Posted-By: auto-faq 2.4ăArchive-name: radio/cb-faq/part1ăăRec.radio.cb Frequently Asked Questions (Part 1: Introduction)ă--------------------------------------------------------------ă[Last modified 2/9/93]ăăThis is a regular posting of frequently-asked questions (FAQ) on rec.radio.cb.ăIt is intended to summarize the more common questions on this newsgroup and toăhelp beginners get started. This saves network bandwidth and tries to maintainăa good signal-to-noise ratio in the discussions.ăăThe FAQ cannot always prevent people from posting repetitive questions. Butăeven if hundreds of questions get posted, it saves you from having to answerăthem hundreds of times. Also, a friendly pointer to the FAQ in your firstăanswer can help that person refer to the FAQ in the future. That is when weăcan begin to get a real savings of network bandwidth.ăăTo keep the size of each article down, the FAQ has been split into 4 parts:ăPart 1: IntroductionăPart 2: Getting StartedăPart 3: CommunicationăPart 4: Technical TriviaăăIf you are a new reader on rec.radio.cb, we suggest that you print and reviewăthe FAQ articles. If you are new to NetNews, please also see the news.newusersănewsgroup before posting any articles.ăăTable of Contentsă-----------------ăDates indicate last modification.ăăPart 1: Introductionă* Table of Contents (2/93)ă* Notes about adding questions & answers to this list (2/92)ă* Acknowledgements (1/93)ă* Notes on "Netiquette" (4/92)ăăPart 2: Getting Startedă* What is CB? (6/92)ă* Do I need a license to operate a CB radio? (1/93)ă - in the USA (6/92)ă - in Canada (2/93)ă - in the UK (6/92)ă - in Japan (6/92)ă - in Australia (1/93)ă - in France (6/92)ă - in Germany (6/92)ă - notes for all countries (6/92)ă* What are the CB Frequencies? (11/92)ă - in the USA (6/92)ă - in Canada (6/92)ă - in the UK (6/92)ă - in Australia (2/93)ă - in Japan (6/92)ă - in France (11/92)ă - in Germany (11/92)ă - in countries subscribing to the European CEPT conference (11/92)ă - in other countries (1/93)ă* What are the common brands of CB radios? (6/92)ă* What should I consider when choosing a location for my antenna? (7/92)ă* Once I hook up my CB and antenna, is the radio ready to use? (2/92)ă* What are good antenna characteristics and what are some good antennas? (6/92)ăăPart 3: Communicationă* Which 10-codes are most commonly used? (7/91)ă* What are the CB 10-codes? (7/91)ă* Where are 10-codes used? (3/92)ă* What are some of the more common Q-codes? (3/92)ă* What are some tips for communicating with others on the CB? (12/91)ăăPart 4: Technical Triviaă* What is single sideband? (11/92)ă* Do I really get 120 channels on a radio with single sideband? (12/91)ă* What are "linear amplifiers" and can I use them with a CB? (4/92)ă* Who is "Skip" and why can I hear him all the way across the continent? (3/92)ă* How can I reduce engine noise on my mobile CB? (3/92)ă* What is GMRS? (6/92)ă* Where can I learn more about radio? (3/92)ăăăNotes about adding questions & answers to this listă---------------------------------------------------ăăWe accept suggestions from the rec.radio.cb community. Please considerăthe following criteria because we will also use them to determine whichăquestions to include.ăă- is it a commonly asked question?ă- will its inclusion help reduce usage of net bandwidth?ă- how useful is it to CB users in general?ăăNote that we can't necessarily include every question or every technical detailăbecause we don't want this FAQ itself to become a net bandwidth hog. We haveăto consider the intended audience - this document is intended to help peopleăget started with CB even if they have no previous technical background withăradio. Therefore, it will not have all the technical discussions that oneămight expect in, for example, an amateur radio newsgroup.ăăIf you suggest a question for this list, please include the answer. You'llăget credit for your contribution and you'll speed up the process of gettingăthe information ready for distribution.ăăIf you feel that your suggestion passes any of the above criteria, send it toăcb-faq@uts.amdahl.com so that it will reach all the FAQ coordinators:ăăIan Kluft KD6EUI ikluft@uts.amdahl.com (Santa Clara, CA, USA)ăMichael Larish KD6CTZ nomad@ecst.csuchico.edu (Chico, CA, USA)ăPaul W Schleck KD3FU pschleck@unomaha.edu (Omaha, NE, USA)ăăInternational readers: when you see something specific to some countries butăthe information on your country is missing, please e-mail the details to us ifăyou have them.ăăăAcknowledgementsă----------------ăThe following people are recognized for their contributions (by e-mail or news)ăthat were included in the rec.radio.cb FAQ:ăăTechnical Contributors:ăPaul Zander AA6PZ (paulz@hpspdla.spd.hp.com, Palo Alto, CA, USA)ă - comments and input on the SWR discussionăBob Myers KC0EW (myers@fc.hp.com, Fort Collins, CO, USA)ă - news article on antenna grounding in mobile installationsăBret Musser (bjm@f.gp.cs.cmu.edu, Pittsburgh, PA, USA)ă - news article on reduction of engine noise in mobile installationsăBenn Kobb KC5CW (bkobb@access.digex.com, Houston, TX, USA)ă - information on the General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS)ăăInternational Contributors:ăNeil Robertson (conjgr@lut.ac.uk, Leicestershire, UK)ă - original info on CB in the UKăRob Adams (topfm@darwin.ntu.edu.AU, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia)ă - CB in Australia (operating regulations)ăTetsuo Kobayashi JH8LEF (tetsuo@nttica.ntt.jp, Atsugi-city, Japan)ă - CB in JapanăJean-Marc Bonnaudet (Jean-Marc.Bonnaudet@ap.mchp.sni.de, Munich, Germany)ă - CB in France and other Western European countriesă - our "CB-reporter in Europe" (in his own words)ăPatrick Wendt (root@chamber.in-berlin.de, Berlin, Germany)ă - CB in GermanyăMartin Grundy (grundy@rtf.bt.co.uk, Brighton, UK)ă - sent faxes of UK CB information sheetsă - included summary of CEPT standards and the list of conforming countriesăNick Gibbs (nick@bean.apana.org.au, Stirling, South Australia, Australia)ă - CB in Australia (licensing and repeaters)ăăăNotes on "Netiquette"ă---------------------ăăWith a growing user community, the rec.radio.cb newsgroup will operate moreăefficiently if the following netiquette guidelines are used. Please take themăseriously.ă* When posting a followup article, ALWAYS try to minimize the number of linesă of quoted material from the original article.ă* As a general rule when you try to determine whether to reply to someone byă e-mail or with a followup article, remember to "praise in public, criticizeă in private." It's OK to disagree on the content but be careful not to attackă the person with whom you disagree. Also, be careful with your use of theă word "you" when posting a follow-up article. Many unnecessary flame warsă have started that way.ă* Use a descriptive subject. For example, "Antennas" covers a vary large areaă so some better choices might be, for example, "Antenna tuning" "Antennaă installation question" or "Antenna theory question". Also, if a discussionă wanders off the original subject, you should modify the subject of youră message to match the new topic. For example:ă Subject: Re: co-phasing (was: truckers with 2 antennas)ă or, even better:ă Subject: Re: co-phasingă* Before answering a question, check if the FAQ adequately answers it or ifă someone else already answered it. If you have more to add, make sure toă reference either the FAQ or the related articles.ă* If a user posts a question which is directly answered by the FAQ, there isă no need to post an answer - the information is already available on the news-ă group. Instead, just send an e-mail message which politely explains whereă to find the FAQ. They will probably appreciate it if you include the answeră to their question. (Don't send a "nastygram" - that would just discourageă future participation.)ă* Pay attention to the size of your audience - use the "Distribution:" header.ă If you leave it blank, your message will go to every civilized country ină the world and occupy disk space in all news systems in all those places. Ifă that's what you intend, it's fine but be aware that CB is not the sameă everywhere. Otherwise, use a distribution for your continent or country asă appropriate for the subject of the message. For example, "na" (Northă America) "europe" "us" "uk" "japan" "france" etc. can be used similar to theă following example:ă Distribution: usaă or substitute your continent or country. Also, this regional distributionă works for each state of the USA - just use the two-letter postal code foră your state (i.e. ca, ne, co, pa, etc.)ă* If you have an item for sale, please limit the distribution area so that,ă for example, an article about a radio for sale in New Jersey won't get toă California or Europe. If you wish, you may cross-post your for-saleă article to rec.radio.swap.ă* Discussion on any UseNet newsgroup is expected to be within the charteredă subject of the group - there is no such thing as unlimited discussion here.ă This newsgroup is chartered for discussion of legal uses of CB radio. Thoughă some topics are clearly outside these bounds, use some good judgement whenă talking about borderline cases. Please take seriously any complaints aboută the appropriateness of a subject.ă