"Export" Radios & DOT Inspections

Illegal as in an 11 meter transceiver that exceeds 4 watts. Or even more specific; a 10 meter radio modified for 11 meter band.

Interesting-In this thread it also talks about 50 and 1000 watt boxes. What does that give you?

1 More range I assume? Can you talk to Beijing, China from Cleveland, where as before from Cleveland to Seattle?

2 How about better clarity? Less static maybe?

3 What about terrible Phoenix Az electrical (lightning) summer storms? Or do CBs not work well in this situation?

4 And lastly- What does it take to reach the ISS- International Space Station?

Illegal as in an 11 meter transceiver that exceeds 4 watts. Or even more specific; a 10 meter radio modified for 11 meter band.

Interesting-In this thread it also talks about 50 and 1000 watt boxes. What does that give you?

1 More range I assume? Can you talk to Beijing, China from Cleveland, where as before from Cleveland to Seattle?

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It all depends on your antenna and skip, meaning the presence of the E and F layers in the ionosphere. Mostly you will not get good range with a mobile antenna on these bands, even with a 1000 watt box, unless you can get your antenna to commercial broadcast height.

2 How about better clarity? Less static maybe?

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Yes, more power generally means better signal on the receiving end.

3 What about terrible Phoenix Az electrical (lightning) summer storms? Or do CBs not work well in this situation?

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Nope, they're either AM or sometimes SSB, which means static.

4 And lastly- What does it take to reach the ISS- International Space Station?

I haven't read anything on this in years, but they used to operate on the 2M band from time to time, and maybe other bands. This requires the right rig and a directional (beam) antenna adjustable for altitude and azimuth along with a schedule so you can aim the signal at them.

The biggest problem with a big radio is that most aren't done properly. Guys will buy high power radios and not realize that just because you have 200 watts, it's spread out over multiple channels.

Think of it like painting a fence, put a quart of paint on one board and there's a lot there. Paint 50 and it's thin and spread out, same thing with radio. If you want a good radio with great range and clarity, get a ham radio that transmits on cb channels, then tune the antennas (very important). It's legal and you'll be happy but the majority of off the shelf radios will give you the range you need for traffic updates and such.

Hmmm, I bet that is why my ex could talk such long distances in the truck. I never really paid much attention to it.

Keep in that shouting farther than you can hear does not serve much of a purpose. You can transmit a lot further than the next guy, but those folks hearing you way way off are probably running legal rigs and you will never hear their reply. Quite the one way convo.