CB Radio 11 metres 27MHz AM FM SSB freeband channels citizens band 

I got into CB radio in 1978 in the UK. When FM became legal in the UK, it might have had a few bucket mouths, mike keyers, music players, etc, but it was actually brilliant. It was our social media. Yes there were lots of kids on there, but so what, it was absolutely brilliant fun, some of the best times of my youth were spent on UKFM. There was always the ham licences for serious radio op's, and many CB'ers went into ham radio, as I did myself. To be fair, I spent 20 years on ham radio and it can be just as bad as any early 1980's CB radio experience. There are good and bad op's on every band.

Nice little video. Many of us amateurs came from CB, and I still have affection for it even though I’ve not transmitted there since the 80s. At the time of writing in late May 24 the sporadic E season is upon us. You would expect the 10m amateur band to be buzzing when the MuF is high enough, yet it is often really quiet. Meanwhile on 11m the bands are packed, SSB, AM and FM. Casual “lingo” chats, and DXers with as much professionalism as on the amateur bands, with a sprinkling of American truckers with massive echo and of course, roger bleeps. The amount of activity, and the variety of it, does tempt me back! Thanks for a good balanced video anyway. 73, M0EUK

Minneapolis, USA here. I was into CBs in the 70s when I worked for UPS. My call sign back then was KEC0500. Thanks for explaining the UK scene. I just ordered a CRT SS6900V from a guy here who imports, aligns and converts them for CB frequencies. When I found out that Sunspot activity should peak in 2025, I thought it might be interested to listen to skip. Got books and workbooks to study for ham license. so listen in on 10 meter too

Great video Ray. Been using CB (Free banding) for 40 years

Thanks Ray this cleared up a lot of confusion for me

11 meter is the only last haven for the free speech, licenced free world.. We are humans not state controlled robots. Radio amateurs are restricted what they can say, its all regulated.Talking about politics is even forbidden. Its no secret that 11 meter (cb band) is jam packed by thousands of radio amateurs QSO'ing all over the place, QSO'ing about all topics, no limits. I have many friends radio amateurs talking on the 40 EU CB channels. Some of the 11m operators use more power, but that is no issue. Tv broadcast channels have been migrated the UHF - Ghertz frequencies and HF broadcast is phased out. No interference, no complaints at the regulators. Only sadly in USA it is over the top with dirty signals.

I am from the US and I enjoy your videos very much especially when you give your own opinions " let them get on with it" you said, love it ! Keep up the good work!

Well... thank you for explaining all this! If your not into this thing it can be quite confusing, you just opened it up to me... thank you again, really appreciate it!

Hello from Provence France. I was one of the pirates all of those years ago, finished up using a NATO 2000 in fact still got it covered in dust. I have just bought a tiny rig to instal in my camper out of interest to see if CB is still alive, thanks for the video. old call sign RR77 ( Rolling Road club Cornwall back then)

Many thanks Ron .Another great programme . Best wishes from Cornwall.

The reason for the channel frequencies ending .125 eg 27.60125 was supposedly an attempt to reduce the chance of interference to legitimate vhf services due to harmonics from the frequently, Mr screwdriver tweaked 11 meter sets. It was in theory a good idea, though it was also very annoying to the CB users who wanted international compatibility. I suppose you could say it fulfilled two purposes. I love your content by the way! (Chris from the guys of 1977khz am)

Like your videos. You seem like a very nice person. I consider you a friend that I have not shaking hands with yet. You are right 11 meters has become the wild, wild West and will continue. You have to give 11 meter credit in that it is used and not boring unlike the 10 meter band which is covered with contesting and very little conversation to make new friends. Anyway have a wonderful 2024. God bless the UK.

Not bored at all - and very glad I am not the only one confused ! Subscribed.

CB is not for everyone.. I’ve been on a VERY long time and it has changed a lot, but still has something about it that keeps me tuned in. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

The reasons for the different Uk channels were: 1. Potential interference to radio paging systems that were common on the US channels (e.g. hospitals) and radio control models. 2. Reduce the risk of interference from abroad interfering with UK users. 3. Encourage UK companies to make the radios. #3 failed spectacularly as the only synthesizers that could handle it were things like the LC7137 and Sanyo wouldn't supply them as they were supplying them to companies like Cybernet.

Hi Ray, fascinating video and extremely informative. I prefer the term "11 meter operator" rather than CBer, we use self allocated callsigns and Q codes, akin to amateur radio. We often use amateur radio apparatus as it is unenforced. Recently I spoke to a station off the coast of Tunisia, my Icom has an automatic SD card recorder which makes it ideal for video uploads. I put it to my channel. 73 from Daniella 26TD29.

Hi Ray. Interesting and well made video on the CB and 11 meter hobby. You mentioned that stations can be heard transmitting as low as the 24 MHz band. I'm sure you're aware there is a popular ham band on 12 meters - 24.890 MHz to 24.990 MHz. There is wonderful worldwide communications on this band when the sunspot numbers are high, as they have been recently. Propagation is very similar to 10 and 11 meters.

Great overview of this subject Ray. Back in 1984, I had the 27mhz fm CB. I soon got fed up with the idiots as you mentioned and splashed out on a 934mhz set up instead. That was good 👍 but even that has gone now.

One of the most objective analysis of the use of the 11 meter band by serious 11 meters operators! 2AT111

2CT351 Colorado, Freebander for life . good "rant" Ray... 73

I loved UK FM, it was so much fun. It just reflected a wide demographic and there were serious operators. In the morning before the band got noisy there used to be ground wave nets. I used to regularly hear stations 60 miles+ away. "Scotch lady" (Sandbach near M6 junction 17) was one such station that used to run great early morning nets. I miss those days!

A number of transceivers are covered on Ringway Manchester's RU-vid channel. Also Knoxieman restores old CB radios, a bit like Ray did with the valve radios. There are a lot of great videos covering both the restoration and testing with his friend several miles distant on his RU-vid channel.

8:05 I believe the aerial rules were no longer than 1.5m in length and had to be base loaded. That changed to 1.65m maximum length. Eventually, it was changed to maximum length of 5.55m with a loading coil diameter of 55mm. The loading coil diameter restriction was later ditched, I believe.

Bought a Realistic TRC 1001 hand held from Tandy still have it and it still works. Had great fun in the early eighties, shame there were idiots on there. It was the social media of the day, fond memories.

The trouble with legislation is that it always lags behind innovation. I was one of those kids that had an FM CB back in 1981. It was great fun. I was on air until the early 90s, just getting back into it now. Back then the UK government tried to call CB 'Open Channel', which these days seems a pretty appropriate term. Yesterday I passed my Foundation test so looking forward to getting my callsign and seeng what there is. Still trying to work out what radio/bands/frequencies to get into.

still use my cobra 148gtl dx freebanding for ever,,,,

Bringing back Memories. ⚡🙏⚡ I also thought they called it the Muppets Band due to all the Muppets on the band haha but it originally came from some sort of type approval, MPT-1320 (marked CB 27/81)[1] and MPT-1382 (marked PR 27/97,) so MPT was said as Muppets. (Had to look at Wikipedia to get that) as I couldn't recall exactly what it was. Keep up the great work mate ⚡🙏⚡ 73 de VK3VKe 📡

There are 4 classes of CB in the United States: Class D. 26.96-27.41 MHz Class C 72 & 75 MHz. Remote control craft Class A & B now GMRS licenced up to 50 watts now FRS unlicenced 1/2 watt and 2 watts 462 & 467 MHz shared with GMRS MURS 151 & 154 MHz 5 channels and 2 watts FCC reorganised CB, GMRS, FRS and MURS in 2017. 27 MHz may use FM and selcall now. 27.555 MHZ is a business or rescue frequency in USA

Man with a couple of widebanded hf sets there absolute legend💪 I always say despite something being illegal as long as your not causing any harm to others whats the real problem…🤔 Tbf the laws like all uk laws are just a form of control and we only obey them because we feel good about complying with authority it makes us feel like good citizens.. Sadly compliance does not create good people compliance only creates obidient servants who question nothing… Good on ya mate love your radio set up and going to be looking to get a widebanded hf unit myself fairly soon so I can listen on the hf bands and also use the same radio to transmit 11 meters on the 555

Enjoyed your waffling on about 11 meters like the way your post was put together also enjoyed looking at your radio collection 73s

The EU didn't come into effect until the Maastricht Treaty of 1991. CB AM UK pirates is somewhat earlier - as was legal FM. Leaver or Remainer, we ought to understand what happened in 2016.

Thank you for the useful information .

i got into 11 meters back in the 90s and i just now got my tech a couple weeks ago! if i find a few potty mouths i just find a different frequency and just listen in if i cant talk there! thats the fun of radio!

Great video - I always learn something!

Very good and well explained. I have managed to find out some of the rules but not all. Thank you for taking the time to put it all together.

Yup, pretty good run through over the mystery that is 11m. I get the impression that Ofcom would only bother if there was legitimate interference being made to a commercial user but really this band doesn't have much secondary use apart from perhaps low powered remote control devices (e.g. 27.145MHZ). In fact I remember when my mother had a wireless mouse that operated in the mid band - I could cause it to not work by transmitting 4W from an old Cybernet (legal) CB ;)

You can also open up a CB radio and install a DDS-VFO ran by an Arduino controller and listen to all the ham bands . There are videos on RU-vid showing basic info on the mod.

During the previous solar cycle we worked DX at the bottom of 11 meter band....26.285 MHz USB was the World Wide Call Frequency ....and go all the way down into 25 Mhz for QSO ...very clean low noise level down there .... 73

The strange thing is in 1980 i had an illegal 40 channel AM Colt 210, the post office at that time were chasing people and fineing them, now 40 years later there giving them all the bands we were using in the first place free, all down to money i bet....Fred.

I have a cobra cam 88 tube type, not the original radio, a friend gave one to me. The original one was purchased in 1965, put it in the station wagon, put out about 15 watts. Very good from n5qdm.

Just spoke to a few stations over in the States. Propagation is getting better all the time. I'm afraid what was used is classified information. 😁🏴‍☠️ Jolly Roger 3380. Apparently Sirio Blizzard antenna is very desirable as is a yaesu 450D.Just knocking up a simple inverted v for horizontal.

Very entertaining video. You have a great personality.

Thankyou for unmessing the mess. I remember good old Sommerkamp FTDX-500 when you either had hamradio or 11m but never in the same shack or your license was gone. That is why a friend of mine had an FTDX-500. Of coarse he only used it for hamradio. Apropos everybody had an italien license. You got it when you ordered your FTDX in Swizzerland but you had to spell your callsign in italien :)

Some of the idea to the strange CB27/81 radios was to give UK manufacturers a head start, not that it ever happened. The Anytone is PC programmable, though I don't know how high/low they will go. Certainly some of the rigs available now would have been fantastic to have had back in the day. I departed from CB in about 1984, but still have a listen from time to time to see what activity is on there. Sadly I cannot travel back in time and relive the fun times on there...

Yes in 1981 I had a harrier cbx connected to hygain silver rod and president madison and ham international multimode 2 loved it I was only a teenager but loved talking to folk or even earwigging that bit further away❤I did have the local authority come round because I wiped the local 4 whatters out a bit has there maxcoms could not stand it❤in the 90s everyone went crazy for scanners from tandy

After buying a 11m/10m rig. I MUCH prefer 10m over cb. More civilized and not just all overmodulated noise

I recently discovered the "Super Bowl" on 27.025MHz (CH 6 band D) AM from the US. Apparently some of these guys arrange to have 200A 240V supplies to their homes and can run upwards of 10KW AM, 40KW dead-key (AM needs >4x the carrier power for peak modulation). I've seen them interviewing each other on RU-vid and it seems some of them have experience in AM broadcast engineering. I can't imagine a 10KW AM station lasting long in the UK without a knock on the door! I can easily hear the Super Bowl on a small Wizzloop antenna in my bedroom, most afternoons.

Great video and explanation.....i was chatting on 27.555 to a friend with no lift or skip in sight....and 2 old codgers came on jumping up and down say move off or we will get you done ....strange cos theres no rules 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

The reason why we were given strange CB frequencies is to force us into buying new equipment so the government could make a few quid from us..

Your anytone 5555 is off frequency on ch38 in the video, which is displaying 27.395

Interesting video ray, 11m is wide open at the moment . Most people now just use hf radios on 11m now. In the last week I have been talking into Australia, New Zealand , USA and Asia . ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tQpNfMG0e7Y.html

I remember way back in 1969 here in the states my first radio was a Lafayette Comstat 25A tube job and i even remember my call letters KBW0268 . Those were the good old days until the FCC let the band go all to hell,

Thank you for the boring vlog👍 ……. I must be boring, as I always enjoy your channel 👍👍👍🌈

You are very funny man, very entertaining! Bucket mouths! 😆

The FCC in the U.S. hasn't really cared what people do on CB radio for a long time. I'm sure you've heard those skip stations on Channel 6 out of the Southern U.S. They run excessive power on that channel, rumored to be as much as 10,000 watts or more and the FCC does nothing about them. Even still, CB is still worth getting just for Channel 19 to find out about road conditions when you're out on the major highways. It really becomes handy when there is a traffic jam up ahead.. Not too long ago, the FCC finally allowed FM on CB here and there has been a new but small interest in CB again

I enjoyed your commentary. It had a lot of information and kept my attention throughout the full content. I own a AT5555 and I'm loving the coverage and performance I'm getting with it. Cheers and maybe we'll hear you out there on some of these areas we don't belong. Lol ✌✌

Hi Ray, interesting video. You mentioned about the UK using frequencies not used anywhere else. Before FM radio was introduced here in Australia, there were suggestions to put our FM band on UHF, as Band 2 was then being used by TV channels. Fortunately, this didn't happen and instead, the TV channels were gradually moved and our FM radio used 88-198MHz, which matched the rest of the world. FM radio had been trialed in Australia in the late 1950's, but was later removed due to lack of interest at the time. Then Band 2 was allocated for TV channels. Of course, in 1974, FM radio was re-introduced and then all the TV channels on Band 2, had to be moved to other frequencies to make space. If they had stuck with the original TV channel plan here, Band 2 would have been left clear. Anyway, wishing you all the very best. Rob in Melbourne Australia.

Thanks Ray. 27.555.00 calling channel is a mess at times I like 26.285.00

thanks for your time. a few of us in Ohio are curious why we haven't been hearing the UK on 11m for months. do the conditions regularly drop out like this in the middle of solar max? it was busy every morning a year ago...

..I am amazed that there is digital stuff happening on 11m. 27.700 is where the SSTV guys hang out. FT8, PSK JS8 call, etc...

I'm addicted to your Channel ray 😂🙏keep em coming! Would you do a video on how to interpret hf propagation weather data?

Hi Ray, hope your well young man, back in the late 70s I brought a CB radio and installed it in the car upon switching it on the first thing I heard was a female voice advertising the cost of a sexual nature! Moving on to the next channel someone was threatening someone with graphic violence, and so on, so the radio was removed and used for spares. Great to see your video as always 👍🏻

I still have a radio on 19 when traveling it’s still a very good thing to have especially when you hit a traffic jam and can’t see what’s happening. I have an old 706 that receives 11 meters I’ve yet to hear anyone on FM 11 meters 😊

Need one that goes from 26 to 28mhz...so you have enough space....with all.... modes ...that would be great....I got into CB in the 1970s....we need new radios to get a better Skip that is needed

Nice video and website, Ray. Well done.

There are rules my friend, the rules of nine. Have become unofficially popular. One of the 9 rules are, that you must clear the calling Freq for professional dxers. Another rule of 9 is, that you clear the 9 as it is the emergency channel. The emergency channel is now monitored by the collective. Clear the 9,clear the 9 is what they command. Also another rule of the 9 is not to parle with illigal operators, for example the well known "bees buddies" . They mostly hang out on 26.440 we must not talk to the bee's because they use yaesu, icom, kenwood hf transceivers without licences and blinkers.

Hi the anytone looks the same as n6900

Is anyone on 49Mhz? Here in Northern Saskatchewan, there is a small emerging 49Mhz. Stations typically run 5 to 50 watts, from what I hear. There are a very few 50 to 100 watts, but the are few. The 50 to 100 watt stations have sideband and AM capabilites. I hear them on my communications receiver. It has been happening for about five hears now. I doubt the CRCT is going allow it much longer. It is actually really well ran for a clandestine band. Here, the legal limit for 49Mhz is 500 milliwatts with an affixed antenna on the walkie talkie. The, "base," stations are also limited to 500 milliwatts. Thus, the new band users are far beyond the legal limit of power. I believe the transmit mode is also limited to FM. But I have to check on that. Let us hear from the 49Mhz users.

Not boring in the slightest Ray. Very interested to hear what you had to say about the way things have gone over the years. Also, I total agree with you that Off-Com don't really want to know, and that seems to be the case with regards to the amateur bands too! - They don't even actually issue a physical amateur radio license to amateurs anymore, all you get is a call sign allocated. I do have a full license (M0XQZ), but I honestly believe, if you were to just make up a call sign that wasn't being used, they wouldn't be in the slightest bit interested in if it was officially issued or not, there's no policing of the bands anymore. Regards to you Ray, and thanks for another good video.

Thank you for this excellent video, I found your video interesting and had all the info I needed. I'm a licenced amateur radio (Intermediate) and found the 'minefield' of all the bands for 11m to be confusing ! Your video and website really helped out. I'm mostly interested in SSTV having received via the IC705 (no TX) on 11m, was some great pictures on there and interesting coverage/range with the skip.

I think one of the main reasons for not allocating the ‘standard’ CB frequencies here in the UK was poor quality radios that generated a very strong third harmonic, especially if used with poorly screened linear amplifiers. 27.125 (Ch 14) times 3 is 81.375. The 81 to 82 Mhz AM band was the allocation designated to mobile input for Emergency Service repeaters, especially the Fire Service. I know for a fact one particular local CB user caused mayhem as he flipped through the 27 MHz channels pushing out 100watts! I’m not sure the main reason for the UK being given a higher FM section of the 27 MHz band was due to an idiot behind a desk, it was more a case of idiots abusing the AM allocation using poor quality radios and amplifiers!

I have the Alinco version of the anytone, it does exactly what the anytone does and pushes out around 45 watts in all modes. Nobody on RU-vid seems to have covered the divisional system used only in 11 meters where each and every country has its own assigned number for 11 meter call signs. I believe it emerged in Italy so Italy is 1. America is 2. England is 26, Wales is 163. Etc etc. I am in Wales so I'm 163 - FB - 029. Also Ray the use of 11 meters is a good way into the amateur radio hobby. You'll have heard people using Q-codes correctly and good operational behaviour unlike UK FM back in the 80s and the majority of people on 11 meters are not licenced hams.

The EU channels are AM.FM.USB and LSB...the CEPT frequencies and legal from 2012.

Excellent video Ray!

iam a licensed ham myself ray its incredible to think that a foundation license holder can only use 10 watts but a cb operator can use 12 watts it needs to be sorted out i hope you agree

24 MHz is the 12 Meter ham band. 25 MHz AM mode WWV Fort Collins, Colorado USA has a time signal there. You can hear FM in parts of the 25 MHz band some radio station are using them for station to studio link & some US military using them frequencies there also. 26 MHz is New Zealand 40 Channels & Free Band as many use it for skip as well. Illegal non licensed Taxi companies use that band also. 26.965-27.405 is the US/CA/EU & most of the world 40 Channel CB & now US & Canada can use FM on that band even though many did it back in the 90's. 27.415 - 29.995 MHz is Free Band but not legal in US & Canada though they use it as FCC not seem to care or check it. Also many use the A Channels in the US/CA/EU bands 3A, 7A, 11A, 15A & 19A. Those to use to be for remote control toys & alarms but not used anymore.

"I'm not saying do that, although you probably will." I literally did a spit-take. Too funny. and you're right.

I got an old radio, I think is a CB radio from United States. Its from my late step father. I've never heard anything on it when I check. I might try to and check if I get anything on it.

I haven't used AM CB for 40 years. I have no idea of what frequencies we can use downunder. Lol🤷‍♂️😆🇦🇺

I got into FM broadcast 1st, then in the end of the 1970's/early 80's, 11 meters in every way I could..Johnson tube transmitters, Heathkit, etc..That led to getting my license in around 1990... CB, the gateway drug in radio

I recently had a nice and loud contact from my mobile in Northern Italy and Somewhere in Austria in the same morning. I'm in South East USA tad farther from the coast than I would like however I can hear Europe and Jamaica nearly every morning to lunch then South America takes over and by afternoon all I can hear is Mexico, New Mexico and the Western seaboard.

Nice radio setup.

I borrowed a friend's CRT SS-6900n v6, for testing. On full power AM and FM, it was clean into a TinySA spectrum analyser. On SSB, unfortunately there were spurs at +/- 2.5MHz the fundamental frequency. His radio was a 2017 era one and hadn't been screwdrivered. I used 80dB attenuation between the radio and TinySA. This seems to be a common thing in many types of 11m export radios. It's a feature of their unfiltered mixer products... I'd love to find a multimode legal CB radio that's actually clean on the air!

The CRT 7900 turbo is a cracking set to buy right now and has a lovely large display with 40 watts out... great for dx..also look out for the new CRT 3900, 2023 version like the old cobra 148 but with a 7900 board inside so best of both worlds....Lol..

Yep I started with AM. until the Kids came on FM. Then the interest died and all my Good Buddies packed it in too.

You Englishers refer to your radios as "kits" and we Americans call our radios "rigs". I got my start back in the mid 70's in CB radio and now I'm a Ham of 4 years. Cheers & 73 from W Rusty Lane K9POW in eastern Tennessee

Good video, very informative covers the topic well! Learnt a little too 👍 cheers

I still wonder if the odd UK fm channels 27.601,25 ... were aimed to prevent britons from making international contacts or to rule out the old american AM 26.965-27.405 sets available on the territory. Or maybe both things.

Hi ray, I hope you are well my friend great bit of information, I was into cb/ sideband in the 80s then sold it all in the 90s and recently did my ham license but I'm definitely still hooked on freeband but I couldn't really understand what was going on and I think you have just cleared it all up for me, basically my opinion is use the frequency's but be sensible and enjoy the hobby, I definitely will be checking some of your videos out in the future have a great day my friend, ste from st helens 73 for now.

I wonder if the licensing authority are not so concerned about power or frequency as interference from CB/HAM radios are not a thing any more since TV has gone digital? Also being in Australia we are a big place and it would be unlikely that an inspector would drive hundreds of kilometres to find a radio criminal? It is difficult to find a modern CB 27Mhz radio without having all the 10 mar bands included, self policing about the transmit permitted frequencies required.

That was quite interesting! I haven't really thought about CB or the 11 meter band since the 1970s! I had at the time a 5 watt, 23 channel Realistic walkie talkie, and a 108" whip antenna on the rear bumper of my 1967 VW bug! Made a contact with someone in Texas early on. I was on the shores of Lake Ontario, just west of Toronto. The fad didn't last long, though, with the foul language and jamming, so I gave up. But in 1990, with the urging of my Dad, who was a HAM, I passed the exam and got my own Amateur Radio license! Thanks for the inspiration - I may explore the 11 meter region once again. 73 de Karl, VE3GUN

you should check out USA Channel 6 it's 27.0250 it's called the super bowl here in the US mostly Big radio stations on it😀😄

Very nice example of Skip between England, Bulgary and the USA. I'm wondering how well FM works on the same band higher up on 27 mhz. I'm thinking of putting up a transponder on an fM channel in Canada.

1882 12w SSB working Europe as 3VS75 which was the Voice of Scotland member 75 group 3 even worked Australia and waited patiently for that QSL to arrive into a PO Box Also worked 45m band before gaining Amateur license 12WPM morse and City and Guilds exam All because of a wee Cobra 19 AM

i remember in the late 90s the prop was hot, 11m was active 24/7 and from the states I would mess with some brits on the uk cb band (which is illegal to do in the states) think they was on ukfm channel 1 or 3. I had the classic export radios galaxy saturn, galaxy 88, hr2510. first day I ran into them they was shocked some yank was on their channel screwing with them. so I made it a hobby to randomly show up and mess with them for weeks. always used the amp, nothing like 1KW FM lol but with that 1KW they heard me no issue when the band was open.

not receiving anything on the cb kp 4000 team transceiver.

Another great vid 👌

Just noticed that you had the 10kc jump activated, as the frequency didn't align with the channel number. 😂

Ray do you have much activity on 4 meters? We in the States don't have 4m privileges. Great video and you have a great bunch of radios. 73 Joe

Most of these frequency and mode changes were brought in my the Radio communications Agency before Ofcon was created. Between about 2004 and 2005 Ofcon got rid of most of the radio investigation officers. That's why it's now a largely non policed free for all. This is all due to crap leadership, crap government and crap management.