01
COBRA 29 LTD CHROME
THE RADIOMy current AM CB radio. About a 4-watt carrier, with approximately 14 watts PEP observed during modulation tests. This is the rig that made it to Oklahoma.
TRANSMITTING PERSONALITY SINCE 2026
FOUR WATTS.
ONE DETERMINED DUCK.
Welcome to Mudduck Express, the personal CB radio home of Connecticut 404. Radio experiments, homemade contraptions, antenna adventures, DX contacts, and an unreasonable amount of enthusiasm.
Pull up a chair in the shack. The coffee's probably cold, the oscilloscope's on, and somebody out there might just hear us.
4WAM CARRIER
2TWO-WAY CONTACTS LOGGED
28FIRST DX CONTACT CHANNEL
404STATION NUMBER • NOT FOUND
01 / THE OPERATOR
WHO'S THIS DUCK?
I'm Andy, a CB radio hobbyist in Connecticut who loves the hands-on side of the hobby: tinkering with radios, building antennas, experimenting with audio, and learning to use test equipment along the way.
My station goes by Connecticut 404. Why 404? Because in computer language it means “not found.” It's hard to come up with a more appropriate number for a modest little station trying to make itself heard through a wall of skip traffic.
Mudduck Express is the personality behind the station. No trucking company. No giant amplifier. Just a duck with a microphone and a habit of turning simple radio experiments into full-blown projects.
“
Mudduck Express, Connecticut 404 — rollin' on through!
02 / THE REAL DEAL
WELCOME TO THE DUCK SHACK
No stock photos here. This is the actual workbench where the radio experiments, microphone processing, and occasional wiring mysteries happen.
THE EXPERIMENT IS HALF THE FUN.— CT 404
03 / WHAT'S ON THE BENCH
THE GEAR
A working hobby station, not a museum. The equipment changes as I experiment.
02
MIC + M-AUDIO DUO
THE VOICE CHAINStudio-style microphone, audio interface, custom processing, and an external push-to-talk arrangement. More knobs than strictly necessary.
03
MACBOOK + CB TOY BOX
THE BRAINSMy homemade audio-control dashboard for EQ, voice effects, levels, and the fun stuff that happens before the signal hits the radio.
04
SIGLENT OSCILLOSCOPE
THE BENCHWatching waveforms, checking audio, and figuring out what the circuit is doing instead of just guessing.
05
NANOVNA-F V2
THE ANTENNA TOOLMeasuring antenna behavior, SWR, and resonance while learning what changes actually improve the station.
06
SDR + RF TEST TOOLS
THE CURIOSITY KITRTL-SDR Blog V4, homemade RF sampler, frequency counters, dummy load, and more tools for investigating 27 MHz.
04 / BUILT, NOT BOUGHT
CURRENT DUCK ENGINEERING
A collection of homebrew projects, experiments, victories, and “well, that's interesting” moments.
ACTIVE PROJECT
CB TOY BOX
A homemade audio dashboard that processes my microphone before it reaches the Cobra. EQ, compression, voice profiles, effects, and experiments in sounding as good as possible on AM.
VISIT THE AUDIO LAB →ON THE AIR
THE DECK ANTENNA
A homemade vertical on a conduit mast with copper-wire radials. I've adjusted, measured, and reworked it while chasing lower SWR and better skip performance.
SEE THE ANTENNA →HOMEBREW LAB
RF SAMPLER & TEST BENCH
Building tools to safely sample and observe signals on the bench, compare readings, and learn what the radio is actually doing when I talk.
THE WORKBENCH →05 / THE DUCK HAS LANDED
THE DX LOG
Two-way contacts in green; stations heard but not worked in red. My old-school wall map gets the first pin—and the website gets the story.
2 TWO-WAY CONTACTS 14 RECEIVED LOCATIONSLocations on the digital map are approximate regions, not exact station positions.
LOADING THE LOGLoading stations from the DX spreadsheet…Green = two-way contact • Red = heard only
Reading data/dx-log.csv…
📗 THE LOGBOOK
Getting the latest reports from the log…
ANALOG NEVER DIES
THE ORIGINAL PIN MAP
Every red pin on this map represents somewhere I've heard a CB operator. The green pins mark actual two-way conversations. The first interstate green pin? Oklahoma.
This is a photograph of the real map hanging over my radio shack workbench.
06 / HOMEGROWN SKIP
THE ANTENNA FARM
Every legendary station needs an antenna. Mine started out on the deck, using a roughly eight-foot conduit support, a vertical whip, and copper-wire radials. Elegant? Maybe not. Educational? Absolutely.
I've spent plenty of time isolating the mount, moving radials, checking SWR, and watching what happens when the weather changes. I'm still learning what works best from a location with limited horizons and a mountain to the east.
RADIO BAND11 METERS / CB
ANTENNA TYPEHOMEBREW VERTICAL + RADIALS
MEASUREMENT TOOLSNANOVNA • SWR METER
PHILOSOPHYTRY IT. MEASURE IT. LEARN.
4W
NO AMPLIFIER REQUIRED
TO HAVE A GREAT TIME.
The Oklahoma contact was made using AM. Favorable propagation helped do the heavy lifting.
LOW POWER
LEGEND
LEGEND
07 / TESTING, TESTING... 1, 2, 3
THE AUDIO LAB
The CB Toy Box is my personal microphone-processing experiment. Here's a little browser-based audio toy in its honor.
INTERACTIVE DEMO
MIC SPECTRUM MONITOR
LOWILLUSTRATIVE VOICE RANGEHIGH
100 Hz300 Hz1 kHz3 kHz10 kHz
Mic is off. Nothing is being recorded or transmitted.
Uses your browser's microphone only after you click Start and grant permission. Audio stays on your device; there is no upload or broadcast. The highlighted range is illustrative, not a measured Cobra 29 passband. Best on HTTPS or localhost.
08 / PROOF OF DUCK
THE GALLERY
Real shack photos, the DX wall, and a little mascot artwork. Because every station needs a mascot with muddy feet.
09 / COME BACK TO 404
DROP THE DUCK A LINE
MAILBOX OPEN • CHANNEL CLEAR
HEARD CONNECTICUT 404 OUT THERE?
Got a signal report, a CB story, a question about the shack, or just want to say hello? I'd love to hear from you.
No business pitches here—just radio, experiments, and good people on the airwaves.
📨 DIRECT LINE TO THE DUCK
andy@mudduckexpress.com
✉️ SEND AN EMAIL ↗
Opens your email app. No sign-up or contact form required.
🦆BACK TO THE TOP ↑
73s FROM CONNECTICUT 404
MUDDUCK EXPRESS — ROLLIN' ON THROUGH!
A personal CB radio hobby site. No sponsors, no sales pitch, just one more station on the dial.