You're right, about all of that. CB skip was strange. Radios
and TV don't work inside mobile homes. And the freq
allocation is getting busier. None of that is good news.

However, those FRS walkies remain a lot of fun.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"stan" wrote in message
...

Yup that was/is phenomenom of the frequencies used for CB
Citizen's
Band (around 27 megahertz). Very close to the 10 metre (28
to 30
megahertz) Radio Amateur Band). But CB is also relatively
low power
(about 3 watts). Licensed radio amateurs use variuos output
power and
modes of transmission. Skip conditions depends on
sunspots/solar
radiation etc.

My neighbour a trucker, here in Eastern Canada once had an
interesting
'contact' with a State Trooper rushing to an emergency in
central USA!
So under certain conditions very low power can transmit
great
distances.

Looking up to say the space station with nothing intervening
(no hills
in space!) very low power would work.

But to get all the radio frequency space or 'channels'
needed
equipment has gone to higher and higher frequencies. Using
frequencies
that would have been impossible to achieve, especially for
cheap
'consumer electronics' only 50 years ago!

Our 900 megahertz cordless telephone works quite well for a
couple of
hundred feet; but maybe somewhat affected by the aluminum
foil in
walls of our house!

We once had a house trailer and despite the high power of
the TV
transmitter a few miles away, TV would just not work at all
inside
that metal shell!

And that's how radio goes; or doesn't.