CB Radios

[N.E. CHARTERS]

While up in Aroostock county I noticed that some road have signs that All trucks must turn on the CB Radio to Channel #


Havent heard anyone use CB's since Dukes of Hazzard.


Are they still popular?

Maybe I should get one for me pick em up truck 10-4 good buddy

Notice the Antenna!

 

[Chris]

Most 4x4 groups still use the CB to communicate on group rides as they are dirt cheap.

Can't speak for the truckers.

Back in the 90's I heard a lot more truckers on 2 Meter Ham, but not so much now that cell phones are so plentiful.

 

[truthprotector]

My father still drives trailer here and there. He's on the cb all the time.

 

[PatMcD]

Breaker, Breaker.

The paper companies have different areas of their road system on different channels so's the drivers can alert each other to conditions without a lot of cross-talk from other logging roads in the area.

Over.

 

[C-pher]

I have a buddy that hauls jet fuel. He has a CB in his rig, as well as his truck and minivan. People still use them. I used to have a portable CB that I would keep in my car when I was traveling. It's the best radar detector out there.

 

[Snapshot]

There used to be a HUGE CB community on the north shore during the 90s. Channel 24 was where it was at. Not so much anymore. I still have mine but never installed it in the new car. I keep a portable one nearby though incase of an emergency.

 

[PMD]

I've got one in my LR Defender (D90) -
I use it mostly at 4x4 events and on the trail - worked great last week on the highway when 5 of us caravaned (sp?) to Virginia and back for a big Land Rover ralley.
The other nice feature is mine has weather stations.

 

[Twigg]

I've got a 40 channel unit out in the garage sittin in a box somewhere.

I think I still have a (much) older 23 channel base unit and a tube fired linear out there as well.

I'm an incurable packrat.

 

[rscalzo]

I have one mounted in my Goldwing. It works great when I would ride on long trips with other Goldwing riders. Rarely use it now. The FRS units have pretty much done away with them although over the road drivers still use them for local info.

I had a mobile unit many years back when I worked the midnight tour mounted in my marked police unit. Our town has a very large commercial area and the truckers were always getting lost and would wander into a residential area which was a nightmare when they would get hung up. It was easier to give them detailed instructions to their destination before they got hung up.

 

[JGG]

cb

When I last trucked up nrth in the Bangor area the school bus drivers had them and called out stops as they were making them. That gave us a warning if we were getting a run off one hill to make the next. Most loads over 80000 pounds, most logs chips fuels, aren't allowed to run on the interstate road system. The heaviest and overlength loads are running on the state roads, Rt 202, 100,201 etc. Cbs being cheap and a lot quieter since the fad died off are still used by trucks. At least until big brother decides to outlaw their use in trucks like radar detectors.

 

[drgrant]

CB is still in use from place to place, WAY more common in rural
areas than they are in most of MA though, now.

All that aside, Ch 19 is incredibly useful, especially in the mornings. I
have one of the new chicom-made Cobra-29s in my car, doesn't work
too bad. I can get some decent distance out with the Wilson 1000
I have on the car.

The only sucky thing is in MA there are very few(if any) places that work
on the radios and amps anymore. CB works in Shrewsbury used to do it
but apparently he went out of business. I think there
is some guy in bridgewater that does repairs but (Lous?) but don't
know anyone who's used him. There was also Roger in NH, but he's
been dead for years now.

-Mike

 

[n1heu]

The only sucky thing is in MA there are very few(if any) places that work
on the radios and amps anymore.

-Mike

As someone in the communication business I can say that with labor rates hovering at $125/hour, the cost of repair on a CB radio is just not economically feasible anymore. As to the 'amps', nobody with any kind of license or certification will work on these though fear of heavy reprisal from the FCC. Enforcement has been strong on suppliers and service of illegal power amps. The potential of losing your means of livelihood for the small fee you could squeeze out of a CB'er is not worth the risk. With today's cars being electronically complex and the real risk of damage to these electronics, the installation costs are very high also. I would consider $200 the starting point for a simple installation and go up from there. Most CB'ers just don't want to pay the heavy toll that the communications field is demanding. My sincere advise is to study for a ham license, (there is no longer a Morse Code requirement), it is very simple and certainly anyone I would trust with a firearm is fully capable of passing this test in quite short order. Buy a nice 2meter/440 dual band portable radio for about $250. The people up in these bands are very nice and are always on the air looking for company. There is scarcely a place in the country where a repeater is not within portable reach in these two bands. All major real events and drills usually have a ham radio component to them. Message me for more info if you like.
JMHAO

mike
n1heu

 

[tele_mark]

Drgrant is a ham. There's a few of us on here.

Mark
WB1HJS

 

[Len-2A Training]

My only problem with getting ANY gov't license any more is that they DEMAND your SSN for it. Not willing to give that info out for non-tax purposes and I don't buy the "Patriot Act" requires it for everything BS, so I opt out. [Privacy of your SSN is NOT assured by any means. I'll be posting an interesting letter from the Commiewealth about mis-use of SSNs as soon as I find it online or scan the HC I have in.]

I used to hold a RadioTelegraph (I think that is what it was called, haven't seen it since the late 1960s) License and a CB License, but those were back when you didn't need to take a urine test and have your arm tattooed with your SSN to get them.

Otherwise, I think n1heu's advice is solid.

 

[drgrant]

As someone in the communication business I can say that with labor rates hovering at $125/hour, the cost of repair on a CB radio is just not economically feasible anymore.

While a lot of what you mentioned holds true, I think it's a
matter of a lack of customers more than "hourly rate"
etc, at least in this region of the country. There are plenty of
guys that still have shops in other parts of the US, but they can
probably stay alive and make a buck because of volume/demand.
It's not just about repairs either, its about selling consumables
(mics, coax, antennas, etc. ) stuff that breaks a lot. Even
given that though, if your volume is too low, that part of the
business falls through, too.

As far as amp repair guys fearing regulatory types.... that's pretty
amusing, IMO. They've never bothered anyone I know that
fixed amps, and a lot of them fix CB, Ham, and some commercial
stuff. One guy I knew from years ago ended up getting out of
the RF end of things because that market was kinda falling
out, he ended up moving onto repairing audio amps because there
was more stuff to repair.

My sincere advise is to study for a ham license, (there is no longer a Morse Code requirement), it is very simple and certainly anyone I would trust with a firearm is fully capable of passing this test in quite short order.

I've been licensed since 1994 (N1RSR) I have an Icom V8000 right
next to the Cobra 29 CB in my car, along with a pile of amateur
equipment at home. Despite the vastly increased capabilities
with amateur radio, I still find uses for having a CB around. I
use 2M FM occasionally, Usually if I have the VHF rig on I'm on
the 146.640 Waltham machine, and sometimes the 147.315 which is
a good repeater local to Fitchburg. Back when 145.410 was
more reliable I was pretty much on there anytime I was in a
vehicle.

-Mike

 

[dwarven1]

The only sucky thing is in MA there are very few(if any) places that work on the radios and amps anymore. CB works in Shrewsbury used to do it

The shop (if it's the one I'm thinking of on RT 20) is no longer there; it's something else. I wished I'd thought of it when he was still there, but I have a couple of rigs in the basement that need repair. Guess I'll just have to spring for a new one.

Buy a nice 2meter/440 dual band portable radio for about $250. The people up in these bands are very nice and are always on the air looking for company.

Unfortunately, Mike, they're probably NOT on the same highway that I'm on, and they're not going to be able to tell me if there's a speed trap down the road. I think that that's the main reason for folks still having CB's.

Ross

 

[Ray P]

(snipz) Unfortunately, Mike, they're probably NOT on the same highway that I'm on, and they're not going to be able to tell me if there's a speed trap down the road. I think that that's the main reason for folks still having CB's.
Ross

Picked up a hand-held CB from Trashy Radio Crap in August; the first CB I've used or owned since '79/80. (Still got my FCC # somewhere). The on-air attitude has changed a lot. I was "lurking" (to mis-use an internet term) for traffic reports; but there seemed to be more deliberate mis-direction, and general rudeness than I ever remember hearing before.

Maybe it was more effective as a good-luck charm than a speed trap detector, but I did make two trips to MS and a permanent move from ME to NM without tickets.

Still handy for logging roads though (yeah, they got them here in NM, too). And the same basic rule applies here as in Maine: when the foriegn-language discussion on CH19 rises above a certain threshhold on your signal meter; get out of the way.

 

[K-DUB]

Just found this thread....us truckers use them on a daily basis for traffic, when pulling in to pick up loads, etc....

It's kind of like livin' in Smokey & the Bandit's world. =)

Over.

 

[Joe G]

Do the handhelds that are so popular now broadcast on CB channels? I have my grandfather's old CB sitting in my garage. We take an annual ski trip where we caravan and I'm wondering whether we can mix and match.

 

[Twigg]

Do the handhelds that are so popular now broadcast on CB channels?

Nope.

Todays walkie-talkies broadcast on a different frequency. The advantage is the chatter is much less.

 

[Finalygotabeltfed]

Nope.

Todays walkie-talkies broadcast on a different frequency. The advantage is the chatter is much less.

The real advantage is that they are frequency modulated rather than amplitude modulated. This provides for less interference from man made and atmospheric sources.

 

[Ray P]

Do the handhelds that are so popular now broadcast on CB channels? I have my grandfather's old CB sitting in my garage. We take an annual ski trip where we caravan and I'm wondering whether we can mix and match.

There ARE handheld CBs ( I have one for road trips); , but I think you mean the little FSR radios. In which case, MrTwigg & Finalygotabeltfed are correct.

 

[drgrant]

Nope.

Todays walkie-talkies broadcast on a different frequency. The advantage is the chatter is much less.

Well, FRS has that but the biggest advantage is size. There are
almost no CB handhelds in existence that are the size of most of
the FRS radios that are out on the market. Most FRS radios are
easily less than half the weight of a CB handheld. This is also
why you see lots of FRS + GPS stuff out now, etc.

-Mike

 

[Higgy]

At least until big brother decides to outlaw their use in trucks like radar detectors.

Won't happen. If it did, they'd have done it by now. People have been using CBs for at least 40-something years to watch for speed traps.

I remember when I was a kid, Dad had a old Pontiac with a CB the size of a friggin VCR in it, and a huge whip antenna, about 8-feet long. He'd drive around all likkered-up, and babble like a chimp all night, come in when he was tired, and sit next to his base unit (which was a huge as a few cinder blocks), and babble until he passed-out.

Not good times - being a kid - but they've been around a looooong time.

 

[rscalzo]

I used to hold a RadioTelegraph (I think that is what it was called, haven't seen it since the late S)

Come on Len, admit it. You used to go under the name of Watson and were the one on the other end of the line when Alexander Graham Bell made that first call.

 

[Len-2A Training]

Come on Len, admit it. You used to go under the name of Watson and were the one on the other end of the line when Alexander Graham Bell made that first call.

Nope, I'm not old enough to be retired yet, unlike you old boy!

 

[rscalzo]

Hey, I'm only 57!!!!. You and Marconi used to hang out together, didn't you ?????