Re: How's this for a call sign?
> Use your grandfather's call sign proudly!
>
> Hmmm...I wonder if other older CBers use their call signs?
> When I go on 11 meters, I try to be an example (not snooty
> or "goody two-shoes") of proper operating procedures. Just
> as 160 meters is informally known as the "gentlemen's band,"
> perhaps older CBers and hams could reclaim 11 meters as a
> piece of civilized radio real estate by setting higher
> standards and being examples to other users. Plus, it's one
> of the few bands where AM mode is popular.
>
> I didn't know (but am not surprised) that GMRS operators are
> issued call signs. Are MURS operators and higher-powered
> (licensed) FRS operators also issued call signs?
>
> 73 backatcha from Alaska,
>
> JasonW

>
> > > Hello Neil,
> > >
> > > Have you ever met a ham with a call sign like this:
> > KBUA9435
> > > ?
> > >
> > > Probably not, unless the ham is old enough to have been
> > > required to get a license to operate on 11 meters (CB).
> > >
> > > That's my late father's old call sign. He was one of
> the
> > > last to take the CB exam and be issued a license before
> > the
> > > FCC threw up its hands and left 11 meters to be a radio
> > > sandbox. :-( Going on there with that call sign and
> > > calling CQ gets some, um, interesting responses.
> --
> >
> > > Jason
> > >
> >
> >
> > Jason,
> >
> > Seeing that 11-meter call brought back a nostalgic memory
> of
> > hearing my late maternal grandfather signing off with
> > "KMQ5207, clear".
> >
> > In my 11-meter days, my dad and I both used the "207" from
>
> > his call.
> >
> > The call you mention sounds alot like the current GMRS
> > format calls.
> >
> >
> > 73 from 5-land in Texas!
> >
>
Jason,
I guess we really hijacked this thread, but it is fun. I don't recall a test for a CB license. I just paid $25 (before Judge Green threw them out) and got a call sign. It was a 3x4. The one you mentioned was a 4x4. Never heard one of those, but I suppose that happened.
In the old days (middle 70's) there were quite a few of us on channel 12 in Cincinnati. We all had "handles" but we also used our call signs. It truly was a gentleman's (and so ladies too) band. No lowering our IQ's by thirty points when we talked. Some of us met socially and became friends. Once I broke the morse code block that I had, I got a ham license. I operated both CB and ham for quite a while.
There was a caste system in place where CB'ers were scum to hams. We broke that in Cincy because of some great people who got the two groups together. The CBers offered numbers, the hams offered range. I have worked emergencies with both groups and people are the same. I still have some great friends from this even though I left Cincy 20 years ago and have not been active in public service since.
Sorry if this bores anyone, I just thought some here might enjoy a light topic.
Neil