28 MHz intruder problem worsens

The vast majority heard in the UK are from Eastern Europe .. i've been licensed for about 30 years, and i've been using 10m as a local calling / net / local QSO band for 20 years,
and so with almost daily use and monitoring (with even our tiny net) we have got to hear a hundreds of pirates over the years, one of our guys says he heard a 'Russian' pirate repeater
on 29.700 .. but i never have.

It seems (to me) that the worst intruders are generally from the former USSR and associated Baltic states .. when the band changes and the Eastern Europen Hams disappear off the band,
the same time 99% of the pirates vanish too. They seem to be using channelised sets, being every 10kcs apart, so i suppose most of it is modded CB equipment, or ex military surplus
from over there, or the more familiar gear we all use.

It is not a new problem at all, its just now that as the the world and his wife are back on 10m now, they're hearing the pirates too. they've been there for must be, 20 years or so,
through the years of solar minimum too, to when the summer sporadic E brings them in.. but there does seem many more of them - the last few years.

I have been known to chase them off occasionally, after having numerous QSOs ruined by them, and after almost constant interference to the beacon part of the band where i listen regularly,
i gave up, outnumbered. The reality is they have no clue what they're doing and care even less, so Good Luck to their local authorities, t but i dont expect the intruders will be ever leaving.
leaving anytime soon, as i guess the relevant authorities have rather more pressing things to attend to.
just my thoughts ...

 

I find that a persistent CQ on the offenders frequency usually sends them packing. Especially on CW or digital modes

 

I have a proposal to make illegal AM use of the low end of the 10M band less attractive: Change the US Amateur Radio beacon station rule 97.203(d) to make many 3 or 4kHz wide small beacon bands in 10 KHz steps that coincide with CB frequencies + 900 kHz. These automatic beacons would be really annoying squelch opening intermittent signals and heterodyne whistles to anyone listening to an AM signal and the occasional intruder would function as an illegal beacon on a monitored beacon frequency. Normal CW and other narrow bandwidth modes could operate in between clean beacon signals minus intruder AM splatter.

"Export" Freeband CB channels explained
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens'_band_radio#Freebanding_and_export_radios

 

I think the problem is very easy access to CB type radios, that cover 25 to 30 mhz, which are produced in Taiwan, and China. The people buying these know nothing of Amateur Radio, and just tune to a clear channel, which until recently was only for local communication, now with the Sunspots reappearing, they are now a problem.
The manufacture of these radios needs to be stopped, However that will not be easy, I think that pressure needs to be applied at Government levels.
The other issue is CB'ers / Free Banders who buy Ham equip't and modify it, they need to be fined and the equip't confiscated, however who would do this with the squeeze on gov't funds is your guess. However it did work in the "Old Days"
73 Keith G3VKW

 

I live suthwestern Ohio and hear a lot of illegal traffic between 28.000 and 28.300. And it's all CB'ers.
WHY THE fcc STOPPED THE cb LICENSE IS BEYOND ME. tHAT JUST OPENED THAT BAND AND OTHERS FOR THE PIRATES TO INVADE, AND THEY DON'T DO A DAMN THING ABOUT IT. I have heard them on 75 meters also. They just say the airwaves are free. Bull####!!! Sorry about the language but it just pisses me off!!!

 

Now if I'd used such language I'd have AA7BQ closing my account down.

The smell of censorial hypocrisy on QRZ.COM stinks like hell.

AA7BQ - Care to comment ?

(No I thought not) :-(

BTW - with respect to WN8GXX, I'm not offended by his language at all. I'm more offended with
the editorial hypocrisy of QRZ.COM, which far outweighs any bigoted opinons I read or the
language used.

 

When you're on The Right side of an issue here, you get a pass. If you're not, "justice" is swift and sure.

One only has to look how certain threads are allowed to go on longer than they should to see it.

 

If I am guilty of beleagering the point, then let me end (?) by saying this: WE COULD make a difference IF we would by: Locating any local perps, recording their information such as position, time/date, frequency, and identity (such as a tractor # and company if mobile) and reporting it to Ms Smith. It really IS that simple. FCC is complaint-driven, and if we were to flood FCC with constant complaints of interference, they would have to act due the sheer strength of numbers. So long as WE keep quiet, insofar as FCC is concerned there IS no problem, and they are not going to do anything unless they hear from SOMEBODY!/U] That "somebody", then (in the Riley era) and now is US! If we want to KEEP 10 Meters, then its going to be up to US to defend it by showing that we, in strength of numbers, are not going to stand for intruders. If we sit still and do nothing but complain on QRZ and Eham, nothing is going to happen. If WE want something to happen, then WE must DO something, and that first step is to locate, document, and report, because FCC is not going to do it for us. It is JUST that simple! If we sit still for this crap, then eventually these CB clowns will be on 17 Meters, then 15 and so on. Don't think for a minute the "export" radio people would not eagerly supply purpose-driven, multi-band "hammie" radios with plenty of "extree" channels to cover 10, 12, 17, 15 meters and them super-duper BIG COIL An-tanners to go with them!!! OR they'll just buy Kenwoods and Icoms and go anywhere want to! The interference is only going to get WORSE.............unless WE get on the ball to rid ourselves of this problem.


J

 

Happens every sunspot cycle, the one before the last cycle was a red hot one, I tuned down to 20 metres and there were "freebanders" all over the place from 30mhz down to 14.5mhz.
Tracking them all would be impossible, South Americans, Pacific fishermen, taxi drivers in the Far eastern countries, Russian's using FM and AM, East Europeans, totally impossible to do anything.
Just learn to live with them, not worth getting high BP over ham radio and freebander interlopers. If they annoy you on ten metres, fire up some RTTY, they soon get fed up with the noise and move on..

 

But, they are there, sunspots or no. Truckers happily yap on 10 Meters up and down the interstates 24/7. They know nothing of "sunspots". True, there are pirates all over the world, and there is not a lot we, as hams can do about that. That becomes a treaty issue and a subject for ITU to hash out among the countries concerned. Russia has agreed to deal with the taxis in their country. If we can get other countries to deal with their respective pirates, and get our own domestic hams to locate, document, and report, we can stop a major part of this invasion by CBers, pirates and such. The problem is getting worse and worse, and we need to start somewhere. Why NOT in our own backyard?

 

I have far more intrusions on the 2m repeater I use than I have ever heard on 10m by far.
They aren't CBers either.
Unless one wants to use a wide enough brush - then they are.

Since there are intruders on 2m and a CBer isn't culpable for 2m or even HF intrusions; then one must deduct that a ham operator's young'uns are using the equipment when Dad isn't around.

Having said that, that is in the realm of responsibility of every ham operator to make sure that when he leaves his station - that he must disable it in such a way that only he can.

There!
The narrow brush defines a much larger picture once again.
A large brush can only be used to paint a wall sucessfully.
Building a wall?

 

Boo........

PS
Tell Dave I said PhhhTT