For as long as I can remember, I’ve heard the reasoning that the 11m community is a terrific breeding ground for future hams. I agree too. After all, most of us know hobbyists that cut their teeth working 11m DX and then graduated to becoming a licensed amateur; especially at the nadir of the cycle when 26-27-28 MHz goes into a hibernation of sorts. So yes, this has been a natural progression for many years and for many guys and I doubt it will ever change.
In the last few years however, I’d argue that the ham bands instead have become a hotbed for new 11m DXers. That’s right…that a larger number of new freebanders are coming from the ranks of licensed hams than they are from the citizens band (CB) or any other source.
“Why would a ham ever venture onto this particular band when it’s sometimes frowned upon and he has so many other bands at his disposal,” you might ask? Well here are some possible reasons from where I sit…
The first, in my opinion, is due to easier access. Amateur transceivers, for instance, can be easily modified to allow operations on 26-27 MHz frequencies but these days most are sold with the mod already completed. Most guys refer to this as the rig having ‘general coverage’ and a good number of retail outlets will be more than happy to complete the mod for you if it hasn’t already been done.
The second reason I believe that ham radio has become the new starting place for 11m DXers is due to burgeoning curiosity. Far from being a haven for good buddy rednecks who operate with dirty amps and roger beeps, as depicted by a minority of uninformed hams, the 11m Community is characterised by an enormous number of highly professional and committed DXers; operators with as much skill, experience and technical know-how as any licensed ham. This is because, like them, they ARE hams. A large majority of them anyway. The others are guys who are learning the hobby via the medium of 11m with the occasional idiot thrown in for good measure – just as there is in the ham community – just as there is in life itself.
When hams recognise this, their curiosity takes them to 11m frequencies where they can see for themselves what all the fuss is about.
Meeting 11m operators on social media sites such as Facebook and then reading about their long list of accomplishments on this ‘mysterious’ band only feeds that curiosity. I would argue, in fact, that sites such as Facebook are slowly breaking down the stereotypes and bigotry propagated by some in the ham community by bringing the worlds of 11m and ham closer together.
In my eyes, innovative systems are another reason why hams are moving to ‘test the water’ on 11m frequencies. The 11m DX Community, for example, has many successful innovations that make it an attractive operating environment indeed for any ham. Concepts such as Islands On The Air (IOTA), Castles On The Air (COTA), Lighthouses On The Air (LOTA), Summits On The Air (SOTA) and Inland Water Islands (IWI) activities not only have a strong presence on 11m frequencies but are far more easily recognisable than on ham bands due to novel callsign systems adopted by all 11m DX groups.
The fourth reason why hams are being attracted to 11m for my part is because of the lure of quality DX. The fact is that a large number of DXCC, particularly underdeveloped countries, are often more easily worked on 11m than they are on ham bands. Indeed, many argue that, at times, it rivals 20m as the premier HF DX band!
A large number of exciting DXpeditions to rare and most wanted DXCC and islands are also carried out on 11m frequencies so the newcomer is able to work those as well as the ones active on ham bands. Great DX is great DX after all and these guys will argue that it doesn’t matter where you get it, as long as you do.
The 11m DX Community’s rich and vibrant club culture though is arguably the most potent enticement for hams. While independent operators (i.e. those not aligned with any club) on 11m do exist, most are members of one or more clubs whom are readily identifiable by their callsign and QSL cards. In my opinion, this membership breeds camaraderie and a sense of belonging not so easily fulfilled in the cliques of ham culture.
Whether or not this account is an accurate one or not will surely be contested by some. The fact is though that in recent times many hams are turning to 11m to hunt DX for the very first time; and as an administrator for a club which welcomes ham, 11m, CB and short wave enthusiasts to its ranks, I am always privy to the reasons why guys operate radios and where they choose to do it.
As you can see, it certainly makes for interesting musing…
Excellent post Darren.
I run the UK division of the Orient Pirate Radio Group (Oscar Papa) founded in Belgium 1981 and have done since the early 90’s and before that as an OP member since it started. We are the second oldest radio group in the world and I can vouch that most of our members are HAMS. Some of those were 11M operators to start out but many are HAMS that have come over to the 11M ‘dark side’. I can also vouch that some our members are BIG GUNS in the HAM world and have set new DXCC and EME DX records on 6M and other bands. Better not name names though 🙂
My reasoning is that 11M is so appealing is like Dave’s 30DA16 above 27.555 is an easy and lazy way of monitoring a particular band. I also think that 11M is a great band offering real world-wide DX, Short E-skip and excellent ground wave coverage when talking the counties. There are not to my knowledge many bands that give you all three. 10M I guess could cover this but how many 10M HAMS have local County NETS like we do on 11M when the band is flat? In addition our group like many has its only monitoring freqs where its members can easily find one another for QSO.
Club exclusivity is also alluring to the operator with some clubs only offering membership to big gun DXers only or those who have so many DXCC confirmed. This in turn is appealing to the operator who likes a certain ‘status’ on the air. On the flip side there are many new HAMS who don’t like the ‘old tie brigade’ HAMS with short vanity calls that can sometimes look down on the newbie and therefore that newbie HAM ends up back on 11M where he or she can now become equal with his or her fellow operators. Hierarchy is something that ‘some’ HAMS and 11M operators both like. Some pay for the privilege (normally into a pyramid scheme) whilst others earn it and those in rare DXCC seem to get it for nothing because of the location. This is something I’m not too fond of but I guess that’s life!
The club or group thing is good though. It brings people closer together at national or world meetings and gives those who have been in QSO a chance to meet and ‘bond’ the friendship as it were.
I’m sure there are many other reasons including ”5/9 contest” all weekend on most of the HAM bands but my personal view is that at the end of the day it’s the SAME guy/girl at the end of the mic whatever the band and as long as that operator is courteous in operation I don’t care where or how they got to 11M .
Viva the 11M band!
73
Tim
26 OP 141
I agree 100% with Dave…
A fifth reason for the popularity of 11m, in my opinion, is the one DX call frequency. Just leave you radio on T5 and one can hear lots of DXCC’s without changing frequency or watching a cluster. Lazy DXing, with a radio on your office desk, an ideal situation…
73’s
30DA016 Dave