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Sophie: Lissen, whoever you are. I know the FCC as well as you. First thing you gotta do is indentify yourself, which you dint do. Secondly, I'll have you know the FCC can come to my house and examine me any time they so desire. I operate a clean rig. 10-4 . . .
Rule Tightening. A clean rig, says the FCC, has a maximum of five watts input, and has an antenna that reaches no higher than 20 ft. above the structure on which it is mounted. Adequate CB equipment, consisting basically of two transceivers (combination transmitter and receiver) and antenna, is marketed by a long list of reputable manufacturers, including Lafayette, Hammarlund, Halli-crafters, RCA and Heath, averages out at a cost of about $300. A typical, medium-priced transceiver operates on eight crystal-controlled channels providing locked-in transmitting frequencies in much the same manner as pushbuttons work on any radio. In addition, receivers have tuning dials that cover the whole spectrum of the 23 channels, just as an ordinary radio tuning dial covers the commercial broadcasting stations.
But CB has simply got too big for its frequencies. For every license there are as many as a dozen rigs, all being operated by the owners, or their employees, or their families. CB has become a $50 million-a-year business for the manufacturers and spawned magazines like CB Horizons and 59 (ham talk for "loud signal"). Even children yak away on CB for hours. In walkie-talkie form, this is no problem, since these little portable jobs do not carry very far. But come summer, the FCC plans to tighten its rules for owners of the big. multichannel CB rigs. Among proposed changes: cutting the time limit of conversations to three min utes, and restricting communications between different stations to five channels only; the remaining 18 channels would be used exclusively for communications between different units of the same station—from truck to dispatcher, for example, or from car to home. CBers might well take the advice of Mrs. C. J. ("Koot") Easley. 8W2O52, who wrote in a recent issue of 59:
So use your rig with particular care—Or Fox Charley Charley [FCC] may soon be here.
He's armed with pink tickets and show cause why—And you better be ready with a quick reply.
So all you CBers out in CB land
Make real good use of your CB Band.
Good luck and best wishes to you, you and you,
It's 10-7 time from 8W2052.
-'— 10-7: leaving the air: 10-4: message received.