CB & Handheld Radios

[BC4277]

Do any of you use (or just listen to) a CB radio when travelling? If so, what kind do you use? I'm thinking of using a magnetic antennae to mount on the roof of my pickup. Any suggestions on brands and features I should be looking for?

Does your spotter use a handheld when you are backing up? Again, what kind works?

Thanks, Bryan

[Slowmover]

Haven’t had a week pass that CB hasn’t saved me time, money or headache.

Two things really changed CB popularity with truckers:

1) speed limits upped to 65+.

2) lack of metal structure truck cabs.

The first lessens desire, and the second kills it.

Also, there isn’t as much OTR driving as in the past. Intermodal has cut it.

The requirement for electronic log books cuts “making elbow room” to get things done that day. Dispatch has to be done differently. Thus not the need to avoid LE.

I’ve about $1k into the present rig. This includes expert labor where needed (tools I don’t use enough; antenna analyzer, etc).

Were my results more easily obtained, CB would be more popular among truck drivers. That I often know about road problems well in advance of them (they can hear my end of a conversation) tells me the interest is there.

As to cars and pickups, where to mount the radio is a problem. Same for those who won’t use a proper NMO Mount.

Where it is done, the performance can be spectacular. I’ve had plenty of increasing distance conversations with pilot car drivers. Rural and metro.

[marcsbigfoot20b]

I have the Midland portable CB with the battery pack and wired bottom . Got it new, modified for more power, upper and lower 40 channels total 120 channels. With a Wilson 1000 it has pretty good range.

[Passin_Thru]

I have a CB, a Scanner and 2 Ham Radios. I'm ready.As stupid as people are I try to tell them if a Bear has someone pulled over. May save a life as some won't veer 2 inches to miss one. (My wife is one of the worst) Yesterday, on a 4lane in N Va, 2 guys were changing the bearing on a pickup 4 ft off the edge. Surprised they lived.

[wnjj]

jaycocreek wrote:
CB's are still very useful out west.On almost every logging job they post the CB channel to listen to,to avoid logging truck accidents.Very useful pulling a trailer, or even empty.

CB's are far from extinct in our mountainous regions out west, where there is no cell reception or other form of communication.

Good point on the logging roads. Around the urban areas, the dump trucks all run channel 15. They also use it to communicate with the quarry just up the road from me and between trucks coming and going as they have a narrow driveway. I've picked up 10 tons of gravel without leaving the seat. The front loader at the pit has his on too.

Not that many years ago my dad radioed a nearby semi who had a really low tire. He was glad to get the info. Honking and waving might have worked but it was night and that could have caused more problems than it solved.

[rbpru]

I agree if you are going to keep a round table going in a caravan, the cell phone is not very practical. We used ours as need to call the person of interest. The bigger problem was, as we got deeper into canoe country, cell towers were scarce.

As I mentioned a lot depends on what the OP wants or expects. It is interesting to note there are still pockets of CB activity.

Given the availability of old CB radios, it might be fun for the OP to play with for a while.

[mountainkowboy]

We use CB's when on the trails with our off-road club for communication with the others on the run, and use Ham radio to keep in touch with base camp should any emergency arise. The CB is not dead, it's just used differently now than in the 70's.

[jaycocreek]

CB's are still very useful out west.On almost every logging job they post the CB channel to listen to,to avoid logging truck accidents.Very useful pulling a trailer, or even empty.

CB's are far from extinct in our mountainous regions out west, where there is no cell reception or other form of communication.

[wnjj]

rbpru wrote:
Today with a magnetic mounted short antenna, a car to car range is about 3 miles or sometimes a bit more. They were handy when we would run a caravan on family trips. This of course has been replace by cell phones. Where there is cell service.

I don’t agree with cell phones replacing CB for the purpose of caravaning. Like you said, there’s the coverage issue but more than that, we travel with 3 to 5 vehicles. Conference talking is super easy on the CB and is immediate. I wouldn’t leave my phone connected in a call for a multi-hour trip.
If anything replaces CB for this purpose, it’s another radio like FRS/GMRS.

[rbpru]

I am a ham operator and have been for 55 years. Yes there are "ham snob" who looked down their noses at CB. But these same folks view the newer no-code, amateur radio operators as appliances operators. They are old and they will pass. 🙂

To the OP's question, adding a CB depends on what you want and where you are.

As pointed out, the days of driving down the road chatting with other CBers are long gone. It was a fad popularized by a very active sun spot cycle and media mania.

For those of us who remember it, you could at times "work the world" or often several hundred miles, with little more than a 5 watt radio and 108" whip antenna.

Today with a magnetic mounted short antenna, a car to car range is about 3 miles or sometimes a bit more. They were handy when we would run a caravan on family trips. This of course has been replace by cell phones. Where there is cell service.

About the most useful function left, is monitoring the truckers for road information. A simple hand held can do that.

I cannot comment on city usage but it was not very useful the last time we listened but that was many years ago.

By the way, the Smokey warning really is not necessary when I am usually towing 10 mph under the speed limit.

[Bumpyroad]

Airstreamer67 wrote:
Quote: "If it helps someone from wasting their money, time and effort with a totally useless outmoded form of communications it was well worth my time and energy."

This sounds like a quote from a "Ham" who is disdainful of any lesser radio operator who doesn't have a few thousand dollars invested in Ham radio equipment nor the licenses required to operate them.

Of course, they are totally objective when they cast aspersions on lesser equipment and their clueless operators.

I was just getting ready to use the term "ham snob" and you saved me the trouble. and as far as the CB club using FERS? equipment for the folks doing the parking, makes sense to me. extremely short range needed, I would guess a lot of the members had either/or both a home setup or a car cb and didn't have a hand held.
bumpy

[Airstreamer67]

Quote: "If it helps someone from wasting their money, time and effort with a totally useless outmoded form of communications it was well worth my time and energy."

This sounds like a quote from a "Ham" who is disdainful of any lesser radio operator who doesn't have a few thousand dollars invested in Ham radio equipment nor the licenses required to operate them.

Of course, they are totally objective when they cast aspersions on lesser equipment and their clueless operators.

[Bumpyroad]

Gdetrailer wrote:

Acampingwewillgo wrote:
You really went to all that trouble and writing to debunk CB radio.... wow!?? ??

If it helps someone from wasting their money, time and effort with a totally useless outmoded form of communications it was well worth my time and energy.

To many folks have watched way too many 1970s movies like Smokey and the Bandit to many times..

In a twist of irony 25 or more yrs ago, my local Amateur Radio club used to ask the local "CB Club" to help assist with Hamfest parking duties..

The CB club used (get this), $40 Maxon 49Mhz hand helds INSTEAD of CBs!

Yep, even the CB club recognized the short comings of POOR CB Band communications and spend money to buy a bunch of 49Mhz handhelds.

I am not sure but I think that CB club disbanded 15 yrs ago or so, they haven't been at the local Hamfests for yrs..

Yep, a dead horse medium that folks love to put back on life support..

all those years and you didn't hear one smokey report??????????
"only" a 6 mile range????????????????? that's enough for me to talk to oncoming truckers.
$30 will buy one. quite frankly I DGAS if a CB club disbanded or not.
did you remember to turn it on?
bumpy

[Gdetrailer]

Acampingwewillgo wrote:
You really went to all that trouble and writing to debunk CB radio.... wow!?? ??

If it helps someone from wasting their money, time and effort with a totally useless outmoded form of communications it was well worth my time and energy.

To many folks have watched way too many 1970s movies like Smokey and the Bandit to many times..

In a twist of irony 25 or more yrs ago, my local Amateur Radio club used to ask the local "CB Club" to help assist with Hamfest parking duties..

The CB club used (get this), $40 Maxon 49Mhz hand helds INSTEAD of CBs!

Yep, even the CB club recognized the short comings of POOR CB Band communications and spend money to buy a bunch of 49Mhz handhelds.

I am not sure but I think that CB club disbanded 15 yrs ago or so, they haven't been at the local Hamfests for yrs..

Yep, a dead horse medium that folks love to put back on life support..

[Acampingwewillg]

You really went to all that trouble and writing to debunk CB radio.... wow!?? ??

[Gdetrailer]

rockhillmanor wrote:
Respectively disagree that CB's are of no use. The old CB's did NOT have all the functions the new handheld ones have.

I bought this hand held CB to add to my arsenal of being safe while Full-Timing. It sits on the dash, squelch turn down. I can't say enough about this CB.

Here are a few functions included in this handheld CB which is why it is 'always' in my MH.

1. Another form of communication if no cell towers in case of emergency.

CB band in IDEAL atmospheric conditions (IE ZERO SKIP), with a proper full sized 5/8 wave antenna mounted at least 10 or more feet above ground at 4 full watts of legal output AND ZERO channel bleed over from others with 1KW+ linears has an absolute max of 5 perhaps 6 miles of usable "distance"..

AM (Amplitude Modulation) is extremely inefficient and IS subject to LOTS of natural AND man made RFI..

Sure, there is SSB on CB, but it IS a rarity to find many folks who where willing to pop the extra money for a SSB version, not even sure they manufacture a SSB CB..

In reality, that perfect world above RARELY happens and there typically is a pretty man made high noise floor.

If no one is within that 5-6 miles that can hear you, what "good" does it do to have a CB?

911 does not monitor CB channels, SOME small town "police" MIGHT monitor and SOME "State Police" MIGHT monitor but if no one can hear you it IS worthless.

2. Traffic. Traffic backup/accidents in REAL TIME from drivers right there AND you can get info from them on where to get off to avoid, etc when RV traveling in unfamiliar areas. Can't get that from your GPS and you don't have to update maps all the time! :W

I had a CB in my vehicle from 1985 to 2003 for a total of 18 yrs, averaged 360,000 miles driving Interstate and highway from rural to a decent metro city. NOT ONCE was I ever able to:

#1 Establish direct or indirect communications with ANY trucker or other motorist concerning traffic, road conditions, weather conditions.

#2 Listen or hear any communications with ANY trucker or other motorist concerning traffic, road conditions, weather conditions.

#3 get any "smokey" reports.

3. NOAA All Weather Emergency Radio. This CB comes with NOAA emergency alerts IN REAL TIME. For weather. This saved my hiney twice. Once when unknowingly I was driving right into the path of a tornado, the ER weather radio alarm went off on the CB. This feature alone IMHO is a reason for all RV'ers to have it on board. Especially when you don't always know what county you are driving thru which is how the weather alerts are given on the TV/MH radio.

Cobra HHROADTRIP 40-Channel CB Radio
Road Trip Hand Held CB


It comes with a mag mount additional antenna with a very long cord to run out your window. BUT, in the ten years I have had it I have never had the need to use it. The antenna on the CB, and the CB on the dash brought in all I needed.

You don't "need" a CB to get NOAA emergency broadcasts, PLENTY of better NOAA equipped portable radios to choose from and often they ARE better quality and often cheaper than a CB with that feature tossed in.

Myself, I have my Dual band 144/440 Ham radios installed in my vehicles which have extended VHF receive, granted much more expensive than a cheap CB and they don't have automatic alerts, they do get considerable reception distance and when driving I am always alert to any changes in the local weather from simple observations.. Doesn't take a Masters degree to notice threatening sky's or severe weather..

For portable use, I have a nice Eaton brand NOAA radio, we take it with use to keep in the trailer.. Got it as a 15yr company award, was skeptical about it, but it is extremely sensitive receive, weather alert works well.

Has FM radio built in, alarm clock, flashlight, rechargeable batteries, also has place for dry cells, has solar panel and hand crank gen.

Can be charged via a 5V usb cord so can be used with 12V to 5V USB chargers and even 120V to 5V USB chargers AND you can use 5V USB "power packs" with this radio under emergency conditions.

Can even be used to recharge your Cellphones from the hand crank gen or solar.. Very versatile yet very portable.

You can get that Eaton NOAA radio for $39..

I don't miss the CB noise and potty mouths.

See my comments above in red..



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