Feb. 2008

CB Was Alive & Well In Germany in 1973

What's this have to do with Amateur radio? Nothing, I suppose, other than many hams, whether they admit it or not, got their start in CB radio.

My first exposure to CB radio was a 1964 Christmas gift of a pair of "Space Phone" walkie talkies. At 12 years old, this was like science fiction come true for me. I loaned one to my best friend who lived next door and we must have went though 50 batteries before it was over. The only bad feature of the Space Phones was the lack of a squelch circuit. I had almost gotten used to the background hiss, when I ran into some kids a few blocks over that had set without the hiss!

I enjoyed listening to the mobile and base stations around town who happened to be on channel 14.

Anyway, right before my 1972 - 74 stay in Germany, I was stationed at Ft. Hood, Texas. There, I bought a Midland 5-watt CB walkie talkie at a local pawn shop. I had a lot of fun with it talking the Ft. Hood and Killeen locals for awhile, then I sold it to someone in my unit..

Then it was off to Deutschland.

During my tour of duty watching grass grow on top of earth-covered bunkers with secret contents, I found out that a couple of my co-workers had also been exposed to CB radio in civilian life. One thing lead to another and before long we decided to figure out how to get our hands on a couple of transceivers.

My plan was to have my mother send me a Montgomery Ward catalog, from which I placed an order for a Midland 13- mobile rig, and trunk-mount antenna.

For some reason, my partners in CB crime changed their collective minds and decided not to go radio active.

Well, I decided to go ahead with my plans, even if I had to talk to myself on the radio. I placed my order from the Montgomery Ward catalog, and after about 6 weeks, the antenna arrived. Not knowing much about antennas at the time, I had unknowingly order the hole-in-the-trunk type mount. I didn't care. I punched a hole in that VW sedan's trunk and mounted that baby. Then a few weeks later, the radio arrived.

In no time at all I had it installed under the dash and ready to go. License? I had a license but it was back in the states. Not that it would have done me much good in Germany without jumping through some major bureaucratic hoops. I'm not even sure such hoops existed for CB radio.

When I fired up the radio, and scanned the channels, I noticed, to my surprise, a lot a relatively local traffic, both German civilians and American GIs.

The Germans were really into CB radio and there were plenty of "bootleggers" to be found. I called them bootleggers since they were using "handles" and not call signs. Of course, all the local Americans I heard were also using handles. And they were all having a good time and I soon joined in.

I met one GI on a nearby housing area and he invited me over to see his modest station. Somehow he managed to get aground plane antenna on the roof. It probably helped that he was on the second floor. While there he struck up a conversation with another local. While this conversation played out, there was a knock on the door.

It seems that we were causing some RFI to the next apartment. A GI was trying to record some record albums onto tape and our QSO was being recorded also. We offered to check out his system and he agreed.

Upon entering his apartment I saw record albums, out of their jackets, laid out over the sofa and a chair. While the CB guy was checking out the recording equipment, I noticed that out presence had exited the recording guys poodle. He got so excited that he jumped up on the sofa and tromped all over the albums. The sound of his claws on that wax was horrifying. I'm sure none of those records ever played correctly again!

I don't think we were liked very much after that. Anyway, I don't remember what happened to the RFI problem and I never went back for another visit. I did, however, continue to talk to RFI man on the radio. I don't even remember his handle.

One of my favorite contacts was a German national who worked as a firefighter on a nearby U.S. base. We met up and even swapped radios once.

After a while, a few other members of my unit bought radios and that gave me even more folks to chat with.

We never heard from any government officials concerning our activity, nor did we hear of anyone else, German, or American, running into trouble. One reason could be due to the low power levels we all used.

If there had been a way to get a ton of CB radios in through customs, I could have made a killing with the Germans. They loved those things back then.

If I had it to do all over again, I would have obtained my Amateur Radio license before heading for Germany, and taken some ham gear with me. But, you know what they say about hindsight!

73,

WF5TX