#cb27 — Public Fediverse posts

This is FT8 activity on channel 26 of the Citizen's Band. This is what the microphone in my laptop captures now when my President Jack is on about 50 cm away from it.

Note the truncated format of some messages (one call sign only, whose?) , cut to fit CB-style call signs in the 72 bits of each FT8 frame.

When I'm on, I use an "impossible" ham call, 0L1VA, which does not need hashing.

I have the feeling more and more people are FT8'ing on the CB.
#CB27 #FT8

I have written a blog entry on this:

https://ea5iyl.blogspot.com/2026/07/ft8-has-taken-over-channel-26-usb-27.html

#CB27 #ft8

#js8call operation by citizen-band (27 MHz) stations in channel 25 (27.245 MHz) is quite popular nowadays. But, what is the legal status of digital modes in European #cb27? Can they be considered a form of SSB? The relevant CEPT recommendation does not say much https://docdb.cept.org/download/1540 .

I was researching about the uses of licence-free two-way radios and I came across an interesting concept: #Bürgernotfunk, German for “Citizen's Emergency Radio” (actually Bürgernotfunk für Jedermann, “for everyone”).

Here are two nice examples:

https://t-day.net/ (meet on Channel 3 at 21:00 on the third Saturday of a month).

https://deutschland-funkt.de (nice web with many resources)

The town of Hornbach has implemented it: https://klosterstadt-hornbach.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/flyer_buerger_notfunk.pdf

#pmr446 #cb27

The #CB27 scene in the city of Alacant / Alicante is a bit too quiet. However, on channel 20 AM and channel 31 FM, some QSOs occur, mostly around 20 h local. Some stations: Brandy, Caballo Blanco, Camel, Geyper, Inspiración, Jilguero, Metralleta, Nostromo, Pato, Pegapulpos, Pioneer, Pulpo, Tarántula, Tito, Vampiro. Some of them are also licensed hams.

I have spent a couple of hours as 30FRS014 doing JS8, 27245 kHz. Farthest contact: Mexico. Nice.

#js8call #cb27

Playing with the #cb27 is very, very easy now. There are a lot of second-hand radios for sale, some only AM, some AM/FM, by people who have abandoned the hobby. And, to start, you just need a run of RG-58 and a dipole with 2.62 m approx on each side. That's how I started back in 1978.

While working at home, I have been monitoring the CB with a second-hand President “Taylor F“ transceiver I bought and the EFHW I use for 10 and 12 m. I find it strange that such a nice HF, licence-free band is used so little: There was almost nothing on. The only real action was a bunch of truckers chatting to each other while moving rocks up and down a quarry that is about 8 km from me. By the way, the truckers were nice people who gave me a report and told me to call them anytime. #cb27

I found it interesting that Citizens Band radio stations in the US are explicitly prohibited from communicating with stations in other countries: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95/subpart-D/section-95.933

#cb27 #citizensband #FCC

(+) It was last night, yes, but the memory of those old but new sounds has been haunting me all day. Welcome back!
#CB27