YouTube Channel Update

I posted the first video on my CB Radio YouTube channel on the 6th February 2016, very shortly after obtaining my Charlie Tango Call sign.  I only realised quite recently that it has therefore been two years since this YouTube channel was created.

I started the Channel just as a way to record my progress in the CB Radio hobby and initially posted footage of me first getting set up on CB Radio both as a home base set up in my garage but also as a mobile set up in my car and even a number of portable activations around the country last Summer

By early February last year I’d attracted about 80 YouTube subscribers.  i decided then to start a Blog Site and started to post regular CB Radio posts on that.  Over the course of the last year I’ve been putting a lot more work into the Channel and had a great summer last year heading out to various bits of the country doing a number of CB Radio DX Activations.  The summer also gave me the chance to fly my new drone and I managed to capture some pretty good footage whilst out and about.

I also launched a new CB Radio site called ‘The Breakers Yard’ and have put a lot of work into building that along withe two UK and US Amazon affiliates sites I have put together.

The winter time is generally a bad time for Radio range because of the lack of Sunshine so the airwaves generally quieten down during the summer months so it was the ideal time to focus down on producing some new CB Radio videos indoors in the warm.

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Free CB Radio Giveaway

Back in January I posted a video about YouTube’s Demonetisation of smaller YouTube channels as at the time I only had 500 subscribers and would need to have at least 1,000 Subscribers before the deadline of 20th February This Year.

I was planning to do a Prize Giveaway once I got to 1,000 subscribers anyway so decided to promote my YouTube channel by offering the chance to win their own brand new CB Radio to new subscribers.

In my video I stated that in order to enter the prize draw for a UK/EU 80 Channel AM/FM CB Radio you had to comment ‘I subscribed’ and also to ‘like’ the video.  I also asked that in order to help me achieve the other criteria of the YouTube Partner Program changes which requires 4,000 hours of watch in the last 365 days people stayed a watched a playlist of the other videos on my YouTube videos.

I did a review of the CRT One on my YouTube channel back in December 2016 and this is the upgraded CRT One N which also has a signal meter.  You can check out the video by following this link :- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stOP60Pnr0c

The response to this video was amazing and it helped me to easily achieve the objectives of 4,000 hours and 1,000 subscribers required to allow my channel to continue to be monetised well in advance of the deadline and the response to the giveaway was astounding!

i was planning to close entry to the Prize Draw when I achieved the 1,000 subscribers but as I managed to achieve it early I have kept the entry window open until the end of February.

So its now early March and as promised I’m now going to do the actual Prize Draw and everyone who subscribed since that video went out and followed the other steps needed to qualify for the Prize Draw will be added to the list of names who then will be automatically entered into a random draw.

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New CB Radio Playlists 2018

If you have visited this site fairly recently you might already realise that I have been posting a huge amount of new CB Radio content on this site in recent months and in fact have been posting literally every single day since the first day of January.

This work equates to over 60 new YouTube videos as well as detailed web articles covering a vast array of different CB Radio topics from getting set up on CB Radio to more advanced radio theory about Single Side Band and Amateur Radio in General.

As there is so much new content I’ve decided to organise them into separate playlists as well as different website pages broadly organised into separate CB Radio related themes.

Hopefully this will help you to be able to find the type of information you are looking for and should make it easier to watch a specific series of videos as well as read through the same specific information on my website that relates to the CB Radio topic that you are interested in.

As there is such a huge amount of information I am hoping that you will be able to find something that you will find useful and hopefully will enjoy watching the videos enough that you subscribe to the my YouTube channel so that you are kept informed of new content as it is created.

https://www.youtube.com/c/26ct1994

My YouTube channel has been running for over two years now and there’s a lot of good CB Radio videos available from it.  I also post new content every week so there is always something new to enjoy.

My website ‘The Breakers Yard’ has been running since late 2017 and already is chock full of interesting CB Radio related articles as well as links to my Amazon Affiliate CB Radio stores for both the UK and America so please take the time to explore both my YouTube channel as well as my new Website.

As I said I have organised my most recent content into new playlists which you can find by going either to my YouTube channel or by clicking the appropriate links on the sidebar of my Website.

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Crossing the Finish Line

Today is quite a memorable day for me!  As it marks the end of a continuous streak of new content on this site for 60 days!  As many of you will already realise I have been posting new content on this site (as well as on my YouTube channel) every day since the 1st of January this year and this represents the last day of 'The 60 Day Challenge'

Firstly I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been following the progress, joining in by adding comments and sharing both the videos and blog posts on the social networks such as Facebook and Instagram.

Your feedback is always gratefully accepted and its given me the motivation and impetus to keep going and complete the who;e challenge and believe me it has been a huge amount of work.


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What are the Division Codes?

When someone gives out a call sign on amateur or CB Radio it usually consists of various numbers and letters of the alphabet.  An example of such a call sign is my own 26CT1994.

When used on the Radio it is pronounced "Two, Six, Charlie, Tango, One, Nine, Nine, Four".  This is to ensure that each part of the call sign is sent separately for ease of legibility.  The phonetic use of the letters is also important to the legibility of the call sign.

Usually the letters denote the Radio Club that the operator is part of and the last few numbers are their unique identifier of the operator themselves.

The first numbers used in a call sign, in this ccase "26", 'Two, Six' is known as the division code and denotes what area of the world that operator is broadcasting from.

The Division Codes used in the UK are

Division 26 - England
Division 163 - Wales
Division 108 - Scotland
Division 29 - Ireland

Countries around the world have each been given a division code to identify the geographic location of the radio operator.  Division codes are integrated into a radio operators call sign to denote which country they are calling from.

Below is a breakdown of the division codes by country followed by country by code.




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CB Radio Nets

The common trend of thought is that CB Radio is dead.  Most people accept that since nowadays we have mobile phones, PCs and all other types of digital devices there is no longer a need to communicate with others over the radio.

Even people who still own a CB Radio complain that there is no one else out there and there's no point in putting a call out anymore or even turning the CB Radio on these days but the real truth is that over the last few years more and more people are returning to CB radio as a hobby and in fact in most parts of the Country there is usually an organised net taking place on one night or other of the week and a lot of these nets are very popular especially in the summer.

The chances are that there is a CB Radio net in your local area at least one night of the week and if you had your rig switch on at the right time and tuned to the correct frequency you might start picking up the odd signal.

To stand the best chance of getting good signals is to drive out to some height ground in the right area and the specified day and time and sit on the channel.  If you hear nothing you should try putting the odd call out and if nothing still comes back then try a few of the adjacent channels to see if they have needed to move off of the planned frequency.

So in order to get the best from your CB Radio it pays to know when these nets are taking place and the best way to find out is by looking on the internet.  Most radio clubs will promote their own nets and you would be able to find still more info on lots of Facebook Groups as well as mentions on various YouTube videos.

Someone was kind enough to create a google map which lists a full directory of different nets taking place each week.  These are constantly being added to as the list continues to grow

Here is the Google Maps link

In face, heading out to the countryside on a summers Sunday afternoon is an especially enjoyable way to spend your time and either driving up to a well known high point or a quick ramble through the hillside with the appropriate kit and setting up a portable station for a few hours is really great fun especially if you get a load of calls in your log book on the day.

This tends to be how a lot of folk enjoy their radios and it is the obvious benefits of enjoying the radio that is bringing more and more people back to it as a hobby even in 2018




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Portable CB Radio

One of the best ways to use a CB Radio is to venture out into the countryside, head up a hillside and run your CB Radio from there.  The benefit of this is that you will be out in wide open space at a good height and this vastly improves your range especially if you normally run your CB Radio from a built up area.

Usually the easy round this problem is to run your CB Radio mobile and drive up to a better location but the other option is to run your CB Radio completely portable with a battery and take down antenna.

In order to run your CB Radio portable you will need to have a long hard think about exactly what equipment you are going to need to take with you.  Often this will need to include some form of shelter to keep you and your equipment out of any bad weather, your aerial and whatever equipment you might need to erect it, how you intend to power your CB Radio usually some kind of battery or collection of batteries and of course the CB Radio itself.

In most cases you will be driving to your chosen location and then walk the final distance, usually up a steep incline and will typically be away from your car for several hours.  This will mean that you will also need to bring any food or drinks you will need while out with you.

By the time you account for all of the equipment you will need along with all of the other items you will need you'll quickly realise that the bulk and weight of this type of equipment creates a series of challenges when wanting to carry a backpack up to an appropriate vantage point for an afternoon.
Here are some useful ideas if you are planning to run a CB Radio portable in the future



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