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Author Topic: Pickup Truck With Massive HAM Radio Antenna Clipping my Soun System!  (Read 3725 times)

Douglas Cyr

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Re: Pickup Truck With Massive HAM Radio Antenna Clipping my Soun System!
« Reply #20 on: April 09, 2021, 10:43:39 PM »

Next time you see the guy, give him a friendly warning that Biden has hired Hillary to track down CB-using patriots, and that they're able to spot high powered CB amplifiers from Chinese satellites.

Amazing how you  nailed this guy's character!
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Russell Ault

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Re: Pickup Truck With Massive HAM Radio Antenna Clipping my Soun System!
« Reply #21 on: April 09, 2021, 11:10:01 PM »

UPDATE #2:

He turned out to be a very nice and understanding guy. At first he was hesitant to admit it was CB and said it was HAM, but we ended up having a nice conversation about his rig and I told him what was happening inside my studio. He ended up showing me his rig in the back seat and holy crap, this amplifier was monstrous and more ferrite than I've ever seen at one time in my life. He claimed the system was 15KW RMS and that he communicates with people in Puerto Rico from here in Maryland. He also has a multi $10's of thousands of dollar licensed HAM rig at home and does emergency communication.

So I guess we could have had a worse ending to this story, thank you for all the advice everyone.

Doug

If he is a licensed amateur (and intends on remaining so) then either he or you accidentally moved a decimal place: the FCC limits amateur tranmissions to a maximum of 1.5 kW peak envelope power (which is still enough to cause nearby electronics to do funny things, especially at lower frequencies). That's also a much more reasonable power figure for a station in the mobile service (once duty cycle is taken into consideration, anyway).

-Russ
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Douglas Cyr

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Re: Pickup Truck With Massive HAM Radio Antenna Clipping my Soun System!
« Reply #22 on: April 10, 2021, 12:45:33 AM »

If he is a licensed amateur (and intends on remaining so) then either he or you accidentally moved a decimal place: the FCC limits amateur tranmissions to a maximum of 1.5 kW peak envelope power (which is still enough to cause nearby electronics to do funny things, especially at lower frequencies). That's also a much more reasonable power figure for a station in the mobile service (once duty cycle is taken into consideration, anyway).

-Russ

He definitely said 15KW, and he claimed his home system ran off two 60AMP 220Volt circuits.
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Russell Ault

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Re: Pickup Truck With Massive HAM Radio Antenna Clipping my Soun System!
« Reply #23 on: April 10, 2021, 01:30:30 AM »

He definitely said 15KW, and he claimed his home system ran off two 60AMP 220Volt circuits.

Well, license enforcement in the amateur service (or CB, for that matter) is basically entirely complaints-based; maybe he just hasn't pissed off the wrong people.

Not sure why someone would spend (or, as Scott Holtzman pointed out, waste) that kind of cash with the knowledge that one false move could bring the FCC banhammer down on him.

-Russ
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Jeff Bankston

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Re: Pickup Truck With Massive HAM Radio Antenna Clipping my Soun System!
« Reply #24 on: April 10, 2021, 03:49:23 AM »

15KW no way ! First off that antenna would be doing good to handle 5000 watts. A Texas Star "Hot Plate" is 1000 watts and about 12" L x 7" W x 5" H and has 2 fans. A "Hot Plate" needs at least a 130amp alternator to operate without dimming factory old fashion low beam headlights. How do I know ? South Mississippi out in the sticks where houses are 2 or 3 miles away and it doesnt interfere with anyone. A TS "Sweet Sixteen" is 1600 watts and about as big as you can put in a vehicle unless you have a diesel pickup with 2 or 3 high power alternators. I have been around a lot of amps over the years out in the country side. The largest I ever had was 750 watts and it dimmed my low beams with a 100 amp alternator that put out 100 amps at 1500 rpm. I used it on the road in west Texas 30 years ago from 8PM until I stopped to sleep at 4AM.

The foto is a Texas Star Sweet Sixteen 1600 watt. The 1000 watt "Hot Plate" looks the same.

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Jared Bartimus

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Re: Pickup Truck With Massive HAM Radio Antenna Clipping my Soun System!
« Reply #25 on: April 12, 2021, 09:00:48 PM »

As far as i have been informed its legal to sell amps. You can buy them online, i have seen them in CB section in truck stops, a CB radio shop here in socal sells them. If they are still illegal the feds are not inforcing the law. In the 70's many CB radio guys in south mississippi had tall antennas in their yard with tube amps connected to their CB. I never knew of anyone to get busted.

It is probably technically legal to sell amps for any frequency range, just illegal to use them.  Some people like to claim it is actually for ham radio to keep out of trouble since they are similar frequencies.

Most legitimate ham radio operators are probably using 5W-100W radios in their vehicles.

15KW no way ! First off that antenna would be doing good to handle 5000 watts. A Texas Star "Hot Plate" is 1000 watts and about 12" L x 7" W x 5" H and has 2 fans. A "Hot Plate" needs at least a 130amp alternator to operate without dimming factory old fashion low beam headlights. How do I know ? South Mississippi out in the sticks where houses are 2 or 3 miles away and it doesnt interfere with anyone. A TS "Sweet Sixteen" is 1600 watts and about as big as you can put in a vehicle unless you have a diesel pickup with 2 or 3 high power alternators. I have been around a lot of amps over the years out in the country side. The largest I ever had was 750 watts and it dimmed my low beams with a 100 amp alternator that put out 100 amps at 1500 rpm. I used it on the road in west Texas 30 years ago from 8PM until I stopped to sleep at 4AM.

The foto is a Texas Star Sweet Sixteen 1600 watt. The 1000 watt "Hot Plate" looks the same.



A vehicle could potentially do 15KW ERP though with the right antenna.  I have my doubts they are using a high gain antenna but most CB antenna specs seem to be wattage, length and 'range'.  Not useful for such calculations and I don't care to dig that much for specs.
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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Pickup Truck With Massive HAM Radio Antenna Clipping my Soun System!
« Reply #25 on: April 12, 2021, 09:00:48 PM »


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