New Feature: Banner Exchange

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This post was originally published on February 18, 2024
The latest update to this post was made 2 months ago.

Ham Encounters Banner Exchange

The banner exchange service is *free* to use, no seriously – it’s 100% free! There are two participation methods you can select.

Add your website to the banner exchange : Allows you to add your website and image to the banner exchange network. You do not have to have the banner exchange code on your website to add your site to the exchange.
Add the banner exchange code to your website : Allows you to be part of the banner exchange community and display fellow sites banner ads on your ham radio related website. This is optional, but allows fellow ham sites to get more exposure!

How It Works

The banner exchange is quite simple! To help fellow ham radio sites get more exposure, the banner exchange program allows you to enter your ham radio (or related) website to the database along with your site or group banner image. Once approved (they are human verified to be legit before publishing) the banner will appear in random rotation on all participating websites. There are no fees or charges, they are all covered by Ham Encounters to help the ham community out!

Rules & Such

The banner exchange is only for ham radio and closely related sites. You can include your main website, Facebook group, Twitter page, etc. Currently this service is only open to regular ham radio operators and groups. We do not allow companies or sales type ads to be published. If you have ham radio products for sale and are a business, please [Contact Us] and we’ll work with you on getting a possible placement on the Ham Encounters network. Banner images cannot contain political or adult content.

This article, also on Ham Encounters, may be of interest: New Feature: Photo Galleries Added

How To Remove An Entry

To remove an entry in the event of a group closure or to add a different ad for a previously published ad, simply [Contact Us] and tell us which ad is involved to get it removed. This process typically takes 24-72 hours, but you can submit your new banner in the meantime.

Are Banner Ads Served By Ham Encounters Safe?

All banner ads published are only published to the live stream if they pass our human verification process. Once a banner exchange ad is processed, a human verifies all the links and site is valid before making it live to the network. Any violations or deviations from true ham radio sites will be removed or not approved in the first place.

Who Can Submit Entries To The Banner Exchange?

Any ham radio operator with a website/Facebook page and/or Twitter page and any ham radio group/club with a website/Facebook page and/or Twitter page. The banner must link to a ham radio or closely related site.

Will This Addition Slow My Website Down?

No, the source code and processing lives on the Ham Encounters servers. Your link (shown below) simply calls to ‘display’ that output. There are no special files that have to be loaded on your site.

How Much Traffic Can I Expect From This?

This is a new service as of February 2024. Until the system grows, you likely won’t see a tremendous amount, but as entries are added and fellow ham sites add the banner codes to their sites, everyone will benefit! With that in mind, be sure to tell a fellow hammer or groups in your area to add to add their banners!

This article, also on Ham Encounters, may be of interest: Ham Encounters - Now Online!

Can I Use The Banner Code On Social Media Sites?

No, the code will only work on actual websites. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter will not understand what to do with the code. Regular hosted sites and WordPress sites should have no troubles. As long as the site understands “iframe”, which most all do, the code should work.

What Will It Look Like?

If you decide to add the code to your website to display the banners (thank you!). The output will look similar to the sample below. Obviously the graphics and links will change randomly. The output size is recommended to be 720×255 – if your site resizes it, that’s OK too. Note: you may see your own banner from time to time as it is completely randomized.

Ready To Get Started?

Ready to get started? Great! Here’s what you’ll need to do:

Step 1: Are you signed up on Ham Encounters? It’s quick and easy to [Create] your free account in under a minute.
Step 2: Visit the [Banner Exchange] page on Ham Encounters to enter your info. Note: Approvals are hand checked by an actual human and can take 24-72 hours to process.
Step 3: Choose if you’d like to host the banner exchange on your website (display banner exchange ads). If so, you’ll need to add the following code to your website – on the page/location you’d like the banner to appear.
- A special note for WordPress sites: you can add the code as a page widget or post widget. The widget type would be HTML, Text or Enhanced Text. You could also modify your theme .PHP files (advanced), if you are up for it – but easiest way is to use widgets. We cannot support all the various websites out there, but if you do have troubles, we’ll attempt to help.

This article, also on Ham Encounters, may be of interest: Ham Encounters - Now Online!

<iframe src="https://hamencounters.com/bannerexchange/codebase/herotator.php" style="width: 720px; height: 255px; margin:auto; display:block; border: 0; background-color: #2A2A2A"></iframe>

That’s it! Refresh your site and the banner exchange rotations should begin.

Changed My Mind – Removal Of Script

Don’t want the banners on your website anymore? Simply remove the code (or widget) from your website.

You’ll remove the following line of code: