The airwaves belong to no one. Why does piracy on PMR and CB annoy me?

PMR and CB are among the simplest ways to communicate by radio. Put very simply: you pick up a radio, choose a channel, press a button and you can talk. No subscription, no internet, no apps and no checking whether your phone still has reception or is merely putting on a brave face.

Out in the field, in the car, on a trip, while working in a group or in an emergency, a device like this can be genuinely useful. PMR usually means small two-way radios for simple conversations over short distances. CB is associated mainly with car radios, the open road and conversations between drivers, although the subject is, of course, broader than that.

And just to be clear: I have no problem with people using PMR or CB. Quite the opposite. It can be a great introduction to the world of radio. For some, it will be a tool for brief communication; for others, a first step towards an interest in communications, aerials, range and that whole world of radio, which can draw you in far more than you ever planned.

The problem begins elsewhere. It starts when someone confuses open access with carte blanche. Because PMR and CB are not ‘rule-free’. They may be used without a licence, but only under specific conditions. That is the key point which some people find it very convenient to forget.

Does licence-free radio mean regulation-free radio?

No. And I genuinely do not know why this still needs repeating. Not having to obtain a radio licence does not mean you may transmit using anything you like, anywhere you like and at any power you like.

It is a bit like a public road. You are allowed to drive on it, but that does not mean you can put up your own sign, close a roundabout and announce that, from now on, traffic will follow the rules devised in your basement.

PMR446 involves a very specific type of device. It is not just any radio tuned to a frequency of 446 MHz. A legal PMR446 radio must operate within defined limits: at restricted power, with its factory-fitted aerial and without modifications that turn a simple walkie-talkie into a small transmitting station.

Put simply, PMR446 is meant to be a straightforward short-range radio. One that lets people communicate in a group, on a trip, at work or out in the field, but is not intended for making long-distance contacts or testing just how far the rules can be bent.

There is no complete free-for-all on CB either. CB radio is available to everyone, but only within a specified frequency range and under specified power limits. You do not need to know every piece of technical shorthand to understand one thing: legal CB has boundaries. It does not work on the principle of ‘turn the knob until the whole world can hear you’.

Where does using a radio end and piracy begin?

For me, the boundary is quite simple. If someone buys a legal device, uses it as intended, keeps an eye on the channels, does not overdo the length of their transmissions and does not interfere with other users, there is no great drama.

They may be a beginner. There may be things they do not know. They may ask questions. Everyone had to start somewhere. Amateur radio operators are not born with an exam certificate in one hand and a meter in the other either.

Piracy begins where deliberate rule-bending starts. For example, when someone takes a programmable radio, tunes it to a PMR frequency, adds a more powerful aerial, increases the power and says, ‘It’s still PMR, though.’

No, that is no longer normal PMR use. It is inventing a philosophy to justify circumventing the rules. It may work, but it is held together by a cable tie, self-confidence and comments from the internet.

It is much the same with CB. There are defined channels, ranges and limits. We can discuss propagation, aerials, installations, interference, operating etiquette and sensible use of equipment. But if someone exceeds the permitted limits, piles on the watts, ventures where they should not and then explains that ‘everyone does it’, that is not an argument. It is merely a collective shrug at the regulations.

PMR446 is not a Baofeng with a 446 MHz channel programmed into it.

That sentence will probably raise someone’s blood pressure, but so be it. PMR446 is not just any handheld transceiver into which we enter a frequency from the PMR band and consider the matter settled.

The whole point of PMR is precisely that it is simple, limited and predictable. It is meant to operate within defined boundaries. It is not a gateway to ‘a bit of amateur radio without the paperwork’.

If a device has a detachable aerial, higher power, unrestricted programming capabilities and can operate in ways that go beyond the PMR446 rules, it ceases to be an innocent walkie-talkie from the supermarket. It is now equipment that must be used sensibly and in accordance with the regulations.

Merely owning such a radio is one thing. Using it to transmit on PMR frequencies in breach of the rules is quite another matter.

And this is usually where radio smart-arsery begins. Someone says, ‘But it works.’ Well, yes, it does. But a great many things work until somebody starts considering the consequences. You can ride a bicycle into a fountain and, for a moment, it will be a form of water transport, but that does not mean we have discovered a new branch of public transit.

CB radio has its limits too.

CB has its own history, atmosphere and character. There is something rather appealing about it, because over the years the subject of CB has become wrapped in stories from the road, base stations, mobile operators, long-distance contacts and late-night conversations that sometimes sounded like an unscripted radio serial.

But affection for CB does not mean you can ignore frequency ranges and power limits.

Legal, licence-free use of CB in Poland applies to a specified range and specified limits. That is why not every frequency in the vicinity of CB is an ‘ordinary CB channel’. Popular frequencies used by some people for long-distance contacts may fall outside what is permitted for licence-free use.

You can weave a legend around it, talk about customs, long-distance conversations and radio romanticism, but that does not make the regulations elastic.

What annoys me most is the point at which someone presents such practices as normal. A new user then sees a video, post or comment and thinks: if they are doing it, it must be allowed. And then we have another person who has not so much entered the world of radio as charged into the airwaves like a wild boar into a feeding trough, because someone previously told them the fence was only decorative.

Ignorance does not annoy me. Arrogance does.

Ignorance is normal. Seriously. Someone bought their first radio, saw something on YouTube, read half a thread in a group, heard from a friend that ‘it works’, and started exploring the subject.

You can then calmly explain the difference between PMR and amateur radio, why the aerial matters, what transmission power means, what licences are for and why not everything that can be programmed may actually be used to transmit.

I try to educate people. If someone asks, I answer. If someone does not understand, I explain. If someone genuinely wants to use radio sensibly, that is great.

But increasingly, what you find on the other side is not curiosity but a wall bearing the words: ‘Don’t lecture me.’ And that is when your energy begins to run out.

Because ignorance can be addressed. Arrogance is much harder. When you point out that someone is breaking the rules and they respond by taking offence or saying things like ‘the law doesn’t apply to me’, the conversation stops being educational and starts to feel like kicking a locked door. You can do it, technically, but why hurt yourself?

An amateur radio operator is not having a go at you for sport.

From an amateur radio operator’s perspective, this problem hurts a little more. Not because radio amateurs have a monopoly on the airwaves or spend their evenings poring over regulations with a magnifying glass, looking for somebody whose day they can ruin.

It is about radio culture. About a simple set of rules that prevent our shared radio space from descending into chaos.

In amateur radio, you learn from the outset that the airwaves are not yours. That there is another person at the other end. That someone may be listening. That your transmission may interfere with someone else. That a frequency is not your private balcony from which you can shout whatever you like, as loudly as you like.

That is not taking things excessively seriously. It is ordinary responsibility.

That is why smart-arsery affects me so badly. Not CB itself. Not PMR itself. Not the novice user. Just the attitude: ‘I have a more powerful radio, a bigger aerial and my own interpretation of reality, so I’ll do whatever I want.’ That is not passion. It is damaging radio culture, wrapped in a package of self-confidence.

The internet can help, but it can also normalise piracy.

YouTube, groups and forums can be excellent sources of knowledge. You can find good guides, sensible tests, practical examples and people who genuinely know what they are talking about.

The problem is that another strand is growing alongside them: how-to guides for bending the rules. How to increase power. How to bypass restrictions. How to use a radio where it should not be used. How to pretend that regulations are an opinion rather than a rule.

The worst thing is that some people do it knowingly. Not only do they break the rules themselves, they also encourage others. Sometimes explicitly, sometimes half-jokingly, sometimes with a wink: ‘Obviously, I’m not encouraging anyone, but you know how it is.’

No. That is precisely the point.

If someone demonstrates bad practices and sells them as experience, they are not educating anyone. They are adding another brick to the mess.

Then along comes a new user who simply wants to use a radio. They encounter material like that, buy the wrong device, start transmitting where they should not, and remain convinced that everything is fine. After all, the channel’s creator said it worked.

But working is not the same as complying with the rules.

Emergency communications are not an excuse for everything.

An emergency argument often crops up in conversations like these. Floods, blackouts, power failures, infrastructure going down, phones not working — therefore, you need to have a radio.

And as a general principle, I agree. Radio can be extremely useful for emergency communications. In some situations, a simple transceiver, a spare battery, a way to charge it and basic knowledge may be more important than yet another smartphone app.

But emergency communications are not a magical ‘get out of gaol free’ card. The fact that a radio may prove useful in a crisis does not mean you can break the rules in everyday life, make a mess of the airwaves and explain it away as preparation for the end of the world.

It is a bit like carrying a fire extinguisher in your car. It is great that you have one. It is less great if you then decide that the rules of the road are for people without fire extinguishers.

If someone is genuinely thinking about communications for their family, friends, local group or people preparing for more difficult circumstances, that is all the more reason to begin with legal and predictable solutions.

PMR and CB can form part of such a plan, but only if we understand their limitations. Otherwise, instead of building safety, we are putting on a little show that looks lovely on a slide but, in practice, begins to creak at the first bend.

Education first, then metal fatigue.

I do not want to write the sort of piece that says: ‘Everyone is wrong and only I am right.’ That would be too easy and simply dishonest.

Many people genuinely do not know. Many sellers confuse the terminology. The internet is full of contradictory information. On top of that, there is equipment that looks similar but may be something completely different in legal and technical terms. A beginner can easily get lost in it all.

That is why education should be the first response. Explain. Link to a source. Say that PMR446 does not mean every radio tuned to 446 MHz. Remind people that CB has limits. Show that licences, bands, channels and power are not embellishments invented by bores, but elements that keep order on the airwaves.

But there comes a point when a person starts running out of strength. Especially when, yet again, they hear that they are ‘nit-picking’, ‘don’t know how life works’, ‘the regulations are stupid’ or ‘nobody checks it anyway’.

The thing is, radio culture does not mean behaving properly only when someone is standing behind you with a notebook. It means behaving properly because we understand why those rules exist.

Conclusion: the airwaves are shared, so let’s not turn them into a rubbish tip.

PMR and CB make sense. They are simple, accessible, relatively inexpensive and genuinely practical in many situations. They can be used legally, calmly and to good effect. You can learn about radio, improve communication within a group, have an emergency means of contact or simply have a chat.

That is not the problem.

The problem is piracy: knowingly going beyond the rules and pretending nothing has happened. The problem is showing off with your equipment, power and aerial while saying, ‘It doesn’t apply to me.’ The problem is taking offence when someone points it out. The problem is teaching others that regulations are merely suggestions for the less daring.

The airwaves belong to no one, but they are not private either. They are shared. And shared things work in such a way that either we all use them sensibly or, after a while, all that remains is mess, resentment and noise.

PMR and CB can be normal, useful tools. We simply need to stop treating radio like a toy for pirates who absolutely must prove that a rule is good only when it applies to somebody else.