Ham operator but new to cb'ing question

[231]

Hey Mark, Im sorry I cant reply to your PM, I dont have enough posts yet. You have a very nice QRZ page. We need to try to hook up and do some 10 meter work someday.

Anyway, I view 11 meters kinda like 10. I use the Titan DX on 10 meters and have made ginormous contacts. Of course Im running 90 watts. So I just figured I could get out on 11 meters too. Anyway, I'll do some more reading. Thank you all for the input. Kevin.

Hi Kevin, and welcome to the forum. Another ham here and I can tell you right now if you throw up an 11m vertical like the Imax2000 you'll likely see it out perform the Titan (especially if the Titan is ground mounted with limited radials). It's just an end fed shunt dipole but .64 wavelength on 11m. I run mine all the time on 10m with great results. Worked Europe and India the other day with 100w and 59 reports. And generally speaking, you won't need radials with it if you stick it in the air some. Mine works well on 10m, 11m, 12m, 15m, but toward the edges of 10m & 15m you'll want a tuner. Mine loads up and works okay on 17m as well with the tuner, but on 20m your Titan will work allot better.

The other option is to simply throw up a mono-bander dipole for 11m. If you are wanting to chase DX try and do a flat topper...you'll likely have better results. Some amateur antennas don't work worth beans on 11m. I can think of many yagi's especially (like Mosely) that on 10m they'll rock, go to 11m and well, a wet noodle works better.

I run a Uniden 980SSB in the shack too but have an old Grant XL and Cobra 148 from way back when I was free-banding. They are a good talking radio...but competition on 11m is very steep. So if you are going to keep the radio type approved, you'll need to make up for it in the antenna system.

73

231

[Ringo Unit]

Thank you very much for all the great info 231. I will look into the Imax 2000. This 11 meter thing is very new to me so I have some research to do. Im actually having better results on my 80 meter delta loop lately. Thank you again. Kevin.

[Flapjack]

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October 20 2013

If an Amateur Radio Operator gets busted for running a linear on a CB radio here in the United States you can kiss your license good-bye along with a huge amount of cash and possibly even jail time.

[quote="Circuit Breaker]
I don't think they'd lose their license - it depends on the case.[/quote]

My personal philosophy is "Avoidance by Compliance". The FCC is predictable in one way. If a Ham operator is caught breaking the law they will most assuredly make an example out of him. Running a linear on a CB radio is not worth it. I personally would not risk it. Especially in my situation. I get a full investigation every five years by a Federal Law Enforcement agency. I have no secrets and I am held to a higher standard due to other licenses I have.

[Circuit Breaker]

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October 20 2013

If an Amateur Radio Operator gets busted for running a linear on a CB radio here in the United States you can kiss your license good-bye along with a huge amount of cash and possibly even jail time.

[quote="Circuit Breaker]
I don't think they'd lose their license - it depends on the case.

My personal philosophy is "Avoidance by Compliance". The FCC is predictable in one way. If a Ham operator is caught breaking the law they will most assuredly make an example out of him. Running a linear on a CB radio is not worth it. I personally would not risk it. Especially in my situation. I get a full investigation every five years by a Federal Law Enforcement agency. I have no secrets and I am held to a higher standard due to other licenses I have.[/quote][/quote]

I don't run amps either...even when I can. Primarily because it isn't worth the effort. On HF, my radio already puts out close to 100 watts and I can work just about anywhere with my 2 element SteppIR Yagi. Sure, I could throw a legal limit amp behind the radio and see about a 2 "s-unit" increase in signal. But is that enough to make or break a QSO? In most cases - no. At 100 watts, sure, I might have to call a few more times during a pileup but that's part of the challenge.

[peterwo2e]

a ham op will get plenty of hints and warnings before FCC actually do anything physical. Plenty of hams operate on 11 meters with plenty of muscles. Unless you really begging to be caught is not easy. Even back in the days when FCC was active and cb license was require I was running kw on 11 meters it took a whole mess of complaints from neighbors to get the FCC to send me a notice(the initial process) of interference which at this point I knew I got in their radar and kw operation 11 meters came to a halt. A simple explanation to the fcc. is all they require for the initial process, return notice went like this, I do not operate on 11 meters and I will reduce power and add a low pass filter to my station and will cooperate with my neighbors to eliminate the interference. This is all it took to get the fcc of my back and yes 11 meter high power operation had to come to a stop for a few months. Please note I’m not encouraging this illegal activity in anyway, it is illegal to run ham equipment and more than 4 watts on cb spectrum, but I’m just clarifying a few misconceptions on how the fcc operates in the USA. They do not use mafia tactics or **Censored** enforcement like is lead to believe. A complaint letter is the initial process and this is all the effort that it will take to comply if you smart.

[De_Wildfire]

Is it just the fact that Im running a stock radio with 4 watts and most everyone else dx'ing from the UK is running hundreds of watts?? I know I cant make too many contact on HF when operating qrp so maybe thats my problem. If so, how would you guys remedy this? With a small linear I suppose? Thank you for any info you can give me. Kevin.

As a fellow Amateur Radio Operator I would warn against running a linear on the 11 meter band. Cb in the United Kingdom is different from what we have here. They use FM (Frequency Modulation) and Phase Modulation with a maximum of four watts and the channels are different. If you can hear them they are probably running illegal equipment.

If an Amateur Radio Operator gets busted for running a linear on a CB radio here in the United States you can kiss your license good-bye along with a huge amount of cash and possibly even jail time. But that's just me. I would hate to see any body with a ham ticket busted for an offense like that. What are you running for your HF rig? I tried working 10 meters yesterday and made contact with a guy over in Santa Maria, Azores. I was using my Yaesu FT-890 with a HLA-300 on a Sirio M-400 ground plane. Low dollars invested but good results.

How true. I am a ham operator too and I run a CB stock out of the box and even have a separte desk for cb equipment. There is no way I could connect my ham amplifiers to the cb's because they use a RCA jack to key it. There was one guy who got busted from the FCC for running an amplifier. He signal was so dirty, he was interfering with the fire company. 28 mhz frequencies behave almost like the 27mhz frequencies. Use your ticket up there to run the max power and just come down to cb for talking to the locals. Some of the locals may be actually hams too. The last couple months I have made contacts to Japan, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia on 10 meters. I could see taking the risk if you didn't have your ticket because we all did back in the day (the 70's) but you worked hard for your ticket. All it takes is one neighbor to complain. At least if you run everything legal and clean/grounded, most likely they will tell your neighbor that they have cheap cables hooked up to their equipment. You don't want to be running a amp on the cb band when someone complains.