WARNING !

I apologize, I thought you knew the mess we had here with 11m and why we got those 40 channels.

One thing that I never heard was a UK station when skip was rolling. I heard and talked to Italians, Swiss and Germans (that was a long long time ago) but never the UK.

 

During the tenure of Riley Hollingsworth at FCC as the "go-to guy" of Amateur Radio Enforcement, there was a huge crackdown on so-called "10 Meter 'amateur' radios and those who used them ON 28 MHZ. A number of trucking companies got nailed, including UPS and FedEx, got warned to stop their drivers from encroaching on the 10 Meter band. The effort to curb this practice continues today, but on a smaller scale. I still hear both the foreign interlopers as well as *some* truckers operating illegally in that band. The courts ruled, basically, that the purchase and sale of these radios was not "illegal" in and of itself despite the prohibitions imposed by FCC, but that it was the USE of such radios ON unlicensed bands that was. They STILL can cite you for using one of these uncertified radios and they can STILL nail you for operating outside the CB band. Possession itself is NOT illegal. And, yes, the hams will complain bitterly about unlicensed stations on their frequencies---and they will sometimes monitor truckers talking on 10 Meters and report them to FCC.

GF

 

Problem is, some of the so-called 10 meter radios, don't have a freq counter, and all it takes is a flip of the band switch to land on 28 MHz. And some of the users may or may not know this. I don't think WB8WFO in Orrville Ohio is doing this for fun, but doing it because he is protecting the territory that he earned the right to talk on.

 

These branches of government haven't used 26/27 MHz in year, I've been told they have been deleted out of many ALE systems. I don't even think the CAP uses 26 MHz after switching to ACPO-25.

 

Not correct. It is still used. APCO 25 mostly applies to VHF. ALE is used quite a bit for the military/CAP, and if conditions are right, it will select 26. Unfortunately it is sometimes plagued with interlopers both domestic and foreign. Foreign users aren't controlled by NTIA or FCC, but if interference gets too annoying, either the CAP/USAF people will DF it OR file complaints with FCC. This has been done with some locals who were filching the band AND also the 10 Meter ham band. They also pronounced that "We can't be found". Mobile units drove up on them after about 1 day of DFing, and drove right past their house. Haven't been heard since!

The idea that branches of gov't haven't used 26-24 MHZ is quite the myth, promoted by the outlaw users of CB, who seek to justify the illegal use of frequencies that belong to others. These frequencies have uses that would be regarded as "unconventional" by the CB hobbiests. In some cases, the use of high HF (low VHF) permits a measure of security not provided by P25 and VHF repeaters. Sometimes by using SSB and discreet code words---even digital modes---traffic can be passed undetected by conventional "scanners", making 26 MHZ ideal for short-ranged, tac/comms. While mil/coms are highly specialized, sometimes simplicity can be just the thing so long as OPSEC isn't violated in the process. Even the idea that "them channels ain't used no more", can be useful to CAP and other military users simply because people think they aren't being used! And, anyway, 26 MHZ is just ONE tool in the comm. tool kit!