CB Nostalgia. What set ups did you have?

[pauly]

Hi everyone. This is only my second post on here but being quite nostalgic I was wondering what set ups other people had back in what could now be considered as the olden days!
My first introduction into CB radio was back in 1980. I was still at school and various aerials had been popping up in my area. A coupe of friends at school were using their brothers rigs so I plagued my mum to get me one.
We found someone selling a General Electric 40 channel AM handheld CB that came with a car battery and a DV27 mounted on a car wheel! Pretty soon I found that I needed a better aerial so progressed onto a dipole which I mounted onto the gutter.
A new rig came up cheap which was a CB Master 2080 80 Channel and by that time I had been bitten by the radio bug.
A few local friends I had met had progressed from their straight 40's onto sidebanders so I had to follow suit. I bought a Tristar 747 from my mates brother and paid him weekly for it as I was skint.
The new CB was now receiving all kinds of foreign transmissions but it was near on impossible for me to get back to them on my dipole, although I did have some success.
As I remember, the skip was pretty good around '81/82 so I bought an aerial off another local CB'er. To this day I don't know what it was except it was like a Silver Rod but it had four short radials. That didn't last very long before snapping so for my birthday I got a Mighty Magnum (Mk2 I think). The top had a round cage instead of the usual diamond type that I had seen (I've still got bits of it in the garden!) This was a great aerial but a nightmare if it rained as the SWR used to go sky high as soon as there was a shower.
Contacts on SSB with this were superb but I wasn't very popular with the neighbours and soon got reported for wiping out all of the neighbours TV's.
To stay on the right side of the law I got a Midland 2001 CB27/81 FM and another DV27 for show but still kept up with the sideband DX'ing. I added a K40 Speech processor and a Ham Master base microphone, which I bought and traded for other CB bits.
They were good days and I met lots of brilliant people through the CB and I'm just wondering what it's like now.
Hope I haven't bored you all too much and would love to hear what other people had

[The Collector]

First day of legality - Fidelity 3000 Homebase (still have it) 30ft of thick co-ax through the corner of my bedroom ceiling into the loft and an "Invader" legal aerial just above the apex of the roof on a 6ft pole and T&K brackets. Got me across from one side Birmingham to the other (about 20 miles) at 3am one morning to my cousin (no chance in the daytime as channels were jam-packed), albeit we struggled with back-of-the-box chat.

[ch25]

First radio in late 80's was Cobra 10+ with homebrew 1/4 GP.
Than SS3900 and hundereds different radios on the bench till now.
Now I use President Jack, Uniden PC-122 and ocasionally DNT Carat.
Chris

[pauly]

Hi and thanks for the replies.
@The Collector, I remember the Fidelity Homebase. One of my mates had a Fidelity but it wasn't the Homebase but it was a good radio. 20 miles is a great result and to be honest we could never obtain that kind of distance around here on FM as it was so built up. Plus the airwaves were rammed after FM went legal.
@ch25, I don't remember the SS3900 but I looked it up just now and it looks exactly like a 148. I remember the SS360, a great radio.
We were forever trying different homemade aerials with varying degrees of success.
The President Jackson looks like a nice radio.

[lambrettadave]

My first use of CB radio was a Moonraker master handheld CB which I loaned and used IN my bedroom but I got the bug and bought a realistic trc2001 which it had the midband in it and a dipole which did ok considering where I lived.

[original45]

First was a hygain 2 am radio back in 1977 , bought of a trucker who once weekly sold new radios from a pub carpark in Rowley Regis Rowley rag ? .
I think his handle was nod.

Antenna was a harada telescopic disguisable antenna ,like a old school car Ariel but thicker.

Radio was attached to a snatch plate for ease and fitted in my old fellas cortina mk 3.

I remember him trying to swr the antenna eithno luck so couple of local breakers druid and drifter poppod down and soldered wired to base then earthed.
Was fine then.
Enjoyed that time era and age on radio.going on the sheep town convoy hundreds of cars meeting up on route to travel to borth sands ynyslas.
Islands being blocked off by lead cars so all can stay together, kind if crazy by today's standards.
Hiding you radios from Smokey bear.
FM few years latter was nothing like ,first FM was amstrad 900 and silvervrod 5/8 on 30' scaff.
Happy days

[CBR1100XX]

First radio was a Cobra 19 X , 40 CH AM in about 79 then a Realistic TRC something , 40 Ch AM/ SSB then Tristars , Hygains of different models , then lots more like most .

[andrew013]

first radio back in 79 midland 150m 40ch am cant remember first ssb set second was a nato2000 never used fm so not legal set and came long after first legal set which was a maxcom20e

[Edd200sx]

First one

Audioline 341 with mids fitted.

In order
Stalker 9
Cobra 148
NATO 2000 (****)
Mk1 Lincoln. B300p

Ran them all mobile.

I run a silver grant mobile now and an s9/wks1001/3900 at home

Ic7600 for hf

[andrew013]

first radio back in 79 midland 150m 40ch am cant remember first ssb set second was a nato2000 never used fm so not legal set and came long after first legal set which was a maxcom20e

found first ever qsl card i worked ssb on the nato 2000 , i was on holiday down padstow 13th july 1989and only bought it 2 days before the holiday

[alze]

It wasn't mine, but me Dad's (RIP), I think it was a 'mckinley' and it had a gigantic mast attached to a concrete coal bunker. I believe it had many modifications done to it, with USB/LSB on it, as well as some 'amplification' - I did get to use it and even had my own handle aged 8~10 years old.
There was a massive CB movement back then (late 70s/80's) and my dad was involved with some 'saftey watch' scheme if I recall. Massive nights out in one of the local clubs, i would guess several hundred people there at its height.
In the end the CB went (I think when it went legal in 82, that would coincide with the computer release date), and paid for a computer... the rest is history and coming full circle somewhat

[bigbluebaggy]

First post on here for ages, but I remember the good old days like a lot of us.

Some school mates got me into CB when FM was legal in the 80's, I remember sitting outside in their dads car talking to people and I didn't have a telephone at home so thought this was so cool. My first radio was a Barracuda HB940, from Halfords I think and I had a small mobile aerial on a mag mount with a biscuit tinin my bedroom cause my mom wasn't happy about me having an aerial up outside. But eventually my dad talked her round and I got a MK II Thunderpole attached to the shed, I lived on a hill so it wasn't too bad. My dad got a radio in the car as well and I used to talk to him on his way to work and back.

I moved onto various rigs and aerials, Thunderpole MKIII and eventually a Sigma IV, which I loved and had attached to the chimney that was probably my best setup. I still had it up to about 12 years ago, when I moved house and for some reason took it down the tip!!! My rigs and stuff I kept, well I thought I did but I can't find them anywhere . I had only FM's I did try out AM and SSB but never owned one. I had a Nato 2000 which got nicked from my moms house, I swear the git I bought it off did it but I could never prove it. I had Amstrad 901, York 863, Harrier CBX and Binatone 5 Star.

I have in the last 5 years re-purchased some of my old gear for nostalgia and then sold it again and then re-bought stuff again!!! I can only put it in the garage though so it gets a little boring listening to mostly static. There are some people on here in the Midlands, I just wish it was like the good old says, I know things move on.

Current Setup is a Sirio 827, Rotel 240 and ES880 Echo Chamber. Oh and I did by a Barracuda as it was my first, but that just sits in the box. Would love to try some Dx'ing again so if ever anyone knows of something going on, would love to give it a whirl.

[The Collector]

Bigbluebaggy - If you can get mobile and sit up on top of one of the beacons (not sure where you live?), you'll get out much further and it's not too bad out at this time of the year.

I used to go up on the Lickey Hills or Frankley Beeches on the south edge of Birmingham and I could get 20-30 miles just using 4 watts and a movile aerial, or more if I used my silver rod stuck on a small pole stuck in the ground. At least it'll hopefully find you someone to talk to that way as you can be a bit limited being homebase, especially if using FM.

[flickpot]

First Radio was a baby midland..then got the bug a nato 2000 my first sidebander, edit to the 2019's now about 29 rigs later

[flickpot]

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