SSB question - why LSB ?

[Dr. Frankenstein]

I too am a ham and would complain if any of my bands were being taken away.
Think about it...Why would the FCC take 11-meters away from the HAMS?
11-meters was being used with high power at the time, the harmonics were interfering with the analog TVs and stereo radios. So it was taken away due to all the complaints from people about their next-door neighbor messing up their TVs. Did the hams really stop using 11-meters at the time would you? You tell me, cause many people (ham or not) got busted throughout the years.
So the FCC made it a low-power CB (4-watt) service for the masses to enjoy. And enjoy it they did, so much so that in the late 70s the FCC had to enforce HF amateur amplifiers manufacturers from having the 10-meter circuit operational in their amps. That was due to the CB boom that the cheap CBs created in the 70s and the CBers figured out, very quickly, that an amplifier that worked on 10-meters would work on 11-meters.
Now more than ever, 70 years or so later, here we are with many on the 11-meter band running the big power or greater than when the hams had it. And it's all due to the extinction of analog signals on the commercial airwaves, it's all digital now.

Getting closer to my nickles worth.........
73

 

[undertaker]

Because alot of people are sheep

That is a really stupid statement!! But i will consider the source...

 

[Rick330man]

Because alot of people are sheep

Isn't part of the fun of operating on the airwaves the ability to talk to other sheep in far away places? Perhaps one day in a perfect world the highly revered Icelandic sheep can talk to their equally revered Kiwi sheep.

No sheep, no fun.

 

[Alabama Buckeye]

I have always believed that when the FCC carved 11 meters out of the "Ham Only" frequencies and allocated that as "CB" frequencies, Amateur Operators were quite upset and blamed CB operators for their "Loss of Privilege". Since 11 Meters (as an Allocated Ham Band) would have been USB Phone operation (since it is above 10Mhz), CB operators, in an effort to "Stick it in the Eye" of those that were upset over their precious loss started using LSB.

Ask a Ham Operator that was around then-that would be a licensed operator that has held a ticket for at least the last 64 years-if you can find one.

73
David

I can almost sense the animosity. I can't lie, don't have the memory to recall the lies; I cudda never been a politician. But holding onto animosity is like heart burn or explosive diarrhea, ya gotta let it go.

 

[Woody-202]

In the late 60's/early 70's most of the radios I either owned or happened to listen to, while at a friends shack (and from right out of the box) noted, as did we all, that the background hiss/noise sounded different between LSB and USB. After spending a good amount of time on ch.16 we preferred the sound of LSB vs. USB, so that's what we used. Also, like someone else mentioned, there was a bigger gap between ch.15 and 16 vs. ch.16 and 17 which (at the time) seemed to make sense to used 16LSB as well (that's what I remember about it back then)

 

[Onelasttime]

I have never followed that. When people parrot this nonsense I just ignore them and move on. My radio's all have USB and LSB so I use them both freely and with out concern. Obviously if there is local traffic on a channel I will not disrupt it and will either join them or go some place else.

I likewise do not run a splatter box or over driven amplifier so again be polite and do not pollute the electromagnetic spectrum.

That said I am 49 and did not get into the hobby for real until the 1990's.

 

[whiteastro]

A lot of people are like mice too, they follow the Pied Piper. LOL

 

[Hurricane145]

The LSB convention on CB dates back to when there were only 23 channels and SSB was all on channel 16.
Form what I remember LSB was just a bit further away from channel 17 than the USB was, and a lot further from channel 15 since there was the RC frequency between them. So less overall adjacent channel interference from the AM guys.
Why channel 16 was selected I have no idea.

Edit: At the time I posted I didn't read all the responses so didn't know it was already covered.

There isn't any real reason to follow the ham radio convention for L or USB which is wrapped up in early VFO and SSB design specific to ham radio. There is also a lot of controversy about that. But, everyone hanging around the same sideband on the same channel has an obvious benefit in that you know where to go to get in touch with someone.

I understand the military uses USB exclusively. Don't know why other than it is easier for the operator to use the radio if only one sideband is available.

 

[Hurricane145]

11 meters as a ham band was not used much. It was a shared band (tertiary use) with some other concerns. Primarily medical equipment like diathermy which could wipe out much of the band when used at a nearby hospital. It was not frequency stable and pretty broadband in 11 meters so would move up and down the band. Even in 1969 or 1970 when I was on CB a lot the diathermy interference was common and would wipe out the CB channels when it was being used. It sounded something like the Russian woodpecker did but not as choppy and more continuous. May as well shut off the radio for a while!

Also 11 meters was not harmonically related like other bands so for that it wasn't as popular. Common wire HF antennas used as multi band didn't work well.
Harder to homebrew gear to cover 11 meters as well as harmonically related bands I have read.
It was an oddball band much like 220MHz is.

 

[Hurricane145]

Ask a Ham Operator that was around then-that would be a licensed operator that has held a ticket for at least the last 64 years-if you can find one.

I am sorta close at 51 years. Know of a lot of hams licensed much longer than I have been but yeah they are dying off to be sure!
Myself, I am 70...YIKES!!

 

[Rick330man]

I have picked up a fair amount of radio traffic out of South America on USB 30. One occasion in particular caught my attention as stations in Spain were trying to work stations in Argentina.

I've also picked up a lot of traffic out of Brasil on USB 36. But stations out of Brasil can fairly regularly be heard reaching out to the US on LSB 38. They know where to find us when they want to.