CB Radio for Preppers pt 4

[00:00:33] Welcome into the Prep Cams podcast, Caleb Nelson your host here, K-4 CDN.

[00:00:38] Thank you for dropping by.

[00:00:39] My phone has been blowing up.

[00:00:42] That's too soon.

[00:00:42] Too soon.

[00:00:46] Wow, we'll talk about that in a few minutes.

[00:00:48] I want to come back in here real quick.

[00:00:50] Talk about CB Radio.

[00:00:51] I've done three episodes here about CB Radio and how they can apply to the

[00:00:55] proper and the Preppers desire to stay communicated and connection with their friends or

[00:01:02] to gain information or to use it, to build rapport with other people, connect with a group

[00:01:09] etc.

[00:01:10] We're talking about communication so we know what we're talking about here.

[00:01:14] I've gotten some feedback.

[00:01:16] Not great.

[00:01:17] Well, it's not anticipated feedback.

[00:01:19] So I want to address it real quick.

[00:01:22] Yes, I understand that CB Radio can be modified.

[00:01:26] I understand that you can add amplification to your signal to talk further, be louder, echo more, whatever you want

[00:01:36] to do.

[00:01:37] I understand that because I've been a CB Radio user for 45 years.

[00:01:42] I've been an amateur radio operator from almost 15.

[00:01:45] So the first 30 years of that time, I was a CB Radio guy and I had it all.

[00:01:50] I had the echo.

[00:01:51] I had the tone boards.

[00:01:53] I had the what do we call those noise toys?

[00:01:57] I had multiple amplifiers, tuned radios, picked in tune, which may or may not have been the case.

[00:02:06] Every antenna you could combination, you could come up with.

[00:02:08] I've done it all.

[00:02:10] And all seriousness, I've done it all.

[00:02:12] But I want to address some of that real quick because it would be unfair to leave it out of the program,

[00:02:19] because of its illegality.

[00:02:21] But at the same time, I'm not promoting that.

[00:02:24] I'm not telling you this is what you what you need to do.

[00:02:27] As a matter of fact, a lot of the things that you do to add power to a CB actually harms your signal

[00:02:35] more than it will ever help it.

[00:02:38] And I didn't understand that as a CB radio user as a teenager back in the 1990s.

[00:02:44] I just thought, you know, more amplifier, bigger microphone or whatever, and I'm talking further.

[00:02:52] And I never understood and I've said this before how important the antenna is.

[00:02:56] The antenna plays the most important part.

[00:02:58] In any radio setup you have, whether it's CB or ham radio or public service or GMRS,

[00:03:05] it doesn't matter if you're even if you have your own home brew, a AM radio station,

[00:03:10] your antenna makes or breaks your signal.

[00:03:13] In every case here may now, in every case, especially with CB radio,

[00:03:19] especially with everything, the antenna makes or breaks it all.

[00:03:24] So you can have all the amplifier you want, you can have power mics and echo mics and peaked and tuned

[00:03:30] and hot rod radios.

[00:03:31] You can have every bit of that, but if you got your antenna sucks, everything's going to suck.

[00:03:36] It's not going to perform like you want it to perform and you're making investments into things

[00:03:41] that are not going to turn out to be the best investments.

[00:03:44] And if you go all the way back to the beginning of this program, that was the guts of the show.

[00:03:49] That's my heart for this show and for you is to help you understand what to do, not in fear,

[00:03:55] but to make good decisions because this stuff you probably don't have laying around.

[00:03:58] Unless you're just a 45 year old, a 45 year user and that's probably not you.

[00:04:05] So thank you for letting me chat with you about this.

[00:04:07] So here's the deal.

[00:04:09] They do make illegal amplifiers to operate on 11 meters for the CB radio band.

[00:04:16] And you can find them from 20 watts to 15 to 2000.

[00:04:22] There's no telling what they'll actually say they'll do and who knows what they'll really do in real life.

[00:04:26] But there are some big ones you can use out there.

[00:04:29] Most folks back in the day, the Texas Star 250 Texas Star 350 Texas Star 500's

[00:04:34] Reheage in South Carolina.

[00:04:36] I had one.

[00:04:38] Had a Palomar 125 that would swing about 240.

[00:04:41] It was amazing.

[00:04:42] It was the best amp I had.

[00:04:44] I don't use amplification anymore with CB radio.

[00:04:47] I don't even have an amp left over from the days.

[00:04:49] I actually had it stolen out of my truck.

[00:04:52] And so whatever did it increase my range.

[00:04:56] Yes, could I hear better?

[00:04:58] Not really because I wouldn't spend the money or the time on the antenna.

[00:05:01] But I could talk further.

[00:05:03] So here's the deal.

[00:05:04] You can.

[00:05:06] If you make the choice to do that, go down that road.

[00:05:10] You're going to just choose CB for your prepping and you're going to add amplification to it.

[00:05:16] You know rules be damned.

[00:05:17] Okay.

[00:05:18] That's fine.

[00:05:19] That's you.

[00:05:19] It's not me.

[00:05:21] I'm not going to condone it.

[00:05:22] I'm just not going to.

[00:05:24] If you want to do it, do it.

[00:05:25] It's own you.

[00:05:26] But you can and it will increase the distance that you're able to talk with your radios.

[00:05:34] Now if you don't spend time on your antenna, it's not going to help you on the receive.

[00:05:38] Because a lot of them have a receive preamplification which actually amplifies in a sense.

[00:05:43] The signal coming back to you.

[00:05:45] So yeah.

[00:05:45] If you want to buy a CB radio and add an amp to it, that's fine.

[00:05:51] Now add a question the other day and it was a really good question.

[00:05:56] And the question basically was why do I see these 10 meter and 12 meter radios on Amazon

[00:06:04] that you know produce 50, 60, 100 watts?

[00:06:09] But they're called CB radios and they look like a CB radio and they're made by a CB radio company

[00:06:15] but they're not CBs.

[00:06:17] They're made for ham radio operators and you can't see the air quotes there but I'm

[00:06:21] air quoting when it says amateur radio.

[00:06:24] Now you can use those legally on the amateur radio bands and some people do.

[00:06:30] I'm not going to say it's the best idea because a lot of them, not all of them but a lot of them

[00:06:38] are just channelized frequencies and you got to get in there and really screw with stuff

[00:06:42] to make it really worth your time where you could take the same amount of money and buy

[00:06:47] an amateur radio that does a lot of different bands other than just 10 and 12.

[00:06:54] And for the same money and get a lot better performance but really what happens is they're called

[00:07:00] export radios.

[00:07:01] A lot of times you'll hear the term export radio and that's a radio made by an American manufacturer

[00:07:06] intended in air quotes for use overseas where they don't have the same FCC and the same legalities

[00:07:13] on the 11 meter 10 meter 12 meter bands.

[00:07:17] And what happens is you can buy those export radios here in the US and it's a very simple process

[00:07:23] to open the case of the radio up.

[00:07:27] Maybe cut a diode or decalter or something and then magically, magically.

[00:07:32] This 10 meter radio that you bought from Amazon that's a legal piece of equipment now becomes

[00:07:37] an 11 meter 65 watt CB radio.

[00:07:42] People do it all the time, you can do it if you want to, do I condone it?

[00:07:46] Absolutely not but you can.

[00:07:48] It's a really cheap way to get some power, some extra power that work on single side band.

[00:07:54] Now they'll do AMFM and single side band by clipping a diode or decaltering something

[00:07:59] here there, you've got a really high power CB radio.

[00:08:03] That's why when you're looking on Amazon and you see these real expensive CBs or these real

[00:08:08] expensive single band or maybe 10 meter 12 meter band amateur radio export radios, man that's

[00:08:17] just like a CB, why does it cost $500?

[00:08:20] Well the reason it cost $500 because you can buy it, open it up, do what I just said

[00:08:26] and then you've got a $6500 watt whatever $150 CB radio with no amplifier.

[00:08:32] It has the amplifier built into it, some of them even had a heat sink built onto the bottom

[00:08:37] of these things because they turn out so much heat with the amplification circuits inside.

[00:08:43] They're basically a little bit of CB with a great big amp.

[00:08:47] So that's the answer to that question Gordon.

[00:08:51] They don't, they can't say that.

[00:08:53] It's illegal to say that but it's the known secret everybody's well aware that you can take these radios

[00:08:59] and manipulate them like that.

[00:09:01] Now we're not talking about hand radio at this point, we're talking about CB.

[00:09:05] There's some new ones out there from a company called Annie Tone or Annie Tone.

[00:09:09] I don't know how you say A&Y T-O and E and how we said it's South Carolina, that's Annie Tone.

[00:09:15] Anyway, you can buy this radio, it does 10 meters, you do a little snip here,

[00:09:20] a little trick there and you got 10 meters, 11 meters, maybe 12 meters, 65 watts, 250 bucks,

[00:09:29] $300. It's a great deal, it's a great hand radio, I'll tell you that right now.

[00:09:33] There's a lot of people that are buying them and they're manipulating them, they're modifying them

[00:09:37] to work in 11 meters for CB radios.

[00:09:40] So again, I didn't want to get beyond this topic without sharing that with you.

[00:09:46] And let you know that it is against the law.

[00:09:48] Now I'm not telling you that they're going to burst your door down and you know, put you in shackles.

[00:09:54] I don't know what they're going to do. I know the FCC is not what it used to be.

[00:09:58] I don't care about your labels, so you can go ahead and call me whatever you want to call me.

[00:10:02] I'm plenty confident in who I am and your labels don't bother me.

[00:10:07] But I'm not going to do it because I spent two weeks and 35 bucks and got a ticket.

[00:10:13] I can talk all around the world for $35. So did my 15 year old daughter, so I don't know what your excuse is.

[00:10:20] Anyway, CBs are great.

[00:10:23] I don't want to discourage anyone from using them because they are a great tool, they're very inexpensive.

[00:10:28] I've gone over all this, they're very inexpensive.

[00:10:31] It's a great way to capture intelligence that's happening around you.

[00:10:36] It can help when you're on the highway, you can build community with it.

[00:10:40] And matter of fact, I've got a couple of them.

[00:10:42] I mean, I do not discount their value.

[00:10:45] I grew up on CB radios, so if you love getting out there and talking, talking skip and all this and that and that's fine.

[00:10:55] I mean, my brother still does it.

[00:10:57] I mean, everybody I know still does it.

[00:11:00] I just don't take the time anymore. I've got the equipment I don't fool with it.

[00:11:03] But it's a good alternative to investing a lot in a radio.

[00:11:09] Most people have them laying around. They're easy enough to find it upon shop.

[00:11:13] You can have a way to communicate other than your phone if you have nothing.

[00:11:17] You can't be to CB radio. The end.

[00:11:19] Because this better than nothing is at GMRS, absolutely not. That's come in soon.

[00:11:24] But it's a great alternative to having nothing.

[00:11:27] Now, if you want to do it with high power and big antennas and linear amplifiers and talk box boards, go ahead.

[00:11:35] That's fine. I'm not going to beat you up.

[00:11:37] I'm not going to wag my finger at you.

[00:11:39] I'm just telling you, I don't do it.

[00:11:41] I fit you on your soul.

[00:11:43] I choose not to you or your own person.

[00:11:45] And if you won't do that so that's fine. I don't care.

[00:11:48] I'm not going to come like tell on you.

[00:11:51] I don't care. I just really don't care.

[00:11:54] The hobby is big enough for all of us.

[00:11:57] And I just wanted to say that.

[00:12:00] So anyway, if you like CB, if you won't amplify your CB,

[00:12:04] if you want to modify your CB, whatever, it doesn't matter to me.

[00:12:08] It can be done. So that's why I'm addressing it here.

[00:12:11] It does increase the power.

[00:12:13] It does exceed the 12 watts out on single sideband or the 4 on AM and FM.

[00:12:20] But every bit of that is your responsibility to deal with.

[00:12:23] Again, no matter what you intend to do with your CB,

[00:12:27] make sure you spend your time and money on your antenna.

[00:12:30] And that goes for your car, for your house, for your handy walkie talkie, whatever.

[00:12:35] Whatever you're doing with CB radio, your antenna is going to make or break your efforts.

[00:12:40] So here me now.

[00:12:41] If you have a chance to buy a $50 antenna or a $100 amplifier,

[00:12:46] buy the $50 antenna.

[00:12:47] It'll be worth more than the $100 amplifier in the long run performance wise.

[00:12:53] Okay. Anyway, can you do it? Yes you can.

[00:12:56] Should you do it? That's on you. Not me.

[00:12:59] I'm not playing that game but I appreciate you listening.

[00:13:01] I hope you guys have enjoyed this series on CB radio.

[00:13:05] I felt like I probably would get a go on 8 or 10 episodes and I'm not going to because we got a lot.

[00:13:10] Look at a lot of ground to cover in this stuff.

[00:13:12] So thank you for bearing with me through that.

[00:13:14] I hope you've enjoyed it. And those of you have contacted me.

[00:13:17] Let me know the cheap and joint. Thank you very much.

[00:13:19] I appreciate that.

[00:13:21] I hope this answers some of the questions to the guys who were, you know,

[00:13:24] question or whatever.

[00:13:25] But anyway, make your communications plan, get your communication stuff together.

[00:13:33] And so I was saying earlier, my phone was blowing up.

[00:13:36] We're right here where the stuff has happened in Lebanon but the pages

[00:13:40] and the icon handy talk is blowing up in the last couple of days.

[00:13:45] I've been in the comms my whole life, my dad retired out of the phone company.

[00:13:50] It's all I know. I mean it's like my passion.

[00:13:53] And I had never dreamt of that.

[00:13:57] I'm a James Bond fan. You know, I love the spies.

[00:14:03] And that is one of the most brilliant access sabotage I have ever ever.

[00:14:09] I can't even conceive it. But it's beyond amazing.

[00:14:16] Now, I'm not like cheering for war and death and people being maimed and hurt

[00:14:21] and innocent civilians getting injured.

[00:14:23] That's not what I'm saying.

[00:14:24] I'm saying the process of what happened over there astounds me.

[00:14:29] I just wow.

[00:14:31] I'm just floored with it.

[00:14:34] But whatever I had to say that because it's common in this current news.

[00:14:37] But again, my name's Kale. Okay, little to some of you.

[00:14:41] And I'm a amateur radio guy.

[00:14:43] I've been podcasting for 10 years now.

[00:14:45] Yeah, almost 11 years.

[00:14:48] I was in FM radio for 10 years.

[00:14:50] Been a CB radio user since I was about six years old and I love this stuff.

[00:14:54] And I appreciate the opportunity to talk about this stuff with you.

[00:14:58] Thank you for listening to the program.

[00:14:59] Thank you for sharing the program with others.

[00:15:01] Or if you see it in your feed, sharing the post, I appreciate it.

[00:15:06] And don't forget if you need water filters, we have this for you.

[00:15:10] My wife and I, on a company we sell British bird field water filters,

[00:15:14] a Berky replacement filters that fit whatever water filter system you have.

[00:15:18] We've got it.

[00:15:19] And you can find it at hubcitymerkintile.com.

[00:15:23] Check this show out our past episodes as well at prepcoms.com.

[00:15:27] And until next time, I wish you all great health, prosperity and peace.

[00:15:34] God bless you guys.

[00:15:35] 73.0