- Location
- East Stroudsburg, PA
Well, I've been meaning to put up a thread about my other hobby for a while.
I've been into cb radio on and off since late 1996. It's nothing like everyone that isn't into the hobby thinks it is- that breaker breaker 1 9, 10-4 good buddy stuff is a thing of the past.
I'm into what we call DX also known as skip. It's when atmospheric conditions let your signal hit places you never could normally through your signal skipping off the inosphere and landing whereever and that's who you wind up making contact with. Conditions as we call it can drop out after just a few minutes or last hours. But while it's there you can have a pretty decent conversation with someone across the country or in another country if you run enough power.
I've talked to just about 30 different states and have talked to Australia, Cambridge England, Puerto Rico and Nove Scotia along with a few others.
In order to run the power I run it takes pretty extensive modifications to your vehicle to properly run the amps. Yes you can 1/2 a$$ it like may do with hooking up motormauls--- that is pretty complicated to explain totally but it's pretty much a big capacitor that charges batteries off your stock alternator and then when you key up it activates the batteries you charge with it and keeps it separate from your cars electrical system.
I like with any of my hobbies go the more costly route and do it correctly by adding extra alternators.
So in my Jeep I have 3 extra alternators 2 300 amp alts. and 1 250 amp alt.
The truck is actually in Utah where my alternator guy is and getting the bracket system they're mounted on changed over from steel to aluminum. Here's some pics of what I have done to the truck:
The alternators-they're reverse mounted because it was the only way to fit them in and we machined a special pulley that drives the stock belt and the second belt that turns the extra alternators, first pic is of the actual bracket laid out before the installation began
The batteries the amps run off in the back that the extra alternators charge. The battery in the middle is charged by the 250 amp and the 4 on the sides are charged by the 2 300 amps, 2 per alt.
The amps. The small one is driven by the radio that has a variable dead key(how many watts it puts out with no modulation) that ranges from 0-7 watts, then the small amp drives the big amp and then transmits out the antenna
Grounding for the batteries under the truck to the frame crossmember
The bonding of the body panels. You do this so that it in a way is seen as 1 big panel for the signal to transmit off of. You connect the doors, hatch, hood, exhaust and suspension subframes to the unibody to make it all one uniform piece with braided ground strap, you use the strap because it is easier for rf to follow something with more surface area than a closed insulated wire
The power meter to see how many watts I'm transmitting, lets you see any fluctuation and you can tell somethings up before you blow up the amps and the volt gauges that let me see how many volts the batteries are at
The line section that I soldered to the box of the last amp that hooks up to the gauges in the front. It's a BIRD meter BIRD being the company that makes the meters, it's the gold standard of power measuring and most professional companies-either radio stations or any other type of company that has transmitters that it's extremely important to have accurate readings use to measure their output. It works by slugs(elements) that slide in and are rated for certain wattage at certain frequencies- you use the slug that corresponds to your frequency and wattage range and you get a pretty much spot on reading all the time
The controls to set the voltage on the 300 amp alternators. They're variable from 12-20 volts so I can get more watts out of the boxes by volting them(running at higher than 13.8 volts). Only the 2 300 amp alternators are adjustable from in the cab. The 250 amp is on a variable but you dont volt your diver it could overdrive the big box and blow the pills so I have that one set at 13.8. I usually run the big amp at 15.2- 16 volts
The red button is to dim the volt gauges at night if I wish
The radio i use and the remotes for the amps
The first pic you can see the remote for the small amp in the dash
The second pic is the remote for the big amp
The thing I like is you can't tall anything is done to the truck at all from the outside with exception of seeing the antenna. I put heavier springs in the rear so the truck wouldn't sag from the extra weight of the batteries, battery box and amps-about 700 lbs in all.
Here's a watergate(recording) of a guy I spoke to in Louisiana, just one of the many contacts I've made with the setup. I go by 736 in skip, it's easier to comprehend than a name, please excuse the cb lingo, I couldnt uderstand buck shot while recording the video but was able to after litening to the video, and as you can see they try to battle to key over each other and get called lol:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9JgyRqj48Q&feature=relmfu
I've been into cb radio on and off since late 1996. It's nothing like everyone that isn't into the hobby thinks it is- that breaker breaker 1 9, 10-4 good buddy stuff is a thing of the past.
I'm into what we call DX also known as skip. It's when atmospheric conditions let your signal hit places you never could normally through your signal skipping off the inosphere and landing whereever and that's who you wind up making contact with. Conditions as we call it can drop out after just a few minutes or last hours. But while it's there you can have a pretty decent conversation with someone across the country or in another country if you run enough power.
I've talked to just about 30 different states and have talked to Australia, Cambridge England, Puerto Rico and Nove Scotia along with a few others.
In order to run the power I run it takes pretty extensive modifications to your vehicle to properly run the amps. Yes you can 1/2 a$$ it like may do with hooking up motormauls--- that is pretty complicated to explain totally but it's pretty much a big capacitor that charges batteries off your stock alternator and then when you key up it activates the batteries you charge with it and keeps it separate from your cars electrical system.
I like with any of my hobbies go the more costly route and do it correctly by adding extra alternators.
So in my Jeep I have 3 extra alternators 2 300 amp alts. and 1 250 amp alt.
The truck is actually in Utah where my alternator guy is and getting the bracket system they're mounted on changed over from steel to aluminum. Here's some pics of what I have done to the truck:
The alternators-they're reverse mounted because it was the only way to fit them in and we machined a special pulley that drives the stock belt and the second belt that turns the extra alternators, first pic is of the actual bracket laid out before the installation began
The batteries the amps run off in the back that the extra alternators charge. The battery in the middle is charged by the 250 amp and the 4 on the sides are charged by the 2 300 amps, 2 per alt.
The amps. The small one is driven by the radio that has a variable dead key(how many watts it puts out with no modulation) that ranges from 0-7 watts, then the small amp drives the big amp and then transmits out the antenna
Grounding for the batteries under the truck to the frame crossmember
The bonding of the body panels. You do this so that it in a way is seen as 1 big panel for the signal to transmit off of. You connect the doors, hatch, hood, exhaust and suspension subframes to the unibody to make it all one uniform piece with braided ground strap, you use the strap because it is easier for rf to follow something with more surface area than a closed insulated wire
The power meter to see how many watts I'm transmitting, lets you see any fluctuation and you can tell somethings up before you blow up the amps and the volt gauges that let me see how many volts the batteries are at
The line section that I soldered to the box of the last amp that hooks up to the gauges in the front. It's a BIRD meter BIRD being the company that makes the meters, it's the gold standard of power measuring and most professional companies-either radio stations or any other type of company that has transmitters that it's extremely important to have accurate readings use to measure their output. It works by slugs(elements) that slide in and are rated for certain wattage at certain frequencies- you use the slug that corresponds to your frequency and wattage range and you get a pretty much spot on reading all the time
The controls to set the voltage on the 300 amp alternators. They're variable from 12-20 volts so I can get more watts out of the boxes by volting them(running at higher than 13.8 volts). Only the 2 300 amp alternators are adjustable from in the cab. The 250 amp is on a variable but you dont volt your diver it could overdrive the big box and blow the pills so I have that one set at 13.8. I usually run the big amp at 15.2- 16 volts
The red button is to dim the volt gauges at night if I wish
The radio i use and the remotes for the amps
The first pic you can see the remote for the small amp in the dash
The second pic is the remote for the big amp
The thing I like is you can't tall anything is done to the truck at all from the outside with exception of seeing the antenna. I put heavier springs in the rear so the truck wouldn't sag from the extra weight of the batteries, battery box and amps-about 700 lbs in all.
Here's a watergate(recording) of a guy I spoke to in Louisiana, just one of the many contacts I've made with the setup. I go by 736 in skip, it's easier to comprehend than a name, please excuse the cb lingo, I couldnt uderstand buck shot while recording the video but was able to after litening to the video, and as you can see they try to battle to key over each other and get called lol:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9JgyRqj48Q&feature=relmfu
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