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Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture?
My Johnson Ranger 1 type 240-616 is serial number is 69352. Would
anyone know the date of manufacture of this model? Any other info that you may know will be appreciated. Thanks, Randy, WB5KCM |
Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture?
On 11 Mar 2007 20:07:34 -0700, "wb5kcm" wrote:
My Johnson Ranger 1 type 240-616 is serial number is 69352. Would anyone know the date of manufacture of this model? Any other info that you may know will be appreciated. Thanks, Randy, WB5KCM I can't pinpoint a particular serial number to a particular year, but anecdotally I can tell you that I first saw a Ranger I in the fall of 1955 at the home of one of my early ham mentors during the time between taking my Novice test and the actually issuance of my license in January 1956. (The FCC took about 3-4 months back then to get a ticket to you after you took the test.) I think it was introduced about 1954 or early 1955. I was a 13 year old 8th grader at that time. I built my own Ranger I from a kit in the summer of 1959 just before my Senior year in high school, but didn't get to use it much because I went away to college the next year, and spent 5 years in apartments after college. I used it on CW quite a bit in the late 1960's when I bought my first house, but by that time AM phone was pretty much obsolete. As I was away at college at the time I can't tell you when the Ranger I was supplanted by the Ranger II but I would guess the early 1960's. What I can tell you is that the Ranger kit was about $279.00 in 1959 (and about $249 when introduced) and the wired and tested version was about $100 more. When you consider that rigs back then required separate receivers and transmitters and a complete station (I had a Hammarlund HQ-100) would run about $500, you can see that modern transceivers in the $700-1500 range are actually quite a bargain when inflation is factored in. When I bought my Ranger, I was making $.90 an hour in my part-time after-school job at the public library in my Wisconsin hometown. I paid for the transmitter when my folks arranged a loan for me from my insurance policy. My folks bought the receiver as a Christmas present. Between my initial licensing and the building of the Ranger, I used, in turn, a Heath AT-1, a Johnson Adventurer and a Globe Scout 680A, the first two bought used and the latter built from a kit from the proceeds of my very first job...teaching Morse Code as a Boy Scout camp staff member. The transmitter was just known at the Viking Ranger and the designation "Ranger I" was an informal one given to the rig after the Ranger II (which is what Johnson called it) was introduced. Aside from cosmetics and the paint job and the elimination of 11 meter coverage when 11 meters became the CB band, I don't think there was much functional difference between a Ranger I and a Ranger II. There may have been some circuit changes but I don't know what they might have been. If there were any evolutionary changes during the production run of the Ranger I, they must have been subtle because I don't remember any Johnson ads mentioning it. My Ranger worked quite well when I finally got to use it. The fatal downfall of my rig though was when a temperature compensating capacitor failed in the VFO section and the rig started to drift all over the place. The original component was no longer available seemingly anywhere and I must have tried 50 other NPO capacitors of varying values to try to correct that drift. I never did get it fixed and finally bought my first SSB transceiver, a Drake TR-4. I sold the rig in the early 1970's. Jon Teske, W3JT (I was K9CAH and later W3DRV in those days.) |
Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture?
Jon Teske wrote:
[snip] The transmitter was just known at the Viking Ranger and the designation "Ranger I" was an informal one given to the rig after the Ranger II (which is what Johnson called it) was introduced. Aside from cosmetics and the paint job and the elimination of 11 meter coverage when 11 meters became the CB band, I don't think there was much functional difference between a Ranger I and a Ranger II. There may have been some circuit changes but I don't know what they might have been. [snip] The Ranger II added Six meters in place of Eleven. It was introduced at about the same time as the Class D citizen's band, IIRC about 1964. At the time, Six meter AM was very popular, since technicians had full privileges on the band, so six meters was a good "mid life kicker" and the Ranger II was produced for several more years. William (Filter noise from my address for direct replies) |
Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture?
William Warren wrote:
The Ranger II added Six meters in place of Eleven. It was introduced at about the same time as the Class D citizen's band, IIRC about 1964. At the time, Six meter AM was very popular, since technicians had full privileges on the band, so six meters was a good "mid life kicker" and the Ranger II was produced for several more years. I stand corrected: according to http://www.radioing.com/museum/tx4.html, the Ranger II was made from 1961 to 1965. I didn't know the class D citizen's band was that old. William (Filter noise from my address for direct replies) |
Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture?
On Mar 12, 12:00 am, Jon Teske wrote:
On 11 Mar 2007 20:07:34 -0700, "wb5kcm" wrote: My Johnson Ranger 1 type 240-616 is serial number is 69352. Would anyone know the date of manufacture of this model? Any other info that you may know will be appreciated. Thanks, Randy, WB5KCM I can't pinpoint a particular serial number to a particular year, but anecdotally I can tell you that I first saw a Ranger I in the fall of 1955 at the home of one of my early ham mentors during the time between taking my Novice test and the actually issuance of my license in January 1956. (The FCC took about 3-4 months back then to get a ticket to you after you took the test.) I think it was introduced about 1954 or early 1955. I was a 13 year old 8th grader at that time. I built my own Ranger I from a kit in the summer of 1959 just before my Senior year in high school, but didn't get to use it much because I went away to college the next year, and spent 5 years in apartments after college. I used it on CW quite a bit in the late 1960's when I bought my first house, but by that time AM phone was pretty much obsolete. As I was away at college at the time I can't tell you when the Ranger I was supplanted by the Ranger II but I would guess the early 1960's. What I can tell you is that the Ranger kit was about $279.00 in 1959 (and about $249 when introduced) and the wired and tested version was about $100 more. When you consider that rigs back then required separate receivers and transmitters and a complete station (I had a Hammarlund HQ-100) would run about $500, you can see that modern transceivers in the $700-1500 range are actually quite a bargain when inflation is factored in. When I bought my Ranger, I was making $.90 an hour in my part-time after-school job at the public library in my Wisconsin hometown. I paid for the transmitter when my folks arranged a loan for me from my insurance policy. My folks bought the receiver as a Christmas present. Between my initial licensing and the building of the Ranger, I used, in turn, a Heath AT-1, a Johnson Adventurer and a Globe Scout 680A, the first two bought used and the latter built from a kit from the proceeds of my very first job...teaching Morse Code as a Boy Scout camp staff member. The transmitter was just known at the Viking Ranger and the designation "Ranger I" was an informal one given to the rig after the Ranger II (which is what Johnson called it) was introduced. Aside from cosmetics and the paint job and the elimination of 11 meter coverage when 11 meters became the CB band, I don't think there was much functional difference between a Ranger I and a Ranger II. There may have been some circuit changes but I don't know what they might have been. If there were any evolutionary changes during the production run of the Ranger I, they must have been subtle because I don't remember any Johnson ads mentioning it. My Ranger worked quite well when I finally got to use it. The fatal downfall of my rig though was when a temperature compensating capacitor failed in the VFO section and the rig started to drift all over the place. The original component was no longer available seemingly anywhere and I must have tried 50 other NPO capacitors of varying values to try to correct that drift. I never did get it fixed and finally bought my first SSB transceiver, a Drake TR-4. I sold the rig in the early 1970's. Jon Teske, W3JT (I was K9CAH and later W3DRV in those days.) Thanks Jon and William, Excellent info. I am printing these to go into a binder with my Ranger. |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise of Ham 11 meters
On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 01:48:31 -0400, William Warren
""w_warren_nonoise\"@comcast(William Warren).net" wrote: William Warren wrote: The Ranger II added Six meters in place of Eleven. It was introduced at about the same time as the Class D citizen's band, IIRC about 1964. At the time, Six meter AM was very popular, since technicians had full privileges on the band, so six meters was a good "mid life kicker" and the Ranger II was produced for several more years. I stand corrected: according to http://www.radioing.com/museum/tx4.html, the Ranger II was made from 1961 to 1965. I didn't know the class D citizen's band was that old. The creation of the CB band was at the expense of the old ham 11 meter band (not that anyone used that band very much. The original Ranger was able to tune 11 meters and the VFO did have calibrations there. Eleven meters was eliminanted for ham use in the late 50's. The Citizen's band WAS that old, I would guess +/- a couple years around 1960. It was not initially very popular and it was intended for some low level commercial use...companies dispatching trucks and the like at the local level. (Remember tube radios were still the rule and were quite bulky.) It took until the mid-1970's when cheap transistorized transceivers were introduced for the CB band and were adopted by over-the-road truckers. I would suspect that some popular folk idioms such as the then-popular Country-Western song "Convoy" and a couple of really stinkin' movies with CB featured in them captured the imagination of ordinary folks and a lot of people who really had utterly no need for a two way radio could get a CB to put in their car for about $50 or so. This caused so much bedlam on the band that the radios were functionally useless in metropolitan areas (I live in the Washington DC/Baltimore area) and didn't serve much purpose until you got out on the open road. It did make something of a cult though of CB and certain folks tried to use CB in more of a ham mode including long distance comms ("skip talking") and power escalation with (illegal) high powered amplifiers, many the adaptation of the ten meter portion of legitimate ham amps. This caused the nearly 30 year prohibition of the sale of amps capable of working in the CB band which of course meant any ham amp with ten meters on it. The little I listened to CB (my carpool mate had one in his car) sort of revealed that the chief purpose of the CB for most folks was to spot speed traps. "Smokey Bear is hiding in the bush under the I-95 overpass." My car pool guy took his out of the car after a couple months. In less populated areas where interference wasn't so pervasive they did serve some purpose. I recoiled in horror when my father had one in his car in my small Wisconsin hometown and took on the personna of "Diamond Don" Sheesh!!!! "Diamond Don, Diamond Don, got your ears up??" All my efforts to get my dad into ham radio when I was a teen were shot to Hell. (I wanted Dad to become a ham with the obvious ulterior motive of financing my hobby...a 13 year old's allowance didn't go very far when trying to buy rigs.) When dad died, I inherited his three CB radios which I promptly donated to Goodwill. The CB boom was long over by then and even Dad didn't have one in his car anymore. I haven't bothered to listen up there in years. Jon W3JT William (Filter noise from my address for direct replies) |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise of Ham 11 meters
Jon Teske wrote:
The Citizen's band WAS that old, I would guess +/- a couple years around 1960. It was not initially very popular and it was intended for some low level commercial use...companies dispatching trucks and the like at the local level. (Remember tube radios were still the rule and were quite bulky.) It took until the mid-1970's when cheap transistorized transceivers were introduced for the CB band and were adopted by over-the-road truckers. Actually CB was quite popular by the late 1960's and there were several organizations founded to provide assistance to travelers and similar functions provided by hams. It was populated by pleasant. well mannered people until the trucker's strike (1976?) when almost overnight it took on it's current form. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 Fax ONLY: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838 Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/ |
Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture?
On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 01:48:31 -0400, William Warren
""w_warren_nonoise\"@comcast(William Warren).net" wrote: William Warren wrote: The Ranger II added Six meters in place of Eleven. It was introduced at about the same time as the Class D citizen's band, IIRC about 1964. At the time, Six meter AM was very popular, since technicians had full privileges on the band, so six meters was a good "mid life kicker" and the Ranger II was produced for several more years. I stand corrected: according to http://www.radioing.com/museum/tx4.html, the Ranger II was made from 1961 to 1965. I didn't know the class D citizen's band was that old. William (Filter noise from my address for direct replies) The Citizen Radio Service began in 1947, and the first Class D Citizen Band licenses were issued on September 11, 1958. Not sure when they were discontinued. Dick -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise of Ham 11 meters
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Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture?
On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 13:52:33 -0700, Dick wrote:
On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 01:48:31 -0400, William Warren ""w_warren_nonoise\"@comcast(William Warren).net" wrote: William Warren wrote: The Ranger II added Six meters in place of Eleven. It was introduced at about the same time as the Class D citizen's band, IIRC about 1964. At the time, Six meter AM was very popular, since technicians had full privileges on the band, so six meters was a good "mid life kicker" and the Ranger II was produced for several more years. I stand corrected: according to http://www.radioing.com/museum/tx4.html, the Ranger II was made from 1961 to 1965. I didn't know the class D citizen's band was that old. William (Filter noise from my address for direct replies) The Citizen Radio Service began in 1947, and the first Class D Citizen Band licenses were issued on September 11, 1958. Not sure when they were discontinued. There was some sort of Citizens service throughout the 50's as you say, but it wasn't on 11 meters, or at least not on what had been the 11 meter ham band. I know there was some sort of licensing. If you bought a CB rig, it usually came with an FCC form inside to send in for a license. You were supposed to wait until you got the license and you were issued a callsign. The callsign took the LLLL#### format. The callsign scheme was almost universally ignored and most folks transmitted anyway using personally derived "handles" e.g. "Rubber Ducky" of the Convoy Song fame. There were even some entrepeneurs who proclaimed to "register" your handle for a fee, but of course that was meaningless. Not terribly long thereafter the FCC appeared to give up and did away with individual licensing. (In theory, There is one "universal" license issued nationally for the entire CB band. The samething happened to the pleasure boat VHF marine licenseing. Shortly after I had gotten an FCC Marine VHF ticket (at a fee) the FCC simply said that there was one VHF Marine license issued for the country and as long as you operated within the US and territorial waters you just had to ID youself by your vessel name. You were supposed to have a license if you took your boat to Canada or the Caribbean for example. I suspect this is widely ignored. A marine HF license still is required though at the individual level according to the marine press (I don't have one, only the domestic VHF.) Jon W3JT Dick |
Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture?
On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 17:13:02 -0400, Jon Teske
wrote: I stand corrected: according to http://www.radioing.com/museum/tx4.html, the Ranger II was made from 1961 to 1965. I didn't know the class D citizen's band was that old. William The Citizen Radio Service began in 1947, and the first Class D Citizen Band licenses were issued on September 11, 1958. Not sure when they were discontinued. There was some sort of Citizens service throughout the 50's as you say, but it wasn't on 11 meters, or at least not on what had been the 11 meter ham band. That's true. The original Citizen Band prior to the one we know today was on 460 to 470 Mhz, and there were two licenses. A and B. The problem with that was that there was very little equipment that could operate at those frequencies. That was when the FCC took the 11-meter band away from the amateur radio operators and started the 11-meter Citizen Band with the Class D license in 1958. Dick - W6CCD -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise of Ham 11 meters
Geoffrey S. Mendelson ) writes:
Actually CB was quite popular by the late 1960's The sunspot peak of 1968-69 helped a lot. The band was pretty dead (thankfully) due to low MUF during the early 1960s. .... Martin VE3OAT |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise of Ham 11 meters
Martin Potter wrote:
The sunspot peak of 1968-69 helped a lot. The band was pretty dead (thankfully) due to low MUF during the early 1960s. When I said popular, I was refering to the operation within the U.S. law (which was and is very different than the rest of the world) which prohibits "skip" operation. Most of the useage at that time was still families keeping in touch, aid to motorists, etc. Almost overnight during the truker's strike it became the home of what seems like a bunch of 12 year old's with walkie-talkies. At one time there was a reasonable license fee (about $10 a year). Then the FCC raised it to $25 to help keep usage low. Someone sued complaining that it was unreasonable and won. The FCC then started issuing free licenses as compensation for their overcharging. Then they started allowing temporary call signs ("K" your initials and your zip code) so mine would have been at the time "KGSM19120", I even had a license with a real call sign, but I've long since lost it and forgoten the call. I wonder if there are CB callbooks from the 1970's and 1980s? I'm no longer in the U.S. anyway but I believe if you were issued a call, you can still use it if you want to. Eventually, it became too much trouble and expense to issue free licenses to people who never used them anyway, so they issued a blanket license to anyone on U.S. soil. Possibly someone else can fill in the exact time line. As for outside of the U.S. it still flourishes as a no-code no-test amateur radio service. In the E.U., there are few restrictions on what you can do, including less limitations on transmitters, FM, and packet operation. There are even a few European websites devoted to using CB to "improve the radio art" e.g. experimental antennas. The U.K. had a 927 mHz CB service which was canceled when the frequencies were assigned to GSM cell phones. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 Fax ONLY: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838 Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/ |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise of Ham 11 meters
In article ,
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote: Martin Potter wrote: The sunspot peak of 1968-69 helped a lot. The band was pretty dead (thankfully) due to low MUF during the early 1960s. When I said popular, I was refering to the operation within the U.S. law (which was and is very different than the rest of the world) which prohibits "skip" operation. Not at all. It just mandates a certain power input to the finals. During REALLY GOOD conditions, 4 watts will get you plenty of skip. I don't remember 1968, but I remember 6 meter cross-country stuff with milliwatt CW outputs in 1979. And the NEXT cycle coming up is going to be even better. Note that Class D wasn't all there was. There was Class C which allowed pulse modulation in the 26 MHz range for remote control, and Class A citizens band which was AM in the 450 MHz range. I don't recall what Class B was. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise of Ham 11 meters
Scott Dorsey wrote:
Not at all. It just mandates a certain power input to the finals. At one time it DID mandate something like "local communications only". I can't remember the exact wording, so I leave it in quotes. Note that Class D wasn't all there was. There was Class C which allowed pulse modulation in the 26 MHz range for remote control, and Class A citizens band which was AM in the 450 MHz range. I don't recall what Class B was. I had a class C and D license. The difference was ticking a box on the application. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 Fax ONLY: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838 Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/ |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise of Ham 11 meters
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CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise of Ham 11 meters
On Wed, 14 Mar 2007 12:26:01 -0400, Jon Teske
wrote: Since I never operated CB except for one short contact in my carpool mate's car to show him how it worked, I was not intimately familiar with CB rules. I seem to remember thought that there were regulation which prohibited even attempting to make a contact of over 200 miles (or so) even if conditions permitted this. I seem to remember that this was one of the ways to attempt to rein in the use of powerful amplifiers that many CBers used (of course the prohibition of the sale of amps capable of operation in that range, including those intended for ham use, was another FCC mandate.) Anyone know more about that? FCC rules 95.412(9) prohibit communications or attempts at communication with stations more than 250 km or 155.3 miles away. Dick - W6CCD I don't know the licensing requirements, but I think that there is also a frequency or frequencies at 72 MHZ available for radio control of models in addition to 26MHz; and, 50 MHz if one is a licensed amateur. Anyone up on that? Jon W3JT -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise of Ham 11 meters
On Wed, 14 Mar 2007 10:21:29 -0700, Dick wrote:
FCC rules 95.412(9) prohibit communications or attempts at communication with stations more than 250 km or 155.3 miles away. Is that still in effect? The rule died here in .ca with the license requirement. That was what, around 20 years ago? __ Gregg |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise of Ham 11 meters
On Thu, 15 Mar 2007 22:01:37 -0700, geek
wrote: On Wed, 14 Mar 2007 10:21:29 -0700, Dick wrote: FCC rules 95.412(9) prohibit communications or attempts at communication with stations more than 250 km or 155.3 miles away. Is that still in effect? The rule died here in .ca with the license requirement. That was what, around 20 years ago? __ Gregg That was taken from the latest Part 95 posted on the FCC website. So yes, it is still in effect in the U.S. Dick - W6CCD -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise ofHam 11 meters
The rule died here in .ca with the license requirement. That was what,
around 20 years ago? Except for communicating with other stations on any channel and having to use a call sign, most of the original rules are still in effect, ie. no high power, no talking over 150 miles, etc. Now they say the blanket license covers all legally operating stations. If you're operating illegally then it's considered to be operating without a license. Fine, $10,000 per day, per offense. Ron |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise of Ham 11 meters
In article ,
Scott Dorsey wrote: In article , Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote: Martin Potter wrote: The sunspot peak of 1968-69 helped a lot. The band was pretty dead (thankfully) due to low MUF during the early 1960s. When I said popular, I was refering to the operation within the U.S. law (which was and is very different than the rest of the world) which prohibits "skip" operation. Not at all. It just mandates a certain power input to the finals. Actually the CB regs _do_ (or at least did) prohibit 'skip' operation. Look it up. Communication between stations more than 150 (IIRC) miles apart is expressly forbidden. |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise of Ham 11 meters
In article ,
Jon Teske wrote: On Wed, 14 Mar 2007 13:54:04 +0000 (UTC), (Geoffrey S. Mendelson) wrote: Scott Dorsey wrote: Not at all. It just mandates a certain power input to the finals. At one time it DID mandate something like "local communications only". I can't remember the exact wording, so I leave it in quotes. Note that Class D wasn't all there was. There was Class C which allowed pulse modulation in the 26 MHz range for remote control, and Class A citizens band which was AM in the 450 MHz range. I don't recall what Class B was. I had a class C and D license. The difference was ticking a box on the application. Geoff. Since I never operated CB except for one short contact in my carpool mate's car to show him how it worked, I was not intimately familiar with CB rules. I seem to remember thought that there were regulation which prohibited even attempting to make a contact of over 200 miles this was one of the ways to attempt to rein in the use of powerful (or so) even if conditions permitted this. I can confirm the existance of 'distace' restriction. As I recall, it is 150 mi., not 200. I seem to remember that amplifiers that many CBers used (of course the prohibition of the sale of amps capable of operation in that range, including those intended for ham use, was another FCC mandate.) Anyone know more about that?? Note: the amps were illegal regardless, as there was a limit of watts of power in to the final amp, and a maximum of 4 watts RF energy out. It is worth noting that when 'skip' conditions were right, it did not take large amounts of RF to reach long distaces. I used an '11 meter' (but _not_ 'citizens band') rig with just under 2-1/8 watts (measured!) RF out, and one day was asked to shut down, by a station nearly 900 miles distant. I was _so_strong_ in their area that legal max (10 watt RF) stations couldn't communicate at 6 blocks distance. I don't know the licensing requirements, but I think that there is also a frequency or frequencies at 72 MHZ available for radio control of models in addition to 26MHz; and, 50 MHz if one is a licensed amateur. Anyone up on that? "way back when", there was 2nd set of frequenceis, besides the 11m ones for RC controls. I don't remember at this remove (roughly 30 years) just where it was. Was not used much, gear was much more expensive. And yes, there were some ham frequencies where RC operations were allowed. |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise ofHam 11 meters
Robert Bonomi wrote:
[snip] "way back when", there was 2nd set of frequenceis, besides the 11m ones for RC controls. I don't remember at this remove (roughly 30 years) just where it was. Was not used much, gear was much more expensive. IIRC, there was some RC at ~49MHz. ISTR some in the 72-76 MHz range as well, but since aircraft marker beacons operate at 75 MHz, I may be imagining. And yes, there were some ham frequencies where RC operations were allowed. Hams can use almost any VHF or UHF frequency for RC: in fact, some RC competitors have obtained ham licenses just to get access to interference-free channels and thus away from the "clothespin competition" so often seen at meets. William (Filter noise from my address for direct replies) |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise of Ham 11 meters
Robert Bonomi ) writes:
"way back when", there was 2nd set of frequenceis, besides the 11m ones for RC controls. I don't remember at this remove (roughly 30 years) just where it was. Was not used much, gear was much more expensive. And yes, there were some ham frequencies where RC operations were allowed. Amateur radio invented remote controlled vehicles, certainly as a hobby. Since amateur radio was a technical playground, and fairly open rules to allow that, it was there when someone wanted to fly a remote controlled. Years ago, there was a bit in QST about early work in RC airplanes, I think it was Ross Hull (the Australian ham who moved to the US to work at the ARRL and was never licensed in the US, and died by accidental electrocution) and Roland Bournes. It took no special license, since it was allowed under the rules. It was only later, when the hobby became more popular that a need for an RC license that didn't require a test came about, with frequencies set aside for the purpose. There was a whole period when people would get a ham license because they were interested in radio controlled vehicles. That faded with the arrival of RC licenses and frequencies. The "frequencies" for RC in the ham bands were a combination of where it was legal to send that sort of thing (but it wasn't specifically about RC) and gentlemen's agreement, since one didn't really want interference from other operators when flying an RC plane. Michael VE2BVW |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise of Ham 11 meters
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CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise of Ham 11 meters
Chuck Reti ) writes:
They had to scrap that callsign system as it did not comply with ITU convention- US calls have to begin with W, K, N, AA-AL, and not a number. This was an issue as someone apparently didn't consider that propagation could carry CB signals across international borders, so the ITU regs applied. This is an understatement. If they'd given thought to propagation, they'd not have allocated 27MHz to a band intended for local use. Even with nobody working skip, when the skip was in the band got cluttered. You couldn't avoid propagation getting those distant signals to you, and that did not help the intended use of the band. Michael VE2BVW |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise ofHam 11 meters
Michael Black wrote:
[snip] If they'd given thought to propagation, they'd not have allocated 27MHz to a band intended for local use. Even with nobody working skip, when the skip was in the band got cluttered. You couldn't avoid propagation getting those distant signals to you, and that did not help the intended use of the band. Michael VE2BVW Michael, I don't feel it was a question of propagation: the FCC wanted to create an inexpensive radio service that could be used by those who could not afford the standard "two-way" radios that were available at the time. The problem, in a nutshell, was that tube designs for VHF and UHF were very expensive to manufacture, tune, and repair. I think the idea with the class C & D Citizens' Bands was to make the rigs affordable _using the vacuum tube designs of the day_, and that meant keeping the frequencies low. Since ham operators had an assignment at 10 meters, and the primary user of 11 meters (Medical Diathermy) wouldn't be affected, it probably seemed like the ideal spot: the only commercial allocations near it were in the 30-50 MHz range, but assigning a new service there would have meant displacing existing FM licensees, including many local government users, who were _also_ interested in keeping their radio costs down. Don't forget: the class A & B Citizens' Bands had been authorized for many years, with dismal results: since class A & B CB radios used 460 MHz, users had to pay for the same Motorola or GE or Johnson sets that telephone, utility, taxicab, and others with deep pockets were using. Long story short: experience had shown that the cost of UHF units was too high a barrier for farmers and other rural users, and IMHO, _that_ was the reason for choosing 27 MHz. YMMV. William (Filter noise from my address for direct replies) |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise of Ham 11 meters
Since ham operators had an assignment at 10 meters, and
the primary user of 11 meters (Medical Diathermy) wouldn't be affected, it probably seemed like the ideal spot: the only commercial allocations near it were in the 30-50 MHz range, but assigning a new service there would have meant displacing existing FM licensees, including many local government users, who were _also_ interested in keeping their radio costs down. I remember medical diathermy in the 50's being an important cause of TVI. They apparently were available for home use by patients. I never needed one so I really have no idea what they were supposed to do. To they still exist? Have they been replaced by a different technology? Jon W3JT |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise ofHam 11 meters
William Warren ""w_warren_nonoise\"@comcast(William Warren).net" wrote:
Don't forget: the class A & B Citizens' Bands had been authorized for many years, with dismal results: since class A & B CB radios used 460 MHz, users had to pay for the same Motorola or GE or Johnson sets that telephone, utility, taxicab, and others with deep pockets were using. Actually there were some cheap two-tube units out there, which used a single device as a regenerative detector or as an oscillator, combined with an audio amplifier tube. The performance was very poor, however. "Vocaline" was the manufacturer that I remember. Long story short: experience had shown that the cost of UHF units was too high a barrier for farmers and other rural users, and IMHO, _that_ was the reason for choosing 27 MHz. Yes. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise of Ham 11 meters
In article ,
Jon Teske wrote: Since ham operators had an assignment at 10 meters, and the primary user of 11 meters (Medical Diathermy) wouldn't be affected, it probably seemed like the ideal spot: the only commercial allocations near it were in the 30-50 MHz range, but assigning a new service there would have meant displacing existing FM licensees, including many local government users, who were _also_ interested in keeping their radio costs down. I remember medical diathermy in the 50's being an important cause of TVI. They apparently were available for home use by patients. I never needed one so I really have no idea what they were supposed to do. To they still exist? Have they been replaced by a different technology? Medical diathermy sources come in two kinds: electrocautery systems used for surgery, and deep tissue heating. The deep tissue heating systems were the big offenders, since they were often left operating for long periods of time. The deep tissue heating systems have most been replaced with ultrasound, although some RF-based deep tissue equipment still exists. Electrocautery is still around. Aside from the reduction in use of deep-tissue heating systems, the RF characteristics have been improved a lot. Some early systems were just relaxation oscillators, running more or less in an ISM band with lots of impressed 60 Hz trash and lots of harmonics. That stuff has all been cleaned up and modern medical devices are now clean enough that you could add a key to them and use them on 10M. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
CB History WAS Johnson Ranger 1 date of manufacture. Demise of Ham 11 meters
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