THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HAM RADIO AND CB.
December 1st, 2007 by hamslife
(While most of the readers of this blog are hams there are some who drop by who are not. This post is to help explain that question so frequently asked for those who drop by who don’t know what the difference between ham and CB is. If you are a ham you might get some information from this that will help you explain the difference.)
From the beginning of wireless devices there have been Amateur Radio Operators also known as Hams.
It was ham radio operators who experimented and developed the radio industry. Before 1912 all wireless operations were unregulated but as the number of wireless operators increased it became apparent that regulations were necessary. Without regulations the “air waves” would become nothing but mass confusion and thus its potential benefits would be lost. The emerging radio services, including radio amateurs, were restricted in the frequencies or wave lengths its operators were allowed to use. The transmitter power also became subject to the new laws. These restrictions changed as the state of the art of radio changed.
In 1945 a means where businesses and individuals could use radio communications for business and personal communications was provided on the 460 to 470 MHz band. This band of frequencies was called Citizen Band.
The cost of UHF equipment was expensive so for that reason, along with several others that are beyond the scope of this article, a new band using 27 MHz was added to the Citizen Band radio service in 1958. This meant taking the old 11 meter amateur band away from the amateur radio operators to provide area for the new service to operate. There was no test required but anyone with a CB station had to register the station with the FCC and be issued a call sign. The restrictions were very clear. They were to have a final input power of no more then 5 watts. There were, and still are, also antenna height restrictions and restrictions on the distance they were allowed to communicate. CB stations were not to give a general call unless there was a distress. They were to call a station by its call sign and identify by giving its own call sign.
The whole idea was to provide an inexpensive two way radio service for the general public and that was all it was meant to be. Thus the above restrictions along with many more were imposed but they became impossible to enforce.
Unfortunately there are people who will not follow the rules. There were many who started to use the citizen band frequencies much like Ham radio by giving and answering general calls. They exceeded the power limits, used profanity and cursing which is illegal, and broke every regulation imposed by the FCC. It finally came to the point where the band became totally useless for its intended purpose and a good idea became a bad night mare. The FCC does not have the personnel or the finances to regulate the service.
Some of these people even call themselves hams. They are not hams. They have not passed the necessary examination nor filled out the paper work to qualify. They do not have a ham radio license.
A ham radio operator is allowed to give general call. Hams legally talk to other hams all over the world and legally run transmitters with much higher power then CB operators are allowed by law. Hams have many bands on which they are allowed to operate while CB is restricted to the 27 MHz band. Types of communications allowed on the ham bands include, Morse code, radio teletype, AM, FM, SSB, TV, Facsimile (FAX), radio control and more; CB has only AM, SSB, and radio control. There are ham repeaters and ham satellites. Hams bounce signals off the Moon back to earth to communicate. The manned space crafts sometimes have hams on board which communicate back to other hams on earth.
The differences between Ham radio and CB are far more then the similarities. If there is a reader of this post who is not yet a ham radio operator though interested but doesn’t know where to start please contact me at wa6ohp@yahoo.com (put the words “Ham’s Life” or just “hamslife” in the subject or it will go to the spam file). You can also contact me via the comment section below.
This entry was posted on Saturday, December 1st, 2007 at 11:15 pm and is filed under Radio History, amateur radio, ham radio. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:37 am
I would like to learn more about getting my son interested in this perhaps as a hobby? How would we get started?
August 10th, 2008 at 12:27 am
I sent an email to Lori but for the benefit of others who may have the same question this is in part what I said in that email.
“The best way to get started is to ask people you know if they know any local ham radio operators. You will be surprised how willing hams are to help new people to enter the hobby. You can also contact the ARRL (American Radio Relay League). They are the largest ham radio organization (http://www.arrl.org/). I don’t know where you live but if you will click on “CLUBS” at the ARRL site you may find a local club and visit one of their meetings. Many clubs have classes offered for free.”
“You can also check one of my other sites http://hamslife2.blogspot.com/ which has all the question and answers to the Technician class Amateur radio license test.”
August 25th, 2008 at 7:21 am
Big thanks. Good idea. I’ll become your constant visitor and RSS subscriber.
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October 27th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
hey,i have been assigned a project on ham radios
in which i have to write the difference between a ham radio and a common radio and also that by whom was this device invented.kindly help
October 29th, 2008 at 12:21 am
I sent an email to Arushi the content of which I am including here for the benefit of others:
The word radio refers to any electromagnetic radian from 50,000 Hertz to many Gigahertz which is generated by transmitter and received by a receiver.
Guglielmo Marconi is normally credited with the invention of radio. He was the first to receive a paten on a practical application of electromagnetic radian by using the discoveries of many others.
Radio was originally called “wireless telegraphy” which became shortened to just “wireless”. The word “radioconductor” was used by the French physicist Edouard Branly in 1897 based on the Latin verb “radius” which means to extend from the center like the spokes of a wheel. The word “radio” was used by Lee de Forest in an article in 1907. The U. S. Navy officially accepted the word “radio” in place of “wireless” in 1912 and the word was commonly used in the United States and most of Europe by the time of the first commercial broadcast stations in the 1920’s.
From the very earliest days of wireless communications there were experimenters and communicators who advanced the art of field. These experimenters and communicators were called amateur radio operators the name was later shortened to ham radio operators.
In 1912 different uses of radio were divided into various radio services and assigned frequencies and bands within which they were allowed to operate. These services included Military, Commercial Ship Shore, and Amateur Radio service. Later other services were added such as Standard Broadcast, Land Mobile, Radar, Television, and many more.
The term you used “common radio”, I am assuming, is referring to Standard Broadcast Radio Service which we listen to in our cars and in our homes. They broadcast talk shows, music, news, etc. The difference between the Standard Broadcast Radio and the Amateur (Ham) radio service are many. They operate on different frequencies and usually operate on much higher power then ham radio operators are allowed to use.
The word broadcast means one way communications while amateur radio uses two way radio communications. Broadcast transmits with no pause to listen for a reply while two way radio transmits and then listens while a reply from the receiving station is sent.
Standard Broadcast is for the purpose of making money but Amateur radio operators are not allowed to receive any remuneration for their services.
For more information on Amateur radio I suggest you check The American Radio Relay League web site at www.arrl.org .
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March 22nd, 2009 at 11:53 pm
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July 19th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
ham radio equipment…
I\’m currently studying for my foundation license with the North Wales ARS club. And will be taking the exam in early June and I hope to receive my M6 call sign soon afterward….
September 13th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Were HAM radios used by the French resistance during WWII? Have they been successfully used in modern times, in countries where tyrannical gov’ts
have taken over? How can a HAM radio be utilized successfully today if the USA were to collapse?
Mike G.
September 17th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
[…] my attention. The comment can be found on my post “THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HAM RADIO AND CB” (http://hamslife.com/?p=24). Mike’s comment or actually questions were: “Were HAM radios used by the French resistance […]
October 10th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
i very thankful for your info. it is going 2 help me in my project.as ham radio is helpful in emergency situations.can u also tell me some other communication systems which can help us in emergencies
October 14th, 2009 at 5:55 am
The following answer was emailed to Sumukah:
Thank you for your comment on www.hamslife.com.
You asked about “other communication systems which can help us in emergencies.” Each and every communication system working can be used in emergence communications. If telephones and cell phones are working they have some very practical use during emergencies but they are usually the first to go out. CB radio has its place while commercial broadcast radio serves in providing information. Ham radio does have some unique aspects that it can offer (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z9136_Nhh4 ).
73
Bill WA6OHP
February 25th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
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March 7th, 2010 at 3:16 am
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June 7th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Hi, I was surfing around looking for articles to explain why CB’s generally do not require a license (as far as I know anyway) and ham radios do, and in the process I found this site. I was reading through some of the above posts and found the post where you mention that Guglielmo Marconi is normally credited with the invention and patenting of radio.
If I remember correctly didn’t the Supreme Court ultimately reverse that decision and grant the credit for the invention of radio to Nikola Tesla?
He was in fact the first man to successfully transmit signals over the air.
Great article by the way
June 10th, 2010 at 3:04 am
Thank you for the comment Mike.
What I said was, “Guglielmo Marconi is normally credited with the invention of radio” I deliberately avoided saying that he was the inventor of radio. He who gets to the paten office first usually gets the credit. There are arguments as to whether or not the Wright brothers invented the airplane but they were the first to paten it so they get the credit.
Tesla did bring a law suit against Marconi in 1915 but he was unable to get the Supreme Court to agree. In 1943 the Supreme Court reversed its decision but that was done to get rid of the Marconi Wireless Company’s law suit against the United States for using the wireless telegraph in WWI.
And if you want to know why CB does not require a license the answer is simple. It did require one until the whole thing got so out of hand in the 1970’s that the FCC was not able to enforce the regulations so they just threw up their hands and allowed a good concept to go bad.
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73.
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