CB Radio

[KO]

I am about to leave on a 4 day trip from Florida to Banff National Park and I have been getting RV ready for last 4 weeks. I used to full time in it but have been in brick house for last 2.5 years.

I have a CB in it, but it is dead as channels don't light up and weather channel no longer work.

Is it worth replacing with new CB? There are many who are saying CB is dead, but I found it worthwhile for weather and why traffic is stopped.
Just wondering if this group still uses CB.

[Bumpyroad]

KO wrote:
Go into a FlyingJ, Pilot or TA and look at the CB radio's for sale.

I was thinking the same thing. as I recall, shelves full of them. of course big rig drivers aren't as astute in this area as RVers. :S
bumpy

[KO]

Go into a FlyingJ, Pilot or TA and look at the CB radio's for sale.

[wa8yxm]

I did a quick check of Amazon too. All the radios on the 1st page (Search term CB RADIO) were in fact CB's. no ham rigs. Some new Some used. Prices for same radio varied greatly.

The radios are still very useful for some tasks. but where the band used to be hopping nearly all the time.. Today it's often near silent.

Still.. Communications obeys the law of Requisite Variety.
The law: You live only so long as TOTAL CHOICES is greater than FATAL CHOICES.

I have Cell Phone,, CB's and Multi band Ham radio (160 meter through 70 CM)

If I need to call for help.. GOOD CHANCE one of those will work.

Delete a choice.. it may be the one that would have worked.

[wnjj]

The quarry near my house and most of the trucks going to and from it use CB channel 15. They have a one-way driveway plus the front end loader has one. You don’t leave the driver’s seat to fill up.

[Bumpyroad]

Gdetrailer wrote:

Bumpyroad wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
IN my bi-annual Migration I hear very little from Truckers any more.

Correct!

My BIL for nearly 20 yrs was a truck driver, NONE, ZERO, ZIP of the trucking outfits he worked for had or used CBs in their trucks.

My Neighbor across the street from my house drives triaxle dump trucks, no CB antennas on it..

MANY of the trucking companies now days rely on BUSINESS BAND RADIOS AND CELLPHONES for communications.

CBs are so 1950's technology and the peak was late 1970s when it comes to manufacturing and sales..

Now days you have no real manufacturer choice, pretty much all the manufacturers of CB have gone belly up or exited the business, that SHOULD SPEAK VOLUMES.

You might find some Unidens and some Chinese no name imports but the heydays of CB is long gone and never coming back.

I have a real nice 1980s Radioshack 40 channel mobile CB that I could not even give away for $10, it was a $179 radio back in the 1980s..

If you WANT weather, you can buy a WEATHER RADIO WITH WEATHER ALERTS..

Gee, amazon has 25 CBs on page one of 85 pages.
bumpy

MANY of those CBs on Amazon are USED, not NEW.

Also, not ALL the radios are CBs when you search for CBs.. Quite a few listed are HAM radios. I DID look at Amazon.

HERE is a list of potential CB manufacturers in the world.. Although a few on that list indicate VHF or just two way communications so not ALL on that list manufacture/sell CBs. That brings it down to what, a hand full that might be making and selling. Compared to the 1970s when there was more than 50 manufacturers and that was just in the US.

For whatever reason, some folks just can't get over the fact that times HAVE changed and industry (truckers and two way radio manufacturers) and most CBrs have "put to rest" the CB band buried it forever (RIP).

There ARE far better more reliable communications out there.

If you WANT "Weather band" just buy a WEATHER RADIO, today's modern weather radios tend to have a much better "front end" than any "CB" I have ever had (had quite a few including a 1960's all tube Hallicrafters CB-3A that I repaired and brought back from the dead in the 1970s).. Looked like this..

gee, I did a quick check on the amazon page and unless they are misrepresenting used goods as new, you are certainly wrong. if they are in fact misrepresenting used goods as new, I would suggest notifying FTC or whoever enforces this. and I would say that the use of "children's" band pretty much shoots down your credibility. when you are losing, insult.
but some folks just can't get over the fact that their magic phone is not the only way to go for all uses.
bumpy

[Gdetrailer]

Bumpyroad wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
IN my bi-annual Migration I hear very little from Truckers any more.

Correct!

My BIL for nearly 20 yrs was a truck driver, NONE, ZERO, ZIP of the trucking outfits he worked for had or used CBs in their trucks.

My Neighbor across the street from my house drives triaxle dump trucks, no CB antennas on it..

MANY of the trucking companies now days rely on BUSINESS BAND RADIOS AND CELLPHONES for communications.

CBs are so 1950's technology and the peak was late 1970s when it comes to manufacturing and sales..

Now days you have no real manufacturer choice, pretty much all the manufacturers of CB have gone belly up or exited the business, that SHOULD SPEAK VOLUMES.

You might find some Unidens and some Chinese no name imports but the heydays of CB is long gone and never coming back.

I have a real nice 1980s Radioshack 40 channel mobile CB that I could not even give away for $10, it was a $179 radio back in the 1980s..

If you WANT weather, you can buy a WEATHER RADIO WITH WEATHER ALERTS..

Gee, amazon has 25 CBs on page one of 85 pages.
bumpy

MANY of those CBs on Amazon are USED, not NEW.

Also, not ALL the radios are CBs when you search for CBs.. Quite a few listed are HAM radios. I DID look at Amazon.

HERE is a list of potential CB manufacturers in the world.. Although a few on that list indicate VHF or just two way communications so not ALL on that list manufacture/sell CBs. That brings it down to what, a hand full that might be making and selling. Compared to the 1970s when there was more than 50 manufacturers and that was just in the US.

For whatever reason, some folks just can't get over the fact that times HAVE changed and industry (truckers and two way radio manufacturers) and most CBrs have "put to rest" the CB band buried it forever (RIP).

There ARE far better more reliable communications out there.

If you WANT "Weather band" just buy a WEATHER RADIO, today's modern weather radios tend to have a much better "front end" than any "CB" I have ever had (had quite a few including a 1960's all tube Hallicrafters CB-3A that I repaired and brought back from the dead in the 1970s).. Looked like this..

[PatrickA51]

I'm an Amature Radio Operator. Also a retired OTR Trucker. I have not used a CB Radio since the 1980's The last OTR rig I drove had a CB in it, but I carried my HT Ham Radio. The last time I used the "Children's Band" was 1988. I started driving for the the PWC for the DOD. I miss driving OTR but I don't miss the foul and vulgar language on the CB.

[Bumpyroad]

Gdetrailer wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
IN my bi-annual Migration I hear very little from Truckers any more.

Correct!

My BIL for nearly 20 yrs was a truck driver, NONE, ZERO, ZIP of the trucking outfits he worked for had or used CBs in their trucks.

My Neighbor across the street from my house drives triaxle dump trucks, no CB antennas on it..

MANY of the trucking companies now days rely on BUSINESS BAND RADIOS AND CELLPHONES for communications.

CBs are so 1950's technology and the peak was late 1970s when it comes to manufacturing and sales..

Now days you have no real manufacturer choice, pretty much all the manufacturers of CB have gone belly up or exited the business, that SHOULD SPEAK VOLUMES.

You might find some Unidens and some Chinese no name imports but the heydays of CB is long gone and never coming back.

I have a real nice 1980s Radioshack 40 channel mobile CB that I could not even give away for $10, it was a $179 radio back in the 1980s..

If you WANT weather, you can buy a WEATHER RADIO WITH WEATHER ALERTS..

Gee, amazon has 25 CBs on page one of 85 pages.
bumpy

[wa8yxm]

I have three CB's in this RV
one is a Midland hand held. no batteries in storage
one is a high end COBRA on chan 19. Well placed NGP (Radio Shack) antenna. This is the one that warned me of the two fatal accidents and the resulting hours long traffic jam I did not endure thanks to the radio.

And the 3rd (on channel 13 with a very poor antenna) is a 1980's Radio Shack. It is a very nice radio.

Back in the 70's there was a lab run done by an independent lab on Johnson, Cobra and Radio Shack.

Johnson and Cobra #1 were best
Johnson and Cobra #2 were the equal of Radio Shack #1 in all specs save one
Johnson And Cobra #3 were the same price as Radio Shack's #`1 (That was the one spec)

And as you marched down the rankings that held
Radio Shack radios were as good as Johnson And cobra one step lower but priced 2 steps lower so more BANG for your BUCK.

I'm often temped to move the RS to 19 Use the Midland on 12 and convert the Cobra to 10 meters SSB ham band. But not sure how hard that would be. Easier I suspect to convert the older radio (Swap a couple parts and re-tune) but it is AM only.

[Gdetrailer]

wa8yxm wrote:
IN my bi-annual Migration I hear very little from Truckers any more.

Correct!

My BIL for nearly 20 yrs was a truck driver, NONE, ZERO, ZIP of the trucking outfits he worked for had or used CBs in their trucks.

My Neighbor across the street from my house drives triaxle dump trucks, no CB antennas on it..

MANY of the trucking companies now days rely on BUSINESS BAND RADIOS AND CELLPHONES for communications.

CBs are so 1950's technology and the peak was late 1970s when it comes to manufacturing and sales..

Now days you have no real manufacturer choice, pretty much all the manufacturers of CB have gone belly up or exited the business, that SHOULD SPEAK VOLUMES.

You might find some Unidens and some Chinese no name imports but the heydays of CB is long gone and never coming back.

I have a real nice 1980s Radioshack 40 channel mobile CB that I could not even give away for $10, it was a $179 radio back in the 1980s..

If you WANT weather, you can buy a WEATHER RADIO WITH WEATHER ALERTS..

[Bumpyroad]

Tom_M wrote:

Bumpyroad wrote:
that is the one but I thought those USB outlets were 5 volt?
bumpy

All USB outlets are 5 volt, but the cord has a DC-to-DC converter in it that bumps the voltage up to 12 volts.

thanks, good news
bumpy

[Tom_M1]

Bumpyroad wrote:
that is the one but I thought those USB outlets were 5 volt?
bumpy

All USB outlets are 5 volt, but the cord has a DC-to-DC converter in it that bumps the voltage up to 12 volts.

[wnjj]

Bumpyroad wrote:

Tom_M wrote:

wnjj wrote:

Bumpyroad wrote:
I just got from Amazon a USB male connector to a cigarette lighter female connector. $9.99. suspect it will only be 5 volts however?????????????
bumpy

It says it's 12V and can't imagine it not being so. There are devices that make 12V from 5V. It likely won't produce much current at 12V though.

If it's this one:
https://www.amazon.com/ARECORD-Cigarette-Lighter-Socket-Converter/dp/B01J67JIOQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&q...

Specs say "Output:12V 0.8A Max".

that is the one but I thought those USB outlets were 5 volt?
bumpy

USB is 5V but as I said above, there are devices (IC's) that convert 5V to 12V. The IC's I work with regularly have onboard circuitry that generate +8.5V and -8.5V from a 1.2V supply.

[wa8yxm]

My Favorite CB study (Published so I can talk about it) May or may not be true. there are several.. .Issues.. With the so called facts.

Supposedly a rapist was using CB to lure his victims to the woods.

His last "Victim" was aware of this.. as She was a Police Detective working on the case.. She also was not a victim.. She did, however, arrange for him to have a "Date" with one of the city's more honorable Citizens (Yes your Honor NO Your Honor).

[wa8yxm]

IN my bi-annual Migration I hear very little from Truckers any more.

Now I've heard some DOOZIES from Fellow RVers here in the park.