WHATS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE TALKED/POWER

#300944

I was wondering whats the best skip people have worked,and power wise,belive it or not,my best to date was back in 1980 !! The condition for about a whole year were fantastic !! I had a Cobra 142gtl,with extras at the time,besides some other gear,anyway,one day I worked a guy in Yugoslavia with about 20 watts peak on SSB,this was from ohio,I confirmed it with a QSL card,that year I worked about about 40 countrys ,I remember conditions were so good that year,that didn't even consider stateside DX to be a challenge,what was odd,the guy told me,in broken english,he was runing 100 watts,he told me to waite,he had 3K available,when he fired it up,made NO difference in signal strength whatesoever,that s how good the DX was,would love to know how far others have worked over the years,at that time,working South Africa was a daily thing,I have not seem conditions that good,and that kind of low power DX since then,anybody?? A NUMBER 1

djrebel236 · #300948

my personal records;

2 watt hand-held = Nova Scotia, Canada from Northwestern, Pa

my old home base = Portugal from Northwestern, Pa on a Anttron 99 hooked up to a Uniden 68

my old home base = Beijing, China from Northwestern, Pa on a Anttron 99 hooked up to a Yaesu FT-990

all barefooting.

#300954

THats a pretty good trip!! I forgot to add,I was using a Starduster Groundplane at the time,the next year I added a Wilson Y quad and a small box ,one tuber called a "little Willie" the same people that made the Thunderbolt Series of tube amps,there are stll some Thunderbolt 305s out there I have seen,those were made in youngstown,Ohio ,back then you could drive t here and pick one up.

Anybody else have some good DX to report,preferably,Barefoot...A NUMBER 1

#301064

Lafayette SSB-120, I max with the ground plane kit, Belden 9913 coax, just under 50 watts talked to Western France about 2 weeks ago, Austraila and New Zeland about 3 months ago from Central Jersey, now that's radio fun at it's finest for me, lower side of channel 39

#301067

back in about 2000 i made it Austraila on a 4 element cubical quad and a galaxy saturn radio on about 40 watts pep. i also talked to austraila long path that same year but had a bit of juice running about 2 kw worth lol.

#301095

I've talked to Africa, Rio, and Australia on SSB with my Cobra 142 and a Antron.

#301110

Western Colorado to Atlanta.
Barefoot Galaxy 949 in the mobile with a little Will antenna on 39lsb.
The other operator was in a mobile as well. Said I put a 3 on his meter but that it sounded more like a 9.

dx is easy on sideband, as long as mother nature is cooperating.

#301120

from my suburban it was either 25 or 50 bird watts
Australia talked to a guy that goes by 25

#301221

Those Cobra 142gtl radios were and still are excellent radios,in 80-83 thats what I used for a base before I got my Cobra 2000GTL,some of the best DX I worked was with the Cobra 142GTL,I have story of DX,not the farthest,but the most interesring,I have 3 brothers,2 were also into CB,I was on the radio one day working DX back in the 80s when I was calling DX and a guy came back to me here in ohio,it turned out to be my own Brother who lIved in Grand Prarie,TX ,we talked for about 4 or 5 minutes before the conditions fell out,what are the chances of that happening!! and even being on the same channel yet.Never forget it,wasn't the farthest,but was the most interesting...A NUMBER 1

#301227

10 watts during the peak of the sunspot cycle 2 cycles ago, working Australia from Buffalo,NY area not once but several times during a 6 month period, it was some of the best contacts i made with a little converted Mobile CB that was converted back to 10 Meters.... ran a Fiberglass Vertical, about 6' feet off the ground!

it doesn't take much when you have the right conditions!

#301296

San Diego, CA to Sydney, Australia on 12 watts SSB.
29 Palms to England on 25 watts while mobile.

#301693

Happy New Year..... !! Some good Skip was rolling today!

#302139

In about 1986 or so Western NY to England on 25 watts and a aluminum groundlane. After I recieved my ticket in 2010 Argentina with 100 watts and a IMAX 2000 on 10 meters.

#302986

Was in the 90's with a wire dipole and 35W :Netherlands -> Paraguay approx. 6450Mile. A few weaks ago with Thailand with some extra power +/-100W and also with a wire antenna.

#303260

Most exciting one for me was talking with a guy in Italy around 81 or 82 using a set of stacked 3s and we exchanged QSL cards and flags. When in San Diago in the Navy talked to Aussi land lots of times in the mobile with a 102 inch whip. I have always used my 148gtl and made the contacts using SSB. Have never needed anything to boost that radio for contacts.

#303392

I once keyed up and answered my own radio check 17 and a half seconds later after my transmission traveled around the world! Seriously though, I did speak with a station in Juno AK. while seated in my mobile while parked on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay (Va.) using a Cobra 25 and a Thunderbolt 200 kicker pushing maybe 80W.

#303401

On Jan. 11, 2011 Tuesday about 11:00 AM CT I contacted unit 135 in the capital city of the Solamon Islands in the South Pacific on 27.375 Mhz LSB and then alerted two of my CB friends and both contacted the same gentleman. I was working a RCI 2950 into an Antron 99 and my friend was approx 15 miles NE of me and the other friend was 17 miles east. No extra power was used to make this contact. The gentleman said that I was 5x7 and I was recieving him at 5x8. My location is in east Alabama and one friend is in west Georgia.

#303403

1996 using an A99 20' off the ground. Galaxy Pluto barefoot. Australia, New Zealand, Germany, North Africa, Alaska and all over South America from N E Arkansas.
Most interesting was from S E Missouri to Oklahoma City to my sister and her husband. Was monitoring ch 40 where I stood by in those days and heard my sister breaking for her husband, she from their travel trailer, he in his mobile. I carried on a 5 minute conversation with them both for about 5 minutes - 1995. Used an A99 55' in a tree and a barefoot President Jackson.

#311655

Ive talked to a guy in Nome Alaska from Eureka California with a cobra 29 and a real old starduster driver on low power maybe 100 watts.
002 in the redwoods of humboldt county im standing by.

#311664

Here recently I made my two furthest contacts ever. Last week, Monday I think, about 5:30 in the afternoon, I made a contact on 17 AM to a Farmer John from the Mojave desert I believe and one other was in there that I made contact with as well. I was in my '90 Lincoln Towncar with my 108' whip solid mounted to the center of my trunk lid with a Firestick dome mount. The radio is a Galaxy 959 putting out somewhere around 16 to 20+ watts. According to the meter on the radio I was doing about 16-17 watts PEP on AM, but I haven't verified the accuracy of that meter. My newest one was today arund 2:20 PM on 39 LSB to 251 in Santa Monica. I was on my 142 GTL base station using my homemade 1/4 wave ground plane at about eight feet off the ground. My base isn't acually producing that many watts according to my meter, 4 watts. My location is in Mc Kenzie, TN about 45 miles NE of Jackson, TN. I've also made contacts to Ohio and one to SC as well.

#311684

Farthest yet was FireGrass on the big Island Hawaii. That is over 4700 miles from Fort Myers Florida.
80 watts on my cheap meter (Transel Firecracker 50) on my homemade 1/4 wave ground plane, 1.3:1 SWR :

http://www.502inc.com/ant3.JPG

Up around 20 feet:

http://www.502inc.com/ant8.JPG

#311764

It's really something else how when conditions are just right, and you're on the right channel at the right time you can skip a signal around the world. Sure the more power you have the more often you can skip a signal like that, but those of us without that big power aren't left out completely. It is something that is fun and every DX contact I make gives me a thrill and satisfaction in my set-up. My wife is impressed with this phenomenom as well. I have started to write my contacts down in a small notebook. I hope to make many more contacts and fill it up.

#311776

Back in the 70's I had fun talking all over stock. Then I got a little Hygain Afterburner. That and a set of Y-Quad beams I talked all over. I have a bunch of QSL cards from back then. Most 'big' stations ran Macos and Black Cat linears, maybe 200-350 watts. There were a few rigs out there that topped 1000 watts, but not that many.

Nowadays, it seems 1000 watt stations are the norm, 3000-5000 are common, they peg my meter here in Florida from all over. I am happy just getting out. I get good reports, mainly due to the conditions being right, not anything to do with power.

I like finding quiet times when I hear stations far away, I ask for a break and get it, only to find they are far away. If things are quiet, 4 watts and a homemade antenna will talk all over....

My wife thinks it is funny that I can talk all over the place....

Radio 75 · #311802

I just talked to a guy in Belgium from my mobile, barefoot.
But, it was on my ham radio on 20 meters. (14.238 Mhz actually)
It was still a little over 4300 miles on 100 watts.
Radio is fun!!!

#311804

i did the Autrailia trip but i think the wildest was
while stationed in FT.Hood oof post had a "" small tower"" and a laser 400
cobra 2000 cant recall the amount of wattage
but at night around 1130 or 12
i keyed up testing it out unkeyed and all was quite then about 5 seconds later i hear my own voice
its only done it that 1 time and never will forget it

CB Radio Talk

Try Audible Premium Plus and Get Up to Two Free Audiobooks