ok so I got a CB Radio at a garage sale for $5 so i hooked it up in my F-150 and its kinda werid they say North Carolina alot, they all got names and have werid voices like the one time I heard texas state and just a hole lot things now my queston is theres no way i get the signal from the states thats impossible but one things for sure it is some werid stuff to listen to it is fuzzy but clear enough im about 45 mins from Toronto anyone know what the deal with CB Radio is?

 

Got a picture or an information plate on the back would help out a lot.

 

It's called "skip".

The radio signal angles skyward and then comes back down from the stratosphere thousands of miles away.

It became the demise of mainstream CB use in 1978 when it came in so hard all one heard was bacon frying.

That is A LOT of signal noise.

The quiet eventually came back years later.

I have talked to people all over the world on CB Radio via skip.

The furthest away was Australia back in 1976.

I have proof too, skip shooters always sent out QSL cards to verify the conversation.

 

can you "tune" your radio for skip?

 

No, it is merely an atmospheric phenomenon. Your antenna has more to do with how well you transmit and receive a signal. Tuning the antenna for minimum SWR can tremendeously improve your signal quality and range.

 

We use cb walkie-talkies when we go moose hunting in Northern Ontario. Skip is pretty common and can make some channels unusable at times.

I was once answered by a trucker in Alabama when I was trying to call my hunting buddy.

I was sitting on a point in the middle of a small lake. that was on top of a hill. I think the lake must have acted as a huge ground plane.

 

You got a QSL from Auzzieland, Dennis?

It really is probably coming from those places. Tuning for skip? Right now the skip isn't that great, but if you listen in from about the time it starts getting dark, to a couple hours after dark, your chances will be greater for a north-south contact.

A CB is a long distance radio at the legal limit. It's just that a mobile antenna is the worst radiator there is for long distance and is good for a few miles on flat ground. You can drive up on a hill and get out further or be at the right place at the right time for skip. Sometimes a part of your signal that's almost going straight up will skip and allow contact with someone 50 miles away.

If your antennas tuned well, you'll hear more skip - even if you don't want to. And if you want the skip, you need to design an antenna for it. Quad antennas are cheap and easy to build to be portable. You can't drive down the road with one lashed to your truck, but after 30 years of building these things, I've discovered the shock cord replacement tent poles they sell at Wally World are awesome for portable antenna projects. Here's a site to check out: http://www.signalengineering.com/ult...ical_quad.html

You don't need more than the legal power. Study propagation, gain and front to back ratio. You can talk a long way with a $5 garage sale CB and a few items you probably have laying around the shop, and it'll out perform any mobil system at any price.