May 16, 2011

"CB radio remains one of the last lawless frontiers in the Mother Lode"

(I guess the following writer hasn't heard about 'pirate radio'!  His description of the cb field jammer is somewhat reminiscent of portable, automated pirate radio transmitters  that some pirates have used, sort of a "set it and forget it" deal-- more often used in Europe than the states, I believe.~  J.Poet)


CB radio hobbyist Jon Greener recently stumbled upon a weapon in a local war over control of the airwaves.

The device was buried at the foot of a tall pine tree in the forest south of Twain Harte. A long cable stretched from the homemade contraption to the tree’s snow-laden upper branches, where a camouflaged Citizens’ Band radio antenna dangled from a metal hook.

“Most people would think this was a bomb,” said Greener, 60, as he brushed aside some dirt and loaded the bizarre box into the back of his 1971 Dodge Tradesman van.

The crude device was comprised of a curious metal box of knobs and a Christmas light timer fastened to the top of a car battery with duct tape. It was spray-painted green, and a 50-foot-long coaxial cable was connected to the end of a 6-foot-tall truck antenna.

“When this thing turns on, you can’t hear anybody,” Greener said as he fiddled with the knobs on the disabled transmitter.

It was a “jammer,” and it was planted in the forest by a saboteur whose goal was to interrupt CB traffic between Sonora and Twain Harte, Greener said.

Read the rest:
http://www.uniondemocrat.com/20110429103424/News/Local-News/CB-radio-remains-one-of-the-last-lawless-frontiers-in-the-Mother-Lode


2 comments:

  1. Oh, radio, you do make me laugh. What is it about this hobby that makes us all a little crazy? Or did we start out crazy and gravitate toward the only hobby that would tolerate us?

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  2. yawn.. jam this article up the trash can it is non-sense even if that magic box had some massive amp cooking away a mystery power source it could never "jam" the band byond producing a highly annoying noise. Cell phones however.. can be disabled in wide areas with such a device. not legal to do of course.

    ReplyDelete

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