[W8MWA] FCC Personal Radio Service Revisions Will Affect GMRS, FRS, CB, Other Part 95 Devices

[Spence Graham]

Back then (early to mid 1970's) Radio Shack came out with a 23 Channel CB
with something called "Single Side Band" and my Dad and some of the other
dentists at the WVU School of Dentistry all got them and put them in their
cars.  CB in Morgantown was quite an active crowd and "the handles" were
cute, inside jokes and sometimes edgy.  Soon I got a Cobra base station
when 11 meters went to 40 channels plus SSB.  Then a guy out on the Grafton
Road started selling antennas... and soon I was buying 50 feet of tower and
putting up an 8 element Shooting Star with a rotor... and bought my own QSL
cards!   Others were putting up 11 meter beams too and soon my world was
opened up to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, some South America and the 50
states on about 10 watts and a generous sun spot cycle!  I couldn't wait to
get home from school to see who I could work next!  I had a great shot into
eastern Canadian regions.  I had 49 states after about 2 years but I was
ever-seeking that last pesky contact to... ALASKA!  My older and
influential 11 meter chums were running illegal "linears" and worked
everywhere they wanted, it seemed.  One day (they knew my usual routine
after school), I turned on the rig and soon heard ALASKA... and I went into
major pounce mode... the signal faded in and out... the contact in Alaska
would only get portions of my call sign and QTH and said he needed West
Virginia and asked me to repeat my info over and over... I yelled and
screamed and repeated and repeated my call.  Soon it all faded out back
into the ether and I was hoarse and dry and dejected.  Five minutes later
they both confessed on the air they had set me up and one of them... the
faux Alaskan... was simply cranking the power level on his linear up and
down as the other one was spinning the beam back and forth through 360
degrees azimuth.  I was ready to kill them dead and burn them with fire.
Rat bastages.  They never let me live it down.  Grin. After that I got my
Novice ticket, was off to Gaithersburg Hamfest and got a Heathkit SB-102
and SB-200, a side paddle keyer and speaker and started legitimate CW ops!

On Mon, May 1, 2017 at 10:03 PM, Cory Sickles <wa3uvv at gmail.com> wrote:

> I never felt guilty.  I've always thought that was a stupid rule,
> conceived by someone who realized that 27 MHz was the wrong choice for a
> short-range-only band.  If he couldn't fight the physics, then set up a
> rule.
>
> In all the years I've paid attention, I don't know of anyone - running
> legal power - who got sighted for chasing DX.
>
> Cory
>
>
>
> On May 1, 2017, at 21:30, Spence Graham <wt8wv.spence at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> And to think that as a 13 year old I actually felt guilty "shooting skip"
> (still have a boat load of those QSL's)... and THAT guilt lead me to become
> a Novice Amateur Radio Operator and learn Morse Code!
>
> http://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-personal-radio-service-
> revisions-will-affect-gmrs-frs-cb-other-part-95-devices
>
> --
> 73,
>
> Spence
>
> *Spencer W. Graham, II*
> *WT8WV*
> *73 Crosby Road*
> *Morgantown, WV 26508*
>
> *2016 VP of Monongalia Wireless Association http://www.w8mwa.org/
> <http://www.w8mwa.org/>*
>
> *Check Out My Ham Radio Blog Site...  http://kb8fir.wordpress.com
> <http://kb8fir.wordpress.com>*
>
> *(ex-KB8FIR and ex-KA8LJO)*
>
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-- 
73,

Spence

*Spencer W. Graham, II*
*WT8WV*
*73 Crosby Road*
*Morgantown, WV 26508*

*2017 VP of Monongalia Wireless Association http://www.w8mwa.org/
<http://www.w8mwa.org/>*

*Check Out My Ham Radio Blog Site...  http://kb8fir.wordpress.com
<http://kb8fir.wordpress.com>*

*(ex-KB8FIR and ex-KA8LJO)*
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