GPS / CB Choices

bgum wrote:

KD4UPL wrote:
He said he wants to talk with truck drivers and other motorists. I've never seen any truck drivers use GMRS.

Take another look. "And other motorists"
Gmrs is quickly sending CB to the garage sale piles.
Gmrs transmits and receives at much longer distances.
Gmrs is F M which means no static.
Gmrs can hit repeaters which means you can communicate hundreds of miles.
Gmrs antennas are much smaller.
One of the reasons you don't hear as many truckers on CB today is that they are going to GMRS and ham radio.

Truckers CANNOT use "Ham radio" for BUSINESS PURPOSES, PERIOD. Heck if you tightly adhere to the FCC Rules, you cannot even even use Ham radio to order a Pizza from a Pizza shop because you ARE doing "business" on it.

GMRS is a VERY LIMITED communication system by design, sure they have a few more watts of power but to get considerable distance they need to use REPEATERS.. It was never intended for COMMERCIAL TRAFFIC like in "truckers". GMRS frequencies around 462 Mhz and 467 Mhz which IS LINE OF SIGHT UHF frequencies, doesn't bend around hills, mountains or other obstacles.

See FCC website for more details.

The advent of CHEAP unlimited talk CELLPHONE packages are what has consigned "CB" to the briny depths.. Not GMRS and not Ham radio.

SOME truckers may have a CB, They might have it since SOME places they go to may use it for their yard, but it is not typically a truckers primary means of communications anymore. My neighbor is a truck driver, his truck does not have a CB, has a commercial business band radio.

On top of that MANY trucking companies went to COMMERCIAL BUSINESS BAND frequency radios which are not GMRS capable.

Traditional 27 Mhz AM/SSB CB was a 1960s-late 1970's "cool factor" fad that due to constant abuse was totally abandoned by the FCC and pretty much anyone that didn't want to listen to the junk spewed by the abusers.. By the 1980s it was dead, now days very few manufacturers make them..

And as the OP has found out, very few places will install them.

I wouldn't and I do have a favorite CB leftover that I had bought from a friend who is now deceased so it has a sentimental attachment. That CB hasn't seen a vehicle since 2003 when I pulled it from my old truck and never reinstalled it since I could not find anyone on it worth while listening or talking to.

I would not and will not encourage anyone to buy a CB or GMRS, they will be highly disappointed, not a lot of trucker chatter now days.

GMRS is OK if you are two or more family members or friends using for communicating hiking/biking or traveling together (multiple vehicles going to same camping place as an example). But overall a very limited radio service with a lot of limitations. That IS what GMRS was designed for.