CB usage?

I stay close to home and do not have a CB in my pickup. We do have one in our semi truck that we use to haul the grain to town. It comes in handy there because everyone can get instructions from the grain terminal.

I think if I ever did start traveling I would have one. After all , if someone is saying stuff that you don't want to hear you can always just shut it off !!!

Just like the TV, the radio, the internet , or anything else.

Ralph Cramden wrote:

Slowmover wrote:


Sorry the prissy boys get upset. Are you all the same ones wearing tattoos & tee shirts?. Baggy shorts and crocs? Clothes no adult would ever leave the house while wearing? 40-lbs overweight? A visual offense to any idea of self-pride or belonging to an advanced society? But you complain about some words. Ha! Wear an earbud.


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Thank you...thank you very much, that made my whole day ROFLMAO.

X2 !!!!!

Slowmover wrote:


Sorry the prissy boys get upset. Are you all the same ones wearing tattoos & tee shirts?. Baggy shorts and crocs? Clothes no adult would ever leave the house while wearing? 40-lbs overweight? A visual offense to any idea of self-pride or belonging to an advanced society? But you complain about some words. Ha! Wear an earbud.


.

Thank you...thank you very much, that made my whole day ROFLMAO.

The above post raises a question in my mind: I wonder if the self-driving big rigs on the horizon will need CB's so that their computers can keep each other company?

I have a half-dozen radios. More than a dozen antennas. And the count on accessory gear, tools and equipment long ago passed a sane level.

CB is as much fun now as in the 1970s. And it’s a gateway drug to Amateur Radio. Assuming that one enjoys a challenge. In this instance, self-contained long distance communication.

My use is as a business tool. I’d no more leave home without a working CB than I’d leave my drivers license behind. When one runs 5-600 miles daily — and learns how to use this tool — it’s invaluable.

Today’s semi tractors make for difficulties in achieving desired performance. That’s primarily due to inferior factory installations as well as composite bodies. But 4-10 miles is far from impossible.

The rig I’ve taken to recommend to drivers is:

UNIDEN 980 AM/SSB transceiver ($120)

RM Italy KL203 amp ($60)

Astatic 636 microphone ($40)

West Mountain Radio DSP speaker ($225)

At least RG8 coax (or LMR-240)

ANCOR 10-2 Duplex wiring & terminations
BLUE SEA fuses/holders

Done right I’m limited to about 20-miles with base stations and 10-miles with mobile. Comes down to the other man’s setup.

It also doesn’t draw more juice than the 15A fused factory binding post can deliver. It all fits in factory locations in most big trucks.

The speaker is the only real magic. Bye-bye not being able to comprehend a conversation at the edge of your range. Changes everything.

As to whether or not it’s worth it, I haven’t had a week in over twenty years it hasn’t saved me time or made me money. That said, I’m pretty used to the characters.

Sorry the prissy boys get upset. Are you all the same ones wearing tattoos & tee shirts?. Baggy shorts and crocs? Clothes no adult would ever leave the house while wearing? 40-lbs overweight? A visual offense to any idea of self-pride or belonging to an advanced society? But you complain about some words. Ha! Wear an earbud.

My pickup and travel trailer also have them. Gave a rig to my son for his vehicle. Sort of a, “better to have it and not need it than the reverse”.

Most don’t want to properly mount an antenna on a Car or pickup (BREEDLOVE or LARSEN puck mount) so a triple magnet base with

Sirio 5000 antenna. ($100) is gold.

Fiberglass RVs are notoriously a problem. NGP antennas were developed for them. Think of a metal backing plate under the skin. Sized to help performance.

Www.wwdx.com is an excellent site.

I’m third generation with aero aluminum trailers. All have had “campground radios”. I recently ordered a Midland thru glass antenna to restore the original factory setup in mine. Mainly for fun. No real range. But that never mattered in a rally.

A new radio that might get some interest is the

UNIDEN 885 Hybrid CB/Scanner

I bought one a couple of months ago. Has GPS so that programming it with updated frequencies keeps it monitoring what’s right around you. Police, Fire, DOT, EMS. The weather radio can use SAME to keep its’ alerts to your area.

These digital radios (both I’ve mentioned) have excellent performance. Less than a 980 isn’t worth the discount, and more means 3-4x as much for a suitable increase in performance.

www.radioreference.com another worthwhile site.

How worthwhile is WAZE? I turned it off after using it more than 10,000-miles. My GPS and especially the radio are better. If one knows how to use them. The scanner only increases the radio value.

Understand that piloting a big truck is fraught with hazard. Make a mistake in routing and the penalties only START with threats to your livelihood.

I was coming off the Birmingham Road (US-78) into Memphis a few days ago. My usual route had both EMS and Fire dispatched to a bad section of IH55 (on my route). Multi-car wreck and fatalities. Not on the CB. Not on WAZE (I turned it on as a control) and not on my GPS. Needless to say, I took the long way around.

There are car wrecks. And there are wrecks with fatalities. Big difference in what’s going to happen out there.

And, FWiW, I have equipment from 20-years ago that still works. Any of you still using a cell phone that old? And how much have you spent on them in the interim, gear and service?

FRS, MURS and GMRS are worth your time. But nothing, NOTHING, has the commonality and familiarity among tens of millions of Americans as a CB radio.
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FRS or VHF/UHF ham radio.

Islandman wrote:
Most logging roads out west are single-lane (about 10-12 ft wide) with intervisible turnouts when possible. It's been common practice for the logging trucks and other traffic on these roads to keep each other informed by CB radio as to their location so they are better prepared to meet each other and avoid backing up which is hard to do, especially when the road has 6% grades and has pretty crooked alignment. Snowpeke is doing the smart thing.

Which is what I mentioned in my response. There is section of backcountry road here that gets a lot of traffic. Visibility is low due to the curves. A sign is posted that says to log on to channel ## and announce your approach. This area gets a lot of traffic because others live here year around and they have a festival to boot that gets RV traffic believe it or not, up here in this remote area!

Gdetrailer wrote:

rockhillmanor wrote:
Yes.
I keep one in my RV at all times for 'safety' reasons.
I use a Cobra HH ROADTRIP Handheld 40-Channel CB Radio

It is on the dash with the "squelch turned down". And turn it up when needed. It comes with mag mount antenna but I have never had to use it. IMHO I think all RV'ers should have one for the safety of themselves and family.

1. For getting 'real time' 'right there' info on road conditions/accidents. GPS can not do that.

2. As an 'additional' form for emergency contact, i.e. if something happens and I don't have cell phone coverage.

3. This CB also has real time 'where you are at' NOAA weather alert.

It has already paid for itself:

Once when a car came over the median way ahead of me and crashed head on with a semi. Turned it up and got instant real time information what lane to get it to get around or otherwise be stuck for there for hours.

And when I was unknowingly driving right into where a tornado was coming down. CB NOAA weather alert went off on CB. Got off at next exit. Saved my life.

I don't leave home without it. :C

For the better part of 20 years I HAD CBs....

Yes, I STILL have a CB no, it no longer is installed since 2003 and no it will NEVER be installed ever again..

Yep, a very nice loaded top of the line Realistic from the mid 1980s that was $179 new when I bought it, tried to sell it for $10 a few years ago and NOTHING, not one person interested..

Well then. Aren't you the expert on old CB's from the 80's!
You have your opinion, but I see absolutely no reason for you to bash others. And perhaps if you had a new CB versus a 20 year old one you just might be better informed. :R

We RV a lot with friends, so we each carry an FRS band walkie-talkie tuned to the same channel to communcate and coordinate with each other when on the road.

For weather information we use the RV dash radio's weather band to keep us informed on weather conditions, or we can use our smartphone app to get weather information, or we can use our inReach satellite device to get weather conditions if we're not within cellphone tower or AM radio range.

I see no need for CB radios in our RV ... except maybe we could use a couple of them to communicate with our RV'ing friends instead of our FRS walkie-talkies.

Most logging roads out west are single-lane (about 10-12 ft wide) with intervisible turnouts when possible. It's been common practice for the logging trucks and other traffic on these roads to keep each other informed by CB radio as to their location so they are better prepared to meet each other and avoid backing up which is hard to do, especially when the road has 6% grades and has pretty crooked alignment. Snowpeke is doing the smart thing.