"Big Kahuna" wrote in message
...
Rightio.

This is my observation and opinion after doing a round-trip from San
Francisco to Oklahoma City. The Eastern loop took me up through
southern Utah then back down to I-40 at Gallup, NM. Coming back, it was
I-40 all the way to Barstow then the "squiggle" over to I-5 North.

Observations and 2-cent bits:

--CB was useless and basically unlistenable off of the interstate. As
soon as I got off, every town of any size seemed to have a few folks on
big (illegal I'm guessing) super loud, echo base stations. Even when I
had the volume down, they'd nearly blow the speakers out when they keyed
up. They seemed to stick to channel 6 when I was on the interstate
leaving 19 pretty free. But when I got off the I--all hell broke loose.

Kinda like this forum: For every on-target post that actually has
something to do with CB, there are 10-20 rants, attacks, loud yelling,
off-topic junk, etc.

--Truckers were pretty cool and courteous. I only heard a few using
high powered radios with echo, annoying roger beeps, etc. Talk was
usually short and if it started into a discussion, they were quick to
jump to another channel (off 19). Right on.

So overall I'm kinda sad I couldn't use the radio off the interstates.
The superloud folks were pretty idiotic too; talking in a strange,
affected southern drawl voice, mouth so close to the mic it was muffled
most of the time, and using lots of fakey laughter (to just hold on the
modulation I guess).

Question: Is anyone using 2 meters or 70 cm on the highways? That
might be a more sensible way to go in the future....

-Kahuna


Hello, Kahuna

Yes, some truckers are using 2 meters and 440 MHz (70 cm). Your best bet
may be to get into a group for truckers and ask them.

One thing that strikes me is where to mount the antenna. Most truckers are
using dual antennas - one on each side (perhaps mounted on the mirrors).
The big boost provided by such an arrangement is not gain - it is getting
omnidirectional coverage. Consider if you are using only one antenna and
talking to someone behind you a few miles. If you round a curve in a manner
that puts the trailer between your antenna and the person you are
communication with - uh, better make that the person you *were*
communicating with LOL.

This isn't going to work at VHF and above. Two antennas mounted far apart
are going to show strange radiation patterns.

I remember back in 1994 when I worked for a 2 way radio service, a
construction firm had a lot of dump trucks (as I recall, we did about 60
installs - that is a lot of dump trucks). They were unhappy with the work
another firm had done. The repeaters were dropping out on the trucks. The
problem was that the other firm placed the antennas on the top of the cab,
well below the level of the top of the tiltable bed. This blocked signals
from the rear and, depending upon the direction of travel of the truck,
could interfere with communications.

The problem was solved by simply moving the antenna to the highest point on
the vehicle and leaving sufficient slack in the coax that the truck could
tip the bed to dump its' load without damaging the coax. How this could
possibly be done with a trailer, I'm not sure at all. Perhaps some truckers
could point you in the right direction on this.

Also, bear in mind that cross-country travel will take some planning on
which repeaters you wish to use. Different repeaters often attract
different sets of users. Try and find repeaters that are popular with
truckers. Usually, you'll be able to use one repeater for a total distance
of anywhere from perhaps 30 to well over 100 miles, depending upon how close
you approach the repeater. Most of the 70 cm repeaters here have a range
approaching 60 miles in all directions. The two meter repeaters around here
have a similar range.

As to planning, bear in mind that cities are liable to have a *lot* of
repeaters. Should you mount an antenna on top of the cab, you'll have to
plan accordingly and switch repeaters more often, using repeaters that are
ahead (or to the side) of you on your journey. Usually, you should be able
to hit them 60 miles away or so.

To give you an idea of the repeaters and where they are located, check out
this URL:
http://www.artscipub.com/repeaters/

That should keep your head spinning for a bit LOL. Seriously, if you search
by cities on a route you often take, you'll find what repeaters are out
there on a band you are thinking of (2 meters/440 - and a lot more,
besides).


73 from Rochester, NY
Jim