The radios are not illegal so long as you use them in the amateur service.
They are illegal to be used ON CB, used as "dual-service' for both CB and ham, or used by unlicensed persons.
Now the coax length thing is STILL horse hockey. Here is a simple way to PROVE it----AND as a licensed ham, you will understand where I am coming from better than those who work ONLY with CB radio. They have been told this myth from time immemorial, and it is still just that: a myth.
SO! Here goes. I build AND run on my vehicle the screwdriver antenna which, of course, covers 80-10 Meters and, thru the auspices of harmonic tuning, 6 Meters (tho it does not do this as well as a dedicated 6 Meter antenna. Now. Antenna theory is antenna theory, and that means what is good for the goose is also good for the gander! That means that IF I must have the CB "gospel" of 18 feet for 27 MHZ (Or some smaller multiple thereof) of coax, then I must also have a "certain" length of coax for 3.9 MHZ. Assuming that we are using one HALF wave antennas, then
using that CB "gospel" myth, it comes out to 17.333333333333 out to infinity. Or 18 feet. At 3.9 MHZ, it is over 120 feet! :shock: Now, it gets complicated! Since the screwdriver covers ALL HF bands from 1.8 to 30 MHZ (plus 6 Meters) we have to, again, according to the coax length myth, have about TEN lengths of coax in the vehicle, EACH one ranging from that 120 feet (80M), 64 feet for 40 Meters (7.2 MHZ), then 32 feet for 20 Meters-----then so on and so and so on. QUESTION: WHERE can I put TEN different feedlines, EACH cut at a specific length, some as long as 120 FEET for a total of over 300 feet!!!!! MY GOSH, man! WHERE can I stash 300 feet of coax in an S-10 truck?
Yet, I work ALL bands from 3.6 to 30 MHZ (I don't actually use the screwdriver for 6 Meters; I've got a dedicated 6 Meter antenna I MADE from a 2 Meter antenna) with an average SWR of 1.3 to 1 on ALL bands!!! :shock: Been doing it for years. Did it with a Texas bugcatcher 15 years ago. Did it with a Bandspanner over 25 years ago. DID it with homebrew mobile HF antennas I made in the 60's! AND did it with ONE coax of NO particular length. Mine is around 7 feet. a RANDOM length chosen for one reason: the distance between the radio and antenna! In fact I never even HEARD of "coax length" until 1975 or so, and I'm like WHAAAAAAT????????????????????????? Ya gotta be kidding!!!!!! I was setting up HF mobiles in 1966. I hadn't ever heard of such nonsense, and I have worked the world many times over in the last 41 years.
Not only THAT, that "velocity factor" is absolutely USELESS. It is a WASTE of time and a smoke and mirror tactic to try to impress CBers out at Joe's CB Sales & Hack Shop. There is no NEED to do all that formula mumbo jumbo with 492-VF/frequency in mhz to arrive at a "certain" coax length.
If you are determined to find a "certain" length of coax or the length of a dipole, simply divide 468/frequency in mhz! It ELIMINATES all that mumbo jumbo. What is velocity factor? Simply THIS: the speed at which a signal progresses thru a solid or semi-solid medium. That is ALL. It does not affect the quality of the signal, nor does it make for better "SWR-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" (WHEN did SWR-sssssssssssss become PLURAL? To tune an antenna to resonance, tune the ANTENNA, not the coax! If you have an impedance mismatch, then that can be handled at the feedpoint with silver mica caps, resistors, toroids, or an inductor. Coax length was born on CB and LIVES on CB, and remains alive on CB
I have NEVER figured a 'certain" length of coax, never had any problem getting an antenna to tune. The ONLY way that coax length is a factor is when an antenna uses coax as part of the ground or counterpoise, or the body is not metal. The lack of metal is what is causing the mismatch because it is HALF of the antenna [/u]SYSTEM[/u]!
The screwdriver being a MULTI-BAND, motorized HF antenna that moves fluidly thru a WIDE range of frequencies does NOT have to have a "certain' length of coax. It WILL tune up using the proper feedpoint matching device no matter if you use one foot, 10 feet, or 30 feet, or NO coax at all. I will take any challenges (at my own home, of course) and demonstrate this gladly.
Your turn (Coax length--------------------------Horse HOCKEY!!!)