Are we better off without CB? We have FRS....

[kb2vxa]

No it didn't, but for some I had to explain. Oh, thanks for the haircut.

[KG4CGC]

No it didn't, but for some I had to explain. Oh, thanks for the haircut.

And upon your edit, I see you also missed where I said,

Let's just put forth a hypothetical situation.

Instead, you went right for the kill.

[KC2UGV]

Let's just put forth a hypothetical situation.

Let's say the FCC decides that, if you hold a "ham ticket," you may run full legal limit on 11 meters. Some will say that this would be a good incentive to get some people into the amateur ranks and perhaps promote better operating practices and worldwide goodwill.

Then you will have the Bircher crowd who will put forth all the conspiracy theories. The government wants to know who owns a radio so that they will know who to round up first to throw in the FEMA camps before they can get the word out that people are being held prisoner in FEMA camps, being tortured and used for medical experiments, before being placed in Rubbermaid coffins and buried.

I'm actually on board with this: If you have a ticket, you are a secondary user of 11M, and can run full legal limit.

It's not like we'd lose anything in the process. We'd only gain another interesting band to use. Imagine being able to claim DXCC on 11M with all the interference? That right there would be a feat of skill.

[N8YX]

Full legal limit on 11M?

The Superbowlers use that much power as a driver for their big amplifiers.

If you want to escape the BS, get yourself a Stoner PRO-40, Uniden 148/2000GTL chassis-based rig or a CPI400/2000/2500 then go park yourself on CH38 LSB. Problem solved. Problem staying solved.

As far as "amateurs" having had the band - we were never granted primary user status.11M was an ISM band and we amateurs were afforded secondary status on it until the creation of the Class D service. The genie is never going back in the bottle - too many countries besides the U.S. also use the allocation for us to reassign it.

Besides...do you really want to deprive the RF hooligans of their own private little stomping ground and send them into the other amateur bands in search of...shenanigans? For I guarantee that's what would happen.

[W3WN]

Look gang, I have to admit... I just don't get it.

I was never interested in CB. I went from being an SWL straight to a Novice ticket, circa 1972. This was right before the Independent Trucker's Strike that was the spark for the explosion in CB use. By the time the popularity began it's metoric rise... I mean, really, it just didn't make sense - for me.

I still remember the Sunday evening in college I returned the frat house (yes, I was dumb enough to join a frat, never mind that now), to find about a dozen brothers clustered around a little black box with a 23 channel knob on it. "Look! Look! See! We can talk to people across town! Even into Bellefonte!" (town about 10 miles or so up the highway from PSU). Was I impressed? Well... no. Considering that I'd just helped put in a 48 hour effort at K3CR for ARRL DX SSB. I mean, really... after working the world, literally, on an S-Line, an SB-220, and a TH6DXX, how can you get excited about a little 5 watt rig on a cheap 1/4 wave ground plane that can barely talk half-way around the county?

That all said... I've seen CB in use, and I can see where, when properly used, it's a great tool. My former in-laws used it down on their farm, and it was a fantastic tool for everyone to stay in touch, be it from the house to the barn or tractor, or to the truck when a supply run was ongoing. To say nothing of staying in touch with the closest neighbors, all of whom were at least a half mile or more away. And FRS & GMRS, which morphed from the old Class A & Class B CB's services, have really come into their own.

But for me? I just don't get it. Maybe I never will.

[N8YX]

.. after working the world, literally, on an S-Line, an SB-220, and a TH6DXX, how can you get excited about a little 5 watt rig on a cheap 1/4 wave ground plane that can barely talk half-way around the county?

My HW-8 and your Argonaut strongly disagree with that statement...

[NQ6U]

My HW-8 and your Argonaut strongly disagree with that statement...

As does my Argonaut. Which, ironically, used to be Ron's.

[WA7PBE]

So would it even be worth it to allow liscensed amatuers too operate like the would on anyother band? (Basically run any power and use any rig capible) could this help incentivse more CB'ers to become hams if they can legally operate a more powerful rig?

[K7SGJ]

As does my Argonaut. Which, ironically, used to be Ron's.

He did transfer all the contacts made on it to you, right?

[N8YX]

So would it even be worth it to allow liscensed amatuers too operate like the would on anyother band? (Basically run any power and use any rig capible) could this help incentivse more CB'ers to become hams if they can legally operate a more powerful rig?

Uh, no.

Care to hazard a guess how many amateurs are engaging in illegal 11M activity at the moment (via their HF transceivers and/or operating out of band)?

You know it's widespread when the ESSB crowd not only announces the fact they're running a modified high-end amateur transceiver while on, say, 27.420, but also ID their stations with their amateur call signs.

(Yes, you read that correctly).

Get that proposed HF rig with its general coverage receiver and give a listen from 26-30MHz. You'll hear...interesting...things.