[nursetim]

Seems like a good option if one has a large enough console. Thanks.

It suddenly popped up in my head that the next administration might start licen$ing it, not sure why.

Used to be, in the 70’s, you did have to have a license, largely ignored and rarely enforced.

 

[LinuxLover]

I remember a guy on a C/B out by Palm Springs his handle was DESERT IGUANA he was totally illegal.

He could be heard nite and day saying nothing. Once picked him up at Harbor in Long Beach.

Hooker & Drug Dealers use C/B to offer goods & service to truckers.

Utah Highway Patrol use to have C/Bs in cars.

Hell ---- the Florida Social Security Skip still comes in loud and clear all the way to California and Montana. Those guys are pushing 50Killowatts on huge beams and rotating mattresses.

I keep a CB and an old 'brick cellphone' which is analog, in all my vehicles. Why?

'Cause a 27MHz CB cuts through mountains and around trees very well - and the phones, being analog, won't shut off if the atmospherics aren't conducive to a digital signal to get through.

ANY old cellphone - digital or analog are allowed to dial 911 and OPERATOR even if they are not on a service.

In the mountains, in the valleys - and out of sight of a cell tower, having those other systems might be lifesavers.

I will admit that finding a place for a CB in my Trail Blazer was kinda interesting ... to say the least.​

 

[LinuxLover]

It used to be licensed like gmrs is now.

It WAS licensed (KIS-4886 and KBW-8882, my wifes) and then CB went from a low-yield small business owner's communication - to Children's' Band or Cretins' Band radio and it all fell apart.

 

[G19Tony]

There was an HF frequency we could use to listen to a CB channel. I don't know how it worked, but when we were doing airdrops at Desert Center DZ, in the C-141, on the low level portion, we could listen to the truckers. "Whooooowee! did you see that B-52 fly over the interstate south of the Salton Sea." :exercise:

 

[hogfish]

It used to be licensed like gmrs is now.

When was this? Thanks.

**Answered by nursetim.

 

[hogfish]

Used to be, in the 70’s, you did have to have a license, largely ignored and rarely enforced.

Didn't know. Thanks.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

Back when I was a young punk teenager having a CB saved my butt numerous times. Get stuck on some back road somewhere or run out of gas, get on the CB. Some good ol boy ******* would be listening and in short order have you back on the road, all for a 6 pack of beer. Good times.

 

[Trucker3573]

I get you OP. They used to be a tool for help and now days it’s just full of BS. I don’t even run one anymore. Been several years and I keep saying I’m going to put it back in during the winter months. They can be a life saver to know what’s down the road but I never end up putting it in.


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[HollowHead]

Yet again, you bums send me out to the garage... HH

 

[as400guy1]

I gotta go 10-100.

Better than a 10-200.

 

[Detectorist]

Every truck stop I've been to had a good selection of CBs and accessories

 

[Glock&Spiel]

All my Cb stuff is boxed-up, but I scan the chicken channels every so often with my Icom IC-7000 HF ham rig, Drake L-4B amp into an Imax2000 "fishing pole" at 50ft... Not always something going on there, but when there is, it gets interesting. 73 from the "Number 3, Southwest sinkin sandbar".

 

[DaveD]

Dad was KNP5209 and a member of a huge local club. They would install the radios and hard wire them in for any member.

We had a HUGE home antenna that was structured from an in ground gas pipe that a friend, who worked for the gas company, dropped off one day.

Neighbors never complained as dad installed phones for them at no cost.

 

[bdcochran]

1. the issue is that it wouldn't do anything because no one uses them . . .
Careful...you are dehumanizing truck drivers!
My girlfriend doesn't need one to know road conditions. She tunes her car radio to a local AM station that provides traffic updates every 10 minutes.
She also uses her cell phone to check the fastest route to where she is going.

2. I just think they're cool!
Yes, when there were no car phones and ham gear was frightfully more expensive.

3. I live in an urban environment. People deliberately run stop signs and red lights. They deliberately drive the wrong way down one way aisles in supermarket parking lots. Accordingly, I don't play the radio, use a cell phone or use any communications gear in the car.

4. What communications gear is really functional? When the power goes off, the cell phone circuits are overloaded. When there is a real, wide spread emergency, you are low down on the totem pole and your ham gear is essentially useless. Regular civilian users of ham gear spotting emergencies on the county monitoring system are told to get off the repeater. Unless there is electricity to a private repeater and it is unlocked, you ham gear doesn't help you in my area.

One day I finally figured out that buying a pile of FRS gear that operated on common batteries, that were super cheap, and was a better way to go because you hand out units to your neighbors and organize faster than having expensive ham gear.

 

[Lt. Donn]

Good ol days, used to be on a team that monitored the emergency channels and got help where needed. Fun times.

Gosh...that takes me back..REACT...what memories...I once heard faint distress call from a sinking vessel in the Gulf...was able to vector a CG Helo to rescue them....those were the days!

 

[selogic]

When I think of Ham radio , I envision guys sitting around their garage talking to other guys about where they live and what kind of rig they're running . They fantasize about being the only reliable form of communication left when the apocalypse happens . When I look at the big picture , it's just not for me . I was a CB guy back in the 70's , it's pretty much dead around here except for truckers . Nothing for me there either .

 

[Kennydale]

. I'm old enough to remember when somebody besides a foul mouth trucker used one.

I was one of those really quiet respectful truckers ( Never really understood the stereotype)

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

I've got a Cobra LTD29 and a Kenwood TMV71. CB is not dead here.

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

Ham on the left, CB on the right

 

[Sharkey]

How about a dedicated GT channel for when we are in the car driving? Runnin' down the road trying to loosen my load, I got a world of trouble on my mind.

Unrelated kinda, but I like using Waze to get the local police traps. It saved me last night, A trooper was on the DNT - Dallas North Tollway. I hardly ever see them camped out there.