I used to have cb radios before the internet. I had a big antron99 Ariel on top of a scaffold Pole and I lived at the top of a massive hill. I would use an amplifier too. People could hear me all over Europe
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at December 31, 2017 12:33 PM MST
The only base radio I've run was out of my boat. All the rest were used in mobile setups. I had a Dodge van setup with a system that put-out about 600 watts and I talked to Hawaii, Nova Scotia and England once on SSB (from North America) with it. Fun times! And, of course, I always had one in the semi while I was OTR.
I would use the SSB too and exchange QSL cards with people, and there would be a quiz on the mid band. It was good fun. All my mates from school had them too
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at December 31, 2017 12:33 PM MST
Our ship in Guam had an onshore 1000 Watt HAM system we could use to talk to the US, who would then patch the audio through the phones to our homes. KG6ALV was the call sign. That was 45 years ago. Dang.
Ham quality radios have far more range than CB radios. Most Ham operators don't even run "power". Don't need to. I never got a Hi frequency ticket. My daughter did (novice or something).
True. Most are usually trying not use high wattage and attempting to get the most range and clarity out of the lowest wattage we can. That's probably the most common accomplishment gone for.
It was all about power for me. I was hated in my local area lol. I did think about getting into the ham radio and getting the licence, but I lost interest.
High power is more of a CB thing. I've modded some CB equipment to juice out some crazy wattages too. With ham rigs though you can do all kinds of tricks and to negate the need for high wattage and it starts to seem cheating and basic. When you can DX a frequency at 1 watt across 10 states and get it to hold you really feel you did something.
Jane S 