CB Radio's.

[BNSFrailfan]

Are you into the CB Radio craze? Do you own your own CB Radio? Please comment what you like or dislike about the CB Radio hobby. Thank You.

[KF5DCI]

Wouldn't call it a "craze", seems like most of the CB hobby is all but dead except for truckers nowadays.

[BNSFrailfan]

Originally Posted by pyrofallout

Wouldn't call it a "craze", seems like most of the CB hobby is all but dead except for truckers nowadays.

But one has to understand that CB sales are still strong. Or else most company's who make these Radio would be out of business already. Plus another thing. People are gonna be in big trouble one day if the Government where to entirely shut down the entire cell network.

[gewecke]

Cb's are only still here because of the residual boom left over from the 70's and 80's. So yeah,they can still be bought new but it would be wrong to say that they are flying off the store shelves by any means.
Now cell phones on the other hand,are still the craze because it's become our nation's lifeline if you read the news? I don't think they're going away anytime soon,although quality has gotten crappier! You could not give me an i-phone or one of the junk blackberrys! Gotta be a good old moto jobsite phone for me!
N9ZAS

[va3hub]

Originally Posted by gewecke

Cb's are only still here because of the residual boom left over from the 70's and 80's. So yeah,they can still be bought new but it would be wrong to say that they are flying off the store shelves by any means.
Now cell phones on the other hand,are still the craze because it's become our nation's lifeline if you read the news? I don't think they're going away anytime soon,although quality has gotten crappier! You could not give me an i-phone or one of the junk blackberrys! Gotta be a good old moto jobsite phone for me!
N9ZAS

Same goes with the Ham stuff.

[APTN]

Originally Posted by pyrofallout

Wouldn't call it a "craze", seems like most of the CB hobby is all but dead except for truckers nowadays.

I've found CB useful while traveling in a convoy. It still has some uses.

[ab3a]

The problem with CB, FRS, and yes, even ham radio is that the general public would rather not get in to all those geeky radio thingies with all the limitations and peculiarities.

They have cell phones. They "understand" the interface. They don't care about the infrastructure that it takes to make it work.

And these days, if you do care about communications, you're either labeled a nerd, or you're thought to be some kind of religious survivalist. The same goes for most other infrastructures. The public is being taken care of. We have our bread and circuses.

Yeah, I have all of these things. I even use them every once in a while. However, I'm not going to say it is any more useful than riding a horse. Sure, there are places where a horse is probably the ideal vehicle for getting around. There aren't many such places left, but they do exist. And so it is for CB, FRS, Ham Radio, GMRS, and so forth.

[James_Bond_007]

I avail myself to every form of communications i am entitled to use via my license(s) or License By Rule. This included, but not limited to GMRS, FRS, CB, Amateur Radio, Part 15 Devices, Etc.

I don't have a prepaid or contract cell phone provider but keep one for 911 emergency calls

[jhooten]

Still the best source of highway info available. Just have to be able to filter out the trash.

[va3hub]

Originally Posted by ab3a

The problem with CB, FRS, and yes, even ham radio is that the general public would rather not get in to all those geeky radio thingies with all the limitations and peculiarities.

They have cell phones. They "understand" the interface. They don't care about the infrastructure that it takes to make it work.

And these days, if you do care about communications, you're either labeled a nerd, or you're thought to be some kind of religious survivalist. The same goes for most other infrastructures. The public is being taken care of. We have our bread and circuses.

Yeah, I have all of these things. I even use them every once in a while. However, I'm not going to say it is any more useful than riding a horse. Sure, there are places where a horse is probably the ideal vehicle for getting around. There aren't many such places left, but they do exist. And so it is for CB, FRS, Ham Radio, GMRS, and so forth.

Amen Brother

[tekshogun]

I don't own any CB equipment anymore. I remember when I used to own as many CB radios as I do own ham and commercial radio gear now (which amounts to 5 operational two-way radios, 4 ham radios and 1 commercial radio operating ham and GMRS and makes for a great UHF public safety/commercial scanner).

I really, really, want to get a CB radio again, a decent mobile and a decent portable model would be fine for me. Thanks to ham radio, I have a better understanding of how antennas work and I like to abide by the rules, so I can stick with the 4 watts legal output on CB because if I want to DX, I'll stick with ham radio (greater power, no distance limit as with CB and I don't have to worry about getting in trouble). CB is great because when I'm on the radio, it has been my experience that there are more people listening and talking on at least, channel 19 for CB than ham operating on the national simplex frequencies (146.52 and 446.00). If you are not familiar with an area then unless you knew where you were going and got repeaters for that area, finding repeaters can prove difficult (whether you are repeater hunting in 70cm, 2m, 6m or 10m).

Also, I look at two-way radios as the ultimate method of communication in a system-wide failure (such as the California cable cuts earlier this year) or disaster (Hurricane Katrina, 9/11 NYC Attacks, Greensburg Tornado, etc). No matter what, you should have some means of common two-way radio which includes CB or ham. GMRS and FRS as well, although I would suggest using commercial or modified ham gear for GMRS because the service is less restrictive than FRS. You will never know who in need will be on these different radio services (MURS as well). If it boiled down to ARES ham operators handling traffic in an area, they can pass traffic to and from any of those radio services to help coordination. In emergencies, there are plans and systems in place from public safety to tie public safety frequencies (trunked systems, etc), ham radio, low-band VHF, and yes, even CB radios if you really wanted to.

[va3hub]

Originally Posted by tekshogun

I don't own any CB equipment anymore. I remember when I used to own as many CB radios as I do own ham and commercial radio gear now (which amounts to 5 operational two-way radios, 4 ham radios and 1 commercial radio operating ham and GMRS and makes for a great UHF public safety/commercial scanner).

I really, really, want to get a CB radio again, a decent mobile and a decent portable model would be fine for me. Thanks to ham radio, I have a better understanding of how antennas work and I like to abide by the rules, so I can stick with the 4 watts legal output on CB because if I want to DX, I'll stick with ham radio (greater power, no distance limit as with CB and I don't have to worry about getting in trouble). CB is great because when I'm on the radio, it has been my experience that there are more people listening and talking on at least, channel 19 for CB than ham operating on the national simplex frequencies (146.52 and 446.00). If you are not familiar with an area then unless you knew where you were going and got repeaters for that area, finding repeaters can prove difficult (whether you are repeater hunting in 70cm, 2m, 6m or 10m).

Also, I look at two-way radios as the ultimate method of communication in a system-wide failure (such as the California cable cuts earlier this year) or disaster (Hurricane Katrina, 9/11 NYC Attacks, Greensburg Tornado, etc). No matter what, you should have some means of common two-way radio which includes CB or ham. GMRS and FRS as well, although I would suggest using commercial or modified ham gear for GMRS because the service is less restrictive than FRS. You will never know who in need will be on these different radio services (MURS as well). If it boiled down to ARES ham operators handling traffic in an area, they can pass traffic to and from any of those radio services to help coordination. In emergencies, there are plans and systems in place from public safety to tie public safety frequencies (trunked systems, etc), ham radio, low-band VHF, and yes, even CB radios if you really wanted to.

Well said.

[robertmac]

As this is just starting up, wonder what CB will be like in a couple of years when you can only communicate with your convoy if they are within a couple of blocks. Only those interested in skip will find CB of some interest. But then Amateur Radio is much better in this regards. So CB will die even further than it has from the 1960s. Every solar cycle sees more people turning off CB.

[emd001]

i keep a CB in the pickup. Its nice when im out with my buddies or helping people out who dont have a license/ham gear in their vehicle. And when the skip comes in it keeps me interested.

[dkemple1]

Yes, I have a couple of CB radios. I have a good base and a couple for the vehicle. The reason I started listening to them again was because my girlfriend has to use them everyday at her place of employment and we only live 4 miles from her work and I enjoy listening to them all talk when they are not talking business. I enjoy listening to the trucks too when I am out and about.

[2beers4me]

Originally Posted by robertmac

As this is just starting up, wonder what CB will be like in a couple of years when you can only communicate with your convoy if they are within a couple of blocks. Only those interested in skip will find CB of some interest. But then Amateur Radio is much better in this regards. So CB will die even further than it has from the 1960s. Every solar cycle sees more people turning off CB.

This is somewhat true, but for all the people the DX chases away there will be a many that return because of the DX. There may be new people to radio that become interested because of the DX. Every cycle there seems to be people coming and going. I'm a new ham so I can't speak much on the behalf of most amateurs, but I would assume the solar cycle does have similar effect on the guys on HF. When the cycle is at the bottom people might go on hiatus from the radio more. Many of the cb guys that are local talkers seem to be on in the night time hours when the band is closing, or already closed. Bring on those sunspots already!

[TheJerk]

If you travel, they are still very useful. I have a small pile of radios...just getting into the SSB thing: four Grants, a Washington, PC76, and a DX959...plus a couple handhelds.

They have their place, and there are still a lot of enthusiasts out there...

[BNSFrailfan]

Just remember this. When another Terrorist attack happens again in this country. There is word going around that the Government "Will" shut down the entire cell network. So all your Radio's will be the only thing that will get out.

[tekshogun]

Originally Posted by BNSFrailfan

Just remember this. When another Terrorist attack happens again in this country. There is word going around that the Government "Will" shut down the entire cell network. So all your Radio's will be the only thing that will get out.

Although it could happen, I fear it would cause more problems than just leaving the cellular networks on. Chances are, it will be too late anyway and the public will cause a network jam.

[TheJerk]

Originally Posted by tekshogun

Although it could happen, I fear it would cause more problems than just leaving the cellular networks on. Chances are, it will be too late anyway and the public will cause a network jam.

This is exactly what happened during 9/11...the cell phone network overloaded. I was in a suburb of Philadelphia and the system was impossible to access for hours afterwards...