And The Hits Just Keep On Comin’! The Noise On 7.200 mHz Keeps Getting Louder!

Friday, September 20 was an exceptionally good night on the HF bands.  Over the past several weeks, propagation has improved dramatically over the near dead-band conditions we experienced over the past Summer, and that led to quite an unscheduled “FBO Net” on 7.200 mHz.  Wait, what’s an FBO?

Technically,  “FBO” stands for “Fine Business Operator”.  Don’t get me going on what any of this stuff really means in real-time.  The term “Fine Business” has been used on the Ham Bands for a very long time, but not in the way it’s come to be in the group of operators who cling to 7.200 on the 40 meter band.

About a month ago, a group of operators led by Darren R Echterling, WO9E, started something called the “Fine Business Operator’s Group”.  The concept, as it evolved, was to help clean up the 7.200 mHz frequency and get the jammers, or “QRMers” off the frequency, or get them to adhere to the Amateur Radio Code of Conduct as laid out by the FCC.  In short, the idea is to get the people operating there to become better Amateur operators and stop jamming the frequency.  I liked the idea so much that I joined, becoming member #11.  According to the group secretary, Alexander Croci, WB3ATF, the group was going to set up a website (we’ll see) and there will be a few more ‘perks’.  Some of the group’s goals include reporting interference to the ARRL’s Volunteer Monitor Program.  Considering the volume of interference on this particular frequency, I recorded about 90 minutes worth of audio from what turned out to be a lively Friday night, as you’ll notice in the audio segment below:

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73 de K1FRC