In my official capacity I have had more than one person contact me concerning the sale and marketing of “export” CB rigs — those rigs that are not FCC certified for use on CB, and typically marketed as 10 and/or 12-meter rigs.
Most of them have both a frequency display as well as a two-digit channel indicator, a dead giveaway that this isn't just a ham rig, but a CB rig in 10-meter clothing. The retailers know it. The CB'ers know it. The FCC knows it.
I just received a catalog from a longtime Louisville CB/electronics retailer. I get one this time every year. This retailer is known as the regional headquarters for EVERYTHING related to CB. For alot of the CB'ers-turned-Amateurs I've know over the years, this retailer often still holds a place of honor and reverence. To some, it seems that R&L, AES and Ham Station just can't compare.
The truth is there is no comparison. The Louisville retailer knows their market and customers very well, I have to give them that. My family got our first CB (an ancient Hallicrafters CB-3A) when I was 10, and I immediately got on the air. This was years before Smokey and the Bandit, and years before truckers migrated from their original over-the-road channel (10) to channel 19.
Even then, this Lousville retailer had a golden aura associated with it. Buying a quarter-wave ground plane from them had to add an extra 3 db gain; even cheap PL-259s they sold were considered special and unique. The place had an unusual mystique; the legend was you had to be a dealer or “be someone” before the would let you in their secret location. Just hearing someone say “When I was at XYZ Electronics last week …” caught everyone's attention. If you went there, man, you had status.
Fast forward to yesterday when my catalog arrived. As I usually have, I looked through it and found it still had a mix of certified and non-certified CB/ham gear. And I looked up the list the FCC had compiled of illegal radios, and as I expected, the catalog contains multiple examples on nearly every page of its radio section.
This time last year when I received the catalog, I had received a number of queries from amateurs about the state who had spotted illegal gear for sale, either online, at a truck stop or at a retail outlet. I decided last year to send the FCC the copy of this retailer's catalog; it was proof positive they were still in the illegal radio sales business. It even had the date on it.
I did a little research, and found a news article from several years ago that included an address where the FCC was requesting to receive reports of the sales of illegal CBs. I shipped the catalog to this address, figuring I had done my civic duty to report the sales of these rigs. These rigs have helped populate the 10 meter CW subband with truckers and roger beeps when the band is open.
Several weeks passed and I received a letter from the FCC. The letter politely thanked me for my letter, but informed me that no action would be taken. There would be no investigation.
The Louisville retailer had been cited in 2001 for such sales, and in the FCC's view, the matter was closed. The retailer had been spanked years earlier; the FCC was not going to go after them again — despite hard evidence in their hands they were marketing illegal CBs.
The truth is that CB and Amateur Radio are way down the list of priorities at the FCC. I'm sure the DTV switchover in February, and Janet Jackson's nipple jewelry are much more pressing matters, hi!
For several years the FCC seemed interested in going after those who marketed these rigs. I don't think it ever really stopped the Louisville retailer; the rigs disappeared for a few months from the web site and soon returned.
One of the unversal truths about CB'ers is that they tend to believe that these cheaply produced rigs are worth an incredible amount of money. For example, there's a 10/12 meter Ranger “base” model that sells for the price of a Yaesu FT-450. The Ranger has such nice features as “dual panel meters,” “10 programmable memories,” “noise blanker/ANL” and “variable output power control.” Hardly compares to the technology available in the FT-450, does it?
CB technology hasn't changed much in 30 years. There was an infamous CB'er here locally who “added extra channels” to rigs nearly 30 years ago. He's still here in town, still fooling with CB despite the fact he was licensed years ago as a Technician.
I still tune the 11-meter band peridically as a way to see if 10 may be open, and I hear this guy from time to time. The last I heard he had a Yaesu FT-102 and a Heathkit SB-200. He hadn't figured out how to interface the rig to the amp, and he had to key the amplifier with a footswitch on every transmission. He claimed he was running a kilowatt on AM, but I suspect the Heathkit would have been a molten mass had he been successful at running the amp at that power level.
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There have been illegally modified CBs out there for many, many years, and its surprising how few you actually hear on 10. I think the allure of those “extra channels” may be magical to those who have never tried them, but the fact is it doesn't matter if you can run them if there's no one to talk to. The bulk of activity is still on the old 11 meter band and the “freeband” between 10 and 11-meters. You hear some activity on 10, but considering the fact that modified rigs have been available for more than 30 years, its not as bad as you would think it would be.
There's a large group of Amateurs who are very active in the business of reporting illegal CB rigs, which may be why the FCC was less than interested in taking action. On some of the CB message boards, its easy to spot the hams who are trying to be stealthy and deter CB'ers from operating outside their frequencies: They tend to post ominous warnings of the huge fines that hang over the head of radio scofflaws, and how the FCC will triangulate your illegal butt and you'll spend eternity if Radio Prison (or something else equally as ominous), usually written in either bold or all caps.
Back when I was listing all of those Yaesu rigs for sale on eBay (3 FT-757GXs and the FT-890), I fielded numerous questions about these rigs' use on 11-meters (the FT-757GX seems to be a CB favorite, though they frequently suffer blown finals from users trying to run them at 100 watts output). In nearly every instance when I answered one of these questions and posted it in the eBay listing, I would get one or more pleas from fellow Amateurs, imploring me not to sell the rig to someone without a valid ham ticket. I don't believe any of them were sold to non-amateurs; they sold for more money than most CB'ers were interested in paying.
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I won't send the FCC this copy. The company's web site has more goodies, including a full lineup of “CW units” that are actually nothing more than illegal amplifiers that cover from 25-30 MHz. To their credit, they state the use of the units are illegal on both CB and amateur frequencies, to wit:
“These units are for industrial, scientific, medical, or export use only. It is a violation of US FCC regulations to operate these units on the Citizens Band or Amateur Radio Services in the United States. Please check regulations in your country before operating these unit.”
They also list a 300w 1.5-30 MHz amplifier with “automatic bandswitching” for $450. They have some 2m and 440 ham amps too, but the prices on these are a bit high, and the quality may not be what you might expect from a regular amateur brand.
Enough on this rant. HNY!