ham or cb radio

My neighbor is a retired farmer and had a half dozen mobile units in his garage so one day I got one and an antenna (I help him to use all the stuff he has accumulated over the years) and put it in the truck. Seldom hear anything around here, maybe once and a while on the road. It was free so not a big deal but really would not be worth the cost if I had to buy one.

Best thing to do is get a list of emergency phone numbers when you are traveling and keep in the cab with you and use the cell phone, or like I do if I need a number when on the road is I call one of my kids at home and have them Google the number (free long distance is great).

We used CB's for years with upgrades for more distance. I still have a 25 watt one in my CJ8 rock crawler as it is still the quick and dirty answer to communications on the trail. There's the rub: on the trail. I see absolutely no use for it on the highway or in big cities. With some truckers pumping out a zillion watts that cover every channel, it's no use. We've been thru a couple sets of FRS radios, and they keep getting better and better with a longer range. We've used these on family camping trips to great advantage, as long as you are within sightline and only a couple miles away. By far, the most big-time communication device for travelers is a Hamm radio. Everyone in my old informal jeep club, "The Beater Boys", had Hamm radios....except me. If you don't use it much it may not be a good solution. On the other hand, come the Armageddon, if electronics are still working at all, a Hamm radio will be invaluable.
Of course, cell phones are generally worthless wherever we go in the outback with only a sometimes and sketchy signal. I always get a laugh out of our city slicker friends who are horrified to find they can't play their on-line games on 4G or read their email.
jefe

Our Jeep club uses CBs to communicate on the trail, but I haven't found any use for it on the road. If you are traveling with friends and want to jeep in touch with the it might be useful. Not many people have short waves, so they're even less useful than a CB. If you want one, they are easy to install. Buy a cheap radio (all you'll give up are features you'll never use and a few LED lights) but get a real good antenna and cables. I have a $49 Uniden that works great. Took about an hour to install. Make sure you get a SWR meter ($20 at Radio Shack) and tune it or you could burn out the radio. It's very easy. Check out some U-tube videos.

Ham radio is primarily intended for those interested in amateur radio communications as a hobby or avocation. The amateur radio community welcomes anyone with that interest, and if that is yours, then welcome! It is truly a fascinating hobby with many different aspects.

If you are interested in communication for other purposes like communication between vehicles, etc., then I agree with TucsonJim, the Family Radio Service (FRS) would probably serve you better. FRS radios are much less susceptible to noise and are more reliable for that purpose. I also agree with him, CB radio has turned into a wasteland for the most part.

Also, some of the apps available for smart phones now, such as Inrix, are very helpful for urban traffic information.

I had one in my previous motorhome and although I never talked on it, it was nice being able to turn it on when we encountered a traffic jam or congestion on the interstate or other roadway. It didnt take long to know what was the problem and where it was at due to all the truckers relaying the info back and forth to each other.

I used a handheld CB for several years. It was convenient for talking between vehicles when we were travelling together. It was also nice when backing if the spotter had one. I would occasionally get information from truckers about availability of fuel, road closures, and traffic jams. It's not a necessity, but it was nice to have. I mounted an external antenna on my truck and connected the handheld to it using coax. I could plug the radio into the cigarette lighter. It didn't look pretty, but it was functional.

I used a Cobra 29 when I drove trucks. It had a weather band on it that I would listen to when there was weather in the area. It kept me out of trouble once when I avoided driving over a long bridge when a tornado was spotted.

I don't use one now and really don't miss it much. There seems to be a lot more garbage-mouthed idiots on the air than there use to be when it was regulated.

I stopped using CB years ago. It got to the point that you'd hear drug and prostitution solicitations whenever you were near a major city's truck stop. Also, you never knew when you'd hear a tirade or swearing over the radio when we had our grand kids in the rig.

I do have an amateur radio license, and keep a multi-band radio and antenna with me. It's nice to know we have the ability to establish communications if there is ever an emergency and we're out of cell phone range.

If we are in a caravan with someone else, we use the FRS radios which give us a range of a mile or so on flat ground. If we get separated more than that, we can use our cell phones.