CB Radios

[Xyndr]

How many of yall run CB radios? We just got an old one kicked down to us. Communicating with trucks on the road will be useful, but how many travelers run em?

 

[Joey Garbanzo]

I used to run one in an old pickup truck. It saved me a ton of time by hearing about accidents and road conditions ahead. I enjoyed having it and want to get one setup again someday.

However, just a heads up, you will hear a lot of racism, profanity and people literally making noise and fucking around depending on where you are. There were plenty of times where I'd have the volume down and the squelch knob turned up.

 

[FoxRabbitRun]

Hi! I'm a fan and avid CB/ HAM radio guy since Jr.High. I have all kinds of high performance CBs and 10 meter HAM radios, antennas and equipment. Former US ARMY 101st Airborne long range commo Ops. If you're in flat terrain, range is up to 40 miles. I'm happy to answer questions, d.i.y. private channels, custom systems design and set-ups. It's been a great passion of mine all my life! I've talked to all 50 states, and the UK, Germany, Africa and Australia ! Drop by and say hi!

 

[Vandimonium Prime]

I'm a truck driver. We have CB's in our trucks but we never even use them.

We usually run team, so it would suck for the other guy trying to sleep, to have the radio blaring.

 

[JVC]

I use mine quite a bit while traveling. There's not as much chit-chat as there used to be, but it's really good for accidents and the like.

 

[Usagi]

I don't do CB anymore. I have a handheld radio for HAM bands and some other stuff like MURS. I like to listen to the road construction workers communicate and poke fun at them when they hold up traffic to take a piss break. I stopped using CB because there isn't much traffic anymore. I can talk to more people and go much further using HAM repeaters. Most of what I do on radio these days isn't voice chat. I'm more into doing fun stuff with SDRs.

I wouldn't even bother giving a new person CB now. Baofeng radios are cheap and the only people that get mad about using the HAM bans unlicensed are the old HAM guys. They're all dying off soon and have pretty much ruined the hobby for everyone else. So I don't really care about making them mad. Be careful though because they'll rat you out to the FCC quick. I rarely key-in and have a call-sign but I wouldn't think twice about keying-in without it. You are allowed to use HAM bands in an emergency. It's a public resource. No one owns it or has control of it. The old HAM guys have a complex and power trip.

Even if you don't talk you should program the repeaters into your radio. I get so much useful information off regional repeaters. I can talk coast-to-coast using them if I need to. For local stuff I use GMRS or MURS most of the time. I can talk to all the cheap walkie-talkies using my HAM radio. There is a lot of traffic on those bands in cities and near industrial stuff. If you listen in long enough you can have all the Wal-Mart wage slaves running around for your amusement. Sometimes I screw with the security guards to. You have to make your own fun.

I don't see much CB for sale anymore. It feels like most people abandoned it in the late 90s/early 2000s when the internet took off. It was very popular when I was a kid.

 

[greywolf]

How many of yall run CB radios? We just got an old one kicked down to us. Communicating with trucks on the road will be useful, but how many travelers run em?

I think it's a must I jump between 11,18,19 21 in Indiana right now

 

[Groundscore]

There aren't a lot of people who use them anymore. If you get one for free, like the OP, then it's worth it to have, as on the Interstates the traffic reports can be handy. In the event of a breakdown you could probably get help as well. If you go out and spend a lot of money on one, well, you probably will be disappointed.

Like the OP, I got a free radio. It is a Uniden Bearcat 980 SSB CB, still new in the box, along with an Astatic hand mic, just for helping to clean out a storage unit for someone. It was a case of, "Help me, and take whatever you want as payment." I figured a new CB radio, mic and a new DeWalt 3/8th-inch socket set was well worth a days' labor. I put it in my cargo van, and am now in the process of building out a cargo trailer, and I will put it in there when I finish it. Admittedly, the socket set gets a LOT more use than the CB!

Much like others have said, there is a TON of nonsense on CB radio, especially when the skip is rolling in. When you just have groundwave going, you may not hear anyone, on any channel. Or, if you have a small antenna, expect poor performance. A 102-inch whip is your best bet, if you can do it. Ignore idiots and use the radio as intended, as again, if you got a good enough deal, it can be handy to have. I believe channel 13 is where many RV types hang out, 4 & 16 for 4x4 types, and 19 for truckers. However, there are 40 channels for a reason, and you can find people on all of them, although you're supposed to stay off channel 9, unless you have an emergency. If I had an emergency, and my cell phone wasn't working, I would probably use channel 19 however, as more people listen to that one than probably any other.