At 06:07 PM 12/3/00 -0800, Dana Morphew wrote:
>The older, (at least 20 years), CBs had 5W of broadcast power.  You
>might pick-up one of these older units at a garage sale and have 25%
>more power.

C.B.s made before 1976 were allowed to have 5w INPUT power and 4W
output.  They were often sold as "5W Radio" because technicly they used 5w
of juice.  In 1976 the Govt. told the industry that they were only allowed
to advertise rated output power.  The older, pre '76 radios also used a
crystal frequency control and only had 23 channels.  Even if they had 25%
more power they don't work as well.

For folks thinking about adding an amp to get 500 miles, forget it.  The
max output that a ham operator is allowed is 1500w and that won't do 500
miles on that frequency.

On a side note, I did help a friend try to fix his Toyota after the use of
an illegal CB amp.  The amp was so poorly designed that it was spraying RF
all over the radio spectrum.  The RF had fried his computer to the tune of
$850 replacement from dealer.  The worst part is that my old 4w CB with a
REALLY well tuned antenna and clean cable connectors would out-distance his
radio with the amp hands down.  The only way to get more "power" out of a
CB is to mount the longest antenna you can use as high as possible.  Keep
the antenna longer that 40" at least and stay away from anything labeled
"power" in truck stops.

Chris Smith
N9LCK