yamanx1
Head Administrator
Global user (premium)
Registered: 09-2007
Location: In a world of my own
Posts: 1290
Karma: 5 (+5/-0)
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
The rig
By far the majority of Freebanders use 11 metres, this is the part of the radio spectrum between 26000mhz and 28000mhz roughly. CB radio uses 27mhz and 11 mdx really began with CB radio, and most of us come from a CB background.
In the US CB radios traditionally cover both am and SSB (Single side band), in recent years the higher end of CB radios cover all modes including FM and even CW (Morse code), because of the law they are usually sold as 10m amatuer radios, but we all know they are really wide banded multimode CB radios.
Most still show channels and not frequencies, when freebanding you will need to know the frequencies and there is a frequency chart on the freebanding web site.HERE Some of the newer rigs have both and frequency counters are readily available for easy add on.
In order to DX (make long distance contact) on freeband effectively you will need a wide banded multimode radio.
There are hundreds of different wide band multimode CB's on the market, remember they are usually sold as 10m amateur radios.
Your radio will need to cover at least between 27000mhz- 27800mhz on SSB. Its between these frequencies that you will be DXing the most when freebanding on 11metres, 27555mhz usb being the calling channel.
The power output of your radio is up to you, but most CB based rigs dont have the option of regulating power output, so if its high and some are up to 100+watts, you cant turn it down. Why would you need to turn it down? Well you may want to use a linear amplifier to increase your output, and these generally, need a lower input. Linears amps will be covered elewhere.
A good rig of this type will cost you between £100-£220 new depending on the model. Do some internet research on what type of rig you'd like, some have had bad press.
These rigs are mobile for the most part and they will require a power supply unit (PSU) for use at home as a base rig. They higher power output radios will need up to 25amp PSU.
With one of these you will be able to freeband on the 11 metre band. But if you want to freeband on other HF frequencies a HF set will be needed. These are amateur radio sets that have been wide banded for freeband use. They will also cover the 11 metre band and generally have a higher power output, have lots of different adjustments, they wont show channels just frequencies and a HF set will cover 1-30mhz on all modes (Generally)
With a wide banded HF set you can freeband on the whole HF spectrum, but beware as the amateur radio enthusiasts use most of the HF frequencies and they dont take kindly to freebanders. But there are out of band frequencies such as Echo Charlie 6670 lsb. I do not advise those fairly new to freebanding to use anything outside of the 11 metre band at first. Learn a bit about freebanding before venturing into the rest of the HF spectrum 
11 metres is by far the most used freeband with thousands of people all over the world using 27555usb for calling.
I'm sure some of the more experienced freebanders on here will add to this thread making it fairly comprehensive information for newbies
|
|
7/Mar/2008, 8:26 am
|
Send Email to yamanx1
Send PM to yamanx1
|
devondave
Registered user
Global user
Registered: 03-2008
Posts: 87
Karma: 0 (+0/-0)
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: The rig
great info
just a quick question to start the ball rolling.. does anyone use 26.285 usb? as a calling channel now? (i think i got the frequency right!) i used to hang around down here as it was less busy than 27.555 and i seemed to do better in this area
cheers
dave
|
|
7/Mar/2008, 9:03 am
|
Send Email to devondave
Send PM to devondave
|
yamanx1
Head Administrator
Global user (premium)
Registered: 09-2007
Location: In a world of my own
Posts: 1290
Karma: 5 (+5/-0)
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: The rig
Yes, theres a whole lot of calling fequencies. But 27555 usb is the main one. There is a list of calling frequencies on the web site here
Calling frequencies clickerage
|
|
8/Mar/2008, 10:35 am
|
Send Email to yamanx1
Send PM to yamanx1
|
