Simply random stuff

[jimfisheye]

I remember CBs used to bleed into the stereo if someone drove by while talking. Haven't heard anything like that for a long time. Either a broadcast power limit or a shielding spec changed somewhere along the way.

 

[mandrix]

I remember CBs used to bleed into the stereo if someone drove by while talking. Haven't heard anything like that for a long time. Either a broadcast power limit or a shielding spec changed somewhere along the way.

Maybe they all quit using linears. lol. Some of these guys had enough power to reach the moon.

 

[jimfisheye]

Yeah, they were probably just breaking the rules with too much power, right? My first leap into running live sound with a computer/DAW and wireless remote control was around 2009 when the 1st iPad came out. I decided it must be a remote control for a computer. Reaper came on the scene and suddenly very low latency live sound was possible. It's old hat and just 'off the shelf' nowadays.

Anyway, I had a remote desktop connection and a USB over wi-fi connection. (Also pre OSC days!) I had a 5W booster on the wi-fi. I just kept quiet when I'd hear the bartenders at the club complaining about their POS crashing. (That's point of sale.) Probably shouldn't admit to that. I just use an X32 live now. I mean when people were still hiring for live sound in the "before times".

 

[Simon A]

So what do Ham Radio bleeding through TV and Radio and 2001 (A Space Odyssey) have in common?

Tiles, lotsa tiles!

It's the craziest story I've ever heard too.

 

[Michael Marshall]

You said it! CB radio is definitely low brow. That is why my wife and I, both with masters degrees (and then some,) had one. I hated the thing, but my wife wanted it for traffic back then. Given all of the CB specific jargon, using a CB radio was considered to be foreign language studies...slightly more difficult than Mandarin.

Or ordering "coffee" drinks at Starbucks...I am still trying to figure out all the lingo!

 

[Quadmon]

Think about an all-star list of drummers who lived “in the pocket” and made history:
Charlie Watts
Ringo
Jeff Porcaro
Jim Keltner
Phil Rudd
Kenny Aronoff
W.S.Holland - the original Johnny Cash trio
Hal Blaine - Elvis, Beach Boys, Sinatra

My Hal Blaine bass drum head properly signed and stamped by the man himself!

 

[mandrix]

Or ordering "coffee" drinks at Starbucks...I am still trying to figure out all the lingo!

Never been in one. lol.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

CB was always, ALWAYS considered low-life by real hams. It takes a bit of study and practice to get a ham license, and I think it took a $5 bill to get a CB license. Not to mention that CBers tended to ignore regulations like power limitations.

All those silly 10 codes (10-4 good buddy) were simply jargon for jargon's sake. There's a bit of ejumacationalization in the movie "Smokey and the Bandit" about CB talk, and it reveals just how silly it all was.

While amateur radio is, by definition, amateur, most hams I know have a certain pride in their professional attitude toward the hobby. Truth be told, I never actually took a license exam, but I had studied both procedures and Morse code enough that when the Army sent me to radio operator school, I was already a good month ahead of me fellow trainees. They gave me a chance to practice my "fist" (morse code keywork), and I got pretty good at it. If I ever decide I need a way to pass the time, I'll probably get a ham ticket and get on the air with CW (constant wave, aka Morse code). But chatting over a microphone and a radio just never floated my boat. I'm a pretty dedicated AV fan, and I have been since I got my first stereo.

I'm not opposed to any sort of media delivery method, as long as it sounds good. I don't have any audio streaming subscriptions, although I do have Netflix, Prime, and hulu. They are a good way to find programming that you like. Terrestrial radio, at least in Boise, is pretty much a downer. Listen to Harry Chapin's "W-O-L-D."

When I was 12 or 13 my friend Steve & I bought a pair of 100mW CB Fanon Masco walkie talkies. We lived maybe 1.5 miles apart. If he went to his upstairs balcony & I climbed to the top of my "jungle gym" we could converse with each other. Never mind we had perfectly good ATT land line phones that did it better. This seemed more funner.

In High School I joined the Radio Club. As a group we built a full gallon Heathkit short wave setup and I got to go on the school roof on a Saturday to help put up the antenna! I scored my Technicians license that year. I chose that over novice because both were 5WPM but I would rather use vox than CW when using.

Ham radio operators at the time were stereotyped as nerdy introverts. But really I think they (we) were just social in our own way. We definitely had a desire to connect with others even if it was over the air waves.

When I got my first PC, a Packard Bell 480 DX Win 3.1, it was another way to connect with the world. I remember how thrilled I was when I discovered the Cardiff Movie Database, now well known as IMDB. I ran into the other room & told my wife my computer was now talking to another computer in Wales! Wow. It seemed like the perfect compliment to all those years trying to make connections on short wave.

And here I am today chatting away with far away members on QQ that I value as best friends even if I've never met anyone F2F. So long 10 meters!

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Or ordering "coffee" drinks at Starbucks...I am still trying to figure out all the lingo!

The Starbucks near me is kind enough to not care about the lingo, if you ask for a medium or ask for it to be less sweet, they'll do it, instead of asking you "you mean a Grande with half the pumps?"

 

[Clement]

On Mondays, i bowl with a group who also plays cards: for every strike or spare one throws, he gets a card; best poker hand wins. I threw a clean game today for 12 cards:

Bill, who racked up enough marks for 5 cards, beat my full house with a King-high full house!

 

[mandrix]

Yeah, they were probably just breaking the rules with too much power, right?

Yes for sure. Some people had base stations at home with 1000W. They could, and would, drown out other people if/when they liked.

I knew many people that had CB's back in the day. No cell phones back then either. I bought a car from my Dad that had a CB in it, he just left it in since he'd already installed an antenna on the roof.

We used to organize group trips to Daytona Beach, those of us that worked in a night club together. Since my car was an old Chevy Vega I was always babying it and the last in line. My CB "handle" was Back Door Man.

So I guess I was one of those "low brow" people.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Truckers use them all the time, right?

10-4 ole buddy

 

[barfle]

Maybe they all quit using linears. lol. Some of these guys had enough power to reach the moon.

Yeah, CB is legally limited to 5W, but a lot of CBers really didn’t give a shit. Hams are legally limited to 1kW, and genuinely tend to care about their reputaion. Hams are tech nerds, CBers are rebels (different flavor of nerd).

 

[JohnN]

Never been in one. lol.

Roger that! Hate the taste of coffee, like the smell.

Strange avenues where you lose all sense of direction

 

[madscot]

Random fact, i’ve had two cups of coffee in my lifetime and twice I was violently ill within the hour

 

[jimfisheye]

The thing about Starbucks is it was at least medical grade coffee you could find on the road. Gas stations and restaurants are a roll of the dice. More often than not coffee water or coffee water turned to sludge. Starbucks was universally terrible but genuinely medical grade. That's it.

 

[mandrix]

Yeah, CB is legally limited to 5W, but a lot of CBers really didn’t give a shit. Hams are legally limited to 1kW, and genuinely tend to care about their reputaion. Hams are tech nerds, CBers are rebels (different flavor of nerd).

CB for me was just a cheap device to enable talking to my friends decades ago. Now everyone has a cell phone and I couldn't even imagine using a CB radio. But I can see circumstances where one might be useful. Why get a Ham license if something else fills your needs? I don't think that's lowbrow, it's just people going with what works for them.
Just sayin'.
Anyway I'm done. Not trying to start any arguments.

 

[ar surround]

Advertising: a marked police car with its lights flashing
Bear/Smokey: police officer; refers to the fact that the Smokey Bear character created by the Ad Council wears a hat similar to those of many highway patrol officers.
Camera: police radar unit
City Kitty: local police officer
County Mounty: county sheriff or deputy
Evel Knievel: police officer on a motorcycle; named for the motorcycle stuntman.
Big D: Dallas
Derby City: Louisville, Kentucky
Mardi Gras: New Orleans
Mickey Mouse: Orlando, Florida
Windy City: Chicago
Alligator/Gator: large piece of blown-out tire on the road
Go-go Juice: gasoline or diesel fuel
Nap Trap: hotel or rest stop
Bulldog: Mack road tractor
Four-wheeler: any vehicle with only 2 axles; anything that isn’t an 18-wheeler/semi truck
Kiddie car: School bus
Pete/Peter Car: Peterbilt truck
Salt Shaker: snow plow

 

[DuncanS]

Yeah, CB is legally limited to 5W, but a lot of CBers really didn’t give a shit. Hams are legally limited to 1kW, and genuinely tend to care about their reputaion. Hams are tech nerds, CBers are rebels (different flavor of nerd).

One of my friends was into Ham radio when he was 16-17, then along came CB, he built a high gain antenna and used high power amplifiers. I can't remember whether it was the Ham radio or the CB that caused the 'fun', but he said there was a knock on the door very early one morning and the authorities (probably would have been the Post Office/Home Office officials back in those days!) marched in to his room and took all his equipment!

 

[Clint Eastwood]

I overheard this conversation at an assisted living facility ...."I don't always roll a joint, but when I do it's my ankle"