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In most large cities, the CB bands are filled with people playing with voice modification and trash talking. All day long, all channels. It's almost useless a
by busterarm 5y ago
In most large cities, the CB bands are filled with people playing with voice modification and trash talking. All day long, all channels. It's almost useless and has been that way since the 80s. If you aren't very close to a highway, expect not to hear anything.
Serious users are all HAMs, but then it's all "serious business".
- kmbfjr 5y agoJust ham, not HAM, not H.A.M.
- chrisseaton 5y agoWhere does it come from?
- iNate2000 5y agoLike a goofy person “hamming it up” Amateur radio operators can seem undisciplined compared to professional or military operators.
- theandrewhead 5y agoHam was a term likely coined by professional radiotelegraphers to mean ham-fisted (with 'fist' being a term referring to technique used when sending Morse code) An early example of elitism in radio that is still very prevalent today - Professionaly trained telegraphy operators talking down amateurs who are involved for the fun of it, for having sloppy technique when sending code.
- lozaning 5y agoHam comes from pigs =) Put originally it was a pejorative used by professional telegraph operators to make fun of 'ham fisted' amature radio oporators who were bad at morse code.
- mattowen_uk 5y agoThis is the correct answer. Source: My father was very active in UK ham radio circles back in the 1980s.
- wrycoder 5y agoIt’s shorthand for amateur radio operator (as opposed to professional, e.g. ship to shore.)
- bencollier49 5y agoI read something online about it coming from a Harvard callsign. Is that nonsense?
- 01100011 5y agoDepends on the area, but IIRC the VHF/UHF HAM bands in some cities are almost as bad as CB radio at times. I remember a couple of decades ago LA had a big problem with jerks and unlicensed idiots spamming the airwaves.
- BenjiWiebe 5y agoI believe LA still has that problem, but largely confined to a single repeater.
- triactual 5y agoYes, W6NUT is still going. It's pure anarchy by HAM standards but it's actually kind of entertaining. https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/25419 https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/25419
- rsync 5y ago"In most large cities, the CB bands are filled with people playing with voice modification and trash talking. All day long, all channels." Weirdly, it makes me happy to learn this ...