It was late in the year of 1975 when my brother Fred developed an interest in CB radios. While I was visiting him one day he showed me his newly acquired radio equipment, and demonstrated how he could talk to people within a few mile radius of his home. I thought that was almost miraculous although the telephone would work just as well and reach a lot further.
Soon, I thought I’d like to try this form of communication also. One Sunday evening Fred brought a small portable unit designed for use in a car to my home. We attached it to an old lawn mower battery that was kicking around, and began to try various methods of trying to make something work as an antennae. After an old set of TV rabbit ears had been hooked up, and turned in exactly the right direction we began to hear faint voices. Fred rushed back to his home, about ten miles from mine, and very faintly we were on the air and talking to each other. Oh, the wonders of modern technology.
Within a short period of time I had bought my own citizen’s band radio complete with antennae mounted on the roof of my home. That Midland hooked to a Radio Shack Super something or other could talk all around my county. Soon I opted for a Moon Raker 4 built by someone I can’t remember now, but it was a beast up on my roof complete with its own attached directional motor and gear assembly called a rotor. With that I could talk for maybe fifty miles.
Within a short period of additional time I had attached a bit more power to the original 4 watts. Let me assure you 4 watts multiplied by 100 will allow you to talk a lot further than you may have expected.
Within a few years though millions of people bought rigs, and with all of them alking at once it became almost impossible to contact your next door neighbor, much less anyone further away, so I sold out my equipment and left the fold of adventurous CB’ers.
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