11 Meters

[Dude111]

Ahhh I just got my antenna back up (Imax 2000) a few weeks ago after many years after the whip was blown off and man has it got quiet!!! (When no skip is in)

I like to put it on 27.185 @ night and just listen,its peaceful..... You hear faint truckers on the highway now and then but nothing too loud...... Its nice when trying to sleep!!!


Anyone else like 11??

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Dude111

Ahhh I just got my antenna back up (Imax 2000) a few weeks ago after many years after the whip was blown off and man has it got quiet!!! (When no skip is in)

I like to put it on 27.185 @ night and just listen,its peaceful..... You hear faint truckers on the highway now and then but nothing too loud...... Its nice when trying to sleep!!!


Anyone else like 11??

Eleven meters is all but dead these days, as the FCC quit issuing CB radio licenses back in the early 1980s. When CB died, so did most activity on 27 MHz except illegal high-power unlicensed operation and, as you said, the occasional trucker. I gave up on CB when I got my ham radio license in the early 1970s, and did not look back.

CB was getting out of hand by the late 1970s and '80s, so it did not surprise me one bit when I found out the FCC was no longer issuing CB licenses by, IIRC, 1983 or so. Of course, that did not stop people from using illegal linear amplifiers on 27 MHz; I can remember hearing many very strong CB radio signals on this band for years after the FCC ended the service.

I have only one thing to say for CB: Good riddance. This service may have been orderly and useful at one time, but unfortunately that time is long gone and is not coming back. Being an amateur radio operator (WB8NHV, since 1972), I have no use for 11 meters and never will. I believe, if it hasn't happened already, the sale of 2-way radio transceivers capable of transmitting on 27 MHz eventually will be illegal, as well it should be.

BTW, 27.185 MHz is just above what was CB channel 14, before the band was expanded to 40 channels (!).

[Phil]

Actually, 27.185 is and always has been channel 19. CB is not gone nor illegal. The FCC did not outlaw CB when they stopped issuing licenses. They never "ended the service". They stopped issuing licenses because there was never any purpose served by it. I don't understand the animosity. If I want to know what is going on in traffic I tune my ham rig to 27.185 and listen. There is no hope of getting any information from ham radio where traffic is concerned. We have approx. 40 repeaters between the various VHF/UHF bands in this town and probably a total of 20 minutes activity per week. I don't have any desire to transmit on CB, but have no problems with the few who still do. Now that the insane crowding of the pre-cellphone days is long over, CB is probably actually useful as it was intended. It is dead because, for the most part, it has been replaced by the cellphone.
73 de,
K1FB

[dtvmcdonald]

I run across 11 meters every day with my SDR. Its far from dead. Even without skip one still hears a bit every day. I live exactly one mile from the I74/I57 junction, and
still hear truckers, not every 10 minutes, but regularly.

With sporadic E, its still full of the high power guys that are 40 kHZ wide on "AM"
splatter.

[mr_rye89]

I have an old Sears 40 channel mobile transceiver I've been meaning to re-cap and install in my truck with a Firestik and maybe a kicker. As far as I know offroader guys in Jeeps still use CB out on the trails. A good (legal) mobile setup probably still reaches further than Baofengs on FRS/GMRS/MURS.

[Dude111]

Ya CB is fun....... Its analog and just is quite useful @ times!!

[ARC Tech-109]

I still run both AM & SSB from my Tram 201 and have come into some great conversations over the years. CB/11M is far from dead

[Dude111]

No I discovered there is a bunch of locals on channel 30 ... One of them I havent talked to in about 25+ years.... He is about 30 miles from me or so.........

[davet753]

I'm happy 11 meters is still seeing some activity, as it feeds the ranks of ham radio. Many people cut their teeth on CB, and when they get tired of the environment there and want to expand into new territory, they get their ham license.

After getting licensed, some folks need some time to get rid of their CB operating habits but, by in large, former CB guys end up making good hams. 11 meters is definitely a "gateway drug" to amateur radio.

[Dude111]

11 Meters is fun if you dont have alot of interference from dirty amps,etc.......

I love FM but sadly not many use it and 1/2 the people who have it dont ever goto it...... It sounds so much better but ppl would rather run thier power mikes sky high and sound like crap....... Its really too bad..... (Ya cant do that on FM (Run mike sky high and have it any louder))

[Tube TV]

I have nothing bad to say against CB. I was on it a lot in the late 90's and had a great time, and made a lot of friends.

These days it's kind of dead in my area but I still use it for talking a few miles mobile and on boats.
I'm going to be setting up my Raytheon TRW-2 and a 1/4 wave steel whip in my motorhome soon.

[Titan1a]

CB licenses were dropped by Supreme Court edict. 11 meter traffic is down from quiet sun. Look Ma, No sunspots! SSB is where the action is when there's no skip. Otherwise it's as quiet as a tomb.

[ARC Tech-109]

Still quite a bit of activity where I'm at on both sides of the band be it Ch-19 or upper ends of SSB. I'm running a barefoot Tram 201 on a Cushcraft AR10 and catch plenty of skip along with the local nets on SSB. Definitely not the same "ambiance " of the late 70s early 80s when most everyone had a Johnson, Midland or Royce under the dashboard and a Hustler on the trunk but still plenty of life and sometimes better conversations than the amateur bands. I started out in the late 70s on a 5ch rockbound Viking Messenger (tube) and whip on the house gutter around 9-10 years old, no license and had quite a reputation... not everyone wanted a little kid on the air but I stuck to my guns and still have a high respect for the band.

[ChrisW6ATV]

I still have my Tram D201A (the 40-channel version) but I have not connected it to an antenna in decades. CB radio was a lot of fun in the late 1970s to early 1980s.

[Dude111]

Ya Its sad how quiet it is now,seems like a whole different world!!

Still some people in my area on but not many!!