2meter

A bit, yes. Much of what goes on is just people chatting. No one bothers to log contacts. The nice thing about 2M is the repeaters overcome much of the line-of-sight problems so you can reach 25-50 miles. My son is a ham and often he will just set the radio to the local repeater and say "KB1TRB listening" which tells anyone listening that he's available to chat. Sometimes no one feels like talking and other times someone comes back and they chat. Lots of boored long-distance commuters have 2M rigs in their cars.

There are also more organized activities on repeaters called "nets" where people will have a weekly schedule ("sked") to meet on a particular repeater and talk about a particular topic. There are ham equipment swap-nets, general chat nets, clubs will have nets as a way for the members to have a weekly meeting without leaving their homes, etc.
 
I've not been on CB, but from my understanding of CB, 2m is much more civil.

To operate on 2m, you must have a call sign so you know who is on the other end (or can find out). This keeps people from violating operating rules (with rare exception).
 
Also, all the lingo that's used on CB is not used on 2m. There's no 10 calls, no good buddy, or "have your ears on?" type of chat. No Handles and you don't say things like, what's your personal?

Though, I would love to hear someone say on 2m from a moble. "There's a bear taking pictures at the 23 yard stick." LOL!
 
You'd be reported. That is effectively code and code is illegal. I don't know how common it is these days, but not too long ago, there were quite a few people out there that made it their business to be airwave police and if you did anything that was even slightly off, you'd get a postcard documenting the time date, frequency, etc with a warning. Soon after I got my ticket, I was talking to someone and during the conversation I said:

"Bzzt, thanks for playing"

in response to something. (frankly I have no memory of the conversation) But I got this card in the mail that looked all official with a warning that "sound effects are not permitted while utilizing the Amateur Radio Service."

Of course, technically they are 100% correct. It just seemed odd they would take the time to send a card than just hop on and say something. At the time I wasn't making any secret that I was new and still getting used to the process. I asked about the card on one of the Waltham "Goin' In" shows and it was explained to me that there were people who had nothing better to do and that unless it was clearly from the FCC it wasn't anything official. I was also reminded that such things are not really allowed, but most people don't get their panties in a bunch over generally understood stuff.

I never heard more, so either this person never did inform the FCC, or they didn't think it was worth following up.
 
C-pher said:
Also, all the lingo that's used on CB is not used on 2m. There's no 10 calls, no good buddy, or "have your ears on?" type of chat. No Handles and you don't say things like, what's your personal?

Though, I would love to hear someone say on 2m from a moble. "There's a bear taking pictures at the 23 yard stick." LOL!
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Actually, I think that the CB'rs got the "Handle" thing from the hams. When I got into ham radio 44 yrs ago (while you guys were still pissing your pants) we all had a Handle, work was the Salt Mines, the wife was the XYL, 807 was an adult beverage, QTH was home and we said "73", not "73s" not Seventy Three and we all pretty much spoke the same language. A lot has changed, mostly for the good, and the old times were just that. Jack.
 
Good heavens, no! Stay away from Citizen's Band! It was deregulated in the mid-to-late 70s because the FCC could not get a handle on controling it. In fact, I am curious as to why one might try to equate the 2-meter band with standard CB, which is 11-meters.

In any event, as the others here have mentioned, the 2-meter band is a fun and exciting spectrum to poke around and have fun with, and is self-policed now by other hams.
I do recall having fun with 2M repeaters that had an open-access phone line, where you punch in a certain code and get access to a phone trunk, dial the number, and voila', free phone call! Teehee.

CB is not for Hams. CB is for shmucks who want to blare their crap like they are a radio station.

Hams are above and beyond that level. :)
 
Chris said:
You'd be reported. That is effectively code and code is illegal. I don't know how common it is these days, but not too long ago, there were quite a few people out there that made it their business to be airwave police and if you did anything that was even slightly off, you'd get a postcard documenting the time date, frequency, etc with a warning. Soon after I got my ticket, I was talking to someone and during the conversation I said:

"Bzzt, thanks for playing"

in response to something. (frankly I have no memory of the conversation) But I got this card in the mail that looked all official with a warning that "sound effects are not permitted while utilizing the Amateur Radio Service."

Of course, technically they are 100% correct. It just seemed odd they would take the time to send a card than just hop on and say something. At the time I wasn't making any secret that I was new and still getting used to the process. I asked about the card on one of the Waltham "Goin' In" shows and it was explained to me that there were people who had nothing better to do and that unless it was clearly from the FCC it wasn't anything official. I was also reminded that such things are not really allowed, but most people don't get their panties in a bunch over generally understood stuff.

I never heard more, so either this person never did inform the FCC, or they didn't think it was worth following up.
Click to expand...

It's called "The ARRL Official Observer Program"

If you get more than two in one year they will report you to the FCC and they do have clout, remember, ham radio is self policing for the most part.


http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/org/am_aux.html
 
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