SDR (Software Defined Radio) on the CB frequency band, with 2 receivers. One receiver is the entire CB band, showing all activity on all channels at the same time. The other receiver is showing the upper part of the band in SSB mode.
It is receiving two different channels (the two red vertical lines) in two different modes. One channel is channel 19 which is AM and the other channel is channel 38 which is LSB (Lower Side Band).
The waterfall displays show the activity “flowing” from that channel on each channel.
You can see in the waterfall if the activity is AM, USB or LSB.
There were no “monitors” back in the day. There was simply a CB radio, with a knob to turn the channel.
I just talked to two different guys in England this morning. They lived about 1 mile from each other. They said I was “booming in at 20 over 9” which means I was just about pegging their signal strength meter.
Mind you that I am in North Carolina, and I was only using a stock CB radio to transmit to them. I saw them on the waterfall so I quickly switched the antenna switch from the SDR to my CB and called for them.
I stepped on EVERYONE from 6,000 miles away! LOL
They were a couple good old chaps. I’m gonna try them tomorrow morning when the atmospheric conditions are just right to make the trip.
Absolutely AMAZING that I can talk to someone 6,000 miles away on a little radio and antenna.
Well, “over” means you are done with your transmission and will wait on a reply. “Out” means you are done transmitting and won’t be monitoring.
So there is no “over n out” because that would mean you await a reply and you are gone. That’s like saying “I’m waiting and I’m outta here”, which is a contradiction.
Topics of conversation can be anything from what’s on the top of your refrigerator, to how many beers did you drink last night, to my car died, or I painted my house.
In other words, ANYTHING goes, like meeting someone in a bar and striking up a conversation. Then some people get all offended and start to get nasty, just like in real life.
Most of the time it’s just trying to make contact with someone in a far away land, and then being happy that you made contact…
As a matter of fact, the hardware that I just purchased to run SDRuno that’s shown in the link of the pic in my first post is the RSP1A, which is made in the UK.
There are cheap $30 SDR dongles that can be had elsewhere, but the RSP1A is a lot better quality receiver. It can receive from 1,000 Hz - 20,000,000,000 Hz. That is 1 kHz - 20 GHz. That’s a LOT of radio!
I’ve had it for about 5 days now and I am absolutely blown away by how awesome it is! I am hearing people from all over the world. Europe, Mexico, Australia, Canada, all over the U.S., Austria…
It means damn near all of the radio channels there is.
Look at this chart of radio. It covers all but the bottom row and a little of the end of the next to last row. It would take years just to listen to every channel for a minute or two.
It boggles the mind how many channels of radio there really is.
You need to zoom way in, and you can read the small frequency numbers above each slice of color. In the third row down, almost to the end there is a thin slice of 26.96. That tiny little slice is the entire CB band, which is 40 channels.
That is a “pet peeve” of the U.S. Army. Many courses require radio transmissions, and you will FAIL if you say “over and out.”
That alone could cause you to fail a hands on test, which could cause you to fail a course, which could mean being booted from the Army (extreme case but very possible.)
No, It wasn’t me, he is the net control. It’s a HAM radio station and he is running a “net.” A net is where a net control operator runs a net and people check in and talk for a few minutes about the days events, or just to check in and say hi.
Nets are common on HAM radio. They usually have them every night at the same time, or maybe once a week at the same day and time. People get to know everyone because the same people usually check in routinely. They are like little families where everyone knows everyone (but not many have met in person). Some are club run nets, where a radio club members check in daily or weekly. I listen to certain nets but I don’t talk as I don’t have a ham license.
I posted the video so you could get a better idea of what SDR is all about, and how ham radio operators talk about any and everything (like his dislike of warmed up pasta, for example).
