Really now, all you hear is truckers on 10 meters. I really wish this certain segment of hams would cut the b.s. because anyone who monitors the freq above and below 26.965-27.405 ought to know 99% of whats on there is DX'ing with an occasional hunter just above .405 and occasional trucker below .965.
The rest is all DX'ing, with a de-facto system of call signs, q-signals and actual courtesy like there used to be in the ham bands. I suspect that most of the traffic between 27405 and 28000 is not CB'ers that are hams coming up towards 10 meters, but hams that come down from 10 meters.
You guys claim victory when the FCC sends out warning letters to trucking co. News for you, you aint uncle charlie, your "amateur" direction finding attempts far from what the FCC has.
Policing an outdated technology or a dead band of low value spectrum real estate isnt a priority of the FCC these days. I promise you not one cent of the FCC's funding is spent going after violators whos violations are strictly within the 11m band.
Wasnt long ago I read about a ham that was talking on the freeband to his friends in south america, neighbor complained about TVI and FCC located the source of the interference and caught him red handed talking on 27.8something. If he had been operating within his band it just woulda been tough shit for the neighboor, but he was out of band. His punishment, a warning. A year later he started doing it again, would think he would have at least installed some bandpass filters, used a different amp or gave up freebanding (woulda been my option). But he didnt, same shit happend all over again with the neighboor and he got popped for $7,000, not so much for talking out of band but for just being dumb.
So, whats the bandwidth of a typical base or center loaded CB antenna? Most I ran was below 500khz, dropping sharply. My wilson, tuned with center at 27.300, has SWR of 2.5:1 at 28mhz. I think i'll operate within my antenna's bandwidth.
So does it happen, truckers on 10m? I am sure it does but I really doubt the tales I hear of a 11 meter invasion.
(1) Dumbass dont realize his Connex needs to opened up and unlocked to use CB channels, and has no clue that ch.19 is on 27.185 and not 28, more less what 10 meters really is. In his case he'll figure it out soon enough when he cant find nobody to talk to.
(2) RF bleedover from a poorly designed system. Dont them semi trucks use mostly fiberglass now. Overmodulation, high reflected power, and poorly designed class C amps lead to splatter all over the upper part of HF and harmonics therof. Most of this is short range, in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle.
(3) Truckers deliberately trying to taunt, piss off and otherwise antagonize hams for good reason. I have heard alot of bullshit said by hams to try and scare truckers, like
a)key up out of band and a space satellite locks in on your position and photographs your trucks letters
b)possession of a 10 meter radio is illegal without a license
c)DMV and weight stations confiscate and ticket for having amps and export radios
and so on and so on.
I think there is more too all this crying about a freeband invasion, someone has a greater agenda and its about alot more than hams trying to keep what is possibly the most economically worthless slice of the RF spectrum.
