What are the Pros/cons of 11 meter vs. Ham radio?
CB (11 meters) provides good short range communication between house and car, house-house, etc. In smaller towns (for instance: Sealy) we get coverage in and around town making it much more convenient and less expensive than, say, a cellular phone. You could do the same with a Ham radio, but all parties would have to be licensed radio operators. CB radio equipment is less expensive than Ham radio equipment, but as a rule the power output is less, as CB’s are limited to 4watts (AM), 12watts (SSB). On HF there is a term quite frequently heard, called “SKIP”. No, it’s not some popular guy on channel 34 but a condition of the Ionisphere where instead of letting the signal pass through it into space, the Ionisphere acts as a reflector and bounces the signal anywhere from 150-4000+ miles! When skip conditions occur on 11meters you’ll hear wall-to-wall voices on every channel, many with different accents (accounting for the area they live in). The downside of this event is that it is illegal
