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CB jargon on the amateur bands

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RickC.

Hopeless antenna junkie
Mar 30, 2009
400
8
28
Alabama
OK, I don't mean new Techs on 10m. I cut those guys some slack and sometimes explain some of the ropes in a friendly way. Everybody's got to start somewhere. That's the main reason Novices and Techs have fewer privileges-- a place to learn without causing any damage to themselves or other operators. (I cut my teeth on the 40m Novice band, and I think all I damaged was my hearing!)

BUT- during my first tests of my yagi this past weekend on 20m, just a few minutes before FD started, I listened to a few QSOs of a station in Georgia. This was interesting to me for a couple of reasons: 1) He was 20/9, which is rare on 20m to Alabama, and 2) He sounded a lot like a CBer-- not an unfriendly guy, but fit the "ratchet jaw" mold.

I assume he was a new general, given that he was on 20. But he kept saying "Rod-joe", "Hay-four", and the like, and mentioned to a couple of people that his new vertical was just up on an 8 foot pole but "has pretty good ears." At first I thought it was a joke, but nope...

Call me elitist if you want to, but I really hate to hear that kind of thing on the ham bands. To me, that's like going to church and shaking the preacher's hand on the way out and saying, "G$d D**n Preacher, you preached like a m&*$%f&*#$r this morning!".

It just doesn't fit. The amateur radio fraternity is a wide umbrella, and one of the great things about the hobby is that there's room for all kinds of people with all kinds of interests. But there are traditions in the fraternity, and if a person doesn't like them, why would he be there? I'm afraid that aspect of amateur radio is getting lost on some people.

What do you think?


Rick
 

Hi Rick, I hear ya and this situation is nothing new. VERY many hams came to it via CB and old habits are hard to break. Many times you'll see a group of locals from a given area get into ham radio together and they merely pick up where they left off. But now they can legally run them linyars and take advantage of the reliable longer distance propagation that the lower bands provide.

You offer to say that ham radio is a "wide umbrella" but then you don't like parts of what that wide unbrella brings.....???

These guys are just being themselves and none of us can change them.

Don't like what you're hearing on one frequency? Spin the dial. That's the way it is. Amateur Radio rules don't specify that operators have to speak a certain way and use or not use certain terminology.
 
WW, by "wide umbrella" I mean people from all cultures and walks of life, economic strata, religious backgrounds, etc. That, and the wide area of interests the hobby can accomodate-- some like old AM gear, some like to pound brass, some like to mess with satellites, some SSTV, etc. etc. And I'm not up in arms over it, I just was surprised to hear it that blatantly smack in the middle of 20 meters.

And right, there's no rule that says you have to talk a certain way, but some things are just part of it. And turn the dial is what I do, I'm not going to fight anybody over it. What I'm saying is that someone who insists on doing that because he doesn't know any better needs a friendly tap on the shoulder by a mentor-- and by that I mean someone who actually knows him. If someone insists on doing that who does know better (or should) and has no sense of the history and tradition of amateur radio, well, that spells L-I-D to me.

Rick
 
Here is an interesting article-

Ham Lingo by Ed Griffin W4KMA

After many years of SSB cb I have caught myself almost saying "roger" when responding in a telephone conversation. :) I don't like the way the writer in the above article slams CB ops as people of low IQ. You don't get your message across by degrading someone.

I will say I don't "hi hi " :)
 
Get used to it Rick. Since they made the ham "exam" so easy a trained monkey can get a ticket nowadays that situation is getting worse all the time. There is a certain element among some CB'ers, note I said SOME CB'ers that will always carry their attitude of lawlessness and twang lingo where ever they go and do not have the common sense or respect to behave in someone elses house. By house i mean the ham bands. They can act however they want to at home but should at least abide by the homeowners rules and wishes when coming in for a visit.I am sure you follow what I mean. There are becoming more and more "10'4's" and "10-20's" as well as lots of weekend warriors on the air. You know the weekend warrior? He is the guy that studied the Q & A pool for a whole weekend and has just been set loose on the bands with his peaked and tuned Galaxy export radio (over)driving his Davemade amp into his set of flatside beams and splattering 50 KHz or more either side all the while ignoring comments about his signal because he has a ticket to do whatever he wants now.:headbang

I better stop now before I really start pissing a lot of people off.

Note: I have NO problem with CB'ers getting a ham ticket but please leave the CB stuff ( both amp gear and operating techniques) between 26 and 28 MHz.
 
It was probably Hammer ... he was testing an antenna wasn't he?
thumb_lol3.gif


Not being an Elitist Ham ... I would think a hay-foe would be better than Shut The F&$@ up, and get off my channel, and MF this and MF that.

Now not being a Ham I just really don't understand why one would get everything in a wad just because someone talked on a radio in a way that wasn't fit for the King ... :LOL::pop:
 
WW, by "wide umbrella" I mean people from all cultures and walks of life, economic strata, religious backgrounds, etc.


Rick...that includes the CBer who became a ham. And they are legion.


That, and the wide area of interests the hobby can accomodate-- some like old AM gear, some like to pound brass, some like to mess with satellites, some SSTV, etc. etc. And I'm not up in arms over it, I just was surprised to hear it that blatantly smack in the middle of 20 meters.

And right, there's no rule that says you have to talk a certain way, but some things are just part of it. And turn the dial is what I do, I'm not going to fight anybody over it. What I'm saying is that someone who insists on doing that because he doesn't know any better needs a friendly tap on the shoulder by a mentor-- and by that I mean someone who actually knows him. If someone insists on doing that who does know better (or should) and has no sense of the history and tradition of amateur radio, well, that spells L-I-D to me. Rick

Then here above you are copping out (let someone else do it) then name calling.


Cut your losses and spin the dial
 
It was probably Hammer ... he was testing an antenna wasn't he?
thumb_lol3.gif


Not being an Elitist Ham ... I would think a hay-foe would be better than Shut The F&$@ up, and get off my channel, and MF this and MF that.

Well Jim, I have heard just exactly that as well including the use of the word "channel" so that tells me something about that operators background and knowledge.Some people want to learn how to fit in and others don't want to learn anything other than "how many pounds am I putting on ya' there in ........" :headbang

Now not being a Ham I just really don't understand why one would get everything in a wad just because someone talked on a radio in a way that wasn't fit for the King ... :LOL::pop:

It's all about respect. If you never utter a curse word in your life would you put up with someone in your house turning the air blue or would you ask them to tone it down or leave? Try using CB lingo on marine freqs or using MF'er on other radio services and see the response that you get. Like I said it's all about respecting the rules of someone else's house. Nobody is perfect but people don't have to act like lawless, senseless, inconsiderate idiots just because of it.
 
90% of HAMs I speak to are ex-CBers.

Most have left the land of CB due to poor etiquette, terrible slang, and they just weren't the same "class" of people.

I still keep a CB in my car for the Ch19 use. :blush:

Just offer helpful opinions, and hopefully they will take heed?

Advise them that European stations, if there's a band opening, probably won't understand their slang? And that their station is having problems? But most importantly, do it politely.

-Richard-
 
C.K. ... I understand the respect issue and in Rome do as the Romans, but I think what I don't understand is the all fired better than everyone posturing that it seems to create...a little education and a lot less brow beating would go a long way ...


 
To 'get in' you have to 'fit in'. Don't wanna 'fit in'? Then get out, or put up with the consequences. Seems perfectly reasonable to me, and 'fits' just about any situation I can think of.
- 'Doc
 
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