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Call Sign : 163-CT-229 Posts : 6 Times Thanked : 1 Join date : 2020-01-22 QTH or Location : Ystalylafera South Wales Equipment Used : CRT SS 6900N V6 & SigmaSkip Master 5/8 wave
I have bought various cb radios and aerials. My latest being a Superstar SS 6900N V6, upgrading with a DMC 110 mic and then a silver rod on a long pole. I have never had a contact in nearly a year. I scan all the channels and call out on all the contact channels listed on forums. I live in a valley in south Wales and don't know if this is the problem. If it is then should I sell all my equipment? Pete (163CT229)
Last edited by Staggy on Fri Sep 11, 2020 9:30 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : not right)
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morris Senior contributor
Call Sign : 26-CT-11111 Posts : 138 Times Thanked : 5 Join date : 2019-07-26 QTH or Location : Kent
CB today is definitely not like the old days. Back in the early 80's the moment you turned on your rig there were always people on most channels. Even when the initial flutter died down in the late 80's a quick call on 19 would get you a call back. Nowadays you could call on any channel for days on end and depending on your area not get so much as a twitch on your needle. This is usually why people go mobile in a car, get up on top of the hills and give it a shot from there. Or you wait it out until the summer skip comes in and try a bit of DX, particularly on SSB but even possible on standard FM frequencies. Today it is a lot harder work and more involved.
When I came back to it late last year I was initially disappointed but then a spot of brief mid winter skip gave me the buzz. Local contacts were few and far between and often not that friendly, (farmers and truckers thinking it was their private radio!?) Living in a radio black hole valley meant I was only gaining further contacts in one direction only. But when the summer skip came in I was making contacts all over Continental Europe with no trouble and left truly buzzing!
When things were quiet radio wise at the start of the year I visited a Ham club to look at getting my amateur licence. Unfortunately it was not the friendliest of clubs and I initially gave up. The summer CB skip gave me all the buzz I needed to look back into it and with world changes online Amateur Radio testing became available. I've just finished the Essex Ham course and ready to sit my exam shortly. I don't intend to give up CB, just open more radio interest options to myself.
The basic moral is that I took it further, worked harder at it, patiently waited and extended my radio options.
I still call out on PMR channel 8 every Sunday night despite never making a contact.....yet. The moment I do I know I'll be excited as hell, will have found another contact and maybe carry on. It takes no real effort, didn't cost much and I enjoy it rather than look on it as failure.
It's all too easy to take up or revisit a hobby, throw money at it for a bit and then give it up as a bad lot. CB radio is not unusual, I've lost count of people that buy guitars, realise it's harder than it looks to play then give it up. Often they've thrown money at it too with the initial excitement or that 'better' pricier equipment will make them better at it. Second hand guitars that litter pawn shops, eBay, free adds etc. are usually 'broken dreams' sell ups.
It's really up to you what you do. If you feel that you've tried for long enough with no results and only feeling dispondent about it then it's maybe time to find a hobby that does make you happy. You won't be the first and definitely not the last.
Or, you could be as 'mad' as the rest of us, look at options, try more things, call out for days on end and be excited at every small radio achievement.
All the best, Victor
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Alan Pilot Major contributor
Call Sign : 163-CT-220...MW7TTA Posts : 2509 Times Thanked : 69 Join date : 2019-11-19 QTH or Location : Anglesey North Wales Equipment Used : Yaesu FT-991A,,Yaesu FTDX-10,,Icom ic-7300,,Anytone AT-D878UV PLUS",,LINCOLN II+. Age : 150
Subject: Re: Getting disillusioned Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:11 am
Not a lot i can add to what Victor has said but stick with it. You have bought all your kit now and you don't have to feed it so not costing you anything to stick with it. I bought a radio from the bay but not left feedback yet as i don't know if it works as it's silent at my location as well.(i know it works really spoken to myself on it lol)
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Staggy New Member
Call Sign : 163-CT-229 Posts : 6 Times Thanked : 1 Join date : 2020-01-22 QTH or Location : Ystalylafera South Wales Equipment Used : CRT SS 6900N V6 & SigmaSkip Master 5/8 wave
Subject: Re: Getting disillusioned Sat Sep 12, 2020 9:35 am
I don't know how to reply to you individually but thank you all for your replies and advice. Victor Thank you for your lengthy reply. You are right and I will carry on and also look at getting a Ham licence.
Thanks to Alan I thought my old 1980's Cobra was not working and took it to the tip. I wish you good luck with getting contacts.
Morris I will try going mobile as I am on the edge of the Brecon beacons and I should get out quite far.
Kittiwake That would be great and I will be monitoring the 19 today.
Once again, thank you all for your help and advice, Pete
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Victor CT Directors
Call Sign : 26-CT-3228 / M7VIC Posts : 5750 Times Thanked : 349 Join date : 2019-11-10 QTH or Location : Bedford Equipment Used : Various
Subject: Re: Getting disillusioned Sat Sep 12, 2020 10:03 am
Pete,
Glad to find you feeling a little more positive and well done to everyone that took the time to offer you assistance.
You obviously have the radio 'bug' judging by how far you've gone with this and also sticking with it so far
I hope you manage to contact Arwyn, (Kittiwake), today on your radio, it'll give you the refreshing feeling to carry on. If not, don't worry at least you're still trying. Pat yourself on the back for still trying. You may well find every so often that radio is 'letting you down', we all get that feeling at one time or another and it soon goes away.
I wish you all the best with your radio endeavours. Victor
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John123 CT Directors
Call Sign : 26CT763 Posts : 4064 Times Thanked : 145 Join date : 2019-06-27 QTH or Location : Manchester Equipment Used : Optima, Superstar 360fm, Stalker 9fdx, President Jack Age : 50
Subject: Re: Getting disillusioned Sat Sep 12, 2020 11:14 am
Hello Pete,
Just want to echo what Victor has said. I am in the same situation as you. I briefly tried a home-base set-up and it did not not work for me, due to a high noise level and being in a radio black spot. I live in the town of Buxton in Derbyshire and although the home qth is 339m asl, the town sits in a natural bowl with hills surrounding it, so ground wave on cb is less than 10 miles in most directions.
The flip side to that is, I am literally a five minute drive from some fantastic dx spots. One local spot is 500m plus asl. So I have remained a mobile station for the last nine years. Good height, great take off and zero noise. It has given me some great contacts on both ground-wave and propagation. Another plus for me, is it keeps the hobby fresh as I cannot have a radio on 24/7 and it gets me out of the house.
Good luck.
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morris Senior contributor
Call Sign : 26-CT-11111 Posts : 138 Times Thanked : 5 Join date : 2019-07-26 QTH or Location : Kent
Subject: Re: Getting disillusioned Sat Sep 12, 2020 11:19 am
Try calling into the southern area SSB net on Thursday evening from high ground,they often have contacts into Wales, they also have a facebook group,
https://www.facebook.com/groups/240149863411250/
Good luck
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Staggy New Member
Call Sign : 163-CT-229 Posts : 6 Times Thanked : 1 Join date : 2020-01-22 QTH or Location : Ystalylafera South Wales Equipment Used : CRT SS 6900N V6 & SigmaSkip Master 5/8 wave
Subject: Re: Getting disillusioned Sat Sep 12, 2020 2:35 pm
Thank you all for your advice and encouragement. I had a chat with Arwyn today on FM (which was my first since the 80's) so I am glad that my equipment works and I am very grateful to him. I will buy a mobile antenna and get to higher ground. Hopefully I will be able to get more contacts and also contact the southern area SSB net.
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Northern Crusader Major contributor
Call Sign : M0GVZ / 26CT1760 Posts : 528 Times Thanked : 35 Join date : 2019-11-13 QTH or Location : IO94SA Equipment Used : Icom 7300, TS480, President McKinley, Albrecht AE6110, CRT Mike Age : 53
Subject: Re: Getting disillusioned Sat Sep 12, 2020 2:43 pm
Propogation for DX isn't the best at the moment but should pick up considerably during October and November.
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Kittiwake New Member
Call Sign : 163-CT-234 / MW7WYN Posts : 29 Times Thanked : 4 Join date : 2020-03-01 QTH or Location : Swansea Equipment Used : CB>>Homebase: SS6900n with 1/2w silver rod, Mobile: CRT Millenium (V3) with mini springer......HAM >> Anytone D878UV Age : 60
Subject: Re: Getting disillusioned Sat Sep 12, 2020 4:13 pm
Hi Pete Glad to help out and prove your rig works. It was a good contact held over a stretch of the valley of about 2.5miles either side of your QTH with a strong clear signal. Hopefully this will be the first of many for you.
Arwyn
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Victor CT Directors
Call Sign : 26-CT-3228 / M7VIC Posts : 5750 Times Thanked : 349 Join date : 2019-11-10 QTH or Location : Bedford Equipment Used : Various
Subject: Re: Getting disillusioned Sat Sep 12, 2020 4:49 pm
Absolutely spot on Arwyn!
What a star to help a fellow radio enthusiast. Ill bet Pete is flourished with renewed vigour and enthusiasm now
It might not seem much to some, but I think what you've done is awesome.
Well done to all concerned.
All my very best, Victor
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Alan Pilot Major contributor
Call Sign : 163-CT-220...MW7TTA Posts : 2509 Times Thanked : 69 Join date : 2019-11-19 QTH or Location : Anglesey North Wales Equipment Used : Yaesu FT-991A,,Yaesu FTDX-10,,Icom ic-7300,,Anytone AT-D878UV PLUS",,LINCOLN II+. Age : 150
Subject: Re: Getting disillusioned Sat Sep 12, 2020 4:57 pm
Arwyn Can you have a quick drive past my qth so i can test this Optima lol. Nice one m8 for helping Pete test his kit.
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Kittiwake New Member
Call Sign : 163-CT-234 / MW7WYN Posts : 29 Times Thanked : 4 Join date : 2020-03-01 QTH or Location : Swansea Equipment Used : CB>>Homebase: SS6900n with 1/2w silver rod, Mobile: CRT Millenium (V3) with mini springer......HAM >> Anytone D878UV Age : 60
Subject: Re: Getting disillusioned Sat Sep 12, 2020 6:07 pm
Alan Pilot wrote:
Arwyn Can you have a quick drive past my qth so i can test this Optima lol. Nice one m8 for helping Pete test his kit.
Hi Alan As it happens, I'm on the road most days as I drive for a haulage company, unfortunately not as far afield as Holyhead Maybe someone else could follow my example (what have I started) and help you out. Arwyn
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Paddy CT Directors
Call Sign : 26CT2727 Posts : 656 Times Thanked : 54 Join date : 2019-07-08 QTH or Location : Stockport Equipment Used : Icom 7300. Icom 705, Yaesu FTM400XD and a Yaesu FT70. Age : 58
If your buying a mobile antenna don't get one to small! Better still basic 1/2 wave silver rod on a bit of pole on a drive on plate or lashed to the farmers fence or what ever you can find! Should bring you some good results on high ground. T.
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stephen Gunrunner Major contributor
Call Sign : 26CT526/MR021/M6XXX. Posts : 272 Times Thanked : 10 Join date : 2019-06-27 QTH or Location : wooler north northumberland or some were near it Equipment Used : mobile 4000hp base A99 radio base magnum257hp mobile magnum 257 standed power Age : 67
Subject: Re: Getting disillusioned Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:58 am
up in north Northumberland is almost the same from my home 20 to my young bro home 20 its like that, but if you can go mobile use Google heights, and get up high there is very good nets on every week end and most nights of the week, and all them new freqs to use I live in a valley and I am 300ftasl but in a valley, so I go out to a few good spots, and have you tried pmr, I have a base antenna for 446 only, and the crt7m and we get out well to my young bro, he has the crt space u and the sirio pmr 446 antenna , and to explain more we can talk on 11m home to home every day and on the same 11m out and about in the car,but he can not hear me out side my home and its the same I can not hear him, but in the house and crt9900 and a99 we can hear each other, now with the pmr in the car and with a 16cm antenna on a mag mount and the crt space u in the car, and we can have a great contact on low power, and its a great contact no noise crystal clear is this going to be the new cb freqs but if you listen to some say you get no were very short distance, but here is the kick, its 15+miles to my young bros qth,and some say never I can out side my house and when I am out and about, that's 3 in this area on pmr try and get to some high ground and give it a try and with the pmr the crt space is £70 and from nights that's delivery, programmed and to you, and its small, but never think its no good, it is a great radio it gets a little hot but I have a fan on mine and sucks the heat away and drawing cold over the radio, what every you do welcome back to a great hobby, and get them contacts.
Hi Staggy. I know how you feel. I've been listening and scanning almost non-stop on the Irish and UK channels since I resurrected my old Yaesu FT-7B a couple of weeks ago. Admittedly, my antenna is not up to much, but I would have expected to hear some activity either locally or from the odd UK operator. I'll wait until I finish making my magnetic loop before I give up hope - I have only a short wire antenna in the attic right now.
Last edited by Ethergoddle on Fri Sep 25, 2020 4:15 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Syntax correction.)
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NUBSTER 10 + Year member
Call Sign : 26 CT050 26 FB080 26 WT105 26 TE171 Posts : 948 Times Thanked : 51 Join date : 2019-06-27 QTH or Location : NORTH LONDON Equipment Used : ORIGINAL President Lincoln, President Teddy , Silver Eagle microphones , Gainmaster antenna, use a AMP ofcourse I do sometimes Age : 65
You also have to consider we are still at the lowest point of the sunspot cycle so conditions are at there lowest especially for long distance copies and DXing on SSB plus I know someone is going to say something about this comment, you have to remember CB is not as popular and alive as people think it is dont matter what others say, and just because there lot of new members joining it doesn't mean they have radios to use or using them , I've been through it with CB the great times the crap times and the dead times since 1975 and I ain't given up so bear with it dont give up .
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Victor CT Directors
Call Sign : 26-CT-3228 / M7VIC Posts : 5750 Times Thanked : 349 Join date : 2019-11-10 QTH or Location : Bedford Equipment Used : Various
The price of second hand rigs might have gone mental on fleabay, the sale of new CBs outstripped stock, Thunderpole has customer pinpoints all over their map and we've issued callsigns like mad.......so where are they all?
Luckily we had a fairly good summer skip this year or I might have given up CB for dead in my area. Despite taking my ticket soon I'll still be scanning CB, fingers crossed for the winter solstice skip and looking forward to the sunspot increasing.
CB might be dead on the whole, but boy is it exciting when it picks up!
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NUBSTER 10 + Year member
Call Sign : 26 CT050 26 FB080 26 WT105 26 TE171 Posts : 948 Times Thanked : 51 Join date : 2019-06-27 QTH or Location : NORTH LONDON Equipment Used : ORIGINAL President Lincoln, President Teddy , Silver Eagle microphones , Gainmaster antenna, use a AMP ofcourse I do sometimes Age : 65
I'll be honest I haven't even opened my shack for about 2weeks, I went in it today to get something thought sod it let's fire up the radio switched it on and scanned from 25mhz to 30mhz and even had a little listen on the Muppets, and what did I hear NUFFIN just like the 2 weeks before I lock it up when I listened last ,and that's in built up London.
Alan Pilot Major contributor
Call Sign : 163-CT-220...MW7TTA Posts : 2509 Times Thanked : 69 Join date : 2019-11-19 QTH or Location : Anglesey North Wales Equipment Used : Yaesu FT-991A,,Yaesu FTDX-10,,Icom ic-7300,,Anytone AT-D878UV PLUS",,LINCOLN II+. Age : 150
The author of this message was banned from the forum - See the message
NUBSTER 10 + Year member
Call Sign : 26 CT050 26 FB080 26 WT105 26 TE171 Posts : 948 Times Thanked : 51 Join date : 2019-06-27 QTH or Location : NORTH LONDON Equipment Used : ORIGINAL President Lincoln, President Teddy , Silver Eagle microphones , Gainmaster antenna, use a AMP ofcourse I do sometimes Age : 65
Sod it that always happens Alan ,mind you I was out anyway this afternoon.
Alan Pilot Major contributor
Call Sign : 163-CT-220...MW7TTA Posts : 2509 Times Thanked : 69 Join date : 2019-11-19 QTH or Location : Anglesey North Wales Equipment Used : Yaesu FT-991A,,Yaesu FTDX-10,,Icom ic-7300,,Anytone AT-D878UV PLUS",,LINCOLN II+. Age : 150