On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 17:13:02 -0400, Jon Teske
wrote:


I stand corrected: according to http://www.radioing.com/museum/tx4.html,
the Ranger II was made from 1961 to 1965. I didn't know the class D
citizen's band was that old.

William


The Citizen Radio Service began in 1947, and the first Class D Citizen
Band licenses were issued on September 11, 1958. Not sure when they
were discontinued.


There was some sort of Citizens service throughout the 50's as you
say, but it wasn't on 11 meters, or at least not on what had been the
11 meter ham band.

That's true. The original Citizen Band prior to the one we know today
was on 460 to 470 Mhz, and there were two licenses. A and B. The
problem with that was that there was very little equipment that could
operate at those frequencies. That was when the FCC took the 11-meter
band away from the amateur radio operators and started the 11-meter
Citizen Band with the Class D license in 1958.

Dick - W6CCD



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Geoffrey S. Mendelson ) writes:

Actually CB was quite popular by the late 1960's


The sunspot peak of 1968-69 helped a lot. The band was pretty dead
(thankfully) due to low MUF during the early 1960s.

.... Martin VE3OAT

Martin Potter wrote:

The sunspot peak of 1968-69 helped a lot. The band was pretty dead
(thankfully) due to low MUF during the early 1960s.

When I said popular, I was refering to the operation within the U.S.
law (which was and is very different than the rest of the world) which
prohibits "skip" operation.

Most of the useage at that time was still families keeping in touch,
aid to motorists, etc. Almost overnight during the truker's strike it
became the home of what seems like a bunch of 12 year old's with
walkie-talkies.

At one time there was a reasonable license fee (about $10 a year). Then
the FCC raised it to $25 to help keep usage low. Someone sued complaining
that it was unreasonable and won. The FCC then started issuing free licenses
as compensation for their overcharging. Then they started allowing
temporary call signs ("K" your initials and your zip code) so mine would
have been at the time "KGSM19120",

I even had a license with a real call sign, but I've long since lost it
and forgoten the call. I wonder if there are CB callbooks from the
1970's and 1980s? I'm no longer in the U.S. anyway but I believe if you
were issued a call, you can still use it if you want to.

Eventually, it became too much trouble and expense to issue free licenses
to people who never used them anyway, so they issued a blanket license
to anyone on U.S. soil.

Possibly someone else can fill in the exact time line.

As for outside of the U.S. it still flourishes as a no-code no-test
amateur radio service. In the E.U., there are few restrictions on
what you can do, including less limitations on transmitters, FM,
and packet operation.

There are even a few European websites devoted to using CB to "improve
the radio art" e.g. experimental antennas.

The U.K. had a 927 mHz CB service which was canceled when the frequencies
were assigned to GSM cell phones.

Geoff.
--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 Fax ONLY: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/

In article ,
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
Martin Potter wrote:

The sunspot peak of 1968-69 helped a lot. The band was pretty dead
(thankfully) due to low MUF during the early 1960s.

When I said popular, I was refering to the operation within the U.S.
law (which was and is very different than the rest of the world) which
prohibits "skip" operation.

Not at all. It just mandates a certain power input to the finals.

During REALLY GOOD conditions, 4 watts will get you plenty of skip.
I don't remember 1968, but I remember 6 meter cross-country stuff
with milliwatt CW outputs in 1979. And the NEXT cycle coming up is going
to be even better.

Note that Class D wasn't all there was. There was Class C which allowed
pulse modulation in the 26 MHz range for remote control, and Class A
citizens band which was AM in the 450 MHz range. I don't recall what
Class B was.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Scott Dorsey wrote:
Not at all. It just mandates a certain power input to the finals.

At one time it DID mandate something like "local communications only".
I can't remember the exact wording, so I leave it in quotes.


Note that Class D wasn't all there was. There was Class C which allowed
pulse modulation in the 26 MHz range for remote control, and Class A
citizens band which was AM in the 450 MHz range. I don't recall what
Class B was.

I had a class C and D license. The difference was ticking a box on the
application.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 Fax ONLY: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/

On Wed, 14 Mar 2007 13:54:04 +0000 (UTC), (Geoffrey
S. Mendelson) wrote:

Scott Dorsey wrote:
Not at all. It just mandates a certain power input to the finals.

At one time it DID mandate something like "local communications only".
I can't remember the exact wording, so I leave it in quotes.


Note that Class D wasn't all there was. There was Class C which allowed
pulse modulation in the 26 MHz range for remote control, and Class A
citizens band which was AM in the 450 MHz range. I don't recall what
Class B was.

I had a class C and D license. The difference was ticking a box on the
application.

Geoff.

Since I never operated CB except for one short contact in my carpool
mate's car to show him how it worked, I was not intimately familiar
with CB rules. I seem to remember thought that there were regulation
which prohibited even attempting to make a contact of over 200 miles
(or so) even if conditions permitted this. I seem to remember that
this was one of the ways to attempt to rein in the use of powerful
amplifiers that many CBers used (of course the prohibition of the sale
of amps capable of operation in that range, including those intended
for ham use, was another FCC mandate.)

Anyone know more about that??

I don't know the licensing requirements, but I think that there is
also a frequency or frequencies at 72 MHZ available for radio control
of models in addition to 26MHz; and, 50 MHz if one is a licensed
amateur.

Anyone up on that?

Jon W3JT

On Wed, 14 Mar 2007 12:26:01 -0400, Jon Teske
wrote:

Since I never operated CB except for one short contact in my carpool
mate's car to show him how it worked, I was not intimately familiar
with CB rules. I seem to remember thought that there were regulation
which prohibited even attempting to make a contact of over 200 miles
(or so) even if conditions permitted this. I seem to remember that
this was one of the ways to attempt to rein in the use of powerful
amplifiers that many CBers used (of course the prohibition of the sale
of amps capable of operation in that range, including those intended
for ham use, was another FCC mandate.)

Anyone know more about that?

FCC rules 95.412(9) prohibit communications or attempts at
communication with stations more than 250 km or 155.3 miles away.

Dick - W6CCD

I don't know the licensing requirements, but I think that there is
also a frequency or frequencies at 72 MHZ available for radio control
of models in addition to 26MHz; and, 50 MHz if one is a licensed
amateur.

Anyone up on that?

Jon W3JT



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On Wed, 14 Mar 2007 10:21:29 -0700, Dick wrote:

FCC rules 95.412(9) prohibit communications or attempts at
communication with stations more than 250 km or 155.3 miles away.

Is that still in effect?

The rule died here in .ca with the license requirement. That was what,
around 20 years ago?

__
Gregg

On Thu, 15 Mar 2007 22:01:37 -0700, geek
wrote:

On Wed, 14 Mar 2007 10:21:29 -0700, Dick wrote:

FCC rules 95.412(9) prohibit communications or attempts at
communication with stations more than 250 km or 155.3 miles away.

Is that still in effect?

The rule died here in .ca with the license requirement. That was what,
around 20 years ago?

__
Gregg

That was taken from the latest Part 95 posted on the FCC website. So
yes, it is still in effect in the U.S.

Dick - W6CCD

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

The rule died here in .ca with the license requirement. That was what,
around 20 years ago?


Except for communicating with other stations on any
channel and having to use a call sign, most of the
original rules are still in effect, ie. no high power,
no talking over 150 miles, etc.

Now they say the blanket license covers all legally
operating stations.
If you're operating illegally then it's considered to be
operating without a license.
Fine, $10,000 per day, per offense.

Ron