According to my fellow CTDX group member Del Boy, a new PMR channel expansion has been proposed across Europe affecting both the analogue and digital band slots.
This effectively expands the analogue 446 platform from 8 to 16 channels and the digital platform to 16 or 32 channels.
The changes to the digital platform take effect from 2018 (presumably the UK will be included in that) with the new analogue allocation expected at the same time.
Some have already retuned their radios ahead of time but wether anyone will start using these channels unofficially before the 2018 date is debatable.
Is this the big shift that will kill off regular CB 27Mhz for good?
I don't think so, it seems that CB radio is still popular in certain areas and it would require a monumental shift in 446 adoption by the public to kill off CB popularity. -
As it's virtually impossible to buy a blister pack of 16 channel analogue Walkie-Talkies at the moment it's likely that the only early adopters of these extra channels (before 2018) will be the owners of ham radios.
The advantages of the extra channel require no explanation. The good old straight eight can become very congested at times and quite often you can be competing with big stores and motorcycle instructors for air space... Having the extra channels allows a little room to breath at least.
I think this proposal is a great idea and might just breath a bit of life into the PMR scene.
As a regular user of PMR 446 I wish that these changes could happen sooner but nevermind.
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