The future of 11m radios.

[NUBSTER]

according to admiral the hobby is dead and we're all doomed, but fear not, theres still time left to learn a new hobby.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_dance

TBH Buick , that's ironic you chose Hungarian folk dancing , because around the trading estate where I work its mainly Hungarian lorry's or vans I see now with CB antennas on them lol , plus other Eastern European vans and lorry's too, so perhaps it's gonna be just a Euro thing now CB, but I agree with Admiral it's just white noise around my way in London also apart from a once a week network that's if you can hear it with all the interference we get

[ghost123uk]

I think the hobby can be split into 3 categories,

1) The professional driver, be it lorry, van, whatever, who uses it for driving condition reports, and to keep them company on a long drive.
2) The serious "DXing" type, either from home, or on top of a hill / mountain, with fancy radios and antennas.
3) The Muppets who just want to chat to their mates on the estate.

It seems that categories 1 and 3 have largely disappeared, (not sure why lorry drivers rarely fit them these days?) but the more serious users, and I guess that is most of us on here are in that group, are still active, especially when there is any sort of propagation. Many of "us" are not yet in our Autumn years (although I am ) and so "we" will likely stay active until we get too old to do it, say 20+ years hence. I can feel a "how old are you" poll coming on

It's true though, not many youngsters coming on. Same with the likes of fishing and flying model aircraft etc I suppose.

[NUBSTER]

I think I can answer the bit about lorry's fitting them , the Eastern Euro ones I've seen on the estate where I work are mainly from the same company ie: bit like a Eastern European Eddie Stobart lol so I would say they have them fitted because they seem to travel in convoys of two or three , also a lot of companies in the UK don't like drivers fitting any extra stuff ie: CB's in there vehicles also most have phones in them and the ISOTRACK systems fitted (fancy sat navigation that can spy on you) now .

[Tim]

A lot of transport Companies do not allow the drivers to fit CB radios in their vehicles now, that's why you don't see many or hear the 'truckers', the exception being owner drivers, that's the answer to that one so Ghosts number 1 is not quite on the mark. There are plenty serious DXers that take their radio out at weekends in their cars on high ground but a lot do not have fancy radios and big antennas so number 2 is also dead in the water. As for the 'muppets' chatting to each other on the estates, in my nearest towns, both big and small, there are none, they're all on Faceache and texting each other in another language, well, it isn't proper English they use.

[ghost123uk]

................. Ghost's number 1 is not quite on the mark.................................... so [Ghost's] number 2 is also dead in the water.

As for the 'muppets' chatting to each other on the estates, in my nearest towns, both big and small, there are none.

You wanna try being anywhere within a 50 mile radius of Liverpool
So Tim's comment is (in some cases) quite off the mark

[Buick Mackane]

Be honest iv'e given up on eleven metres, Besides a few guys that hog channel 19 and threaten anybody daft enough to listen and the odd passing hungarian trucker its deader than george michael. Not a careless whisper to be heard, And as far as DX goes Iv'e migrated to 40m because i'm a fully licensed respectable amateur radio operator, Ok maybe not respectable

[Admiral]

Even truck owner-drivers are buggered these days, my mate who I think I'm sort of related to as well is such a person, he's got a contract with a well known supermarket chain to night trunk for them, they have some kind of tracking device in their trailers that completely obliterates his rig, he has tried different rigs and twigs and no use, the things are so powerful that they even take out MW on his normal in-cab radio system, he is not in a position to turn down their business as although they cut the margins to the bone and impose time penalties, it is still very lucrative for him and pays his mortgage, so CB just had to go.

[AShockwav]

If you guys decide to give up the hobby, just box up all those nice radios and send them over to me here in the states, I will find good homes for all of them

73
Jeff

[Tripple 7]

I will never give up, I just started collecting old CB radios since last year 2016, I am 54 years old/young haha and I love the way we started in the eigthies, I had several rigs like Super Star 2000, HAM International Concorde 3, silver Jackson, black Jackson, Madison, Washington, Lincoln etcetera, all was sold as I wanted a bigger radio, so soon I bought HAM rigs, nowadays I have the pleasure and fun to have made my own antennas, I use a 2 and 3 element Delta Loop, I was lucky to have obtained some old CB radios already, yesterday in these bad conditions I was able to make QSO with my Superstar 2000 and Concorde 2 into Europe, I talked to Denmark, Italy 2 times and Central European Russia just with 12-15 watts PEP, just QRP, it gives me more fun than using HAM radio, guys don't worry the CB 11 meter virus is in my blood, it will never go away, you will hear me till I die.
I can understand why people give up the hobby especially in the Netherlands....there is so many interference caused by computers, internet interference via electricity net etcetera, the receive on cb radio is bad caused by these lets say QRM, also going mobile in Europe is not so easy anymore, unless you have hands free kit as the police are tight if you phone without hands free set, you get fined and same situation counts for CB radio as you use the mike.....I cannot say anything anymore about the activity of the legal band in my ex home country the Netherlands as I am in Thailand already 8 years. At least I do not hear them here.
I will be trying to reactivate 26.285 next cycle again, why are all people around 555 its an ants nest there with also some clowns like George in Scotland and another idiot in Spain who daily block and QRM this call frequency with huge power and bad language, so lets get back to the 1984 - 1989 roots and get 285 allive !
best greetings from Thailand. Cheerio bye

[NUBSTER]

Some of us in the UK started on CB radio back in the mid 1970's ( me included ) before it was legal in UK , some of us on the old early 23 channel radios smuggled in from the U.S , now that is real roots

[ChrisMagpie]

Some of us in the UK started on CB radio back in the mid 1970's ( me included ) before it was legal in UK , now that is real roots

Thought of you when I saw this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Brist ... Sw2gxYoKqr

[NUBSTER]

That was my very first radio I ever owned Chris when I started mate , didn't even have a LCD channel read out the channel numbers was printed on the the channel changer around the edge lol , but it was bloody good little radio TBH

[Admiral]

didn't even have a LCD channel read out the channel numbers was printed on the the channel changer around the edge

Didn't most of them have every other number printed, usually the odd numbers so you identify 9 and 19 easily, then instead of the even numbers there was a dot?
I had plenty of them too, but they would have been a few years old when I started in 1980.

[NUBSTER]

Yep Admiral that's how the channels was on them then , TBH totally useless when mobile driving because when you got the copy on say the 14/19 (remember those times lol) as the numbers where so small you was counting the clicks on the channel changer to work out what channel you was told to go to and I was always missing the channel by one cos of how they was set out lol , but as I said it wasn't a bad little radio and actually made a lot better than some of the modern cr@p we have now