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 "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX"

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NC FJ Driver
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PostSubject: "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX"   "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX" Icon_minitimeSat Dec 29, 2012 10:41 pm

So, I finally got my CB and antenna installed and all tuned up, just needed a trip to try it out. This Friday I got that chance at the Gulches. Switched it on, turned to channel 17 and we're off.

Next thing you know, I'm hearing people from Indiana, Houston, TX, and California? That's right, I asked everyone else and no one else seemed to be having the same problem. It became very annoying as evertime I wanted to transmit something, someone from "The Hoosier State" is cutting in.

Having served in the Army for a little bit, I am familiar with HF radios "bouncing" their signal off the atmosphere and the earth to communicate over great distances, but never heard of a ham radio doing it, much less a CB picking it up, but appearantly it is fairly common.

Unfortunately, channel 17 is one of the more popular channels for this, so we might want to look at a mid-range alternative when conditions are favorable for "DX".

Not everyone likes skip. In some areas the local channel people talk on might be channel 17 (one of the most common skip talking channels) and when skip starts to happen it makes local conversations very difficult. Most operators jump at the chance to talk some skip but others only see it as a disruption to their local conversations. If possible in those cases the local stations will often turn up their RF gain so they can only hear each other, but there isn’t really anything you can do about skip as mother nature is in control.

The whole article for your reading pleasure...http://cbradiomagazine.com/Articles/How%20to%20Shoot%20Skip.htm
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MadToy
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PostSubject: Re: "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX"   "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX" Icon_minitimeSun Dec 30, 2012 12:31 am

What range of channels do we have to choose from, and are any considered off limits?
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NC FJ Driver
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PostSubject: Re: "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX"   "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX" Icon_minitimeSun Dec 30, 2012 9:50 am

Well, most radio's have channels 1 through 40. A little reading and ...

9 is the Emergency Channel.

19 is the Truckers Channel, the one you'll hear Rubber Ducky talking about Smokies on. In some states on the interstate, 19 is the east/west channel (i.e. I-40), 17 is the north/south channel (i.e. I-85)

17 is also the most popular "Skip Channel" discussed in the link in the original post, although it can occur on any channel, and is also popular in the upper channels.

4 is popular with 4x4 groups for some reason..? Wink

36-40 are the "LSB" (lower sideband) channels, which after much reading, means something to some people, but not much to me Question

Like Southeast Overland pointed out, "A more central channel number in the middle of the CB channel spectrum (20 +/-) would work better for reception across differently tuned CBs."

So really, all channels are available to us, makes sense to stay near the middle of the frequency spread, after Friday I'd like to avoid 17, probably makes sense to stay away from channels next door to 19 (18 and 20 in case there is any bleed over [dont know if this is even possible?])...other than that, its up to us.

I guess we can even stay with 17, and have a planned alternate if conditions are supporting people in Oregon stepping on us since skip is dependant on conditions?
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Merfal
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PostSubject: Re: "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX"   "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX" Icon_minitimeSun Dec 30, 2012 11:04 am

Or everyone could go ham and then we'd have a wide range of freq's and no worries of interference Very Happy
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PostSubject: Re: "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX"   "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX" Icon_minitimeSun Dec 30, 2012 11:13 am

Merfal wrote:
Or everyone could go ham and then we'd have a wide range of freq's and no worries of interference Very Happy

Do you still have to send/receive morse code to a certain count, 7/7 are the numbers that come to mind, to get your ham license? Crying or Very sad That would be a "limiting factor" with me if thats the case! Very Happy
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Merfal
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PostSubject: Re: "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX"   "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX" Icon_minitimeSun Dec 30, 2012 11:25 am

No morse code requirement. It's actually pretty easy to get a tech class license. There is a question pool of about 400 questions that every question on the test comes from.
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Merfal
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PostSubject: Re: "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX"   "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX" Icon_minitimeSun Dec 30, 2012 11:26 am

When I initially earned my tech class license all I did was memorize the questions in the pool.
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fjdarrell
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PostSubject: Re: "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX"   "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX" Icon_minitimeSun Dec 30, 2012 11:41 am

Damn 400 questions....
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Merfal
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PostSubject: Re: "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX"   "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX" Icon_minitimeSun Dec 30, 2012 11:52 am

Lol, it's really not that bad. I used qrz.com and just went down the list of questions till I had seen them all a couple of times. They have practice tests as well.
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Merfal
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PostSubject: Re: "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX"   "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX" Icon_minitimeSun Dec 30, 2012 11:58 am

I just double checked it's 396 questions. That's easier than the 1158 I remembered for the general and extra exams.

A tech class license is plenty for what most people do btw. You don't need a general or extra class license.
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PostSubject: Re: "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX"   "Shooting Skip, ...a.k.a "DX" Icon_minitime

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