JohnnyRottenNJ Loc: Northern New Jersey

During the pandemic I got back into CB Radio. I hadn't messed with a radio in well over 40 years. What I have found with getting back into the hobby, is often I can talk and receive radio chatter in areas where there is little or no cell service. I knew that would likely be everyone's first question, why mess with CB if you have a cell. There is your answer. Plus, through some experimentation, a friend of mine and myself have been able to figure out some amazing stuff on the radio. And for anyone who is a prepper, a CB Radio is a must. I'm not a prepper, but I was a boy scout (never abused. LOL) The motto "Be Prepared," has never been more relevant than what goes on in the world today. For anyone thinking about getting a CB, I have some really good suggestions that won't cost an arm and a leg. Just sayin'.

Ollieboy

I was a cb'er in the 70's. From what I remember the range was extremely poor in the city and suburbs. I used ssb, which stands for single side band. That had a much longer range. Both radios must be ssb capable though. Why not use gmrs ( not frs) walkie talkie radios on the uhf band with up to a 26 mile range? They are cheap too. Maybe $50 for a pair. I use them all the time.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

I was into CB in the 70's and early 80's. Belonged to a REACT team, did search and rescue for the local PD, monitored the emergency and trucker channels and called CHP etc. for them on Friday and Saturday nights.

With good antennas you could get a lot more range and in good conditions I talked to the east coast and Hawaii from So Cal. I even found a spot on a hill near the high school I taught at by Griffith Park where my twin 9' whips on my 4wd let me talk to Hawaii in the afternoon as I left the school.

On vacation in Western Kentucky from my Aunt and Uncles farmhouse yard on a hill I could talk to people all over the US. And once I answered a guy who turned out to be on a hand held from a mtn peak NE of Los Angeles. He and his buddy were fishing using the hand held units to keep track of each other, no luck fishing so they hiked the rest of the way to the peak and on a whim he turned his on and put out a general call.

I still have my base unit, two scanners, several hand held units and the one from my car in storage bins and my antennas - two vehicle whips, one pole mounted whip and a directional CB/ham beam antenna with rotator. I also have a programable ham unit with rig for my car that I use at the RR museum. On busy weekends they run out of radios for the crews and some of them have been pretty messed up by fools who just couldn't help "adjusting" the radio instead of using it. When I was riding I also had a CB on my motorcycle but I swapped it out for a good stereo/CD player - more use than a two way I didn't want to use while actually riding.
We do have gmrs for the family when we go somewhere and want to keep track of everyone. I also use them at the museum for big events since the people doing cleanup, security etc. use them to stay off the FRA train frequencies of the operations department. The last few years since I passed 70 I usually do the announcing from the Yard Master's office which means I am also the museum radio base station operator. I have had the FRA radio, gmrs and CB all on the desk and using them with different groups working the events.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

If you enjoy CB, you might consider investigating ham radio. If you have a local club, they’d be glad to give you an introduction.

JohnnyRottenNJ Loc: Northern New Jersey

In the CB world, and in other circles where radios are used, Height is Might. Getting up onto high ground, and or just having a decent antenna on a mobile unit makes all the difference in the world. One thing that has been happening a lot lately is there has been a ton of "skip." When there is solar flare activity, it creates atmospheric conditions that allow radio signals to bounce off the atmosphere and travel some insane distances. Of late I have spoken to a gentleman in Newfoundland on one day, and others in Florida, So Carolina, Michigan and Missouri on others. It is unpredictable, here one minute gone the next. But it is fun when it happens.

HamB

HF radio condx have been awful for some time.
This will change, but until then DX on 27Mhz. will be rare.
An elevated antenna will help for local QSO's

DAN Phillips Loc: Graysville, GA

i have a Cobra CB in my car as we speak. I have noticed there is not as much 'traffic' as it used to be. It's a great cure for boredom when you are on the road.

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

My father-in-law introduced me to CB radio in the 70's. He had a high end base unit (think it was a Midland), a mast antenna mounted on his house, and a very not legal linear. When skip was running in, he could pick up California from his home in NJ.

Bison Bud

If you enjoy CB then I too would recommend looking into Ham Radio. A Technician's License is fairly easy to get with some basic electronics and radio knowledge and there is no Morse code requirements anymore. Frankly, I'm surprised that the FCC still allows bandwidth for AM, two way, radios and CB may well be the last of a dying mode of operation. Do they even still issue a CB licence or is it just anything goes? Frankly, amplitude modulation simply takes up too much bandwidth, however, it does bounce well off the ionosphere and if the skip is rolling in it can be very interesting. However, a good antenna is a must for this and if I were going to spend that kind of time and money it would most probably be for the ham bands instead (although the 10 meter band is very close to the CB band and some duel use is possible). Anyway, most two way communications are now FM (frequency modulated) and this type of transmission is generally line of sight and limited to 40 miles or so, due to the curvature of the earth. However, there are many repeater stations that can effective increase the range and even jump a transmission from repeater to repeater clear across the country if needed. All in all, in it's heyday CB radios were a lot of fun, but man have things changed.

All in all, I do still have a mobile CB radio (although not installed in a vehicle) and do fire it up occasionally just to see whats going on. Far less, than "back in the day," but it is still active and may never die out completely.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I tried CB in the '70s and it was lacking so I went for a ham radio license. Had a lot of fun with that over the years, worth the effort and the people you encounter are more technically oriented.

I believe the license requirement for CB radio was removed several years (decades?) ago so you no longer need a CB license to get on the radio. If that is the case, it would be in the interest of the CB community to get more people into it so the spectrum gets used. If too few people are using a portion of the radio spectrum (a valuable commodity) the FCC might be tempted to take away the frequencies available and assign them to something else that they get some income from.

ddgm Loc: Hamilton, Ontario & Fort Myers, FL

Had one in my 1976 Chev dually when we used to travel to places to snowmobile. We usually travelled in groups and was a great way to keep track of each other or alert if someone wanted or needed to stop. Also would listen in on the "trucker's band, which at that time was channel 9" to get info on the road conditions.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Btw, anything other than local communication requires bouncing your signal off the Ionosphere, and its reflecting capabilities are influenced by the sun’s 11 year solar cycle. We are just coming out of the low spot of 2019, so while you may very occasionally experience some long range communication on the CB frequencies, it will be a few years (2024/2025) before it peaks again and long distance communication on 27 MHz becomes commonplace. Plenty of time to get a ham license which will open up many dozens of bands from below 500 KHz to microwave frequencies and allow the (legal) use of high power. Ham radio has use of a large piece of the radio spectrum which will be open to you as well as the friendship, camaraderie and mentoring that are part of the ham radio tradition stretching back >100 years, and the tenor of ham radio communication and forums will be a pleasant surprise in civility and friendliness compared to the usual social media. Come join us.

Chris
K4CKB

Bison Bud

I think that maybe the primary reason the CB band is still there is that it was and maybe still is one of the most abused portions of the spectrum. I also think that dropping licence requirements is possibly a testament to this and the fact that the FCC realizes that it's pretty much anything goes with CB radios and trying to control it would be expensive. Frankly, trying to change the service in this piece of spectrum may cause more problems than it does good. However, you are right in that if usage shrinks enough, they will indeed reassign that bandwith. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

kerry12 Loc: Harrisburg, Pa.

Haven't used my CB in 20 years. I was a truck driver and used it for traffic info mostly and to talk to buddies to kill the time. Tractor developed a short circuit and burnt a couple of things in the radio. took it out and got it fixed but never put it back in. Sitting on the shelf in the garage now.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

I just renewed my HAM license for my third stretch (Ham since 2000 - CB and all things radio since the early 60's), even worked on the side repairing radio gear, building all manner of antennas and putting up and configuring stations for folks. Talked all over the world nearly all the time as skip transmission works almost all the time in Florida. HAM is a fine way to go, although CB was a lot more fun. My favorite was always SSB Skip Talk and talking to folks from other continents, the whole of the Pacific Rim, Europe & UK, Africa, Middle East, South America, Artic and Antartic stations, ships at sea, etc. etc....just really nearly "world wide", did use FM a lot for local and regional, using highly specialized home brew antennas. I've enjoyed the world of radio since a little kid, building little AM receivers from kits and such (remember when Radio Shack was actually geared towards radio!!, and Heath Kits (wow, those were great) !

In my area the HAM Ops. really hated the CB crowd, and would go after them via tracking and turning over to the FCC (fines of $10K were not uncommon for those deemed as "bad actors"), although it was a hugely overstated problem (IMO). The wide bandwidth of AM CB was mostly an issue with old style television transmissions, the frequencies (or mutiples, and especially 27 MHZ) were so close to the pre-digital TV frequencies and a powerful dirty transmission amplifier (linear) would cause horrendous "bleed" and "talkover" situations. Digital TV and transmissions on much higher frequencies pretty much dissolved that issue. I think the thing the HAMS hated most was the relative impunity that the CB crowd enjoyed due to NO CALL SIGN to track back to, and since many were mobile, they could easily cause trouble and vanish...those with base stations had to be more civil, much much easier to find.

I'm not currently "on the air", had dropped off for several reasons, I won't climb towers anymore, then several antenna knockdowns from hurricanes (last was Mathew, still have to repair from that) lightning strike a few years earlier destroyed a lot of gear, even with a great amount of lightning protection - hit a big pine right next to my radio shack (barn work room), shot thru a side wall and hit my largest power supply and shack wiring, lost a lot of good $$$ gear (was my fault, left everything hooked up while having dinner, fast moving thunderstorm, leading edge lightning got me).

Another was "radio money bags" who couldn't even spell "radio" suddenly going from "no radio" or CB radio to HAM General Class instantly (no doubt they had "special" training and test sessions-LOL), just don't ask them to explain anything about HAM radio (or anything technical), they could not even set up and manage their own stations and equipment (guys like me did it for them), a lot of "open" hate talk and BS on CB, and a lot of stealth hate talk on HAM, really hurt the enjoyment factor.

Hope to repair my base antennas this year, and maybe get back on the air (Yeasu, Kenwood and Icom)...should be interesting........I opened all my rigs, so I can listen (and transmit) to just about anything from 0 up to 500MHZ...no microwave equipment at this time....still have some mobile gear (love my old Icom 706 G MK 2, and still have a Ranger 2970, Cobra 29, Midland, Emporer and a couple others).