HFU HF Underground
Loggings => 10/11 meters => Topic started by: ChrisSmolinski on October 29, 2021, 1056 UTC
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1036 UTC Activity heard on 1, 5, 12, and 23 AM. General chit chat as well as business use. CB is alive and well!
1126 And of course ch 32 where the Hanover / Spring Grove locals hang out.
1227 And now some locals on Ch 7.
1604 Mud Duck heard from the desert SW, a frequent visitor here.
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Yeah. When ever conditions are good I'm always surprised how many CB ops there still are. I just assumed it faded more and more every year. I don't seem to see near as many Wilson 1000's and Antron 99's while driving around, but they're out there.
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I think CB sales might have been driven by the prepper crowd for awhile, but now it seems a little more widespread for whatever reasons. I have noted some of the popular CB shops no longer are even taking in radios for service due to existing service backlogs. o.0
Oh yeah. reminds me, my Radio Shack clone of an A99 is in storage. Need to check it, as I am thinking about using it for portable or stationary mobile ops.
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I thought about getting a Solarcon 99 for 10/11, but my wife already said our house looks like were trying to communicate with aliens. A Maco 5/8 would be better. They've gone up quite a bit in price though. I had one years ago. It was a great antenna.
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I think CB sales might have been driven by the prepper crowd for awhile, but now it seems a little more widespread for whatever reasons. I have noted some of the popular CB shops no longer are even taking in radios for service due to existing service backlogs. o.0
Oh yeah. reminds me, my Radio Shack clone of an A99 is in storage. Need to check it, as I am thinking about using it for portable or stationary mobile ops.
Yep, that's certainly part of it. I'm encouraging everyone I know with a truck, van or SUV to install a CB. I actually was able to get one guy into freebanding and DXing in the process. He bought a AnyTone AT-6666 all-mode AM/FM/SSB mobile transceiver and a Hustler IC-20 through-hole roof-mount antenna. After a couple weeks of use, he decided that he wanted something that would "talk further". I told him the next step would be to get the "real thing" (a 102" stainless steel antenna with a 6" stainless steel spring). He did that, and then bought an amplifier (RM Italy KL503HD to be exact). Now he's pushing 250-300 watts into a true 1/4 wave antenna, which, as you can imagine, means significant (local) range improvement.
The Hustler IC-20 antenna was donated to one of his friends (it's now installed on the roof of another pickup truck) and I donated a Luiton LT-298 40-channel AM only mobile CB (a Chinese knockoff of the Uniden PRO510XL / PRO520XL series) to the cause. There are several other folks who I've convinced that installing even a bare bones CB in their truck is worth the cost.
Local CB here can be split into three categories:
-Local CB operators that talk on the radio on a regular basis and have home channel(s)
-Local business users, including job sites, trucking terminals and distribution warehouses, logging companies, quarries/crushed stone facilities with a coordination channel, hunt clubs, etc.
-Truckers using channel 19 and similar users, including flag car, chase car companies based in my area that use CB for car-to-car comms.
The logging companies, truckers working for the same company and hunt clubs are big fans of the "extra channels" - for obvious reasons.
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The few locals here are mostly on one frequency and talk a lot about their radios.
Back in the 1990s when I was in east TN, the locals would park on the mountain tops and try to shout down others with their usual Cobra 29s and "300-watt" amps. It could be an amusing diversion for awhile, though I tended to continue talking DX over the top of them. ;)
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I can remember when I was in my teens running dogs - Raccoons/Hogs, sometimes I would get into an older guys truck and they would have an RCI2950 or Emperor TS-5010 etc and I was wowed by it. I told them, hey you can talk to people around the world with this and they were just like, oh I just leave it on channel 3 in the woods. They had no idea that it was a much more advanced radio than most people had.
Rob, you mentioned East Tennessee. My dads side of the family is from up there. Johnson City, Flag Pond, Jonesboro, Kingsport etc. The Maco 5/8 antenna I had was picked up at a garage sale near Bristol.
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The few locals here are mostly on one frequency and talk a lot about their radios.
Back in the 1990s when I was in east TN, the locals would park on the mountain tops and try to shout down others with their usual Cobra 29s and "300-watt" amps. It could be an amusing diversion for awhile, though I tended to continue talking DX over the top of them. ;)
Ah, yes, the AM "peak" or "swing" watts. Real men measure power output at carrier power (or RMS!). So when I said "300 watts" I meant 75-100 watts (carrier power).
Cobra 29s, Galaxy DX 66Vs or Connex 3300s. Or General Lees! Which are, of course, identical to the Connex 3300.
I can remember when I was in my teens running dogs - Raccoons/Hogs, sometimes I would get into an older guys truck and they would have an RCI2950 or Emperor TS-5010 etc and I was wowed by it. I told them, hey you can talk to people around the world with this and they were just like, oh I just leave it on channel 3 in the woods. They had no idea that it was a much more advanced radio than most people had.
Rob, you mentioned East Tennessee. My dads side of the family is from up there. Johnson City, Flag Pond, Jonesboro, Kingsport etc. The Maco 5/8 antenna I had was picked up at a garage sale near Bristol.
There are a lot of huntin' trucks with similar setups around here (Virginia). More often than not, the CB is something like a RCI-2950 or RCI-2970, a Connex 3300, Galaxy, Superstar or similar. I know one guy who has a Galaxy DX66V plus a Texas Star amplifier (I believe its a DX350) as well as an older Uniden Solara VHF marine radio in his hunting truck. According to him, he and his hunt club buddies usually use the CB radio for comms, AM mode only, in the "low channels" unless they're talking to somebody who has a regular 40 channel CB in his truck, then they simply use one of the normal channels.
It's funny because he complained about how the CB has "more static" and of course the radio not only has FM capability but has this magical feature called squelch (that I don't think he or his hunting club friends ever used).
Maybe that will change now that FM is a thing.
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I am originally from Cleveland. About 20-30 miles east of Chattanooga.
Still have my old Dirland SS-3900B. Probably a EPT360013B, EPT360014B/C, or similar board used by Connex, Galaxy, etc.
Have an AnyTone AT-6666 for the off-chance of actually talking these days.
The "18' End-Fed Vertical" in my forum sig is a Shakespeare 318-GBT grounded mounted over eight 9' radials and with a (W2DU-style) MFJ-915 1:1 choke at the feedpoint.
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I am originally from Cleveland. About 20-30 miles east of Chattanooga.
Still have my old Dirland SS-3900B. Probably a EPT360013B, EPT360014B/C, or similar board used by Connex, Galaxy, etc.
Have an AnyTone AT-6666 for the off-chance of actually talking these days.
The "18' End-Fed Vertical" in my forum sig is a Shakespeare 318-GBT grounded mounted over eight 9' radials and with a (W2DU-style) MFJ-915 1:1 choke at the feedpoint.
Ah, yes, Dirland!
I used to have one of the original (made in Taiwan) Superstar 3900 radios, with the EPT360011B board. The newer Superstar 3900s had (or have?) the EPT360014B or EPT360014C board depending.
Tons and tons of radios have the EPT3600 series board or just 3600 chassis EPT3600 chassis.
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My Dirland is the single-transistor final board, though IIRC, it has a spot to add a second.
Later 3900 models typically have the twin mostfet finals.
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Indeed. There are several variants of the EPT3600 board. A lot of the AM/FM export rigs like the Connex 3300, Superstar 3000, the various Galaxy rigs, General Lee, etc. I think have the same board, but with the SSB portions removed.
I need to check CBtricks.com and take a look at those radios PCB layout compared to the all-mode exports. I do want to say all the alignment points and adjustment points are in the same spot though.
Yep, the Galaxy DX88 is the EPT3600-14B. That's the same as the Superstar 3900F, Voyage VR-9000, Voyager VR-9000, etc. The Galaxy DX77 is also the EPT3600-14B. They're identical radios except the DX77 (and the Superstar 3900 and various clones) don't have a frequency counter. The Connex rigs have another variant, the EPT3600-15C (I'm sure there are variants of that too)
Doing a little bit of digging, there are some Ranger/RCI rigs that use the similar, but not identical, EPT6900 series board.
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Just worked Montana and Nova Scotia on a busy 27385 LSB.
Prince Edward Island on 27365 LSB.
Arizona on a very busy and actively qrm'd 27385 LSB.
Somewhere in Canada on 27385 LSB. My receive got buried, including multiple calls to me.
Wyoming on 27385 LSB.
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Very good. I haven't worked any of those places in a while. I tend to get Ontario more than anything. Just turned on the rig and worked 657 Saskatchewan on 27.385. Gonna try and work some more. Think I'm gonna have to start calling CQ on 38 and QSY'ing above 40 somewhere. It's crowded all the way down to 27.345.
Rob, there was just a station on 27.425 working CO out of Tampa. Snagged my contact!
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I have been trying 27555 USB without much luck.
Back to the usual frequencies.
Southeastern Brazil on 27530 USB. :)
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I just worked CO and a Manitoba station on 27.555, which I was surprised by. Not to be ungrateful, but I'm really tired of working Brazil. They're probably tired of talking to Florida too! There's another Western Canada station now on 27.555. Too faint for me though. Not having much luck with the CQ & QSY on 27.555. Guess I'll have to go back to slumming it on CH38!
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AFAIK, the Brazilian op was looking for Alaska. ;) I just happened to be a quick contact.
I have not worked much of anyone in years, as I have been largely off air, so I will take South America.
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For the 10m crowd, I just skimmed by AM activity on 28315.
Spanish language op with extreme echo and a signal bleeding across several KHz on 26735AM.
Now we have a couple of ops having a casual QSO on 27385 LSB, plus at least a QRM'er or two.
Somehow worked New Brunswick on 27385 LSB through the traffic and noise. S9+20 report for me if I heard correctly.
Helped an op in Tucson Arizona get his radio on frequency on 27385 LSB.
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I checked 28.315. Nothing heard. I only have 25 watts on AM anyway. Yes, people local to one another get on there and have casual conversations at times. Last week there were two guys on 38 discussing how they get their dog food at the same store and how important it is when reading pet food labels. 38 is a bit wild west though. I never expect too much. QSY'ing is very rare for sure.
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"Bumper talking" is not uncommon, but it does tend to be annoying on 38L. Kick in 30dB of attenuation, turn the squelch up, and have good ol' QSO…. between two ops a mile or two apart.
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Somebody get that guy on 27025 his order of chicken wings. lol
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For sure. Nothing wrong with locals talking, but when the band is open (Which has been rare for a long time) take it down lower if you hate working Op's outside of your town.
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Been giving some of the lower CB channels a try, but I am practically QRP in AM, so…. yeah. :-[
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Same here. I haven't talked on CB am for 20 years. Don't have much interest to try.
To me, the chaos level go from 11M am to 11m SSB onto 11M freebanding to ham radio 'which is not a given' considering 75/80M LSB
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I used to work the big AM DX hangouts, including 27025, but that was 25 years ago. Though I had the signal to work those frequencies, too. Not so much these days…. by a *huge* margin. ;)
Band is starting to go long for me. Still west coast, but hearing some Hawaii activity as well. Not that Hawaii can hear me thus far.
I figure workable DX will fold in an hour or so here.
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I just heard a station in Reno working Hawaii on 38LSB. Only hear the Reno side though. Good for them.
Going long for sure. Gonna go hook up my boat and maybe try to catch some pirates.
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Think the band is about done for me. Tossed out a few calls. No returns.
I will keep it going for awhile longer, but yeah, it is perhaps about time to turn on the Kenwood R-2000 and take a skim of the lower HF bands.
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Yeah. Just got back in the radio room and it's full quiet here. Been outside hooking up the boat and rigging up fishing rods. I was gonna try and do some more general listening, but I think I'll wait until tomorrow. Goodnight
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I am in the den now, so an Airspy HF+ Discovery and an active miniwhip.
Sounds like locals on 27205. Short blips of activity on 27025 and 27385 at times.
That is with the SDR preamp engaged, too.
G'night. Enjoy the fishing.
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About to shut down the computer and I noticed you said, you heard Hawaii. That's good news. I haven't heard Hawaii yet. I was fortunate to work Hawaii a few times on 11M and other bands. One of my biggest losses was Japan on 11M back in the late 90's. I did contact a JA on 11M, but it was not a full exchange of info, so I don't consider it a legit contact. It was more like the JA responded with my call numbers and QTH and things faded. Neat, but not a log. ): I actually never heard or worked another JA since.