CB Radio ALERT!!! Get em' while you can!

[BNSFrailfan]

For those who are into CB Radio. This is very important.

YouTube - CB Radio ALERT!!! Get em' while you can!

[MPSCS]

Normal FCC approved CB radios are under no threat of extinction. Truck Stops are infamous for selling illegal CB radio imports that are not FCC approved for sale in the U.S. Galaxy comes to mind. They also sell a lot of illegally modified 10-Meter ham radios.

The woman in the YouTube video does not appear to be a subject matter expert and should go back to watching Oprah.

[ki4rvh]

Poor woman. She thinks she has really uncovered something important. The FCC is just cracking down on illegal radios that aren't type accepted being imported in the US. Thats why they can't get them any more. No news here.

[zzdiesel]

The CB radios will be good tools if Martial Law is ever brought on here in the USA.

[tekshogun]

CB Radios are not going anywhere, the FCC has no intention of getting rid of the 11 meter CB, MURS in VHF, or GMRS (license required). Just use type-accepted/legal equipment. This has always been the case, don't believe the hype.

[Don_Burke]

Check out her other videos.

This is just another nut.

[trace1]

I'd be interested in hearing more about this...

Originally Posted by zzdiesel

The CB radios will be good tools if Martial Law is ever brought on here in the USA.

"The chair is against the wall. The chair is against the wall."

[tekshogun]

Originally Posted by trace1

I'd be interested in hearing more about this...

HA! Did anyone else notice the radio in Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4) that was tuned to 66.6 MHz? And there was a truck near the end that had a radio also capable of transmitting on 66.6MHz?

[trace1]

Originally Posted by tekshogun

HA! Did anyone else notice the radio in Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4) that was tuned to 66.6 MHz? And there was a truck near the end that had a radio also capable of transmitting on 66.6MHz?

Hollywood's version of "interoperability"...

[2beers4me]

Originally Posted by SIG-INT

Normal FCC approved CB radios are under no threat of extinction. Truck Stops are infamous for selling illegal CB radio imports that are not FCC approved for sale in the U.S. Galaxy comes to mind. They also sell a lot of illegally modified 10-Meter ham radios.

The woman in the YouTube video does not appear to be a subject matter expert and should go back to watching Oprah.

I'm not saying you said her radio was one of the illegal exports. Here it is Texas Ranger 40 Channel AM CB Radio with American Flag Face and Talkback - tr127fst

It's a perfectly legal CB rig. She went to one truck stop, Big deal! There could be a hundred reasons why they didn't want to continue to sell CB's. Look at the economy today. Maybe for what they are paying for them from their distributer they can not stay competitive with price, and the profit margin isn't worth the overhead of keeping the radios on the shelf. This is not a rant against you SIG-INT, I was just wanting to show the radio, just in case it was in question by anyone.

[PolarBear25]

Originally Posted by tekshogun

HA! Did anyone else notice the radio in Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4) that was tuned to 66.6 MHz? And there was a truck near the end that had a radio also capable of transmitting on 66.6MHz?

So Hollywood is the beast LOL.

[hippieman556]

lol i have never heard that they are not selling the legal radios

[oldsarge]

FRS/GMRS radios will eventually replace CB. They have a much longer range without squelch noise, cost less, and easy to mount or carry in your pocket. I've also heard of some truckers going VHF. Most of the truckers I've known are not legal anyway, so they don't sweat the licenses and the FCC has all it can do to police the broadcast bands and illegal base stations. Just to be on the safe side of the law, I sent in my $80 for a GMRS license. They are good for three or four years, not sure, my license is in my file cabinet.
When I take it out on the road, I don't hear a damn thing. When I turn on my CB I RARELY hear any truckers, not to mention radio checks. Sooooo, where have they all gone? What channels?? Used to be 17 and 19 depending on direction of travel. GMRS is the way to go though and I'm looking forward to GMRS base stations and external antennas for home use. If anyone has any new info on GMRS radio equipment, let me know here or BC. As for the lady in the video, yes there are people are there that still don't have a clue about CB's and think they are the best thing since sliced bread when they do hear about them. I've not ran into many CB shops at truck stops or elsewhere that sell modified radios, although they probably would tweak up the power for a few extra bucks. I remember the old days when 5 watts was the legal norm and CB's used crystals.

[LouisvilleScanMan]

The truckers are still loud and proud on 19 here in Louisville.

[Forts]

Originally Posted by tekshogun

HA! Did anyone else notice the radio in Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4) that was tuned to 66.6 MHz? And there was a truck near the end that had a radio also capable of transmitting on 66.6MHz?

Not only that, but the radio Bruce Willis was transmitting on was a BCT-15 scanner.

[zzdiesel]

Shame on you. You wasn't supposed to notice things like that. He He!!

[C138Kaysone]

someone has some time on their hands to spot things out lol, hollywoods interoperability gatta love it..

well i never deal with CBs so ill just hold onto my FRS and MURS stuff

[tekshogun]

Originally Posted by oldsarge

FRS/GMRS radios will eventually replace CB.

I don't think so.

Originally Posted by oldsarge

They have a much longer range without squelch noise, cost less, and easy to mount or carry in your pocket.

Ok, GMRS, I can see you mounting equipment such as antennas and different types of radios, the power output is allowed to be much higher than CB radio but we're talking about completely two different frequency spectrums. FRS and GMRS are UHF 70 centimeters and CB radio is in the 11 meters spectrum. Those are two different stories. Even on just 4 watts, I can DX a whole lot easier than with FRS or GMRS (skip) depending on how I properly setup my rig/shack.

Originally Posted by oldsarge

I've also heard of some truckers going VHF. Most of the truckers I've known are not legal anyway, so they don't sweat the licenses and the FCC has all it can do to police the broadcast bands and illegal base stations. Just to be on the safe side of the law, I sent in my $80 for a GMRS license. They are good for three or four years, not sure, my license is in my file cabinet.

Truckers using services other than CB is nothing new. You'll find some with MURS and GMRS; keyword is some, should be a few. I have spoken to MANY truckers that are Ham radio operators. Of course, I am a ham operator my self and I have a GMRS license. I can tell you this much about the amateur service: We hams tend to police our own airwaves. The FCC would need an army to do it themselves. We don't cotton to misuse of our service and if we have to we'll do a foxhunt to track down the perpetraitor and then we'll pass it along to the FCC which has a dedicated staff to handling complaints and they will raze an illegal operation to the ground if they have to. CB Radio, MURS, FRS, and GMRS misuse is rampant and we won't tolerate this in the Amateur Radio Service.

Originally Posted by oldsarge

When I take it out on the road, I don't hear a damn thing. When I turn on my CB I RARELY hear any truckers, not to mention radio checks.

They're still there, still on Channel 19. Many don't respond (probably listening to music too loud or on cell phones). You'll have to understand something, ALL radio services are suffering from the same problems; with the advent of cell phones, text messaging, email, etc. the radio services are getting used less and less. It is nothing like the 1990's (when I was using CB radio as a kid and young teen) and before (I am sure) where the best and cheapest mobile communications option was a two-way radio! But now, many people stay off of CB because it is a filthy cesspool full of foul-mouthed, music playing, doomsday preaching, high power transmitting, racist spewing people (not saying everyone is like that but too many are). Imagine me as a kid listening to all that, it got disgusting, so I moved to ham radio. Far more civilized and structured. CB radio is a privilige and it has rules and too many people happily release their bowls all over it.

Originally Posted by oldsarge

Sooooo, where have they all gone? What channels?? Used to be 17 and 19 depending on direction of travel. GMRS is the way to go though and I'm looking forward to GMRS base stations and external antennas for home use. If anyone has any new info on GMRS radio equipment, let me know here or BC. As for the lady in the video, yes there are people are there that still don't have a clue about CB's and think they are the best thing since sliced bread when they do hear about them. I've not ran into many CB shops at truck stops or elsewhere that sell modified radios, although they probably would tweak up the power for a few extra bucks. I remember the old days when 5 watts was the legal norm and CB's used crystals.

Like I stated above, some are still around and on the same channels. If you want a radio service that is "the way to go" then I would highly suggest ham radio. It is very easy to get your technician ticket and you can stay at that level if you want to and be able to make radio contacts across many more bands than FRS and GMRS allows you to (FRS/GMRS as you know are channelized). Also, the ham radio license is only the cost of the exam which when I took it was $12 five years ago. The volunteer examiners even do ALL of your paperwork (which is now largely electronic) and your license last for 10 years. You can blast a lot more power on a lot more frequencies than GMRS, MURS, FRS, and CB put together. As far as equipment goes, I have a Motorola commercial HT (handie talkie) that allows me to transmit or receive on 403MHz up through 470MHz. Completely legal, but I only use it for ham radio and GMRS (non-interleved channels). I also have some frequencies programmed in there and set to receive only for scanning purposes (some 450MHz+ public safety and other local traffic). I use a GMRS repeater (I can never get anyone on it) here. My only real problem with GMRS repeaters is the fact that you must transmit and receive on frequencies that someone may be trying to use as a simplex channel! In ham radio, most modern radios are programmed for this (especially in 144MHz/220MHz VHF and 440 UHF) and ham operators know which frequencies are inputs and outputs for repeaters.

Originally Posted by trace1

Hollywood's version of "interoperability"...

Originally Posted by C138Kaysone

someone has some time on their hands to spot things out lol, hollywoods interoperability gatta love it..

Instead of Motorola's VIPER system (Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders)
We have, HIPER: Hollywood's Interoperability Plan for Erroneous Plots

Originally Posted by Forts

Not only that, but the radio Bruce Willis was transmitting on was a BCT-15 scanner.

Now I'll have to stomach re-watching the movie just to see that.

[C138Kaysone]

Instead of Motorola's VIPER system (Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders)
We have, HIPER: Hollywood's Interoperability Plan for Erroneous Plots

lol when hollywood wants to make a movie, they will activate the HIPER system lol

[Forts]

Originally Posted by tekshogun

Now I'll have to stomach re-watching the movie just to see that.

Skip ahead to roughly 1:43:00... You will see this shot, then a sequence where he is talking into this radio with an Icom mic