CB Ham radio for the Apocalypse! 

The wizard doesn't always buy new toys, but when he does, he buys 3

The wizard is preparing for the zombie apocalypse.

I remember in the early 80's my dad had his own CB shop. He had 2 CB. He had a Ham International and a Cobra 148. I remember him talking to America a few times. The best memory is when Dad turned on the Ham International on and we were listening to astronauts and their first flight in the shuttle. While watching it all happens on TV.

Allen as a CB and a licensed ham radio operator I appreciate you putting a spotlight on the radio hobby’s I found it satisfying to hear the gator stations and Mexican powerhouse stations as you’re first stops. I can’t encourage you enough to get you’re amateur operators license you will learn a lot and have a lot of fun also get a base station antenna at the fortresses and remember CB is limited to 4wats am.

I am in the UK and those radios are sold under different names, Alinco and Superstar are a couple. Astatic made the best ever selling CB microphone called the Teardrop, 30 years ago you could buy them new in the UK for about £40, now nice ones fetch around £100. I used to work at a Truck Stop repairing CB's and could fix most problems on the spot, I hold all three (Ham) Amateur Radio licences and I am also an RSGB Registered Assessor and help people to get their first licence (foundation license). CB is pretty much dead here in the UK but I still have a house full of CB and Amateur radio equipment, you will know if you have the SWR meter wired up wrong as the needles will move backwards. If you are going to put that Aerial up at the fortress get as big of a metal sheet that you can to put it on as they do need a good ground plane, Good luck Alan.

amytime the Wizard nerds out on something its always interesting

I definitely recommend getting your Ham license...super easy to do, and opens up a whole world of possibilities...

Hello Alan. It's really wonderful to see you so excited about your new ability to communicate. Now your really cookin, hammers, vice grips, CB/Ham radio and so much more. Congratulations, as a 'old fart' you're making me jealous of all that you are doing. Keep it up. All us subscribers out her are living vicariously through you and your adventures/projects.

Hey Alan. The antenna is 75% of the radio. Get a base antenna for the fortress and ground it. You will not regret following my advice. You and I have a lot in common. Also I love your new radio!!

Alan, I started with CB as a kid and finally got my HAM license. 30 plus years later, I am still having a blast! I am always learning something new. Give it a try. You won’t be sorry! 10 meters has been hot lately!

Seriously, get the Ham license. It’s easy, doesn’t cost much, and being able to use ALL the ham channels anytime you want can be fun. I’ve been a “no code Tech” for over 20 years. I used to do Skywarn (storm spotting) on the local Ham repeater. I haven’t been active for a few years since I started working as a nurse, but I should dust off the old Ham Shack and make sure everything still works. Some day I’d love to contact the ISS (International Space Station) 73’s! -KC8EKM

There is a thing called HAM cram, where you spend about 4 hours learning and then you take the technician test. Typically 90% or more pass. Then you can use the technician frequencies for 10 years. I know you are very busy but spending a Saturday doing that is rewarding.

Your strenght and will are so unbelievable, working full time with sparks and fixing your fortress... Watching all theway from the Philippines 🇵🇭 with ❤

Allen is correct. Antenna makes the unit. Low watts and a good antenna out preforms high watts and no poor antennas.

I had a CB with a quarterwave antenna in my car and could talk to people in New Zealand from Australia, good luck with the range Alan.

THIS! I'm a truck driver and see so many new guys out here with no radio. Great to have somebody out here advocating for CB/HAM radio. Mine isn't ham but one day. I've got an amplifier on it putting off 350 watts so I can get out a few thousand miles with the right conditions.

Thank you Wizard! 👁️ You couldn't have picked a better time to upload this information. My wife and I are about to pull the trigger on an RV and a ham radio is on our list. 📻👍

I bought old thoughts. Cb radio back 70's . I have people in California from Michigan. Michigan to Texas, so on. With regular base unit. I still have Cb radio in storage now.

I really enjoyed messing about with radios and CBs when I was young, this was a blast from the past for me. 😊

Cannot wait to see the radio work. Watching from Malaysia 🇲🇾🇲🇾🇲🇾🇲🇾

1:11 that moon on you right shoulder is super cool shot

This is a person who has more ideas than time or money. Which is much better than having no ideas but lots of time and money.

Ever since my elementary school years i remember building crystal radios, I've always been fascinated with the electronics hobby, I was given an old Webster tube type CB that required a plug in crystal for each channel, CB was fun and most people followed the FCC rules, this was back in the 60's, now days CB has gone to hell with many running excessive power (400+watts) just trying to talk over the dog pile to someone one mile away, A friend introduced me to Amateur radio, I studied to get a license, got me general class, had to learn morse code and lots of rules and regulations, everybody uses their real name on the air and none of the garbage type talk rampant on CB, FCC issues a call sign you announce when you transmit to talk, the hobby is fun clean and rewarding. Amateur radio is recognized by many government agencies as a helping hand during times of disaster and are often called upon. So for all you guy's and gal's out there who stumble across our bands, PLEASE get your license and operate responsibly, the world will be proud of you!

❤ I bought my first CB radio in 1975. Royce 1-602A 40 ch. Would do 5 watts lol. Back then you had to have a license. Mine was KWF-4942. I have had many radios but my favorite one was the President HR 2510. AM,FM,USB,LSB.CW. I modified it to get frequencies 26.000.0 - 28.690 Mhz. I hardly ever used the regular 40 channels. I used the lower channel 26.090.0 LSB and talked all over the world. Had friends who I would talk to on a almost daily basis in England R.I.P. JOE., talked with at least 6 truck drivers in Arizona, New Mexico, California or sometimes wherever they were in the United States at different times of the day. Didn't have to use much power to talk to them but my radio would do 55 watts on side band plus I had a good tube type leannier/kicker built by SCOUT-500 it would make 950 watts. I have cards from people from all over the world using that radio. I did all of the alignment of the radio myself and ALWAYS had a SWR/POWER/ANTENNA TUNER hooked up directly to the radio and another power/SWR meter between the amplifier and the antenna. I never did get a ham license but I didn't have any problem talking to my friends and family. For my truck I had another HR-2510 with the 101 inch whip antenna and a 4 stage Texas Star amplifier. It would put out 1000 watts. Had to use the big coax with double shield ground wire 98% shield so no RF leakage through the coax. ALAN I STILL HAVE THE SWR/POWER/ANTENNA TUNER IF YOU WANT IT. If you're only going to talk on the 40 CB channels you may not need it just make sure when you set your antenna up where you are going to use it that you adjust your antenna on channel 20 and try to set the to 1.5 or less and remember it doesn't take much movement of the antenna up or down to make a difference in the SWR. I WOULD NEVER TALK ON A RADIO WITH THE ANTENNA HAVING A BAD SWR OF 2.5 OR HIGHER. HIGH SWR AND A RADIO THAT HAS 40 WATTS OUTPUT IS BAD FOR THE FINAL OUTPUT TRANSISTOR IF YOU TALK A LOT. MOST MAGIC MOUNT ANTENNAS IN MY OPINION DO NOT PREFORM VERY WELL AND ALWAYS HAVE A HIGH SWR NO MATTER WHAT. THAT IS WHERE THE ANTENNA TUNER COMES IN HANDY. USING THE TUNER WILL FOOL YOUR RADIO JUST ADJUST IT TO A 1.5 SWR AND YOU WILL NEVER DAMAGE YOUR RADIO. ALWAYS SET YOUR ANTENNA AS CLOSE TO 1.5 OR LESS IF YOU CAN BUT IF YOU CANNOT THE TUNER WILL HELP IF YOU HAVE LIKE A 3 SWR JUST USE THE TUNER AND SET IT TO 1.5 UNTIL YOU GET A BETTER ANTENNA.

Takes me back to being 4 years old. 50 years ago‼️‼️‼️‼️ Mom & Dad were in a CB club. Used them for farming communication as well. We stopped using CB’s about 1995.

My dad was a licensed HAM radio operator. One of the things his Ham radio group was responsible for watching for weather advisories to pass to other HAM radio operators. This was way before weather radar was available. I remember when there was a tornado came through the area where we lived in the early 1970s..

Ham operator since high school. Easy to pass FCC technical test. 73 de KT1R

Congrats on your new radio. Looks like you will be set up well. Keep Smiling. Stay Safe. God BlessYou!❤🙏

You said you bought three of the same radio, I would suggest that you take one and put it inside of a large military metal ammo box along with the mike, and the coil of the antenna. If we have a EMP attack at least that radio would have some protection otherwise it would get fried.

Nice, I’ve been wanting to put a SSB in my sailboat. Got to love the ionosphere. Great Video

From way back in the 70's I, was a CB nut. Had my reliable JC Penny, 23 channel radio in my Ford Pinto. Had a few handles; that was what we called our radio names, Hunter, Night Owl and then one was given to me in the USAF, SNAFU. Seemed everything I did or anywhere I went a problem would occur from a whole different area, or machine. That curse has stayed with me ever since.

Just make sure you have a couple in your faraday cage, in the event of an EMP.

Awesome job on getting your CB Ham. Keep up the great work.

Back in the 90s my father and Uncle used to talk to people in Scandinavia and in Australia and my dad also had a friend in Alaska with their ham radios from New York

Those were our cell phones back in the day , I had the Cobra 2000 base with the echo mic . And in the truck the Galaxy General Lee

Hi Alan, I was a CB radio in the 80’s, I lived in a road terrace type thing, but I had a chimney so with a few metal brackets for the Ariel but a cable so it was helping the movement of the aerial. I had a 20 foot high antenna which helped me reach nearly reached to gateway airport area, I had a booster in-line to add power, I could transmit only south England, the reason for that was tower blocks between my Birds Eye view to the north. I lived in north east of London so I could reach about 50 miles. It’s great with your fortress holding the antennas high , you reach would be brilliant, as for the ham radio, it was something that I got involved with. Great job Alan AKA The Wizard.

Are you call yourself The Wizard. Enjoyed your lessons today, until next video.Your always thinking ahead.Love them!

Thanks for your video. I was big into shortwave and loved it. I built my own antennas a long wire and a dipole and could listen to the ham radio guys from all over depending on the conditions.

Thanks for the video Alan I love CB I've had CBS for 40 years and I enjoy him a lot they're very good for information from talking to people to keep from falling asleep and above all emergencies I know you know this but don't forget to match the antenna to the radio thank you for the video

Great vid Allan.. We just had one of our big mobile phone/internet carriers drop out for a fair few hours last week here in Australia. The media downplayed it but it was definitely a wake up call for a lot of people.

Good going Mr. Allen. A good 5/8 wavelength ground plane antenna mounted high on top of the Mountain Fortress will get out rather well. And a little heat wont heart either. You will be what was called a "Big Strap". Back in the old days of tube radios CB guys would bypass a resistor in the CB Radio power supply circuit and get an extra watt or two out of it. Not a big effective increase but mentally you got out better. Kind of like driving with open headers, its mental thing I think. I drive thru Utah at least twice a year looking for property, what channel do you hand out on. Great video keep em coming.

Thanks for sharing my info Alan!

Alan, Thats a real sweet Radio! With a nice Base Antenna You will be able to do some talking for sure! Keep up the great work and look forward to Your next update after You got it all set up. 👍

A really great video you put up. I just put up a 5 antenna Pole. With HF UHF VHF scanner and two CB radios. Like you said with everything coming down thank you for sharing your video it's great

Moms 5 brothers were truckers dad set up a big tower to talk with them as they drove thru the midwest lots folks from around the earth would just pop up

Alan, you've inspired me! I purchased a CB for our van 4 years ago but haven't installed it yet. Gonna get 'er done. Thanks!

Great video…I was thinking about buying one..keep the videos coming!

I also think that you should make the HAM license. It takes time to learn, but I think you are the right person for this.

Cb radio is very while alive all frequencies it's making a come back just listen to channel 6 or 28 can hear station's all over the world. We use cb everyday here in wv.... Allen where the fort is you would be able to talk all over definitely look at linear amplifiers and a base station antenna also. Hopefully hear you on the air. 73s

Thanks man. Appreciate the heads up and prepatory concerns. Your a good man..

You have the most interesting content! I have these things called Power Talkies that are supposed to function like phones but without service but I got them out a few days ago and they never did work but I was hoping they would start working or something lol.. no such luck! CB's & Ham are the tried & true way to go

Wow Alan, your making me want to get my CB and Ham Radios out again (UK), Uses to talk to American Truck drivers ( When conditions was right ) This was back early 80's/90's . Its was great fun. 10-10 until next time.

CB is a great option and those 11 meter radios are awesome if you ever need to turn up the power and reach somebody. I just discovered your channel today and have been watching a few of your recent videos. Can't wait to see the fortress complete! Just a side note from a HAM / GMRS guy. Most of the off-road community has moved from CB to GMRS because it works just outside the 70cm band and allows up to 50 watts. It won't skip off the atmosphere like a CB but the signal propagation is quite different. This is an over-simplification, but imagine a low gain antenna puts out the signal in a donut shape pattern. It can sort of go over hills and obstacles, but doesn't reach very far. A high gain antenna is more like a pancake. It goes farther but doesn't work so well at reaching someone over a nearby hill. Might be worth checking out with your terrain up there. Could even setup your own GMRS repeater using channels 15 through 22. I still prefer HAM because of the repeaters, digital modes, and other options though.

as always you find stuff most people don't even think of good job be safe god bless

Allen make sure you set your swr reading on you rado. Matches antenna and radio for better performance. Your looking for a 1.1 to a 1.3 on your metet.

I agree with other posts a good antenna, grounded properly will be huge. The higher or taller the better. I once lived on top of a hill in town I lived in. Adding a 20 foot pipe over top of roof got me range similar to a directional antenna. The side band was easy way to add range and clarity when trying to use atmospheric skip.

Nice video , I’ve just purchased the Anytome 5555nv2 , I’m in the uk and like you I’m getting prepped! I do like the feature of separate cb channel counter on your crt ! Hopefully once all setup I’ll try and find you on air my friend! 73 👍

Alan great video.. I'm a CB and ham here in Scotland there are so many modes for communication on ham.. but cb when the Skip ( conditions are right) I van Talk with the States..France,Germany and even Australia.. I had one of the radios you used but earlier version where you had to open up to program... I hope your Handle on Radio is Wizard😅..

Looks cool, and safe, and sound!

It’s funny I literally did a search for best ham, radio for the apocalypse. I can’t believe your channel popped up lol. Love you guys and everything you guys do. Truck driver from Central Oregon.

Alan, The Wizard knows everything about anything !

My dad had a cb Radio o the apartment that was on all the time as he listened to people as well as the police and the ambulance. And he could talk to people too

Very cool. Would be neat to set up a time/channel so we could start a "talk with Alan" club

The Apocalypse is coming pretty quick Allen, I hope you can get your castle all setup in time

Hi from the UK just subscribed enjoy the the channel 🇺🇲🇬🇧

You're so smart, passing your Technician exam will be a cake walk. That ham signal you heard was upper sideband. WØRHP

Ranger makes a great radio that is CB and HAM capable.

Pursue a ham radio license, go for whatever they call the highest level now. It will expand your options greatly. Other modes include packet/APRS, Slow Scan T.V. and the most reliable of all, C.W. (continuous wave aka morse code). I've been out of the loop for a while, but I think there are other "modes" in the digital world that are now an option. With the top license, you could even do E.M.E. (Earth-Moon-Earth, or 'moon bounce'). I'm an 'old school' ham operator, every license level was hard fought for. I had to go to the Federal Building to take the theory test to get my tech level license. 10 years later I decided to double down and get my 13 wpm code test and get my General class. By then, testing was being handled by higher class operators in the local clubs. They took the 20 wpm test first, and I decided to participate as a "warm up" for 13 wpm. I passed it. They could have pushed me over with a feather at that point, until they told me I had one year to get my extra class theory or I would have to take the code test over again ... suddenly, I'd made more work for myself. It's been worth it, though. The mode I've enjoyed the most? SSTV! We were trading MEME's long before it became a thing on the internet! Most surprising contact was a man named Chester that lived in Tennessee (let's see how many figure that one out!).

years ago i had a friend who was on the east coast of australia talking to someone on the west coast, but they were both using a directional beam antenna's facing towards the coast (west coast facing west and east coast facing east), they were chatting to each other all around the globe via "skip".

We purchased the CRT SS6900v this past summer in Romania....cost was about $270 Super clean audio and no ignition noise ....covers 25 to 31 Mhz

CB radio has been around and popular since the 70's.

The age old radio maxim: "A watt is a lot and antenna is _everything!"_ There's a really effective antenna design you can build yourself out of coax called a Bazooka, or even better yet a double Bazooka (a dipole like "rabbit ears" vs a single vertical whip). There's several videos how to make them and I've got a couple tricks of my own to make them a cleaner design if you're interested.

The SWR bridge you are inserting inline between the radio and antenna does not need to stay there if you don't want. This model is useful for measuring output power of the radio, but also for measuring the standing wave of the transmitted signal. In other words how much power is not accepted by the antenna and reflected back to the radio. It is also useful for tuning the antenna bor the lowest returned power. Longer antennas work on lower frequencies. Shorter antennas work better on highter frequencies. if you adjust tha antenna so that the SWR is the same on channel 1 as it is on channel 40 you will have a lower SWR on the channels between. If you do get a Technician class Amateur Radio licens you will be authorized to use frequencies above 50 Megahertz. For lower long distance frequencies you will need a General class or higher license. Your review of this radio is very good and I will look into locating them and possibly offer them with my service/repair offerings.

I’ve had CBs for 60 years , was a trucker in the old days, keep one in all my vehicles. Some are single side bands like what you’ve bought. I’ve got my 27 meg. license but never could pass the test for ham. I can imagine what all your got to be able to receive up on the mountain.

When I was a kid in Minnesota, I would park on the ice and pack snow around the tires. Pour water on the snow and listen all around the country. Wonderful memories. Let's be friends. Your a worker my friend. Brian

that sounded like LSB mode. nice video keep it up.

In the mid 70's I used to drive Truck in the Western States. I had a 200wat Bi-linier amp on the CB and perfectly tuned dual antennas. If I was crossing Donner Pass I could reach a long, long way. In those days the police in Lewiston Idaho found if by parking in a certain spot along the RR Tracks they could talk to Florida in the City Police Car most any night.

FYI that radio is an Anytone AT-5555 PLUS rebranded I'm a Ham also on the 10 meter band they use USB

Ive just bought the CRT SS 7900V, for my Motorhome.Have not installed it yet.

Nice, all your videos are interesting to watch.

Good video. Glad you Mentioned that a license is required

Good one i have a cobra in my truck and gere the skip all day long lol take care be safe 🙏

Great radios man I got one a few years ago in England still have it mine is the 8800 use a Sirio 4000 megawatt antenna works a treat. Fred in the shed RU-vid channel he loves these and does some awesome tutorials 🤠🇦🇺

good stuff, have the same setup!

Im a amateur radio operator here in tassie but the stryker radios are better for alot but what u need is a antenna analyzer as they are ALOT better than a SWR meter but u could check out the moxon antenna calculator or just a simple yagi and get alot more out of it and btw the 10M amateur band is USB from 28MHz to about 29MHz and then it goes FM and the VHF and UHF part theres a thing called tropospheric ducting and with a yagi u can bounce it off a mountain if ya not usin a repeater and that will extend the range

You need to get a multi-band HF transceiver. What you have is 10 meter radio that’s been modified to cover 11 meters. I would recommend a Icom 7300. And for god’s sake, get a docent base station antenna. The mag mount you have is fine for a mobile, get an Antron 99 for the fortress. Love that you are excited about radio. Sounds like you may have help but if you need some more advice on the subject I’ve been into CB and Ham radio for 50+ years. Enjoy!

Nice unit! I picked up a Yaesu FT3D hand held unit.. pretty good little radio in general, although I'd like to get something a little more powerful.

I run peaked and tuned Cobra 29s in 2 Jeeps and 1 in my tow pig with an amp. I also have GMRS hand-held radios.

Since I'm a general ham operator, my CB radio is my Yaesu 991a which had the MARS mod done so I can use it on 11 meters. Plus the fact that I have several old CB radios in the closet so I'm set for the apocalypse. I use an Antron 99 for my CB antenna. Of course I paid a good deal more than you did for your radios. Cheers & 73 from K9POW in eastern TN

Also look into a 102” stainless steel whip antenna with a large ball mount and heavy duty coil mount. It is a 1/4 waive antenna and will work well for 10 and 11 meter bands.

I didn’t know you were big into cb and ham I’m now a bigger fan of Alan and I hope to hear you on there sometime and say hello! I’m running a cobra s2000 with 75 foot tower Antron antenna and a Texas star 667v ;)

Breaker breaker. A few weeks ago, I installed a CB in my truck. I miss the days of listening and talking on the airwaves....boy times have changed, no truckers talking and bantering, nothing (up here in Alberta, Canada) At least i can listen to the skip on overcast days.

That thing can do SSB, that's all you need. Cool stuff man!

This is awesome. My Dad loves CB Radio. Wizard Alan you are awesome 😎

CRT radios are actually built by Anytone in china for CRT. Just labeled different .Anytone/CRT are about the best stable CB/10 meter units on the market today.Better than anything galaxy builds. I've been in the radio game since about 1964 and tried about everything ever sold.

Communication is very important in a crisis, so I hope you have people you can rely on to call for help or to give help to. ❤️👍🇺🇲

Hi Alan, glad to see you found the radio you wanted.

Nice radio Allen!

I used to talk to Hawai during summer from here in Sydney around 9am every morning for about 20 minutes then zip they would vanish. it was a lot of fun talkin to mini grass.

Thanks Alan😊