Freebanding for Beginners

[Christopher17]

Wow! I was probably 15 to 20 miles from Waco when I talked to 0737 in South Carolina. Where are you located. I know somewhere in the Rockdale area.

I'm going to hook up a different radio in my truck so I can talk to the guys around there when I am passing through. Hopefully I will hear you again.

Close to Milano, only been on ssb a couple of weeks, made quite a few dx contacts , will keep an ear out for you

 

[codeman]

Close to Milano

Ok. Isn't that close to where Troubleshooter lives? I know there are some other guys around there but I can't remember who other than Bartender and BBQ man.

I will be listening for you when I am in the area.

 

[WECSOG]

Once upon a time, like 35 or so years ago, there was a loophole in the FCC rules meant to permit manufacture and sale of transmitting equipment that doesn't meet the FCC limits for legal use in the USA. Think Motorola, Harris and such making radios for the Saudi armed forces, for example. This exemption applied only to merchandise that was manufactured to be sent outside the USA, where it would not be used in a way that violates the limits the FCC places on legal transmitters, like a 40-channel CB. FCC rules apply only in the USA and colonies, er, "possessions".

Hence the term "export" radio. In the 1980s, bootleg radios that exceeded FCC limits for CB use would appear with a label "for export only" stuck to the carton. Sellers in Canada would ship bootleg radios to a USA customer, since no such regulation applied to them. A French company "Dirland" was using this method. Other sellers would drop-ship a radio from a warehouse in Guatemala, with a sticker on the carton that said "farm equipment". Similar tricks were used to disguise sale and shipment of linear amplifiers. The Dirland radios had a tiny slide switch inside that would activate the CB coverage. These days you usually need a soldering iron to "un-cripple" the radio.

This ruse kept up for a while, and the market grew. Demand rose, and wholesale companies got bolder. Bootleg radios would get smuggled into the country by the container load. Eventually the owner of Ranger Communications International got arrested at his hotel room in Vegas in the mid-90s for importing "illegal" radios. The judge threw out the charges and apologized before cutting him loose. Right about that time, some genius figured out that if you simply crippled a radio at the factory so that only 10-meter ham frequencies would come out of it when you key the mike, you could get a radio past any customs check, no problem. Of course, the FCC responded with a list of "dual use" radios that they said you were not allowed to sell, but the camel's nose was in the tent and no rule to prevent them from coming over the border.

Uniden had already done more or less the same thing around 1990 when they introduced the HR2510. It would only tune the 10-meter ham band. Until you jiggered two pins on the radio's CPU. This unlocked frequencies from 26 to 28 MHz, and a whole separate "band" with the USA 40 CB channels in the proper order. That part of the chip's programming didn't just appear from nowhere. Uniden put it in there when the chip's program was written. Made the 2510 a much bigger seller than it would have been with only 10 meters in it.

73

Great synopsis of the "export radio" phenomenon.

For the last 25 years or so millions of radios that say "10 meter" on the outside of the carton have been sold that would never be used by a ham on the 10-meter band. Never.

73

This is true as far as it goes, but it doesn't necessarily follow that no "export radios" are or have been used by hams. Quite a few HR2510s, HR2600s and HTX-10s among others have been sold to hams who never modded them and only used them on 10 meters. In fact in the early days of "export" radios before the new "No Code" Technician license made 2M FM transceivers the entry radio of choice for most new hams, plenty of new Novices started out with one of these 10 Meter radios. Even after the no code license was created, hams continued buying these radios as a relatively inexpensive way for a new ham who just passed his 5 wpm code element to use his new (only) HF Phone privilege on 10. Even General class and above used them for a cheap 10M mobile rig, and they were also somewhat popular among the VHF/UHF weak signal crowd who used them to drive a transverter. Probably because they already had one from their Novice days.

I'm surprised they are not more popular among today's new hams since all US hams, even brand new Technicians, have a 10M SSB phone privilege (28.300-28.500 MHz). That's the only HF phone privilege a Technician has. That being the case, I would think a 10M export radio would be the second radio (behind a UV-5R of course) most new Technicians bought. That doesn't seem to be the case, though. I suspect a lot of them don't even realize they have any HF privileges.
I know that was the case with some of the no-code Techs I knew when the code requirement was eliminated; I had to tell them that they now had some HF privileges without having to do anything except get a 10 Meter rig and put it on the air. It just never occurred to them that they now had some HF privileges even without taking the General written exam.

 

[2NC995]

The frequencies 27.575 and 27.585 are allocated to some kind of government agency.

Coast Guard and something else?

But I’ve never heard anything there.

 

[nomadradio]

If a radio new-out-of-the-box covers no higher than 28.315 MHz, it's a "fake" 10-meter radio, typical of the radios with 40-channel selectors aimed at truck drivers.

A "real" 10-meter radio covers the whole band.

They are most definitely not all created equal.

73

 

[2NC995]

If a radio new-out-of-the-box covers no higher than 28.315 MHz, it's a "fake" 10-meter radio, typical of the radios with 40-channel selectors aimed at truck drivers.

While I don’t entirely disagree, I also think your last line tells all.

You’ve described a radio geared towards truckers (and hunters), and not one designed for freeband use.

 

[2NC995]

Sticker off a Connex. Covers all of 10m Phone (for a tech) and then some...albeit in AM and with echo gratis:

 

[WECSOG]

Sticker off a Connex. Covers all of 10m Phone (for a tech) and then some...albeit in AM and with echo gratis:

Actually it covers no 10M phone for a Tech, because AM phone is illegal for a Tech. SSB only.
That radio is pretty much worthless for 10M use. While it is technically legal for a General and above to use AM anywhere between 28.300 and 29.700 MHz, it is poor operating practice to use it below 29.000.

 

[w9cll]

I would think a 10M export radio would be the second radio (behind a UV-5R of course) most new Technicians bought. That doesn't seem to be the case, though. I suspect a lot of them don't even realize they have any HF privileges.

they are not popular because 99% of them are crappy radios and you can a decent real HF rig used for the cost of these crap.radios

 

[WECSOG]

they are not popular because 99% of them are crappy radios and you can a decent real HF rig used for the cost of these crap.radios

Most new Techs don't know that, either. If they did I would hear a lot more Techs on 10M.
Besides all that, you can get a used 2510, 2600, HTX-100, HTX-10, etc. for around $150-200. All of those are decent radios if they haven't been golden screwdrivered. About the only real HF rig you can get for that kind of money is an HW-101. I've had one of those and I wouldn't call it a "decent HF rig," nor is it what the typical new Tech would want.
Then there are Anytone AT-5555, AT-5555N, AT-6666, and President Lincoln II; all of which are not bad and come with a warranty if you do get a bad one. Generally a used FT-840, FT-747, even a first gen FT-817 will cost at least $100-150 more than that.
Remember, we are talking about people who are brand new to the hobby and looking for something new that will allow them to use the phone privileges they have right now.
They don't know what you and I know about HF rigs. And I would advise them to get something like those I just named anyway unless they can afford to buy the rig they really want right off the bat.
I would have to sit down and think about it a bit to tell you how many HF rigs I own, and that's if I leave out anything that won't do SSB. Yet I just bought myself a new export radio. They're not all junk, nor are they all worthless except for unlicensed 11 meter ops.

 

[w9cll]

I have owned quite a few as well and I would trade none of them for a 2950 or and of the Ranger/Uniden variants

 

[2NC995]

That radio is pretty much worthless for 10M use.

Thank you, Captain Obvious

 

[WECSOG]

I have owned quite a few as well and I would trade none of them for a 2950 or and of the Ranger/Uniden variants

Did I say I would? No. But I also wouldn't permanently mount my DX-70 in my soft top Jeep. I might put it in there temporarily for a trip to Colorado, but it's coming back out when I get home. A Lincoln II? Sure.

Here's another example. A little over 20 years ago I had an SG-2020. I also had the use of (but didn't actually own) an MFJ-9440 (one of these: https://mfjenterprises.com/products/mfj-9440 )

Both were American-made, 20 watt portable HF transceivers. The SGC covered 160 through 10 meters, all modes. It was pretty much a portable, full-featured HF rig. The MFJ 94xx radios are single-band, analog, minimalist SSB-only radios. It didn't even do CW unless you bought the optional plug-in CW board; and it only worked on one sideband (LSB for the 40M version). Tuning was via an actual variable capacitor, and it didn't do splits.
I didn't like the SG-2020, and traded it off within a couple months. IIRC it was about a $600 radio. I probably wouldn't give $100 now for one in perfect condition. But would I trade it for an MFJ-9440? No way; it's worth twice as much money as the MFJ.

But, hard as it may be to follow, I would probably pay twice as much for any of the MFJ 94xx radios as I would pay for an SG-2020. That means I would pay $150-200 for a 94xx.
As limited as it was, I liked the little MFJ 40 meter rig. I took it on a couple of trips (a business trip and a long-distance camping trip) and had a blast with it. I used it mobile in a rental car while on the business trip, to check into the daily 40M nets. Then on the camping trip I set up on a hill overlooking Lake Superior with a 1/4 wave wire plugged directly into the back of the radio, and another 1/4 wave wire counterpoise on the ground.
A lot of people have badmouthed those little MFJ analog rigs. But that one did everything I asked of it.

Export rigs are similar. No doubt, some are junk. But not all of them. Some of them work just fine.

 

[WECSOG]

Thank you, Captain Obvious

Covers all of 10m Phone (for a tech)

 

[2NC995]

Yes...referring to frequency coverage, and pointing out that it was AM...intended as a point of mockery, and conveniently left out of your quote.

The post prior to explains, as well, that these rigs aren’t even suitable for “freebanding”, let alone much else.

They're just trucker radios with “extra channels”.