Ladies and Gentlemen, here is a certified a$$hole :)

Thing is... those nerds and geeks are the sole reason you have access to 11 meters....

Haha, certified nerd here. If you just want to chat with people and not tinker with anything, I always tell people they would be better off on Discord. It's far more reliable.

lol those nerds and geeks are as well on 11m ^^

Mrs calls it speed dating for nerds 😉

Yep same

The only people who won't admit to even having a dabble with cb are the ones who think they're some sort of elitist

I started on CB at the beginning of the year, now an M7 as of a couple months ago... a gateway drug! I have also convinced a couple CB friends I've met to get their license too.

Sure did.

I diddn't.... But I'm relatively new to the scene... Started on 446....

Turn South... Copied!

Great story!

Similar for me, even taught myself enough to get a job as a radio engineer! CB was for people to speak to each other without a need to know all about how they worked. Far more normal people on CB. All i have met on amateur radio is old men wanting to use it as they probably do with Grindr, always wanting to get young people in to the hobby and invite them over. There were a few sinister people about running bulletin boards.

Yes!

It's Like That Again Now!!! Awesome..

That's it!

Hiya John.. Thanks for the encouragement.

Yeah, honestly it's not hard - then you can do both..!

@@DXCommanderHQ Lot more involved and harder in Canada I hear.

Make sure if you go to the effort of passing the exam, you don't get your ham rig opened up and use it on 11 meter's. That's like passing a driving test and then not bothering to get insurance and ignoring all the road signs. Pass the test to use the equipment within the parameters of the law. Or don't bother just get a hf set unlocked and use it on anyband with whatever power you like, be a free spirted freebander, it's illegal to use 27.555 USB anyway and that's where you'll find most ham radio user's.. Freebanding with a licence lol

absolute bullshit . 1kw doesn`t guarnatee contacts its all up to the conditions . you can have 100 kw but ist no good if your signal just goes into space . I agree when conditions are favourable turn the power down as its more relaxed and a better feeling to know its your antenna doing the work especially if you made it .

Cool story, bro.

Wow!

That is impressive. I need to getbmy ham ticket

@@RicArmstrong I spoke to hams in Hungry, San Marino, Slovenia, Lithuania, Slovak Republic, Belarus, and Asiatic Russia (close to Kazakstan border) yesterday afternoon on 14MHz, on a tiny rig powered by 8 "AA" batteries. I love this crazy hobby!

@@2E0RME That's great. I live in a high elevation of the Appalachian mountains and look forward to experimenting with how far I can get out.

@@RicArmstrong You'll crack out! 👍

I find once stations find you're QRP, they're interested in seeing how low you can go on the power with incremental decreases. I've worked Southern Germany from Bournemouth and got down to 1w with a 5,7 report before now.

Great!

If your local repeater had IRLP, then you can "tunnel" your radio transmission through the internet and pop up at a remote repeater which then transmits your communication to others within range at that location. Available to Australia foundation licence holders, possible the same for entry level licences elsewhere

Never got into an HT. Went to General a month after getting Tech. Got addicted to DX'ING straightaway. Studied hard and earned my EXTRA before the year was out. I confess, I was 11 meters before that, but it was SSB, not AM. Cheers and 73.WW5MB

all our local repeaters are digital now, might aswell use skype :)

Nice one Henry!

Absolutely!

Yep, keeps you sane!

Exactly btw look at the anytone 6666

Very cool!

Fabulous!

That's exactly how I practiced Morse code back in the day. Tone oscillator into a SSB CB radio on the lower side of channel 1. It got a lot of attention since on an AM CB radio it just sounds like a carrier being turned on and off rapidly. Seems to be it was an SBE Sidebander III radio; one of the best CB's ever back in the day.

Good point!

Indeed. Good comment!

Hey thanks.. and good luck!

Paul, I have noticed, certainly in the last 24-36 months, this totally fuk-wit mentality of the old-timers has almost (not totally) gone. I had it myself back in 2004. I just told them to fuck off and grow up. It has become less, I promise you. There are SO MANY M3, M6 and M7 now that "we" (I class myself as an original M3 so I know) are more than "them". The other point is your awful club, I know they exist. I don't use a club any more because I'm not good with more than about 3-people in a group. Just doesn't work. But I hear you.

I agree with Cal on this Paul, there has been a marked reduction in that type of operator over the last few years. It’s a shame that you had that experience because everyone I have met and spoken to has been really nice. Without exception. Perhaps give it another try? 👍🏻 I may have gotten lucky. When I was first licensed I used 20m only, making minimal contacts. When I went onto “local” 80m the first group I found with a strong signal had familiar voices and they turned out to be people I already knew from CB the previous summer 🤣. My first 2m contacts were both new, with one having sat his exam on the same day as me. Funny old world.

Yes,those people won't be around to long "died suddenly",know what I mean?!

I would say they are respected, you just chose the wrong company - they will always want to dominate you as they have nothing else in their life. If they didn't do it through amateur radio it would be somewhere else. I worked with radio engineers that had absolutely NO interest in amateur radio, but would pass any exam without trying. I started on CB when I was 9, AM mid band, then got a legal one and started to learn about aerials and how to modify and update radios. We all did the variable capacitor in series with the 10.240 to get 2 channels above 40, or fitted a roger beep, or even put a bigger output transistor in... that's what learning was about. A few G1 stations used to join in and we would learn loads. I then built pirate transmitters, taught myself how to etch PCBs using a Tandy kit when i was 13, later moving to stereo encoders. It was only after all this I took a class B test, two city & guilds exam papers and after learning morse with a G0, I took a Class A test. Not all amateurs are tw**s! A lot of them are, so are a lot of CBers. I speak to everyone. The ones to avoid are the people that have their callsign as a numberplate. OMFG.

Yes, I spent a few years stuck on 80m. Actually I loved it!

Fabulous

Tim, how well you articulated that.. Nice.

There's plenty of snobbery and it manifests in many ways, not just radio. You see it right here on KZfaq, little cliques of people that clump together to insult anyone not in that clump. It's human nature but ham radio gives you several thousand miles of range and KZfaq covers the Earth. But a lot of it is just comfort zone. My ham radio club has over 200 members, about six of them are friendly and approachable to newcomers and I work at being one of them. The rest have talked to each other for 40 years and it is comfortable. They really have nothing to say to a new guy and don't really want any input anyway. Part of a problem with ham radio is the vast realm of bands and frequencies; what is the chance that someone is listening when I want to talk? Pretty low. But with waterfall displays this isn't quite the problem it has been since the beginning; since I can see a signal pop up and tune it instantly by just touching the screen. But that kind of radio is expensive. CB is cheap. So, have both!

As a Ham myself, I've met some snobs! About 99% of the Hams I've met since getting my Technician Plus in Sept. 2006 have been nothing but condescending snobs - and assholes!🤣 They loved it when I came to the 2-meter band and thought they thought they had a know-nothing newbie, like fresh meat in the 9th grade in Junior Highschool; they thought I wouldn't know what the term "Working Conditions" meant. 🤣🤣 But I proved 'em wrong. I'm SUBSCRIBED to YOUR CHANNEL as well! KD8EFQ/73!

@@charleswoods2996 When I first became Technician, I joined a repeater club in Hawaii. Small in number, 25 or so members, buy-in wasn't all that cheap. The people were friendly, committed to public service and the repeater was top quality and well sited. I worked many parades and even a horse riding dressage thing. The Alona Week parade was a big deal helping with that; stay up all night providing security for the people building floats and then all morning directing floats, about 110 units in that parade. I have T-shirts from all those things. The president of that club is still there and apparently still alive. But in my current location, the club has over 200 members and there's just two or three that I routinely greet when I hear them on the radio and they in turn greet me. It isn't really snobby so much as people have lost the art of making friends. This guy talks to that guy and that's what they've done for 40 years, and pretty much every day it is the same exchange. I sometimes or usually operate 2 meters with an ICOM I-705, that's WAY overkill for 2 meter conversations but it has the huge advantage that the waterfall display also reveals FM deviation. Talking too loud increases bandwidth and too soft the waterfall stays narrow and is hard to hear. So it is easy for me to help someone else adjust how far they are from the micropone by simply looking at the waterfall and this also increases confidence by new operators knowing they are getting an excellent signal out. Or not so excellent; maybe their antenna needs help.

@@charleswoods2996 There's a tendency, I think, for nerds and geeks that have difficulty with their own sense of worth, to find worth in ham radio but it is an external worth measured by your brand of radio, model, antenna and so on. Any challenge to anything is perceived as an attack or maybe just a disrespect. My first radio transmitter included a coil of wire wrapped around a toilet paper tube, a dual ganged variable capacitor and one transistor. It had about 36 milliwatts, I don't remember how I calculated that probably based on the voltage and current consumption of the little oscillator circuit. It was for Morse code practice. I don't actually talk much on the radio. I love the technology of it and find radio fascinating, but sitting there listening to HF radio can really put one to sleep waiting for an opportunity to talk. Oh yes, then there's the Culture Police. Ham Radio cultural practices change grandually but people think the current way is the only way and has always been. For instance, on HF if you want to talk, to have to annonce it, "CQ this is me" and is there anything wrong with doing that on 2 meters? No, but you can practically bet on someone "correcting" you with whatever is the current fad. So sometimes I do it just to punk the Karens. Conversely, sometimes I hear a callsign. Just a callsign. No indication why someone announced his callsign. Is he testing? Is that the callsign of someone he wishes to speak TO? There is some utility in "callsign, monitoring" which isn't a request to talk, but if YOU want to talk, this person is listening. So a CQ is a request, I want to talk with someone. Monitoring is just a courtesy so that the thousand people that have been waiting all day to talk to you, know they can now attempt it. Then there's the "break" customs. If an HF conversation is happening, you are supposed to allow a brief pause between switching who is talking, so that someone can "break". That means I want to join this conversation and whoever is next to speak should usually be the one to be net control, to admit the breaker to the conversation. If you hear "break break" that's an emergency and you are supposed to immediately allow that person to speak. This works on 2 meters just fine but apparently around here they've decided on different semantics and protocols. Some people even use the word "break" to indicate the completion of speaking or "break for reset" since there's a timer on the repeater and it means "Even though I am releasing the key, I am not yet done speaking." Amusing redundancies exist; "CQ 40 this is me" -- on 40 meters. You don't need to SAY 40 meters because that is where you and your listeners ARE. On the other hand, if you said "CQ 40" and you are on 20, you have just exposed yourself to some embarrassment. Homemade phonetic alphabets -- Lions and tigers and bears oh my. "This is Lancaster Yokohama Mexico" say what? Well that's getting into CB territory ;-)

I think they already talk together or at least are on the same band. I hear many people talking on CB (38LSB e.g.) that I'm pretty sure have ham licenses. You can tell the ones using the ham lingo.

@@timtaylor8557 Without doubt. I’d say at least half are HAMS in my experience on SSB especially. Some regulars I talk to on the U.K. 40 are also HAMS and they are on PMR as well. I think people will generally go where there is activity on the radio spectrum.

It used to be 6.6MHz AM when i was younger. People used that as a CB band.

Great memories!

Luis, in most countries, you can re-apply for the same license..

Don't hold the grudge, and spelling doesn't matter either.. 26 tick-boxes and you are away :)

@@DXCommanderHQ Thank you for the encouragement. I do not hold grudges against radio amateurs:), but against the idea of past requirements for knowing Morse Code :(. I do listen in on the Ham bands sometimes. Today it's easy to communicate online, which takes away from the need to be a ham radio buff.

Good points

Yep.. But as I said, when the band is closed and nobody is around, it's fun to drop down to 40m with a simple wire and carry on playing radio..

Like you, I am both a ham and CBer and while there are quite a few more bands to use with an amateur radio license, when it comes down to it I prefer 11m 😉

G90, bit of wire..?

As a ham you can spend $15,000 on a rig. You can also spend $35 on one.

Yeah, good man Rob. It's only options - and why not.

In that order? Usually. 😂

Lol, isn't that the truth. Woman, the downfall of us all ...

I didn't know that..

All my Rig Expert analysers have 11m. So you can measure there. What they don’t have is 11m identification on the software or built in as a pre - set so that would be a good move.

Yep.

HAHA Simon!

What great fun that must have been! Great!

Lovely story.

Oh heck.. So it's big slam into the hobby.. Someone needs to give out 100W tickets or something.. Netherlands has a good method I think.

Great point!

Hello and WELCOME to you.. Enjoy the ride!!

Yes Peter! You enjoy it friend - and why not :)

Correct!

Mike, welcome back.. Indeed, mucking around with RF and the relative science and engineering that encourages ut is GREAT fun.

Tnx

And why not.. My local pub is full of guys like that at 11:00 at night :)

Ah! Keep in touch and let me know if they respond OK..

@@DXCommanderHQ Will do sir , Ive just ordered Yaesu FT DX 10 Should last me a few years 73 👍

Nice.

Oh wow!

Avoiding them is the key!!

Geez.. Why these folks do that!

Well said!

I had friends that were hams and half the time if they were yacking on their radios they were talking about their PC's and when they were on their computer's talking about their radios.

Ah.. the "wild" ones :)

No idea sorry. Good luck!

@@Cqdx11 You are partially right. What I meant was the local CB activity here where I live, which sems pretty dead. I did set up my CB rig more then a year ago, DX conditions are better now indeed. And I just realized, that I might have a wrong assumption. Please tell me, what power are CBers running around the world? When I hear a faint DX station in Amatuer Radio, I am used to not even trying with less then 100 watts, since that is what most hams are using and replying to a weak signal from a 100+ watts station with qrp will mostly not work. So I didn’t even try to contact the very few faint stations I heard on 11m with the 12watts back then. But if everyone is using just 12 watts, then it should work.

Lovely!

Nice Bas!

USA test? Sorry, I really don't know.

Thanks 👍

Hiya mate.. Have a look at Essex Ham. It's free. Also, I do a few videos taking you through the Foundation Book.. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/apiVq5eSvtW0hYk.html

Indeed, some people just don't like being happy though..

Oh wow! I managed to open the NY repeater on FM today on 29.620.. That was fun. But I didn't know openings were also at night. Very good.

@@DXCommanderHQ The funny thing is that many times I dont hear anything on 10 meters when ch6 AM is booming. I dont know is it MUF or just power :D

@@mikkohhh I've noticed the same thing. Every day, from morning to late afternoon, 11m is crackling, but 10m is dead. I don't see how it could be power. Plenty of hams run hundreds of watts, or 1.5 KW, PEP. And that's SIDEBAND, and most of the C-Beasties are AM! Maybe, the MUF has a tendency to cut off just below 10m.

Nice!

*YOUR* Uk Hams Might be like that, but drop in to one of my live-streams, full of enthusiastic, bright bunnies, nothing like your experience.. You have to rememberm culture over last 10 years has turned 180 degrees.

Thank you i might just do that, i hope it has changed. @@DXCommanderHQ

Dave, have a go mate.. You'll fly through!

Yes.. I must admit, that really resonates with me too.

@@DXCommanderHQ I remember doing an experiment on 40 meters during the daytime whilst going through an eclipse. This would have been around year 2014. Full inter g was attainable before the eclipse - once the sun started getting covered by the moon the inter g died off and the skip went long - I made contact to the Carrabean then the skip went back to inter g - all in the space of 15 - 20 minutes. It was fascinating to see the difference sunlight made to the ionosphere.

Nice one Jack!

The skip ran for two hours.

Amazing! Great story!

Ah. Nice. thanks.

Jason.. Great story. My first accident was keying the mic and accidentally talking to a guy in Texas.. And I was in the middle of England.. Then he was gone. But I was IN!

How small this world is . A big smile reading about your Texas contact. Many like to call are hobby just that but to me it's a passion for sure through and through. I'm grateful it's has brought us Hams together and many more to come .

Bless you!!

Yes, I think we are either drawn to the "science" - or we are not.. Good comment.

@@DXCommanderHQ Breaker Breaker Breaker! I've yet to meet another Ham that had never started on 11m originally, I got into CB as a kid early and mid 80's and had a good 25yr hiatus until Covid and whilst cleaning out the garage that March when we got stuck into Quarantine I found an old Lincoln MKII, PSU and looking for something to do with the kids I strung up a di-pole and shouted on 555. Worst mistake of my life, passed my foundation a year later, middle kid is 15 and a half and intends joining the RAF just to get the knowledge to fix Amateur Radios later in his life as he's noticed a niche. Youngest daughter (12) studying away for her Ticket. It is a fantastic hobby and locally I've encouraged a few of my local mates to go for the foundation, intermediate and that wan bawlbag who got his full test before me hihi. I will always use 11 for local chats, we'd a good strong wee 40 plus posse weekly but it's died a death recently, I enjoy the rag chewing more than chasing the far flung DX, don't get me wrong, I'll shout for it a few times on 10 watts but If I'm not heard then I'll just retreat to garage with my next Antenna Project while kicking back and watching these 2 kids fight over Element Size, Quarter Wave Height, being nice to Mrs McLaughlin who Chimney runs North South 180 away from our Shack by no coincidence. Unsure if you'll ever see or reply to this but my Ellen wants to know what sort of Vertical would you use if you live in a concrete jungle with no radial field with your Vert's? we've a wee 2nd QTH Caravan 6m away from the Sea at Malin Head but all waiting for COMREG to give the green light on an equivalent test that side our make believe white line. Anyhoo, Sig 9 does look the business, hope it works well for you. 73 MI7WPX

I think the "blurring" has the right balance in the modern age.. But I get your point.

YOu can look up K Index and SFI on the internet.