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The days when CB was becoming popular were very enjoyable. That was before computers and forums like this. You could spend the evening yacking with others who regularly met on a CB channel. Groups in an area of town would associate themselves with a channel, and each channel had its own personality. For example, where I used to live, channel 5 was the informal BS channel. Channel 18 was the stiff and formal snooty codger channel (according to we channel fivers). There would be channel picnics and softball games. It really was a community.

Then a big sunspot spike coincided with too much popularity and too much irresponsibility, and the whole band was overwhelmed with constant skip waves and the constant ringing of AM heterodynes. That pretty much killed the whole show.

Ham radio nets were always too formal and starchy for my tastes. I used to enjoy the one-on-one CW conversations. I think CW people are (or were) fundamentally different than phone people. Now that the CW requirement has been completely dropped, I imagine that when the current CW generation dies out, so will CW and that will be the end of it.

Local VHF/UHF ham radio used to have a lot more informal round-table chats. But the dramatic decline in the popularity of ham radio (at least around here) -- in large part to people dying -- has put an end to most of that. It ain't what it used to be.

Cell phones were fun when the bands weren't blocked. If you had an old 82* channel TV set, you could actually HEAR PRIVATE PHONE CALLS on Channels 82 and 83. That was more Grad School fun.



* There was no Channel 1, hence 82 channels!

Apples and oranges here.

CB - open channels with round table chatting.
cell phones - well, telephones. One on one.

The study was in England. No implication for the U.S. necessarily. Not saying that the call rates might not be down, but this study doesn't address what is going on here.

As far as ham radio dying - maybe. I seldom get on any more, for sure. I began to lose interest when they started dumbing down the requirements for licensing. And it began its spiral downward towards becoming CB.

All that said, I have a ham radio, cb, and cell phone with me in the car most days. All turned off. I'm listening to my mp3 player instead.

Excuse me, I have a call waiting.

But I have friends that now have no land lines because it's portable, and yes, they're willing to PAY to get rid of the constant telemarketers... for non-profits and municipals these days with "do not call", and even with caller ID, having to run to a phone to see what the number is before you pick it up

One's basically a hobby; the other isn't. You can't meaningfully compare them.

I've had a ham ticket for 20 years and had a CB for a few also.

CB was OK. It didn't go too far and was kind of friendly. Then, at least in my area, it got so guys were just swearing at each other and trying to get in fights.

Ham used to be pretty cool. I talked with guys on the local repeater and had phone patch privileges on a few. I also did the HF phone thing (and still do). The numbers are going down and the repeaters around me are pretty darn silent. I've announced myself every half hour on a few of them all evening and had no comebacks so maybe I was the only one.

The reduction of the testing (and CW) means nothing to me because people are people. I've had Extra (top level) class hams be real jerks and some of my favorite people on the air have had the lowest level ticket. If people want to learn and do CW, have at it. It was a fun hobby but I'm afraid it will soon be dead.

Now, the cellphone. I think that lots of the people who would keep in contact with each other via ham radio are now doing it with cell phones. For the most part, cell coverage is pretty good and, if you want to make some kind of commercial call, you can and no one will complain. I have a cellphone in my pocket all the time but have never received many calls. Haven't made many either. I have a 'pay as you go' plan where the individual minute price is pretty high (50 cents a minute) but I had been paying $50/mo for 100 minutes and never using them. I like the ability to make or receive a call and the few calls I have made or received were important ones so it is worth it to me.

I often wonder just what some people are talking about. I don't know enough people to use mine much and I guess I just don't have much to say...

Jeff "KB7AIL" Benedict

I bought a portable c.b. radio and threw it in the trunk for emergencies. We broke down on I-10. I got out the c.b. and nobody had their ears on.
I bought a VHF radio for my boat. Only tuggies, shrimpers and the Coast Guard use VHF. Everybody (now including me) is using cell phones close to the coast.
If I ever go offshore, I would consider a single sideband or satilite radio plus weather fax to be essential. By the time I get the money to buy those, they'll be obsolete too.

I'm resisting the temptation to go on a rampage, so I'll summarize instead:

1. Discussing important things is not allowed on amateur radio, quite literally, except in emergencies. Banality is all that is left.

2. CB radio was a fad as a defense against draconian speed enforcement. Before that, it was just a milder form of amateur radio. Now that draconian speed enforcement is no longer a widespread problem, there is no use for CB.

3. Shame on Schlep for using illegal 10-meter equipment and amplifiers. If Uncle Riley catches you (admittedly unlikely), it will be more than your radios he confiscates. He'll get a bit piece of your wallet, too.

4. I still have a Lafayette 23-channel CB around here somewhere. I last used it in about 1978. The crowd I talk to on 2 meters is far more responsible, despite that many old-time hams think the world is coming to an end.

5. Internet forums are every bit as banal and geeky as amateur radio.

6. Morse code will make a comeback now that it's optional and no longer a chore. It will be a badge of honor instead of a useless requirement. I'm learning it myself.

7. Harder testing is a poor method for filtering out jerks. Too many made it through.

Rick "offering the Scarborough Reef DX expedition as evidence" Denney

I only mentioned the cell phones because the Fort Worth Police Department decided to quit using radios in 1989 and go to cell phones. Anyone with an old TV set that would pick up channels 82 and 83 could follow the police anywhere.

No, I really didn't get sucked up into the CB radio craze. By the time I got my first car (at the age of 25), the fad was over.

Rick Denney wrote:I'm resisting the temptation to go on a rampage, so I'll summarize instead:

1. Discussing important things is not allowed on amateur radio, quite literally, except in emergencies. Banality is all that is left.

Didn't take you long to discover that one.

Rick Denney wrote: 5. Internet forums are every bit as banal and geeky as amateur radio.

I believe we have just been put down. AGAIN!!!

LoyalTubist wrote:I only mentioned the cell phones because the Fort Worth Police Department decided to quit using radios in 1989 and go to cell phones.

Really? I think I'll look into this. I've never heard of it before. About that time, most police and fire departments went from analog VHF and UHF repeater systems to digital voice trunking systems in the 800 MHz band. They did that so they could move data as well as voice, and so that they could shared a trunking system with other government services without having to play the channel game with the FCC.

The cell phone network is the first thing to become useless in a real emergency. I know. It took me four hours to complete a call to my wife, who I thought was making a sales call at the Pentagon on the morning September 11, 2001, when I was in Memphis. It turned out she was downtown at the Department of the Interior instead.

The Virginia DOT learned that day that anything they had that depended on cell phones wouldn't work in a big "situation".

I'll bet it wasn't easy to make cell phone calls in the days following Katrina. But radio still worked.

Rick "understanding the vulnerabilities of marginal, non-redundant infrastructure-based communications sytems" Denney

TubaRay wrote:

Rick Denney wrote: 5. Internet forums are every bit as banal and geeky as amateur radio.

I believe we have just been put down. AGAIN!!!

"Banal" is one of my favorite insults implied. But that knife has two edges.

Rick "victim of self-inflicted wounds" Denney

CB's are still widely used in the trucking industry.

Have you seen any significant use of FRS or GMRS radios? It seems the much smaller antenna and quieter band would be an advantage. If not, do you know if it is because they just don't work that well, or if it is a case of catch 22 with not enough people using them to get enough people to use them.

Even though there are legal implications, that has never stopped anyone in the past.

What Hammarlunds you got? What other receivers? I'm gonna get my big Johnson (Viking, that is) on CW and AM this summer or fall & have a real BAR (R=receiver) festival for a vintage station.

As best as I can remember:
Hammarlund:
HQ129 (two of them)
HQ140
HQ160
http://www.radioing.com/museum/rx4.html

Hallicrafters SX111 (the best technologically, but not nostalgically)
http://www.radioing.com/museum/rx3.html

National 183D (my favorite)
http://www.radioing.com/museum/rx5.html

RME-45 (about 2/3 down the following page)
http://www.w8zr.net/vintage/receivers/index.htm

Gonset G-66
http://n4ozi.dezines.com/radio/ba/bl/g77g66.jpg

Heath odds and ends (doesn't everyone??) Including the HW16 I built in high school and a cute little HW8.

A bunch of junk. Probably stuff I've forgotten about.

I have a Knight T-150 transmitter that will have the guy on the other end chasing you all over the place keeping up with the drift.

A Globe King 400 that somebody really needs to get running again and become a member of the in crowd with the 80 mtr. AM-ers.

When one works some of this old stuff, it's kind of surprising how much of a chore it is to use a lot of it. It gives you some appreciation for the people that had to use it for communication. Get out your model-T spark coil and let's see if we can get a QSO going.

10-4 good buddy, We got ourselves a convoy....

i used to sit out in the HS parking lot for about 20 minutes before school and chat with kids from some neighboring high schools, that was sort of fun and innocent enough back then. Who knows whom you would be talking to nowadays.....

Now I have heard that the latest residual effect of cellphones is that the excess radio waves from all the cell phones is confusing the bees and they can not find their hives anymore, so many of the hives in the US are dying. this means that plants will not get pollenated and the planet only has about 3 years left....

over, roger,

ken " and don't call me Roger" k

Surely you jest...

Mike (and I asked you to quit calling me Shirley!) Keller

Rick Denney wrote: The cell phone network is the first thing to become useless in a real emergency. I know. It took me four hours to complete a call to my wife, who I thought was making a sales call at the Pentagon on the morning September 11, 2001, when I was in Memphis. It turned out she was downtown at the Department of the Interior instead.

My brother works for Verizon Wireless. Everyone in his office is given a company cell phone, and a company pager. Even they don't rely on cell phones all the time.


Of course, their emergency would be that the phone network is down...

ken k wrote:Now I have heard that the latest residual effect of cellphones is that the excess radio waves from all the cell phones is confusing the bees and they can not find their hives anymore, so many of the hives in the US are dying. this means that plants will not get pollenated and the planet only has about 3 years left....

... so, no more sons of bees, eh? That'd almost be worth it ...

windshieldbug wrote:Surely you jest...

Mike (and I asked you to quit calling me Shirley!) Keller

I am glad you caught my reference to that great line.
k