Who is freeband

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Wake up That would be too intelligent for the guys still dreaming of glowing tubes and KC8VWM RE: Ham Radio and Freeband I am perplexed and don't understand why anyone would even consider "freebanding" anyways when it is so much easier to simply get a ham license and have access to many other bands. There are just so many other bands available, better built equipment, and modes of operation available to those with a ham license. Why bother to freeband in the first place? Seems like it would be easier to become a ham in the first place.

KG5JJ RE: Ham Radio and Freeband Comments waxing poetic about the courtesy, character, and good-will-toward-men operation by bootleggers brought a thought boiling to the surface; Nice rats are still Some of you are licensed hams Some of the most respected members of our Ham Community are here because of CB and freeband. They operated legal or perhaps slightly illegal. I agree with your thoughts and ideas on the topic!

Thanks for being honest. By the analogy offered about speeding, it is okay if he made an illegal lane change if you have ever exceeded the speed limit. I figured that it was best to stay away. Oh well………..

Can you honestly tell us that you have never driven 37 mph in a 35 zone? For instance, there are a number of these so-called free band types in my area using a repeater illegaly in the commercial MHz band. Where did they get the equipment? One of these free banders stole handhelds from his former employer Nextel and gave them to his associates. Now, while chatting on These clowns have incurred bad karma, they are going to get busted, what goes around comes around.

Not only are they fond of MHz but they also enjoy playing music on both amateur and CB radio. Again, these criminal mentalities almost never outgrow their proclivities toward antisocial actions. In short, they deserve our complete disdain. The problem with the analogy is that one rulebreaking is an infraction and the other a federal felony. I occasionally drive over the speed limit.

Does that give me carte blanche to break any law I see fit to break? I was a ham way back when I was a kid. Especially to a 12 year old Black Child. For many years I would get into CB. Back then I never gave ham radio a second thought. Louis to feed some curiousity about getting back into hamradio.

When I would ask questions, all the people hanging around these places did was turn me in the direction of the nearest CB shop. Would not even think of telling me how to get a license. As time went along, I decided to get back into radio again.

I met this fella that had a modified radio, and would show me how I could talk to south america on 5 watts. I got hooked after that. Freeband was on. That went on for a couple of years till I needed to get my radio worked on. Talked to These 2 guys Dave and Jerry. We got to talking, and they brought up getting my license. Jerry Mike showed me the book, and told me where to look for a testing place. I immediately stopped freebanding, sold all of my illegal radios and passed my general a month later.

If it were not for fellas like Mike and Dave, I would proably still be freebanding. Although there are still hams out there that are knuckleheads Especially in St. Louis , I have found this to be one of the best moves I ever made.

Noone out there runs a station any better nor as clean as I do. As time went along, I have met a lot of ham radio hipacrits spell check.

Almost every used radio I have ever gotten from another ham has been clipped to talk out of band. I knew some freebanders that have radio habits that would but some of those raving and ranting old farts to shame. All in all, I think the original poster was not try to take away from the illegality of "freebanding", I just think trying to bring a reality to light. Frankly if someone doesnt like my past they can call the FCC.

Fact is, it takes a special kind of person to try. Its too bad snobs make it hard for some people to try the right way. This is the case with many hobbies. It is very easy to look down on someone that doesnt know any better, or who is not encouraged to do things right. I resent the remarks that all non-ham freebanders are just a bunch of dummies that have no interest in radio.

Nowadays, I have encouraged more than a few people who are now licensed hams, and passed the CW test. Some of the people were freebanders. So what. As long as a person operates legally who cares where they come from. Phineas -. Then he tries to convince everyone it's ok to do what he is doing or has done.

Stick your freeband and CB radio promoting where the sun don't shine. I guess the class D business band is out of business due to freebanding. What is another trend is that FRS freqs.

I did do the 9 foot wire on a 10 transistor lafayette radio electronics 3 channel H-T when I was 8 years old. I freaked out. An adult started yelling and cursing at me! He said he knew where I lived. I got so paranoid after that! Funny, the kids these days would not have that reaction.

They are more savy than I was back then. If they did the old 9 foot wire trick, they would curse they guy right back! Never got into freebanding. However my friend bought the FT when it came out. He just cut the brown wire that shorted the 12by7a driver to the finals. Back then freebanding was not so rampant. The guy did get his ticket. He got tired of looking over his back.

One of his freebanding buddies got a visit from the FCC. Jungle joe was running watts, and bragging about it on all of the 23 channels! The over driven d made him receivable across 6 or 7 channels. Really, they did! Thanks for the clarification. I appreciate your points, and have to agree with most all of them. As you may have perceived, I am an X-CB'er, once caught in the nervous fun at the center of this topic, and now liberated by the very law that once came to visit and confiscate!

Yes I still sometimes drive 69 in a 65 zone, but I'm afraid I am human, and must contend with this form of 'Grey ' for another few years - which reminds me of something I heard and liked a while back; "Those upon whom grace has been visited will offer grace to others, those to whom only harshness, criticism and condemnation have been realized shall offer none other.

Henry Scott - For me this rather sums up the differentiation between the character of many of the posts on this strand, and NO I do NOT still "FREEBAND", but I do understand the point of this post as being; - While the internet is stealing many individuals who's interest lies in the form of technical communication from ever persuing Amateur Radio, those exposed to Radio instead of only the internet via the CB band and those largely unused frequencies just above and below it actually offer a large percentage of mostly polite and 'rule-respecting' new Amateur Operators to help 'plug that hole' of the loss of numbers in the Amateur ranks largely caused by the internet and cell phone technologies, and "Freebanders" with Amateur rigs are more likely to cross over than are those with simple modified CB rigs, due to the exposure that listening to the other bands included within their amateur radios provides.

Thank you for bringing these many facts to light while in no way condoning the illegal "Freebanding" activity to which your acticle refers. The term 'freebander' is not appropriate. They should be called by their older, more correct titles, "pirate" and "bootlegger". Operating outside your assigned frequencies is only a 'victimless' crime until you unknowingly interfere with critical radio communications elsewhere.

The purpose of licenses is to prevent that. FCC is happy to accept any information you can provide on these miscreants. What is the author intending to do? Is he suggesting freebanding is good and the natural progression to Ham Radio? Is he suggesting it be made legal? Is he suggesting freebanders make better operators than those who were never freebanders?

This is my short article: Freebanding is illegal and violators should be punished. It is these "freebanders" who have found their way onto the 10 meter CW portion of the band and clearly are presenting us problems. Now, are these the bad freebanders as opposed to the good freebanders who stay below 28Mhz?

No, they are all the same because they are all illegal operators. If they admire ham radio as much as you suggest, they should forget the charade of their freeband ham impersonation and do it the legal way like the rest of us. That means study and pass a test. That's the right way. Kind of like the guy that was trying to marry off his daughter and he told the prospective grooms, "she is just a little bit pregnant" We have enough bootlegger operators that are operating out of band space alloted to them, so why try to justify bootleggers as good operators.

I am sorry you got the wrong impression. As I said in both of my posts on the subject, freebanding is an illegal activity and I am troubled by it, but more troubled about lack of enforcement by the FCC. If they want onto 20 or any of the lower bands, they will have to spend serious money, for real Ham equipment. W9WHE RE: Ham Radio and Freeband If they get away with unlawful frequency use today on 11 meters, what prevents them from moving to 20 meters where the propigation is a whole lot better??

Oh noooooooooooo Mr. We are certainly doomed if some guy, illegally operating below 28 Mcs, discovers ham radio, and becomes a ham legal operation. We need a committee to develop a pool of questions to catch any of them who might become a ham. Before every testing session, we can use the questions to screen all applicants. Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the communist party?

Have any of your friends ever operated a modified CB or ham radio illegally? Do any of your friends know someone who has operated a CB or ham radio illegally? Do you know of anyone operating a CB radio or ham radio illegally? Have you ever listened to a tape of illegal radio operation?

Have you had a dream of illegally operating a radio? Any subversive thoughts concerning a radio, or any electrical appliance? Are the ONLY big knobs you want to play with on women!? Have you ever heard a telephone conversation on a scanner or mobile telephone? So help you God? Check this guy for mic breath Sargent Friday. Cuff 'em Dano. He's heard someone using a "roger beep on a D". No good can ever come from such a subversive.

I have no idea what will happen in the future but have lived long enough to realize that things change. This will be the case as ham radio evolves. Will we lose bands. Will cw be banned. Will ham radio cease to exist. I don't think so. First of all, I love to work cw and have been active on that mode for 40 plus years as well as a lot of other modes.

I love to build, rag chew, work distant stastions, meet new people, build equipment, restore classic gear, and on and on. I have seen many changes and many of you have as well. But, I decided that if I couldn't beat them, and I certainly couldn't, then I would join them. I worked my old receivers over avc, stability, bandwidth, etc built a 2 tube ssb exiter and a modest rf amp and have never looked back. What I am trying to say is this: don't worry so much about the changes you see coming but make the best of them and enjoy.

It would be a great loss for me if we would lose the ability to operate cw, but I also am aware of the fact that there are many, many folks who also love cw and we will manage just fine. If you don't happen to enjoy working cw then for goodness sake don't do any more of it than necessary. Thank you for letting me ramble.

Many posts here say "Freebanding is illegal. Illegal operation is illegal operation, regardless of band, isn't it? Where do you draw the line about illegal or unlicensed operation? Is there a cutoff power level? Or a cutoff Frequency? Or is it only when it affects your own operation, and everyone else be darned? Are we all not supposed to support each other and present a united front for the mutual benefit of ALL Amateur Radio Operators?

Reply to a comment by : K7LA on What part of illegal operation do you not understand? In each case freebanders demonstrate that they break the law.

In our society we generally consider this as either a right thing, or a wrong thing to do. So which is it? If you answered "wrong" then you are correct. So are you suggesting by writing this article that there are "good" wrongs? W6EZ Ham Radio and Freeband While it is true that many current hams came into amateur radio from "freeband" it does not change the fact that it is illegal to be a free bander.

Some people who engaged illegal street races with thier hot rods in high school grew up to build and race real race cars in sanctioned racing events, does not excuse the fact that street racing is illegal.

The fact is, everyone changes as they move through life and everyone makes choices as to what they will and will not do.

A person who was once a criminal freebander may well become a legal ham one day. This does not change the fact that freebanding is illegal and it does not excuse it.

To try to say a freebander on Then the area between Junk freeband sets outnumber the ham sets, based upon the signals. Hugely more active than 10 meters.

There's less activity on the legal CB band than above it or below it. This one confuses me, as freeband makes sense if you are escaping a crowded band, not if no one is there. Tuning into the legal band normally shows Channel 6 alive with kilowatts on AM, and totally unintelligble conversations. There's the usual trucker chatter on 19, which predated the CB craze and outlasted it. That's it. Don't think all freeband is the "triple nickel" silliness. High power, and 5 khz deviation, not the legal low power and 2.

I don't operate there, not out of moral concerns but because there's no real "communication" there. Lots of people howling into the air, but no actual discussion.

And as another ham once said"There are three great levellers in life"Propagation, girlfriends and freebanders! Keep dxing and enjoy the Short Waves no matter what band you use! Best 73 from Chris. There assigned frequencies. Have you seen the rigs some of these cretins wire together. Have any of these knuckleheads who run 25 kilowatts that's right mobile to compete in these CB contests ever stopped to think about what all that RF was doing to them and to anyone within the danger zone?

Good radio practices DON'T include cascading amp upon amp, with haphazard cable runs and exposed RF connectors and antennas that are putting out thousands of watts of RF within 6' of the operator.

I don't believe in giving 1st-time Freebanders the death penalty Repeat offenders should get jail time, because they are harming others properly-licensed businesses, the CAP, the military, amateurs, etc. Geez, while I was studying to get my license I picked up an HW-9 that could copy all sorts of interesting CW signals on 40m Wilful ignorance shouldn't be respected or tolerated.

It's kind of funny to hear them doing this and then turn around and read a post where the writer claims that mere knowledge of CW is a worthwhile "filter". It wasn't working on 75 meters twenty years ago and it doesn't work now. There are the "CW freebanders" who prove that CW and "good operating habits" don't go hand in hand.

Those who are going to operate poorly or break the rules for the "fun" or "challenge" will do it anyway. Those international users government, civil, military who were displaced from using their legal and righful spectrum by the chaos freebanders perpetrated, during years of peak solar activity, would beg to differ. I totally agree about the "lack of respect" issue. Those operators don't care about rights of others. All the courtesy of operation with a cherry on top in the world doesn't qualify their illegal behavior.

Yeah, there are bad eggs in every service, ours included. What is disturbing is the "I'm gonna do whatever-the-hell I want to" attitude. Presumably a reflection of eroding social values in general.

This would cure two problems with one stone. We could also raise the CB power limit to 5KW and suddenly make a bunch more people legal. In fact, why not eliminate all laws. That would make everything legal and empty out the prisons. Look at the cost savings.

Reply to a comment by : W4UDX on "Freebanding", as already pointed out, is an illegal activity that is spreading into the CW portion of 10 Meters. All the comments in the world about the courteousy of the operators or comparisons to 75 Meter lids will not make it any more legal not will it encourage them to stop.

Enforcement is the only solution to "freebanding" and the obvious problem with 75 Meters Yes, I have heard "good ops" while monitoring this segment of the band, but that still doesn't negate the fact that it's against the law. And the blight is spreading These are not people who are just "nice guys" looking for a bit of fun.

They are thieves and hooligans, and should be given every opportunity to experience the judicial system from the inside out. Don't be a "freebander" and hide behind some "handle", "good buddy" Well, good buddy, I don't recall posting anything in support of freebanders. Perhaps you read that into my questions. By the way, I'm pretty sure my callsign, not a handle, is indicated right there at the top of this post.

Some of you are really funny, and others seem pitifully insane and unable to follow a thread. Why do you try to turn "right" and "wrong" into a grey scale measure of "not so wrong" or "almost right"?

Borrowing from the K. LNXAUTHOR RE: Ham Radio and Freeband - as a new ham granted HF privileges, i am deathly afraid of using any frequency outside of those allocated for my license - to do so is not only impolite and illegal, but also can have serious consequences - why would anyone want to use a transceiver on a non-allocated frequency?

W8OB Ham Radio and Freeband You guys ever notice that whenever a subject like this comes up and the law fearing citizens condone the activity that theres alway a handfull of sh-thouse lawyers out there who try to brush a rosy hue to the picture.

Comments like " what you never exceeded the speedlimit" Christ give us all a break what the hell does speeding a low level violation have in common with a felony?????????. Its bad enough 2 meters has gone to hell on a greased slide with some of these so called high tech fools coming into the hobby.

Man no wonder ham radio is getting so screwed up! They act big and bad behind their microphones and keyboards. However, if they were ever in a real face-to-face confrontation, they would pee their pants and run away like a little girl.

Don't be a "freebander" and hide behind some "handle", "good buddy". Reply to a comment by : K5TED on I didn't get the impression that Clark was sugar coating or condoning anything, but only stating a few facts and using himself as an example of how a freebander can progress to the highest amateur license.

Is that so hard to stomach? I'd bet it is, because it seems to break several preconceptions. Posting someone's e-mail address in a malicious manner is not only childish, but perhaps even more illustrative of ham radio's warts than is the OP topic. There are also places in Africa at the moment where even posession of a radio transmitter leads to 7.

In fact, had you read what I had posted on this very subject earlier in the thread, you'll know that I don't know much of anything about freebanding. My latter post, about posting some proof for the author's contention, was an attempt to obtain some evidence that things really are the way they are on the freebands, which, I'll admit, I know nothing about.

Information-gathering, if you will. It's nice to know you're so easily amused. W9WHE RE: Ham Radio and Freeband KC5NYJ also writes: "I wonder how many of these indignant hams have ever driven on an expired drivers license, or god forbid, as a kid, violated the part 15 certification by attaching a 9' wire to their Lloyds walkie talkie". W9GOC RE: Ham Radio and Freeband K3UD said: "Maybe we should have a one time amnesty program for all freebanders whereby they go to the nearest VE examination location, sign an affidavit that they are engaging in freeband activities, and receive a General class license for their trouble.

While forgiveness is laudable, I'm petty enough to want to see some repentance of past sins and a promise to go and sin no more, not just an admission of past infraction. And I'd also suggest that if these freebander amnesty licenses come to pass, they be granted with some conditions - - such as an 'NC' or similar prefix, and an exclusion from the vanity callsign program.

The ARRL was so concerned about this due to member complaints about the unit being advertised in QST, that they reportedly told Swan that if they continued to market the Swan , QST would not longer carry their ads.

The Siltronics slight of hand headed it off. I always wondered why the ARRL did not do the same thing with Yaesu and the contoversy over the at the time. In terms of pure operating, I concede that there may be some good ops among the freebanders just like there are good pilots flying without licenses and good drivers who drive without them also. Maybe we should have a one time amnesty program for all freebanders whereby they go to the nearest VE examination location, sign an affidavit that they are engaging in freeband activities, and receive a General class license for their trouble.

NI6G RE: Ham Radio and Freeband From the ignorant pig-f cker camp: "I wonder how many of these indignant hams have ever driven on an expired drivers license, or god forbid, as a kid, violated the part 15 certification by attaching a 9' wire to their Lloyds walkie talkie. And if these people take it upon themselves to do it anyway, they are illegal POOR operators with no regard for anyone but themselves. They don't need explaining, they don't need compassion, they need a swift kick in the ass.

Mark WB8JKR Reply to a comment by : K5TED on I wonder how many of these indignant hams have ever driven on an expired drivers license, or god forbid, as a kid, violated the part 15 certification by attaching a 9' wire to their Lloyds walkie talkie. K5TED RE: Ham Radio and Freeband I wonder how many of these indignant hams have ever driven on an expired drivers license, or god forbid, as a kid, violated the part 15 certification by attaching a 9' wire to their Lloyds walkie talkie. K3UD RE: Ham Radio and Freeband "I would guess that most of the so-called "freebanders" are old enough to know better, and are simply taking advantage of the availability of transceivers.

Almost everyone over the age of reason violates some law at one time or another even if they do not know they are violating a law. When I was young teenage licensed driver I got so many speeding tickets that there was a problem obtaining insurance for a time. He got caught because he fell asleep when he was supposed to be detonating a tank. He was waiting so long that he fell asleep, and the U.

With no clothes on, in the cold. And he never gave no names, so the U. Taliban is just another layer of strange that surrounds one of rap's most enigmatic personalities. Hit Squad Taliban is no longer active to my knowledge—we even contacted the City of Atlanta Gangs Department to see if they counted Hit Squad as an active gang with no result.

These three are thick as thieves, probably have lived through some wild times and actually met someone in the Taliban. That level of loyalty is only seen in mafia movies. Whoever the members may be in the gang, "Taliban" is being heard across the nation on the radio as "Jumpman" racks up spin after spin, and it feels like only the beginning. I guess that would make them the most popular "gang" in the world—Taliban, Taliban.

You can't make this stuff up. By Yoh , aka Southside Yoh, aka Yoh He's the best, he's the worst. The reason to stay off these two frequencies would be quite clear if you ever monitor them. Coast Guard. There have been many attempts in the past to get the FCC to increase the number of channels in the CB band without avail. The last channel increase occurred in when the band was increased from 23 channels to At the time this helped with congestion but since then more operators have joined the CB ranks creating even further congestion.

Presently CB radio is becoming very popular again! Many radio manufacturers have begun producing new models so we can expect to see even more operators in this tiny slice of radio spectrum.