The most common excuse for talking on T5

"There's noone on here!", "The band's dead mate!"  or some other variation is what I hear from seasoned operators, when I grumble at them for talking on 27.555 .    An experienced operator ought to know that radio propagation is such that you might be able to hear a station on the skip at one QTH, but a mile down the road the band can sound dead.   Someone can be struggling to pull out a QSL in weak conditions because of you and your mate chatting away.

Also, the band might be "dead".   But in flat conditions, there may be some good ground wave UK contacts to be made from high ground.   Again, this becomes difficult when two locals are rabbiting away about their failed car MOT or hip operation.   

Don't get me wrong.  I have no issue with people saying a quick "hello" to their mate if they happen upon each other when DXing.    A couple of sentences back and forth in my view is fine, something I've done myself on occasions.  If the conversation starts becoming extended then QSY is required!   

I don't really mind the whistles, "hola hola coca cola" etc.  It gives the band some character.    But people just gossiping away on T5 is frustrating.   I've made some good contacts by sitting on a non T5 frequency  chatting to mates, then being found by a DX station.

Anyway, I know this subject has been done to death.   Just thought I'd share my musings on this topic.

I know what you are saying and must admit to doing it myself.
Not often but a m8 who is always buying/selling radio's of all types will get a cb/ssb set.
He then phones me to give him a check when the bands are dead as i am the nearest person that can talk to him as we both use horizontal aerials and we might spend 5 minutes on the 555.
Talking on t5 has been the same for around 30+ years that i know of and i don't think it will change as there is always one "it's a free country" or the likes.

Yop. Agree. Not really much more I can add, other than when QSYing making it a channel or two at least away from the calling frequency would help a bit too. Doesn't happen too often, but have seen strong stations QSY just 5kHz off the T5 which really doesn't help clear the channel, especially for those of us listening on cheap radios.

Luckily at home I don't get affected by chatter on there much, it's more when I've gone and sat out portable it's more noticeable.

I understand everything everyone has commented but I’m relatively new user but what about channel 31 ( 27.3150 ) has anyone had any response on this channel I’ve tried but got nothing back I run ( for a mobile station ) a relatively good set up of crt7900 supported by a six foot whip sirio silver meggawatt mag mount is it a case of being patient? Anyone had good modulations on there ?

Tony gough wrote:

I understand everything everyone has commented but I’m relatively new user but what about channel 31 ( 27.3150 ) has anyone had any response on this channel I’ve tried but got nothing back I run ( for a mobile station ) a relatively good set up of crt7900 supported by a six foot whip sirio silver meggawatt mag mount is it a case of being patient? Anyone had good modulations on there ?

Hello Tony,

Yes always worth a try when the Euro skip is coming in. The mode of transmission is always FM and is popular with our German and Scandinavian cousins.

Thankyou that is helpful also I get confused regarding T5 is that the fm 27 meg band or is it another band ? 
I always thought it was on fm 27.555.0
Or is T5 on another band please forgive my niaveness

You are welcome, Tony.

27.555 (often referred to as T5) is part of the 27mhz band. You will often hear cb radio been referred to as the 11m band and this comprises of 26 and 27mhz. It is called the 11m band as that is the wave length in metric. The radio operators who use the band are called freebanders as you do not need a license to transmit on there.

27.555mhz (ch12 high-band on old school cb's) is the global calling frequency for 11m and the mode of transmission is always USB on there.

There are four main modes of transmission that are used on 11m. They are FM, AM, USB AND LSB with CW occasionally used by very dedicated operators.

Even though 11m is license free, there are laws and regulations set out and governed by OFCOM here in Britain.

Feel free to ask any questions, Tony. We all have to start somewhere and we are always pleased to help people get started in the hobby of radio.

Best 73s John.

A few useful links for you to read, Tony:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CB_radio_in_the_United_Kingdom

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/84406/citizens-band.pdf

With regards to legality on 11m in terms of where you transmit on the band and the type of equipment used. OFCOM 'turn a blind eye' to illegal activity and it is many years since anyone was prosecuted in the UK. It is the relaxed and informal nature of the band that make it so popular the world over.

For some reason the wiki link is not working. If you type 'cb radio in Britain' into Google it will come up, Tony.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CB_radio_in_the_United_Kingdom
Worth a try.

Cheers, Alan. I could not get that link to work.

Thankyou John 123 
Your replies have been very useful 
One other question of confusion I have 
Is asking for people to modulate with you although I have called out using my Charlie tango call sign ( Charlie tango 3762 ) I’m not entirely sure I’m call out correctly can you please enlighten me on how show start also reply ? 
Thankyou 
Tony

If you want to put a call out on T5 to make some contacts, Tony, you would say "CQ call, CQ call, this is 26CT3762, please QSY (change frequency) to 27.585 for possible contact." It can be any frequency you want, Tony. You would then tune to 27.585 and put out another call. You would say, "CQ call, CQ call, 26CT3762 QRZ," (QRZ is inviting any stations on the frequency to come back to you with their call-sign.

Likewise if you heard another station putting out the above call, you would say, " 26CT3762 calling," then the other station would call you in.

If you only want long distance contacts you would substitute CQ call for CQDX. The DX meaning distant contacts.

Before you give a QSY frequency, Tony, you need to make sure that it is not in use. The correct procedure is to go to the frequency you wish to use and say "26CT3762 is this frequency in use."

If you hear stations talking to each other and you would like, to join the conversation you would say "QSK" or "QSK 3762." QSK let's the other stations know you would like to join their conversation. You would hear one of the station then say "QSK QRZ." You would start by saying hello and repeating your call-sign and name.

If you are a little nervous, Tony, it is OK to let the other stations know that you are new to it and they will help you along and probably give you some good advice.

Good luck.

One more tip for you, Tony. If you put '11m dx' in on You Tube there will be a load of videos that will give you lots of valuable info.

Thankyou John that’s amazing and it has now given me much more confidence to use my radio on 11mtr once again thankyou

You are very welcome, Tony.

Good luck and have fun.

you get a few excuses here like i cant hear any dx so its ok , all my mates do it so why not , i have payed for my radio i will talk where i want , its a illegal freq i will do as i please , even heard them swearing at skip on 555 because they were coming over their mates , thankfully i put a beam up and cant hear them now

I forgot to add the mentality of some of them , one of the ops joined a very well known dx group and was very happy until one of the mods posted a few rules and one of them was no qso on t5, well our hero took offence to this and rather than take his qso away from the t5 he left the group stating he doesnt want to break the group rules !!!!

I’m lazy and I don’t understand my radio, my mate tuned it to this frequency and told this that this is where it’s at, so your here talking to me, so I’ll don’t see the issue

Did the station whistling for his dog I hear every morning on the T5 get it returned to him…

Anyone wanna chat on 555?

The Triple 5 is a local chat frequency, here in SW Scotland. 🤬