Muppet Band Vs Side Band
Muppet Band
Since its legalisation in the early eighties the original UK 40 Channel 27Mhz FM Band has its fair share of crazy behaviour. There has always been people who would play music over channel 19 in a bid only to prevent other radio users from making contact with each other.
Often in a hope of reclaiming the frequency some people fitted radio amplifiers that allowed them to transmit at higher than legal power levels. This would allow their signals to be transmitted 'over the top' of the blocking transmission. The trouble with this is that someone always has a bigger burner and as output levels grew this made it more and more difficult for other radio users to use even nearby frequencies when someone on the channel below is pushing 500 Watts.
On the Muppet Band you also run the risk of threats and abuse although their seems to be a lot less of this nowadays but there are fairly regular slanging matches breaking out as the 'after the pub' lads wander back home and fire up their rigs.
Actually part of the fun of the Muppet band is listening to some of the hilarious chatter you hear of an evening when there is good propagation and on occasions you get a night when things open up and you get signals from random places. There are nights when the Muppet Band is buzzing with a good bunch of people shouting out particularly in the summer months. I've had some great signals in from various parts of Europe when conditions allow.
There are the weekly nets also for those who fancy venturing out to see what they can get and especially in the summer this is a great way to enjoy your radio. Getting on to higher group usually brings better reception and when channels ae active it gives a great opportunity to make contact with other radio users in different locations.
Side Band
Prices for an SSB Radio are generally higher than for a standard CB Radio and a lot of the more modern rigs available will give you access to other modes and depending on which radio, possibly other bands for you to enjoy.
The benefits of using an SSB Radio are that since it can transmit at higher power, legally 12 Watts and that side band is a more efficient way to transmit a signal increases its range tremendously compared to a standard rig.
It is also true to say that there tends to be more people using side bands than the standard 40 channels giving you better chances of making contact with other radio users. It is also generally true to say that because of the additional range achieved with side band rigs this tends to attract the more serious radio user.
Many qualified HAM Radio users will drop down to the 11 Meter band as well as scanning the other bands and tend to be more proficient radio users. Although there are still episodes of misuse on the sidebands it happens far less often than on the muppet band.
So the quality of conversation tends to be of higher quality than on the muppet channels and adding to this the added distances that can be achieved generally leads to a much better radio experience than on the muppet bands.
Regular nets also occur on side band and tend to produce much better results especially since there tends to be more serious radio users who operate with more courtesy for other radio users as well as greater degree of decorum since they tend to understand better the appropriate way to operate a radio.
With greater distances, more power and an increased audience with a higher degree of understanding of how to get the best from the radio it is possible to reach more distant stations and have better QSOs with other radio users.
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