The Place: Norristown Pa. and the surrounding areas.
The Time: Summer of 1978
Channel: 13
Recorded With: A Sears cassette recorder from a Midland 13-885.
The Characters:
Captain Jack: First person on the tape. He’s upset that his name appeared in our "Top 10 agitator" list.
Jimmy: States his opinion of Cap’t Jack by proclaiming that: "I’d rather pick my nose". Jimmy runs a Lafayette Telsat SSB 50a with a D104.
Jim: Looks for that "LGK dude". Offers up his perspective of what happened and why. Jim runs a Midland 13-895 with a Turner +3 desk mike.
Albert: Normally a fun loving guy, but sometimes takes CB drama a little too seriously. Was the originator of the "Top 10 list". Albert runs a Lafayette HB 640, and a Turner +2 hand mike. His radio has a bad hum on voice peaks, due to a poorly filtered and unregulated power supply.
Dave: Records the fun. Was also Albert’s co-conspirator in the "Top 10 list", and one of the people who identified the carrier thrower. I'm still running my trusty, but by now somewhat obsolete, Midland 13-885 with a D104.
"Disco": A member of the Channel 20 group, looking for a chance to get in on the action. First heard saying "Take it up". He runs a Cobra 139XLR with a D-104
"Bingo Chip": A sweet old lady who’s also a bit naïve about CB politics. She picks the wrong time to break in and attempt to make inane conversation.
Steve: Another one who’s never far from controversy (He’s the same Steve from the 1973 clips). He manages to find out some useful information on some of the "rival gang members", and insists that I call him on the phone to discuss it. Steve was literally the "tower of power" at that time, having recently erected a 70’ tower, and topping it with a Avanti Sigma 5/8th wave antenna. That, and running a brand new Drake TR7, gave him the signal to beat. However, as with most ham radios on AM, his audio lacked punch and was somewhat flat sounding.
Background: Unlike a good TV drama, the peak of the action in this clip occurs at the very beginning (Mostly due to the fact that I wasn’t fast enough setting up the tape recorder). What precipitated this little "war" was a combination of a few people who couldn’t take a joke, along with another person caught red handed throwing carriers, who then got indignant and tried to deny it followed shortly by his own veiled threats and verbal chest thumping. The exchanges which follow are mostly fallout discussion, along with the usual accusations and chest thumping of our own. This is all accompanied by various heterodynes, as the carrier throwers are drawn to the channel, much like vultures to a dying animal, and come out of the woodwork in droves. Also there is the realization by some, that there are people out there who frequently listen to what we do, and that even those brief forays to an "extra" channel, does not guarantee privacy. This whole situation precipitated a bonus follow-up clip by Albert. This follow-up clip was done, as always, satirically and addresses the growing problem of these "Sandbaggers". Ironically, I would adopt this my new handle 10 years later.
Channel 13 Approx 27 min, mp3 format.