If CB was still a thing

[ThatsAMonkey]

Did y'all have calling cards too? I found my fathers calling card one day when I was cleaning out my grandparents house. Now that I think about it, I think that's why he went in as a 31M in the Army. He was stationed in Texas then in Germany installing radio coms and towers out in the woods and hills.
One of many stories of his was that he was out in a field instructed to set up a tower with the deuce and a half. The field was a few miles out from a near by air field. They had covered the truck, equipment and tension lines with camo netting and what not. Every so often there would be helicopters flying low in the area so my father placed a lamp of the sort on the top of the tower. Apparently the air force used it as a check point knowing that they were getting close to the AF. One day my father sees another helicopter but this time flying lower than usual investigating the area. Later on, they had a few mounted people on motorbikes checking the area out so he had to come out and warn them they would have hit the tension lines if they got any closer.
From what I recall he was considered for promotion to staff sergeant, but he was already 8 years in, and he also was advised to put in his paperwork to apply for WOCS. Probably would have ended up making a career out of it if he went that route but I don't think he wanted to deal with the promotion board, have to go back to college, etc.

Just realized this is an older thread oop.

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[Chris M]

Did y'all have calling cards too? I found my fathers calling card one day when I was cleaning out my grandparents house. Now that I think about it, I think that's why he went in as a 31M in the Army. He was stationed in Texas then in Germany installing radio coms and towers out in the woods and hills.
One of many stories of his was that he was out in a field instructed to set up a tower with the deuce and a half. The field was a few miles out from a near by air field. They had covered the truck, equipment and tension lines with camo netting and what not. Every so often there would be helicopters flying low in the area so my father placed a lamp of the sort on the top of the tower. Apparently the air force used it as a check point knowing that they were getting close to the AF. One day my father sees another helicopter but this time flying lower than usual investigating the area. Later on, they had a few mounted people on motorbikes checking the area out so he had to come out and warn them they would have hit the tension lines if they got any closer.
From what I recall he was considered for promotion to staff sergeant, but he was already 8 years in, and he also was advised to put in his paperwork to apply for WOCS. Probably would have ended up making a career out of it if he went that route but I don't think he wanted to deal with the promotion board, have to go back to college, etc.

Just realized this is an older thread oop.

We like cool stories like this.
Thanks for sharing!

 

[Dereku]

Helps spot those bears.

 

[9zero1790]

never had calling cards myself but seen a lot. the only thing i dont like on cb is damn skip talkers and much mouth trash with a gigawatt home made amp splattering noise all over

 

[9zero1790]

im old enough that my first truck had a cb and the old ss whip flopping around. all my buddies had them too. we could talk on 11 meter without issue for about 25 miles as the crow flies. then the smallish town i lived in turned into a metropolis and the radios dont have a chance. every power pole makes noise like crazy.

 

[JesseS]

Actually they were called QSL cards, and I still have a stack of them somewhere in the attic.

 

[Frenchy]

Actually they were called QSL cards, and I still have a stack of them somewhere in the attic.

Tell me you are old without telling me you are old

 

[JesseS]

Tell me you are old without telling me you are old

I am old... but in better shape than a lot of 30 year olds I see.

 

[Dereku]

I am old... but in better shape than a lot of 30 year olds I see.

Doesn’t take much effort these days.

 

[Tom_C]

Back in the 80s and 90s, my brother was into CB. Had a big base station, and units in the cars. During that time, the atmospheric conditions aligned so that the signals were skipping and he talked really far away, mainly at night. He made friends with people in England, and they actually visited each other. After about 10 years or so the conditions changed and no more long distance signals, at least to Europe.

Back then we were also into surf fishing and he was able to modify the radios so they could swing frequency so we could have a private channel to talk without broadcasting our 'honey spot' locations to the world... like anyone else was listening

 

[JesseS]

Back in the 80s and 90s, my brother was into CB. Had a big base station, and units in the cars. During that time, the atmospheric conditions aligned so that the signals were skipping and he talked really far away, mainly at night. He made friends with people in England, and they actually visited each other. After about 10 years or so the conditions changed and no more long distance signals, at least to Europe.

Back then we were also into surf fishing and he was able to modify the radios so they could swing frequency so we could have a private channel to talk without broadcasting our 'honey spot' locations to the world... like anyone else was listening

Yep, a VFO and use sideband, tripled the number of channels available. Don’t ask me how I know.

 

[SigOris]

Yea those were the days. Had a great time with my CB until uncle charlie sent me a letter. Had a nice base station with a 1kw tube amp, lollie pop D104 and a Tram D201 all coupled to a moonraker 6. I can neither confirm or deny that one evening the song “grandma got run over by a reindeer” was played many, many times. Which could be the cause of the letter, or because all of my neighbors couldn't record on their VCR’s without hearing me on their recordings within a block radius, or that several garage door openers close by would also be triggered when I keyed up. RF energy does cool things!!
Yes it would be, could be me, world wide hall of fame Sir Monte, how about a radio check out there….
I miss those days!!

The coveted CHICKEN CHOKER microphone ???

 

[Ranger_Rocks]

For many of my younger years, I uth ta be a thee-be-er. Finally learned how to spell thee-bee. Huge over-powered rig with a giant directional antenna on a 65' tower. High powered mobile rig with dual trunk-mount whip antennas for bear watching. Walls lined and boxes full of QSL cards from around the globe.

Later became a hammie. More QSL cards... back when postage was cheap.

 

[Msfitoy]

I bet y'all're surprised that I have both...

 

[9zero1790]

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