideband along with a variety of digital modes. 2 meters is where you typically find satellite work, ssb at 144.200 and repeater's higher up. Many repeater's are hang outs for various local amateur radio groups.

One of the Houston area ham radio clubs (BVARC) began having week day 2m net's at noon to pass along gathered information, as well as to keep some operators abreast of what each ham was up to since the stay-at-home orders were in affect. I'm listening to it right now, and today's subject is: "What was your first ham radio?" (brief pause while I check in) and my answer was: a Heathkit HW-5400.


Ham radio is valuable during events of major importance, like Hurricanes, floods, and Tornadoes, and I've done a bit of throwing my hat into the ring in helping out others over the decades, since licensed. It also allows you to practice social distancing across the world. In a nutshell: stay safe, and if you're stuck at home, a CB, Ham radio (or both) can be a great friend to have.




OM0ET USING MLA AND X-5105



VK3YE: Interesting Homebrew 100 watt 7 MHz magnetic loop for units and apartments

"if you haven't sent an email to the seller within the first minute or two of his posting, you're not going to be able to buy it"

HAMFEST'S ARE CANCELLED

Many ham event has been canceled so far this year, most notably Dayton's Hamvention. Because of the cancellations, several groups have flourished: Sellers (those stuck with a lot of ham gear) and buyers (some who just long for making a "deal"), and here are my observations:

• EBay listings for 2-way radios are decreasing in the sheer number of posts due in part to the lack of garage sales.
• QTH ads have been somewhat fewer than usual, for possibly the same reasons
• But QRZ's buy-sell-swap forum has been swamped with sellers as well as eager radio op's who are going through hamfest withdrawal. Typically when an item was posted for sale, and it was a good price, it would get sold in 30 minutes to half a day. Radio items don't last that long now. If you've ever gone to a ham event early, before the main building is open to the public I'm pretty sure you've seen folks with flashlights running from tailgate to tailgate in an attempt to beat someone else to a good deal.  
•  
• Flashlights have been replaced by mouse-clicks, and if you haven't sent an email to the seller within the first minute or two of his posting, you're not going to be able to buy it - it's that fast! For example, I saw an item where it had been posted for sale "2 minutes ago". It was something I could use, and at a very fair price. In the time it took to compose and send my email (less than a minute) I got my e-mail off to the buyer. I wasn't fast enough.
  

So, whether you're yakking with friends around town, across the country, or joining a pack of swarming mouse clicker's on a swap forum... have fun doing it!

I did some catalog scanning this week, and here's a few pages for your enjoyment!

73

Woody

HEY-HEY-HEY...IT'S MORSE CODE DAY

HAPPY B'DAY SAMUEL MORSE!

Samuel Morse was born April 27th 1791. I'm not going to steal QRZ's thunder so click HERE to read their excellent article!

KILL TIME WITH A RADIO CROSSWORD PUZZLE

Hi Guys.

It's been awhile (actually a long time) since I've put a CB-Ham radio crossword puzzle together, but I figured as most of us have a lot of spare time it might be a good time to post a new one on the Blog to help while away the time.

I lost the original software I used after a computer crash, but found one that will do for now, and it's supposed to be inter-active.

Have fun.

Stay safe.

Woody

PLAY HERE
 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: EARTHQUAKE IN UTAH

With all of our news channels talking Corona language it may have been easy to miss the report of a 5.7 magnitude earthquake that happened in the State of Utah, Thursday March 18th.

Here's a quick video about it from Mike:

AS WELL, THIS GOOGLE LINK WITH NEWS REPORTS:

 UTAH EARTHQUAKE NEWS

 

IF YOU'RE A STAR TREK NG FAN

You'll love this spot from Kimmel...

KEEP BUSY WHILE YOU'RE ISOLATED

So...

I've been keeping myself busy of late by refurbishing some of my Turner +3 microphones, occasionally watching news and/or videos on YouTube, and wanted to share some of this with you as we practice social distancing (I always have something tuned to the Triple Nickel but it's been very quiet)...



If, like me, you happen to have a bunch of resistors, capacitors, and other parts lying around it might be fun to build some KTKT (Kits To Kill Time). K7AGE has a lot of info-tainment to watch, so I've just selected a few of them for my blog post. Please select the link to see more.

How To Build An RF Sampler Box

How To Build A QRP Dummy Load

 

And, if you happen to have some old low pass filters around...

How to make a Ham Radio RF Dummy load using a Low Pass filter Conversion

 

Space Weather's Latest Forecast

 

The Blogger interface has been giving me some bother of late whenever I embed too much, so here is some recent stuff from my favorite channels (you know who they are)..

 

TWIT TV: Hams on Mac

Rusty Skull Productions: Hello....Are You Alright?

Fred In The Shed: Classic UK CB RADIO TALK, TODAY

Kevin, KB9RLW: Yuma Hamfest Walk Thru

PROClassic TV: "I SPY" Season 3

I'll be back with more, but... 

If you happen to have Xfinity cable and want to watch some movies (currently in Theaters), they have just started to offer some that you can rent for view on your TV. There are 3 of them right now (The Hunt, The Invisible Man, and Emma), but I'm fairly certain we'll see more as this Pandemic continues...

73

Woody

NOSTALGIA TINED GLASSES ON CB REVIEWS - ANOTHER QSL CARD - OLD STORY

Sometimes, it’s tough not to view things through nostalgia-tinted glasses like when I’m reviewing a transceiver. If the CB is a new model it will almost always come up short in comparison to one made in the late 70’s to mid-80’s, especially when comparing adjacent channel rejection, or how easily the front end can be overloaded by strong signals.

Back in the day we had numerous CB magazines and buyer’s guides to help us figure out which radio was better (or worse) than another. In Connecticut everyone was pretty close to each other so adjacent channel rejection numbers, even though they were ones supplied by the manufacturers, were important to compare. Where I lived there were no less than a half dozen base stations within a 10 mile radius, so to a degree, the numbers found in buyer’s guides helped form a decision on what to buy (or not).

In other post’s I’ve mentioned my first single-sideband rig, Midland’s 13-880b. Considering how new sideband rigs were to the 1970 scene it was surprising how inexpensive it was, yet there were a couple factors involved...

The public’s perception of inferior transmitter output (it was rated at 10 watts SSB, versus the 885b with 15w) led many to steer clear of this model. 


Secondly, a poor adjacent channel rejection rating (-50db) meant it wouldn’t be the best rig to have in congested areas. I went into the purchase knowing that a 5 watt difference wouldn’t be a big deal breaker, and yet, even though I considered how easy it would be to have bleed over from other channels shutdown the receiver section, my desire to leap into SSB over-road any idea of waiting until I had enough money for a better radio. I ended up having to switch to AM with my E.F. Johnson Messenger 124 to combat strong signals from locals on other channels.

AD FOR EFJ 124 FROM AN ECHO RADIO CATALOG

HENSHAWS CB CATALOG

But I digress…


Flash forward to the mid-1990’s and those late 70’s CB’s were still fairly young (less than 20 years old). Manufacturers had moved out of Japan and it wouldn’t be too long before almost everything was made in China. Displays and features were fantastic compared to those older CB’s, including prices, but whenever I reviewed a new model I couldn’t seem to get past the weak adjacent channel rejection and/or over-loaded front-end. I've found other reviewer’s like CB Radio Magazine did a better job of maintaining a neutral stance regarding old vs. new comparisons, and in recent years I’ve been trying to do the same, but still have to fight the urge to backslide. Build quality is an entirely different beast and it will require a blog post of it’s own.

Suffice to say - I'll try and keep comparisons to radios that are less than 20 years apart 😉, so after a smirk and a wink, let's move on...

ANOTHER ONE IS FOUND (QSL'S FROM HOME)

Recently I wrote about a QSL card that I ran across on the Web which was from my own "Back-in-the-day" CB history, from the Whopper. I felt very lucky to have spotted it. Flash forward 3 weeks and low and behold I've just spotted another one on EBay.

KBS-0875 is very familiar to me - it was one of the older cards because it was from Hazardville (Hazardville and Thompsonville merged to form Enfield around 1970), as well, their preferred channel to Monitor (ch.8) rang a bell in my head. Granted, my memory could be tainted, but I recall that their father ran a CB radio store out of the garage which gave many locals an opportunity to sample brands other than Lafayette or Radio Shack. 

HENSHAWS CB CATALOG

Short of driving across the border into Massachusetts, there wasn't any other option unless you chose mail-order, where you possibly had to buy something you'd never seen, except in a CB Magazine. Because this was a sideline, he didn't have a huge selection, but it was better than nothing. 

If memory holds true, and this is the same guy I recall, this is where Mr. Chips bought and received the first SBE Super Console in our area, so it's very cool to have found this card and I'm on the hunt for others (as well as my own).

OLD STORIES THAT ARE STILL FUN TO READ

 Even I forget everything I put on the CB Gazette website long ago, so I found myself chuckling while reading a humorous story about the GE Superbase from 1999. I came across this while repairing broken links on the site so while I'm doing that, here's the story:

Legend has it that Bodacious Barney (a.k.a. - "Buckwheat") got tired of
being blown away by his closeby neighbor, sometimes friend, and always
rival, Jaybird.  Jaybird was of college age, but due to some disability
(laziness), unable to work and homebound 24 x 7. This enabled him to
more-or-less own the airwaves in bufford county!

Jaybird's rig-of-choice was a Johnson "Johnny" 350 with an external crystal
socket and a drawer full of crystals. He'd crank up the audio on his D-104,
and run his meager wattage into a PDL-II sitting ontop of a 60 foot tower,
and sometimes sneak his dad's footwarmer inline for those "special"
occasions.  Needless to say, whenever Jaybird was on-the-air, it annoyed
Barney to no end. Part of this had to do with the fact that both parties
only lived a few hundred yards from each other!

Jaybird always used to get Barney's goat when he switched to his secret
frequency, because the rig Barney was using didn't have any special channels
(also because Barney didn't own a goat). So Jaybird would wait for Barney to
get deep into a conversation then creep "upstairs", have an imaginary
conversation with himself while guzzling some Piels "real draft", and bleed
all over poor Barney.

One day Barney came home with a new rig - the G.E. "Superbase", modified for
extra channels - Upper AND Lower. Each week he'd pick a special frequency
and do unto Jaybird, as had been done to him. Naturally, Jaybird was
perplexed at first, but once he figgured out what his buddy down the road
was doing, he'd go down to the local tv repair shop (our clandestine CB
dealer) buy a new set of channels then jump onto Barneys secret frequency
and let him have it.  Didn't matter to Barney, he just waited til the next
week and picked a new frequency.

We don't know how many trips Jaybird made to the local tv repair shop for
crystals, how many real drafts he slugged down to bury the anguish, or even how much money he spent trying to keep up with Barney, but after a period of time, he just got real quiet, and finally quit CB altogether. 

Jaybird later went on to become a VP at GE and finally stopped production of the Superbase while limiting GE's CB lineup to cheap handhelds.

The Superbase became a legend around Buford county and I guess while there is some truth to every story, this yarn seems pretty darn BIG....




I've been taking a break from having too many video clips per Blog post per month so I'm adding a few now to end the month of February -

JULIAN, OH8STN, WINTER FIELD DAY IN THE SNOW

26CT1994 AND THE 2019 BUXTON BASH

RICHARD NEWSTEAD - FT8 VS. 2M FM WHILE VISITING THE PONDEROSA

'Nuff Said,

73! YOUNG WOODY

WOODY

RADIO IN THE UK (AGAIN)

RADIO IN THE UK

YOUTUBE VIEWS

IS CB DEAD?

"It's not fair to paint the whole herd with stripes if there's just a few donkeys in the bunch..."

 

    While much of this Blog dwells on 11m, I also cover Ham radio, and enjoy both. If the ratio of my usage (11m - 75% Ham - 25%) is indicative of my interests I sometimes wonder if the perceptions of CB by those with an Amateur radio license are partially to blame. Most 11m op's don't care if you're a CB'er and a Ham, but flip that around and you'll find a huge Hamular backlash towards you with much of that coming from past connotations vs. actual experience. To be fair, there is some small truth to every misconception, but it's not fair to paint the whole herd with stripes if there's just a few donkeys in the bunch.....and now... it's on to the story...


Depending on where you are in North America, the UK, or elsewhere you'll probably hear one of two things:

1. "CB is DEAD and long gone"
 

or
 

2. "CB is still very active"

Both statements are true and it all depends on where you live. For instance, in the greater Houston area the whole band appears silent but because the area is so spread out it isn't that easy to hear stations chatting among themselves if you're 30-40 miles away. On the other hand it could be a scenario where an area once populated with CBer's is void of transmissions. You may be SOL until band conditions allow for some skip talking, which is perfectly legal to do now.

Some locations are still pretty active with more than one mode of communication in use, for example, Rochester New York. Various AM traffic other than 19 can also be found on channels 22-28 while SSB communications can be heard daily on 27.305 lsb, 385 lsb, or above 40, and it's nice to know that these areas do exist. All it takes is persistent listening and sometimes a SDR website to get you there (one huge benefit of being able to view a chunk of hf is being able to see activity).

But merely listening to your radio is not the the best way to go about it, and this applies to ham radio as well. If you're not out there calling CQ you may never know how many other stations are on frequency because they could be sandbagging too (if you were paying attention a few posts back you would have watched Fred-In-The-Shed's excellent YouTube video which struck similar notes).

EARLY (1980?) CB RALLY IN UK

The time of day can make a big difference to what you will or won't hear across the band. In one area of the UK  I had staked out it seemed to me that it waspretty dead (Southwest). I almost relegated that link to the Recycle Bin when by chance, I accidently clicked on that shortcut instead of another and heard a great QSO going on (early morning US time). Now that I know about the activity I can usually find something to listen to in the UK whether it be morning, afternoon, or even after midnight, including local traffic on 10 meters (28.490 USB)...!! [while typing this article I've been listening to G0FWX and M0YRX on 28.490 via an SDR website].

Try Telling Someone That You Talk On the 10 Billion Nanonmeter Band

Gary, G0FWX uses both 10 and 40 meters and I believe that I heard him tell Kevin that he had worked 37 countries on 10 meters alone. While listening to Gary and Kevin (M0YRX) I was able to ask questions via email and get real time answers from Gary (unfortunately Kevin's email address was not available via QRZ). Ten meters in North America often gets tagged by older Ham's as CB's "other cousin", which is quite unfair. It's nice to know that 10 meters is doing so well across the pond. I've heard of a nearby 10 meter net in this area and have sat on that frequency trying to get in on the fun but everyone seems to be farther than my set-O-ears can hear.

While I'm not ruling 10 meters out completely I think I'll have a much better chance (when the Sun is quite freckled) to make Gary's acquaintance on 40 meters.

On 11 meters,.Gary said that all was good until "One day I got a knock on the door", so at that time (in his teens) he decided to get his Foundation license (Ham radio license). Very often he gets QRM at home so he goes mobile to be able to hear and make QSO's.

[ed: No one ever wants a "knock on the door" - wherever you're located, and as I've written before, in the late 60's - early 70's everyone had the fear of "Uncle Charlie" (FCC) drummed into them. While a landline from a buddy, warning you of impending doom helped, it wasn't always necessary to determine if the FCC was in your town monitoring the CB channels. We had 9-10 channels that were always buzzing with activity and if I were to turn ON my EFJ 124 and hear virtual silence mixed with a few folks using call signs only it was a sure thing that our Uncle was in town, 'Nuff said]

Another way to scare up contacts is via Facebook the many radio related pages that can be found there, as well as websites like Worldwide Dx or Charlie Tango. On the Worldwide Dx site they have many forums both Ham and CB related and it's not uncommon for someone to get on a post to declare that their area is currently active allowing others to turn their rigs on and start calling CQ and that sure beats trying to put a "want-to-talk-to" radio ad on Craigslist.

A brief history of CB in the UK can be read on Thunderpole, so take a look.

This is one rumor that dies, only to be reborn again and again. For any newbie or former radio operator getting back into the hobby a quick spin around the dial could indicate a barren soulless span of frequencies only used by truckers on channels 19 and 11/14 (Hispanic channels). 

But when there is a slight band opening other frequencies come alive:

Channel 6/11 - The "Super Bowl" channel

Channels 20/22/28 - AM stations

Channels 36-40 - SSB

27.385 in particular fills up with hundreds if not thousands of voices calling CQ, then moving their QSO to adjacent frequencies. So right now, most of us are sleeping and waiting for the return of some hefty Sunspots, with the knowledge that CB is far from dead.


WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A TWO-WAY RADIO COMES BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR XYL?

HERE IS ONE OF THE LATEST VIDEOS FROM KEVIN  KB9RLW:

Quartzfest 2020 - Hams of You Tube Panel

73,

WOODY

PS- There are some new audio clips (top right side of Blog)

HEY - HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY!

AND A PRETTY GOOD 2020 SUPER BOWL COMMERCIAL

 

FRED-IN-THE-SHED

 
For quite a while now I've either mentioned Fred, from his YouTube Channels "FRED-IN-THE-SHED" 1 & 2, or have embedded some content from one his many CB related posts. With no email address available to write to him I've taken all that was gleaned from his video posts in order to flesh him out to viewers in the US.

Fred (S21-1664)got his start on CB in the UK in the early 1980's as a young teen while the CB thing in England mimicked what happened during the previous decade in North America, and around the world. In a recent YouTube video Fred reminisced about his early days, the locals he talked with, and of course - meeting girls.

One of the things that sets him apart from many others is the fact he's not self important. Fred let's us in on his past and present radio adventures while at the same time making sure everyone is informed of his self perceived shortcomings (for instance Fred has hearing damage and relies on the use of hearing aids).

Fred also takes time to instruct a viewer on the many rigs available for purchase as well as a look into doing things for yourself, like designing a indoor dipole, complete with project gotchas and other pitfalls.

While stories of his past are interesting it's plain as the glasses on my nose that if he weren't such a great story teller most interest would be short lived. Some videos are outdoors but most frequently it's when Fred invites us into the confines of his cozy shack in the loft (attic) that we become less and less voyeuristic and more like a friend who just got invited upstairs to hear a good story over a spot of tea.

I'll end this short Blog post with another Video from the man himself: Fred-in-the-shed...