NR wants to buy a stealth aerial for his CB

[Bug_out_Bag]

Hi NR, Without at all wanting to continue any dischord here but to answer your post, to be clear, Radio comms of any type will never duplicate telephone / mobile phone communication for ease of use. I have found CB an excellent way to establish connection in my local neoghbourhood. I have consciencously engaged with it: listened alot, spoken to alsorts of people over a long period of time and from this research have discovered there are some really good people 'out there' some of whom form part of my local comms network. I am sure there will be some reasonable operators in your area. You have just got your Firestick working up in the loft that now receives much better for you than rubber ducky which came with your handheld, don't be too quick to write off everyone just because you have not heard anything to your liking just yet.

You can be sure that after an event there will be many very clued up CBers will be using their hobby to best advantage, just like Paul.

Re radio hams after an event, you can be sure that many of these people WILL be around and making good use of all their technical knowhow and ability, just like LS. from what I understand, using repeaters for communication is a very small part of the hobby. I'm not sure why you're so
hung up about 'repeaters' ? This is not the big pin to burst the radio ham bubble that you think it is.

Anyway, I understand it can be frustrating but it is definitely worth perservering NR. There are some excellent resources for beginners on the net that can help you with what you need as well as the excellent cotributions here. There is no right, tried and tested setup, it depends on so many variables including your geographical location, etc etc. I have spent ages on mine, trying different things, building antennas to save money etc and after a LOT of effort including burnt fingers from soldering irons I have a setup which works for me. More than this, because I had to set up myself and do all the reasrch prior to finding this useful site, I have now a much greater understanding of how it works.

There will never be a one fix solution for everyone which is why it seems so complicated and why perhaps you believe no one answers your questions the way you'd like them answered.

Oh dear I seem to have rambled!