Relevant article; Forwarded from comp.dcom.telecom

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [telecom] Little rewards get people to see truth in
politically unfavorable info
Date: 30 Mar 2023 15:27:27 +0000
From: Fred Atkinson <fatkinson@mishmash.com>
Organization: The Telecom Digest
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
References: <053FE15A-BF7F-4EA9-AA88-5C62A80F641A@roscom.com>

While I was working as a radio technician for Duke Power Company in
North Carolina] it used to amaze me as to the massive amounts of
misinformation that CB users were spreading around. Mostly, it was
about radio theory. I will share three of the many stories I heard.

We had stopped for lunch at a truck stop one day. One of my
colleagues found somebody installing a power mike on his mobile CB
unit. When he asked the fellow why he was doing that, he said that by
putting more audio into the radio, he would get more power out of it.

When my colleague explained to him that this was not true, the guy
replied, "Oh, no. All of the CBers are doing it. And they are
getting a lot more power out.". So, my colleague gave up on trying to
explain it to the guy. He was clearly hopeless.

We ran into one fellow who had actually installed the truckers'
antennas on a Volkswagen Fastback. There was absolutely no way this
was going to work as those two antennas have to be spaced wide enough
apart to work properly. He told me that the truckers antennas
'prevented messing up your SWR (standing wave ratio) when you have a
'huge metallic load' behind you'. Another hopeless radio expert.

There was no point in sharing your expertise with them. They would
always believe other CB users before they would believe experienced
and well trained FCC-licensed radio technicians.

An amateur radio operator I knew told me that he was trying to help a
CB user upgrade to amateur radio. At first, he thought the guy might
be worthy of his effort.

When the guy told him that he was only putting out one and a quarter
watts out of his CB radio because he had a quarter wave antenna (five
watts times one quarter wave), he totally gave up on helping the guy.

And there are many other true stories like these. I just couldn't
believe the massive amounts of misinformation they were spreading.
So many of them appointed themselves radio experts.

It wasn't long after I worked as a radio technician that I totally
gave up on trying to correct their misinformation. It was a lost
cause.

Regards,

Fred Atkinson

On Fri, 31 Mar 2023 16:16:34 -0400, Michael Trew wrote:

> Relevant article; Forwarded from comp.dcom.telecom
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [telecom] Little rewards get people to see truth in
> politically unfavorable info Date: 30 Mar 2023 15:27:27 +0000 From: Fred
> Atkinson <fatkinson@mishmash.com>
> Organization: The Telecom Digest Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
> References: <053FE15A-BF7F-4EA9-AA88-5C62A80F641A@roscom.com>
>
> While I was working as a radio technician for Duke Power Company in
> North Carolina] it used to amaze me as to the massive amounts of
> misinformation that CB users were spreading around. Mostly, it was
> about radio theory. I will share three of the many stories I heard.
>
> We had stopped for lunch at a truck stop one day. One of my colleagues
> found somebody installing a power mike on his mobile CB unit. When he
> asked the fellow why he was doing that, he said that by putting more
> audio into the radio, he would get more power out of it.
>
> When my colleague explained to him that this was not true, the guy
> replied, "Oh, no. All of the CBers are doing it. And they are getting
> a lot more power out.". So, my colleague gave up on trying to explain
> it to the guy. He was clearly hopeless.
>
> We ran into one fellow who had actually installed the truckers' antennas
> on a Volkswagen Fastback. There was absolutely no way this was going to
> work as those two antennas have to be spaced wide enough apart to work
> properly. He told me that the truckers antennas 'prevented messing up
> your SWR (standing wave ratio) when you have a 'huge metallic load'
> behind you'. Another hopeless radio expert.
>
> There was no point in sharing your expertise with them. They would
> always believe other CB users before they would believe experienced and
> well trained FCC-licensed radio technicians.
>
> An amateur radio operator I knew told me that he was trying to help a CB
> user upgrade to amateur radio. At first, he thought the guy might be
> worthy of his effort.
>
> When the guy told him that he was only putting out one and a quarter
> watts out of his CB radio because he had a quarter wave antenna (five
> watts times one quarter wave), he totally gave up on helping the guy.
>
> And there are many other true stories like these. I just couldn't
> believe the massive amounts of misinformation they were spreading.
> So many of them appointed themselves radio experts.
>
> It wasn't long after I worked as a radio technician that I totally gave
> up on trying to correct their misinformation. It was a lost cause.
>
> Regards,
>
> Fred Atkinson

Every CBer knows that you should run RG-8 coax for lower loss, but the
last few feet before the antenna should be RG-58 so that the signal
forcing it's way through the smaller cable would make it squirt out
farther.

--
Jim Mueller wrongname@nospam.com

To get my real email address, replace wrongname with eggmen.
Then replace nospam with expressmail. Lastly, replace com with dk.

On Saturday, April 1, 2023 at 1:04:50 AM UTC-4, Jim Mueller wrote:
> On Fri, 31 Mar 2023 16:16:34 -0400, Michael Trew wrote:
>
> > Relevant article; Forwarded from comp.dcom.telecom
> >
> >
> > -------- Original Message --------
> > Subject: Re: [telecom] Little rewards get people to see truth in
> > politically unfavorable info Date: 30 Mar 2023 15:27:27 +0000 From: Fred
> > Atkinson <fatk...@mishmash.com>
> > Organization: The Telecom Digest Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
> > References: <053FE15A-BF7F-4EA9...@roscom.com>
> >
> > While I was working as a radio technician for Duke Power Company in
> > North Carolina] it used to amaze me as to the massive amounts of
> > misinformation that CB users were spreading around. Mostly, it was
> > about radio theory. I will share three of the many stories I heard.
> >
> > We had stopped for lunch at a truck stop one day. One of my colleagues
> > found somebody installing a power mike on his mobile CB unit. When he
> > asked the fellow why he was doing that, he said that by putting more
> > audio into the radio, he would get more power out of it.
> >
> > When my colleague explained to him that this was not true, the guy
> > replied, "Oh, no. All of the CBers are doing it. And they are getting
> > a lot more power out.". So, my colleague gave up on trying to explain
> > it to the guy. He was clearly hopeless.
> >
> > We ran into one fellow who had actually installed the truckers' antennas
> > on a Volkswagen Fastback. There was absolutely no way this was going to
> > work as those two antennas have to be spaced wide enough apart to work
> > properly. He told me that the truckers antennas 'prevented messing up
> > your SWR (standing wave ratio) when you have a 'huge metallic load'
> > behind you'. Another hopeless radio expert.
> >
> > There was no point in sharing your expertise with them. They would
> > always believe other CB users before they would believe experienced and
> > well trained FCC-licensed radio technicians.
> >
> > An amateur radio operator I knew told me that he was trying to help a CB
> > user upgrade to amateur radio. At first, he thought the guy might be
> > worthy of his effort.
> >
> > When the guy told him that he was only putting out one and a quarter
> > watts out of his CB radio because he had a quarter wave antenna (five
> > watts times one quarter wave), he totally gave up on helping the guy.
> >
> > And there are many other true stories like these. I just couldn't
> > believe the massive amounts of misinformation they were spreading.
> > So many of them appointed themselves radio experts.
> >
> > It wasn't long after I worked as a radio technician that I totally gave
> > up on trying to correct their misinformation. It was a lost cause.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Fred Atkinson
> Every CBer knows that you should run RG-8 coax for lower loss, but the
> last few feet before the antenna should be RG-58 so that the signal
> forcing it's way through the smaller cable would make it squirt out
> farther.
>
>
>
> --
> Jim Mueller wron...@nospam.com
>
> To get my real email address, replace wrongname with eggmen.
> Then replace nospam with expressmail. Lastly, replace com with dk.

Ahhh CB'rs; This here's the Duck! Never had one but they were all around in the 70's. Some of these nuts were running around with these ridiculous linears. Wonder if ever got caught.