Peter,

I cannot argue your points and I do recall those stories about
(illegally) modding the CB's. I kinda thought, in the back of my mind,
that freebanding IS illegal as I read the freebander web sites. But it
sounds like it's become a widespread occurrance and one that can not
easily be stopped. But one of the web sites argued that the
participants were beyond and above the CB mentality and, not that it
makes it right, it seems that freebanders abide by some sort of rules
and somewhat loose regulations, albeit non-governmental.

I changed my mind...I'll not join them; I'll just listen in.

--Bill

D Peter Maus wrote:
Bill wrote:

Well thanks to all for the replies. I Googled "freebander" and now
understand something I previously never knew.

Back in the late '70's I worked at HyGain in NE during the CB craze.
We heard and knew of locals that modified their radios to work above
27.405 (Ch40) but I never imagined this would evolve into a new and
welcomed hobby. It's great now to hear conversations that, back in
the '70's were common on CB, when we all gave our calls at the end of
conversations. (I was KMD5224 and met new friends with my radio).
Late in the 70's things in the CB channels degenerated and only got
worse as time went on. I gave up the CB hobby and never looked back.
Now that freebanding has become the next phase of it, I'm thinking
about joining a local DX group down here in NJ.

Thanks for enlightening me.
--Bill



New and welcomed hobby?

Freebanding is illegal. And it's not without an interference penalty,
interrupting legal communications by licensed operators on those
frequencies.

I don't often get into the FCC bashing mode, but putting Citizens
Radio Service on 11 meters was one of the most bone headed decisions to
come out of Gettysburg. Citizens Radio Service was to be local only,
limited power, short range communication. It has a radius limit in the
charter. And yet, they put it on one of the best propagation bands in
the spectrum. When I was experimenting with CB in the mid 60's, I had an
Arvin HT with 100 milliwatts, and got to chatting with a licensed
operator about nothing in particular. (Which I later found out was a
violation of his licensing provisions.) He was aware I was working a
license free HT, but he thought I was just a local kid. I thought he was
the CB station at the end of the block. We were both stunned when we
realized that he was in North Carolina and I was in Florissant, Missouri.

Most of the time, CB WAS local. But at least once a day, the skip
started rolling in, and it was no holds barred. To expect communications
to remain local under such circumstances, was absurd.

When CB caught on, and the bands became overcrowded, there were mod
shops in every other strip mall in my area. And type accepted equipment
was 'fixed' to work out of band for a nominal fee. When informed that
such modifications were illegal to put on the bands, users usually
either laughed outright, or came back with a level of rationalizations
why it was NOT illegal that would have qualified them for Congress.

Freebanders grew out of this mindset.

And they defend themselves with a vengeance.

But make no mistake. Freebanding is illegal. On several fronts. And it
does affect other services. Embracing freebanding does not make you an
enthusiastic hobbyist. It makes you part of the problem.





Brenda Ann wrote:

"Bill" wrote in message ...

Well I've verified further using the digital accuracy of my VR500.
The frequency I'm monitoring is 27.475 LSB and what I just heard is
"618 this is 502 in Tennessee" as the beginning of a conversation.
I'm in south NJ so would this be freebander skip??



It could be, but freebander convention is to use USB. This is not to
say nobody ever uses LSB.