A Crummy Commercial

KMD9990 is a callsign, a CB callsign from the show: Doc Elliot I didn't remember the name of the show or the actor, but I remembered the call.  And on a TV show was probably the only time anyone ever identified on CB - and he did it each and every time he picked up the mic :) source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_4F925b4tk This video is a Spanish dub in rough shape so I didn't watch past the credits :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm   

I have been using the Midland FRS handie talkie radios to monitor for hunting activity.  It turns out that some hunters still use them but mostly the radio just scans.  As a result the Nimh batteries do run down so I thought I'd try charging them in place using the Midland charger: However when I took the radio out  of the charger and turned it on the display was all weird, like it was on channel 27 and there are only 14 channels on these sets - heck !  How can a battery charger do that to a radio ? So then I tried taking the batteries out and re-installing them - no help.  Then I took them out again and pressed all the buttons and turned on the audio (to discharge any internal caps) - no help.  Finally I put the batteries back in and then pressed and held the F (function) orange button while powering up - this worked !  It must act as a reset or ?? Anyway, that's it for the Talkie Killer, even though it is less convenient I will charge the batteries e...

I got out the FRS talkies thinking that maybe they are still used by hunters ?  Nope, haven't heard anything so far.  But one thing I did notice was the antenna, the rubber on the spiral antenna has cracked and gotten brittle.   Unfortunately there's no easy way to replace these - everybody hates Baofeng talkies but the antennas are easy to replace. And this was the intent of the FCC and Radio Shack, the FCC didn't want people to be able to use an FRS at home, possibly with higher potential for interference (especially with an external amplifier) - Radio Shack probably just wanted to have have another radio type to be able to sell. The only FRS that I recall with seperate antenna, the Radio Shack 21-1850: As I understand it the radio RF guts are in the antenna base, it connects to the power supply connector - the microphone also has the speaker/display and controls (the audio and control guts).  It was meant for mobile usage but I suspect some people stuck the antenn...

I was looking at the April 2023 issue of CQ Magazine: https://cq-amateur-radio.com/CQ-April-2023.pdf source (along with 5 other issues from 2023): https://cq-amateur-radio.com/  and came upon this blurb: And no, this is apparently NOT an April Fools joke, here is one of the Cobra models: https://www.crutchfield.com/S-faGtpjhb6gL/p_079CCBR75A/Cobra-75-All-Road.html here is a less expensive "classic" model: https://www.ebay.com/itm/115827762656 I dunno, I doubt there's a rebirth of CB due to FM but it might make CB more useful along with CTCSS.  These rigs don't appear to be hackable to 10 meters (or 12 ?) though. BTW, yes, I am always the last to know :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm