This situation has existed since the FT-101 became available to them and will persist as long as general coverage transceivers remain inexpensive and available. This is significant to our hobby because Freeband is in practice an illicit sub band that brings forth a new crop of HF operators every eleven years. In fact, some of these Freebanders use equipment that would be the envy of many HF amateurs. This Freeband operating style continues today, in an environment where HF transceivers of every class are readily available and easily modifiable for Freeband. Subsequently they, as a group, mimicked the operating style they heard on HF, right down to the use of Q-signals and the phonetic alphabet. Unlike CB radios, the 101 and radios like it allowed 11-meter operators to monitor the Ham bands, where the "big boys" played. The Yaesu FT-101, with its "peculiar" (ARRL) 11-meter band position was the first radio to allow the CB'er to operate Freeband, ushering in a new style of 11-meter operation. Suffice to say that once an illegal CB'er progresses in his hobby to the point of operating an HF SSB radio, he is well on his way into the ranks of Ham radio proper. There may be no exact polling to verify this, but surely any reader is familiar with at least a few individuals who came into the hobby through 11-meters. This too is significant, because Freeband is a major "entry point" to Ham radio today. The difference may at first seem trivial, but is actually quite significant to our hobby.Īmateurs not familiar with Freeband, upon monitoring 27.5 to 28 MHz SSB during a band opening will find the average Freeband operator to be certainly less technically apt but perhaps slightly more courteous and inviting than the average 75-meter operator. It is important to understand that a Freebander is distinguished from an illegal CB'er by the fact he uses a modified general coverage HF transceiver for his illicit operation while the CB'er uses an extended coverage channelized CB. "Freeband" also refers to the band itself, just above the CB and below the 10-meter amateur band (28 MHz). "Freebanding" is the act of operating HF equipment illegally on an 11-meter frequency, usually in SSB, and primarily in or slightly above the Citizen's Band (26.965-27.405 MHz). To begin with, the word Freeband seems now to be both a verb and a proper noun. Let's have a closer look at this activity and its influence on Ham Radio. Lots of great tips and tricks to help decode the solar information and how it can assist us hams.Freeband operation is seldom discussed in other than the most disparaging manner in the Ham press. Paul Harden NA5N has a great PDF document that talks about Solar Activity & HF Propagation. After a few minutes, the page will go white, and you’ll need to hit the refresh button to tell the servers you are still watching. This page,, provides current band conditions, updated every 30 seconds, on most of the HF bands. NOAA and the NWS have teamed up to prepare a page of space weather information with a ton of good content. The rotating image combines those two visuals to give a 3D view of the activity on the sun. One of the satellites is ahead of the earth’s path, and the other trails behind our trajectory. NASA maintains a couple of satellites that monitor the sun. The University of Alaska Fairbanks puts together a great forecast of the Aurora activity. The International Space Environment Service has a great site with photos, charts, and predictions about upcoming solar activities. So, if you’re planning a weekend activity, take a look here to make sure your radio experience is at its best. Tamitha Skov has a great website called that talks about the current solar weather and the solar forecast for the coming days. The image shown here is the current view of the Sun, and if you click on that image, you’ll view the SOHC website to learn more about the Sun. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory provides daily images of the Sun and the storms that appear on the surface. The HF radio signals used by amateur radio operators rely on the storms that occur on the Sun. Click here for more information about current solar radiation information. The good people at HAMQSL provide a great source of information that hams can use to see how the bands are going to act before they turn on the radio. Today’s Solar-Terrestrial Weather DataĪmateur radio operators use signals that are affected by solar radiation. The South Canadian Amateur Radio Society (SCARS) has collected some solar weather-related information that hams can use to predict their signal propagation.
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