So going to Bolton today. I hear the dreaded “M62 Westbound is a car park from Windy Hill to Pontefract due to a wagon that broke down earlier” report on Sally Traffic as I’m driving past York on the A64 heading that way. Being a ham I tune into the VHF repeater for West Yorkshire to hear a van driver saying he’s just come off the M1 onto the M62 at J29 and is at standstill. I listen to the running commentary as I head down the M1-A1 link road. By the time I get to J44 he’s just made it off the sliproad. So with that information I come off at 44 and cut across on the A639 and back onto the M621, head up past the footie stadium to join the M62 at J27. I arrive at J27 to find the traffic is flowing at about 30-40MPH. I got hold of the van driver and he was just approaching J28 as I was halfway between 27 and 26.
It took him longer to go from J29 to J28 than it took me to get from York to J27. We worked out I’d saved wasting about 45 minutes sat going mental in a traffic jam all thanks to having a radio in the car.
Here’s the thing. Once upon a time most wagons I went in had a CB but hardly any do anymore. I know people use mobile phones instead of CB nowadays because you can talk to your mate easier no matter where he is but unless your mate is like this guy was and on your route ahead of you, he ain’t going to be able to warn you of stuff like this. You can buy a CB off Ebay for a tenner and an aerial with a magmount for not much more. If you don’t want to permanently install one, screw the CB to a bit of MDF and use the cig lighter for power and you’re away. BEST PART OF ALL IT IS LEGAL TO USE ONE WHILST DRIVING so no getting 3 points unlike a mobile phone. Sure you get the knobs on but not all the time and they tend to stick in one place.
CB is having a bit of a revival at the moment. Many of us I’m sure have an old set sat in a box somewhere gathering dust. Why not dig it out and give it a go for a while?
I keep trying, got a CB and wired it up to a ciggy plug (was on agency at the time) but finding a decent antenna which is mag mount and not metres long was a nightmare, found several recommended ones and no stock anywhere, tried several times now but i want something i can keep moving from truck to truck and a 80cm+ aerial is no good to me, but given how apparently useless anything under that, is, nobody seems to stock them.
i found mine in the loft last week when i was getting the decorations out, i might stick it back in the truck for a bit, if for nothing else it was good for finding out where the totty was
I bought and sold mine on ebay, sold it when I stopped doing euro work. I used to turn it off in uk as there were too many idiots on. Anywhere near Birmingham was the worst.
skids:
I bought and sold mine on ebay, sold it when I stopped doing euro work. I used to turn it off in uk as there were too many idiots on. Anywhere near Birmingham was the worst.
I wouldn’t mind driving along listening to idiots, got to be better than better than Jeremy Vine or Womans Hour on R4, at least on a CB you can wind them up a bit.
Conor:
Being a ham I tune into the VHF repeater for West Yorkshire
That’ll be GB3YW then, which is ran by my good friend, and club committee member G1XCC, and built by Dave G4RQI, and to which I sometimes lend a hand to maintain.
It can be got as far away as Newcastle airport, Skegness and Flint.(Using 50w.)
I sometimes wonder why there aren’t more guys on here that use ham radio on vhf, as it’s a lot more civilised, virtually free of idiots, and you can get up to 20 times further than cb, via a repeater, and there are a lot of truck drivers already realising the benefits of it.
For any guys that are interetsed in obtaining a foundation licence which allows 10w, then we at our club in Wakefield run the course on an almost constant basis, and you don’t need a degree to pass it. Hell, if you’ve spent long enough on cb, then your almost half way there.
If you are not nearby, then I can put you in touch with your local club.
paulfromwire:
Is there anyone on 11m SSB nowadays?
Tons. We’re coming to a peak in the sunspot cycle. Been talking to USA like they were local on 10m. Managed to reach Falkland Islands in the car about a month ago on 28 meg SSB running 100W.
Conor:
I sometimes wonder why there aren’t more guys on here that use ham radio on vhf, as it’s a lot more civilised, virtually free of idiots, and you can get up to 20 times further than cb, via a repeater, and there are a lot of truck drivers already realising the benefits of it.
A 50 cm long whip on a magmount will do the job as an antenna and you can get a VHF FM set for less than the price of a 11m sidebander. Most of the mobile VHF antennas, even the best ones, are only around the 1 metre long mark.
paulfromwire:
Is there anyone on 11m SSB nowadays?
Tons. We’re coming to a peak in the sunspot cycle. Been talking to USA like they were local on 10m. Managed to reach Falkland Islands in the car about a month ago on 28 meg SSB running 100W.
Conor:
I sometimes wonder why there aren’t more guys on here that use ham radio on vhf, as it’s a lot more civilised, virtually free of idiots, and you can get up to 20 times further than cb, via a repeater, and there are a lot of truck drivers already realising the benefits of it.
Yes it was GB3YW. Seems to be very popular with truckers in the region. You can get it all the way from Hull to the top of Windy Hill and as you say, its virtually idiot free. There’s a few locals who seem to be on it a lot and they seem to like a chat with the truckers that go on when they’re in the area.
A 50 cm long whip on a magmount will do the job as an antenna and you can get a VHF FM set for less than the price of a 11m sidebander. Most of the mobile VHF antennas, even the best ones, are only around the 1 metre long mark.
paulfromwire:
Is there anyone on 11m SSB nowadays?
Tons. We’re coming to a peak in the sunspot cycle. Been talking to USA like they were local on 10m. Managed to reach Falkland Islands in the car about a month ago on 28 meg SSB running 100W.
Well done, I may get the bug back.
Apparently the last time conditions were this good was 2002 if you can remember back that far. Conditions will be improving for at least another 2 years yet.
Is it me or do cbs not have the range they used to? Even the drivers who work with me that spend ages setting their swr in don’t get out very far. I’m also getting peed off with the foreign crap that’s always on around Oxfordshire. We moved from 34 to 36 and can still hear their gibberish. Our drivers are also very snobby, and wont go on the same channels as other local tipper companies are on (I love it when they see me on the mic but cant hear anything, they fiddle with their radios and wave their mic at me for a response )
i have a few rigs, the one i take in truck is a cobra 148 40high 40 low band, got a modulator ariel on a 6inch magmount easy to travel around,easy to put in truck,can be useful if you no somebody on it or if you travel in pairs sometimes,like its been said there is a lot of gobshits on it,10,4 goodbuddy
tashman:
i have a few rigs, the one i take in truck is a cobra 148 40high 40 low band, got a modulator ariel on a 6inch magmount easy to travel around,easy to put in truck,can be useful if you no somebody on it or if you travel in pairs sometimes,like its been said there is a lot of gobshits on it,10,4 goodbuddy
Do you just thread coax between cab door and door frame? We used to do this before we had them factory fitted. I used to put a stinger/magmount combo on the exhaust frame when I had a fibreglass cab…worked better than the setup Ive got now.
