Been discussing with my neighbour regaring HAM radio today. he is on daily and love it. In the long run it will probably be the wisest solution at least in Norway (with all the mountains and and all for the signals to cross). But I do not have the time to get the lisence and do not have the money neither.
So either CB radio or walkie talkie. The problem is I do not know/understand the difference between the two.
Please help
CB is ~28 mhz it is usually AM but also FM/SSB
walkie talkies vary however generally they are often single band (one spectrum) or dual band (two spectrums)
Spectrum is a way of saying a group of frequencies that exhibit similar properties since radio waves depending on their frequency will interact differently with matter.
The electromagnetic spectrum is not only radio waves but extends to ifrared, visible light, ultraviolet light (beyond most humans recognition range), and things such as xrays and gamma rays. You might recognize things like gamma rays also called cosmic rays from nuclear explosion explanations. It is physics if you know radio sicence then you will understand.
To make a long story short though CB an acronym for Citizen Band in its traditional spectrum is a much longer radiowave than VHF (the same that commercial TV and Radio broadcast in TV is all over the place and commercial radio is generally about 75-108 mhz, although generally starts higher in America.
Getting your license can be done in a month with casual reading and practice testing, getting the most advanced licenses may require slightly longer, I took nearly a year before I took my advanced, but I figure about 4 months of casual studying should be enough if you have a high school background in physics, and even less time with a background in electronics. (I got 96% but I think I had an easy version of the test)
UHF is even smaller radio waves.
Now the reason the size can matter is that when you get low enough, you can skip your radio waves off the atmosphere, and if you get even lower, below HF ranges to LF and more so ULF you can move the radiowaves along the surface of the planet or through water to a certain extent.
OK so what is the difference you ask. Well CB radio depending on the country may or may not require licensing, in most countries CB was licensed at one point but then it was opened up to be liccensed by rules of use as opposed to applying for a permit.
Usually VHF/UHF radios require a ham license.
Now traditional walkie talkies are usually more for tactical close communication if they are not dedicated radios, that is if they are services such as FRS.. FRS is limited by it output amount.
Most UHF/VHF and more or less CB's use LINE OF SIGHT meaning if you can't see it you may not be able to talk to it... not 100% true but a rule of thumb. Now most ham radios can do usually 1watt low and 5 watt high but this varies for HT (handhelds) meanwhile the repeaters are used to transfer messages with more radiated power. Mobile ham radios ones that go in cars usually have even more power perhaps 40-100 watts which increases their transmission range. While base stations may have even more. Some radio stations have Kilowatts or Megawatts output.. remember they are also in the FM VHF range usually about 87.5-108mhz in America. But they output often with a lot more power up on 100 foot towers or ontop of tall buildings.
The type of walkie talkie does matter. In most cases if you do hot have a 4/5 watt capacity your range will not be useful for anything but communicating with a group that is within a few hunred meters of you. If it has 4/5 watt capacity you may have the ability to hit a repeater. Public CB repeaters are not very common
however you may find uhf/vhf repeaters because it is a ham band and there may be ham clubs or government agencies that use them. Or private hams that have set them up.
I'm not familiar with Norway I suggest contacting
http://www.cept.org/cept/about-cept to get more information. you can also read
http://www.erodocdb.dk/Docs/doc98/official/pdf/ercrep025.pdf
which may provide you with more understanding on your legal abilities.
What i see is that CEPT allocates the CB allocation in North America approx as amateur (ham) use.
It seems most CBs in europe require a license.
Also note
"26.965 - 27.405 FM 40 channels, same frequencies as USA, and 4W max power.
If you travel to another CEPT-conforming country, you may use your CB under the terms of your license from your own country. Be aware that only FM is CEPT-approved so AM and SSB may not be legal to use once you cross the border."
source:
http://www.cbtricks.com/members/kd6tas/cbfaq2.htm
