CB radio in 2024 worth it

Feek said:
I worked PY a couple of days ago on a literal bit of wire I dangled out the window on 10m with 20W. Yes, I've got a decent SteppIR up but this was an experiment to see how well the bands are working at the (almost) peak of the cycle.
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10 meters is different although next door to the CB band... Breakers on 11 meters work on verticals, 100watts where as 10 meters all kinds of antennas are used like horizontal wire antennas, and low power levels as well as high plus hams are also listening out for all signals not just the strong signals like they do on CB where there squelch is turned up and only care about the strongest signals. I have a couple of old CB radios converted to 10 meters that I'm dying to try out sometime when the next skip comes in.

Also people are using much better radios when it comes to 10 meters, some of these HF sets of today have impressive built in noise reduction technology and the receivers are generally better, they would be miles better at picking up weaker signals and would appear as stronger than on an average CB radio. There are a lot of factors to play which separates CB from 10 meters.
 
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I used to have a walkie talkie when I was a kid, it was great fun.. I've purchased some super mario ones for my great nephew but they soon got bored of it.
I've been thinking of picking one up for myself for a laugh but with the kind of range and that I live in the middle of nowhere, I try not to speak to the people of certain villages in person let alone over the airways.
 
slinxy said:
I used to have a walkie talkie when I was a kid, it was great fun.. I've purchased some super mario ones for my great nephew but they soon got bored of it.
I've been thinking of picking one up for myself for a laugh but with the kind of range and that I live in the middle of nowhere, I try not to speak to the people of certain villages in person let alone over the airways.
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Thats what got me into radio originally, it was always in my blood. My first walkie talkies were a set of Star Wars ones on 27MHz with a Morse button bought from Tandy and I remember picking up all sorts on them as well as off frequency traffic from the many CB radios that were being used at the time. It was great fun and lots of people had walkie talkies that worked with each other.

I remember 1998/99 was when the first PMR446 walkie talkies came onto the market. PMR446 is now widely used around the UK, some use it as a UHF CB band.
 
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Retro6 said:
Thats what got me into radio originally, it was always in my blood. My first walkie talkies were a set of Star Wars ones on 27MHz with a Morse button bought from Tandy and I remember picking up all sorts on them as well as off frequency traffic from the many CB radios that were being used at the time. It was great fun and lots of people had walkie talkies that worked with each other.

I remember 1998/99 was when the first PMR446 walkie talkies came onto the market. PMR446 is now widely used around the UK, some use it as a UHF CB band.
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are the baofeng walkie talkies any good? I hear mix reviews.. I basically just want something to play with and if zombies ever take over the world, I have something to throw at them... lol
 
slinxy said:
are the baofeng walkie talkies any good? I hear mix reviews.. I basically just want something to play with and if zombies ever take over the world, I have something to throw at them... lol
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Not really.
They're OK for American preppers but reports are that they're pretty crap for UK use, and the quality/performance is reflected in the price.

There's also a debate on their UK legality:

Baofeng Radio Without A Licence | Essex Ham

www.essexham.co.uk www.essexham.co.uk

If you have a Ham licence and want to mess about, they're not often expensive, but for literally 'playing with walkie talkies' a PMR446 2 or 4-pack would probably be a better option.
 
Retro6 said:
10 meters is different although next door to the CB band... Breakers on 11 meters work on verticals, 100watts where as 10 meters all kinds of antennas are used like horizontal wire antennas, and low power levels as well as high plus hams are also listening out for all signals not just the strong signals like they do on CB where there squelch is turned up and only care about the strongest signals. I have a couple of old CB radios converted to 10 meters that I'm dying to try out sometime when the next skip comes in.
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For local use, polarisation is important, I agree but once you start making contacts that aren’t ground wave, polarisation is completely and utterly irrelevant.

Propagation on 11m is identical to 10m.
 
So my horizontal Dipole should be good enough for worldwide contacts during lift conditions?

I'm making a better vertical antenna for local stuff CB/10 meters. I'm going to try get a net going on 29 MHz FM... I'm still in the process of tracking down all the parts I need to build my CB antenna then waiting for bits to arrive. Its got to be an easy to deploy antenna as I'm not allowed any permanent antennas on the property.

These days you got to have a reasonable antenna to be heard over the noise floor plus a decent power mic. CB tends to be too quiet on audio and require a power mic.
 
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Retro6 said:
So my horizontal Dipole should be good enough for worldwide contacts during lift conditions?
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Yes, during the peak of the cycle, you’ll work the world on a dipole, easily.

See above about me working PY with a bit of wire dangled out of the window on 10m.

The G3VFA joystick was an awful aerial with utterly ridiculous advertising claims but it worked because it was sold at the peak of a sunspot cycle when anything would work.
 
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