HAM Radio Nutters! - Muppets are not just on CB radio! (Part 2)

HAM Radio Nutters! - Muppets are not just on CB radio! (Part 1)

CB Radio: CTX Sideband All Night DX!!!!

European CB Congress 2014

As reported on the E.C.B.F. website (Link), the 14th European CB Congress takes place on 16th/17th July:

"The ECBF celebrates its 14th. European Congress of CB this July in Brussels. This conference, held every four years, will be used to, among other issues to discuss, choose a new Board, propose a reform of laws and approve the entry of new members.

For now, have confirmed their participation delegates from Belgium, Catalonia, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom. Pending the presence of delegates from Croatia, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland"

One major difference this time around is that we, the UK, are represented for the first time in over 20 years. Our representation comes in the form of Dave (M0OGY) following The Brigg And District Amateur Radio Club  becoming an E.C.B.F. member and his appointment earlier in the year as the United Kingdom Delegate for the E.C.B.F. 

I have no doubt that Dave will strive to make our collective voice heard on the things that matter to UK CB radio users, and I'm sure that you will all join me in wishing Dave well in his endeavors. 

First POFUNG Seen In The Wild!

As reported recently on this blog, Baofeng are in the process of rebranding or, as shown in the photo above, "Brand Reimagine", to their new name - Pofung!

The photo shows what was until recently known as the Baofeng UV5R, now known as the Pofung UV5R.

Some will say "Same Sh!t - Different Name" - but I happen to like these handhelds. They work very well and cost very little. The RX on my Baofeng beats my Yaesu VX7R on 70cm and is equal on 2m and I could buy TEN Baofeng/Pofung handhelds for the price of ONE Yaesu!

Charlie Tango Extreme DX Event!

Gary (Offplanet) from the Charlie Tango group will be active on the newly legal AM/SSB modes in the UK this weekend. Here is a copy of his post taken from the CT forum:

CTX on the newly-legal SSB mode this weekend! Saturday Night 12th July.

Session 1: 7pm-9pm.
Session 2: Midnight onwards into Sunday morning (until our batteries go flat!)

(All times are UTC/GMT +1 hour)

Mid Block 26.965Mhz to 27.405Mhz - Mids can be noisy and busy, so we will find a quiet channel and will endeavour to advise channel and mode via CTX and CT Facebook, CT Forum Shoutbox and word of mouth over the air. There's only 40ch, so we'll be easy enough to find.

There should be several high ground CTX stations active and the timings of the sessions should allow for some skip-shooting in Session 1 and also some very long point to point contacts when the QRM/QRN falls to a minimum during Session 2.

AM activity possible too - the band is too unpredictable to be sure what format the evening will take, but everyone is welcome to call in

Currently confirmed CTX Ops will be in the South West and Wales, but others may join in as the time approaches.

Please listen out for the CTX team and be sure to give them a call!

You can keep up to date will all CTX activities on the Charlie Tango Forum: LINK

Legal AM/SSB - Video Roundup!

(Not always legal radios mind!)

UK SSB CB Radio On The Hills (27/06/14)

UK Legal CB Radio: AM v's SSB

So we are only 48 hours into legal AM/SSB in the UK and two things are already standing out:

1 - The response to the 'Big Multimode Nets' has been fantastic!

2- The weapon of choice has been USB!

So a quick look around YouTube and there are lots of fine examples of AM/SSB contacts which have been made since legalisation on 27th June. Many more contacts have been reported on the various radios forums. 

The number of stations who stayed up until midnight to see in the new legal operating modes was quite frankly, astounding. Well done one and all!

Upper Side Band has proved to be the most used operating mode with 9 out of 10 contacts being on this mode. Many operators commented that AM just wasn't good enough  to handle all the modern day interference. 

The new calling channels (14 for AM and 27 for USB) proved their worth by giving everyone an easy place to find contacts. In many places channel 27 was literally swamped with stations. (Please remember to QSY off the calling channel once contact has been made)

We've waited for a long time to see this happen and it's here at last. Keep up the good work folks!

26OK039: 1st Call on 27.275 USB Day of leglisation in the UK