Keeping an open mind.

[Omega-TI]

Let me just start off with saying, CURRENTLY I don't plan on getting a CB radio. After reading a few posts here, I got into a discussion with a friend after work yesterday who drives for a living. Anyway, he was telling me that FM CB's may be hitting the market soon, and with that will come quieter channels with little to no DX weirdos to contend with. That would indeed be a plus.

A second topic of discussion was removable control heads. I told him there is no way I could get a CB mounted in my car because after looking at what was available, it seems the manufacturers don't really cater to the average Joe, which might translate into more sales. How many sales? I have no clue. I guess if your customer base drives 18 wheelers though you have lots of room and control heads are not needed. I I cannot help to wonder though, if the lack of a control head is self-limiting the sales, because most modern cars like mine have no place to even mount a radio.

So in keeping an open mind, I'll revisit the possibility *IF* a company ever comes out with a model that does FM and has a detachable control head no wider than 5".

 

[mass-man]

Let me just start off with saying, CURRENTLY I don't plan on getting a CB radio. After reading a few posts here, I got into a discussion with a friend after work yesterday who drives for a living. Anyway, he was telling me that FM CB's may be hitting the market soon, and with that will come quieter channels with little to no DX weirdos to contend with. That would indeed be a plus.

A second topic of discussion was removable control heads. I told him there is no way I could get a CB mounted in my car because after looking at what was available, it seems the manufacturers don't really cater to the average Joe, which might translate into more sales. How many sales? I have no clue. I guess if your customer base drives 18 wheelers though you have lots of room and control heads are not needed. I I cannot help to wonder though, if the lack of a control head is self-limiting the sales, because most modern cars like mine have no place to even mount a radio.

So in keeping an open mind, I'll revisit the possibility *IF* a company ever comes out with a model that does FM and has a detachable control head no wider than 5".

Well FM CB radios are already on the market...I’ve seen several discussions here in the forum! remote heads might be a problem! The tech involved would certainly drive up the cost of a radio.

 

[k7ng]

If FM wasn't a critical factor, there are remote-mount options. Uniden CMX760 for one.

 

[mass-man]

Likely you’ll see an AM/FM CB with a handheld controller before a remote control head.

 

[nd5y]

he was telling me that FM CB's may be hitting the market soon, and with that will come quieter channels with little to no DX weirdos to contend with.

Your freind is wrong. When the band is open and DX weirdos are on every channel then FM will be just as useless as AM or SSB.

The only advantage FM has is the capture effect and that only happens if one signal is a lot stronger than the other(s). If the station you are trying to receive is one of the weaker ones then FM makes it worse.

 

[mmckenna]

Yeah, I had a Uniden CMX radio for a while. Remote Head/hand held control head. Worked just fine.
As for FM, it's a great option for local communications amongst your buddies, but I doubt you'll see enough adoption of FM to make it useful for random contacts. The beauty of FM is you can run CTCSS/DCS to block out all the nonsense.

 

[Omega-TI]

The beauty of FM is you can run CTCSS/DCS to block out all the nonsense.

That would be the icing on the cake, especially if it had a "monitor button" on the microphone so you could check for other activity before transmitting.

 

[Omega-TI]

Yeah, I had a Uniden CMX radio for a while. Remote Head/hand held control head. Worked just fine.

I was unaware that radio even existed. Now if it was FM capable, I'd truly consider it. Honestly, IF/WHEN they start producing them, I'd expect it to be like it was back in the 70's when people were dumping their 23 channel rigs and going out to buy the newer 40 channel models. Sure, CB's heyday has come and gone, but I expect there would be at least few "new adopters" as well.

I think I could even get that one shoehorned into my car.

​

 

[PDXh0b0]

If it wasn't for the weirdos, cb would silent, rarely hear any truckers on i5

 

[Omega-TI]

If it wasn't for the weirdos, cb would silent, rarely hear any truckers on i5

Yeah, the weirdos do seem to make up the greatest percentage of users. You know I have some time this afternoon, I think I'll set the Eton on 27.165 and see if I pick anything up.

 

[PDXh0b0]

Yeah, the weirdos do seem to make up the greatest percentage of users. You know I have some time this afternoon, I think I'll set the Eton on 27.165 and see if I pick anything up.

Ch 6 active lol

 

[6079smithw]

Sure, CB's heyday has come and gone, but I expect there would be at least few "new adopters" as well.

I think I could even get that one shoehorned into my car.

You didn't mention what model car you have, but might a DIN mount work?
I have a friend who installed a Cobra C19DXIV in a 1-ton GMC with an adapter kit,
nice clean-looking job. I agree though, pretty much no such thing as "under-dash"
in these new-fangled vehicles any more...

(BTW, get off my lawn. )

 

[Omega-TI]

Ch 6 active lol

Oh yeah, the SSB freak show. 27.085 comes in a close second.

 

[Omega-TI]

You didn't mention what model car you have, but might a DIN mount work?
I have a friend who installed a Cobra C19DXIV in a 1-ton GMC with an adapter kit,
nice clean-looking job. I agree though, pretty much no such thing as "under-dash"
in these new-fangled vehicles any more...

(BTW, get off my lawn. )

It's a 2018 Hyundai Elantra. I could probably mount the main unit under the seat and set control mic on a little door in front of the shift knob.

 

[mmckenna]

I was unaware that radio even existed. Now if it was FM capable, I'd truly consider it. Honestly, IF/WHEN they start producing them, I'd expect it to be like it was back in the 70's when people were dumping their 23 channel rigs and going out to buy the newer 40 channel models. Sure, CB's heyday has come and gone, but I expect there would be at least few "new adopters" as well.

I think you'll find that the majority of CB'ers couldn't tell you the difference between AM, FM or XM. While I'm sure some CB hobbyists will be interested in new radios, I think the vast majority of average CB'ers won't care, won't know. Going to be awful hard to talk skip on FM.
I'm sure the dealers will push it hard, but I don't see a big change coming to CB radio. The people that don't use it now are not likely to care. The few that understand what FM gives them will enjoy it, but that's probably going to be a small slice of the population.

FM has been allowed for a long time in other countries and we haven't seen a big change in the hobby there.

I think I could even get that one shoehorned into my car.

I have my VHF RF deck located behind the rear seat in my truck. I have a 6 gauge power feed from the battery fused at 60 amps. I have a fused distribution block back there. I mounted the CB RF deck back there next to the VHF radio and used an existing NMO mount that I had for my 800MHz radio.
The cable between the handset and the RF deck is a 4 pair with RJ-45 connectors on the end. I took a 20 foot long Ethernet cable and an RJ-45 jack and just made my own extension. The RJ-45 jack was under the dash and the mic was mounted next to the VHF mic. Worked really well.
The speaker in the handset is pretty small, so external speaker really helps with audio quality/intelligibility.

 

[Omega-TI]

I think you'll find that the majority of CB'ers couldn't tell you the difference between AM, FM or XM. While I'm sure some CB hobbyists will be interested in new radios, I think the vast majority of average CB'ers won't care, won't know. Going to be awful hard to talk skip on FM.
I'm sure the dealers will push it hard, but I don't see a big change coming to CB radio. The people that don't use it now are not likely to care. The few that understand what FM gives them will enjoy it, but that's probably going to be a small slice of the population.

FM has been allowed for a long time in other countries and we haven't seen a big change in the hobby there.

You're probably right, the average CB type probably will not know, ironically most Hams will know, but like you say, will not care. Some are already invested in FRS for camping and backpacking and will probably stay there because the units are small with small antenna and easy to manage.

Amplitude Modulation and Frequency Modulation and Phase Modulation is easy, but that XM crap is a mouthful (and I cannot really remember the whole description) but if I'm not mistaken it's also a proprietary S band downlink decoding method that can only be used with a Sirius/XM receiver like in our cars.

 

[Omega-TI]

... oh, I forgot one important thing about FRS radios, they're bloody cheap, which is a big draw to some as many people don't plan to use them all the time. In fact I probably only use mine two or three times a year.

​

 

[KANE4109]

Depending on what you are looking for, you may want to investigate GMRS. It is up in the UHF area.... so dx is going to be out.

But if you are looking for local comm...... $35 for a license (good for your immediate family), it is already FM and ready to go....
Plus I think the transceivers can go up to 50 watts. Then you can also hit repeaters like on 2m amateur. If there are any in your area...
that would be good....but if not.... or if you are just looking for simplex operation....GMRS is fine for that.

Just a thought.

 

[Omega-TI]

Depending on what you are looking for, you may want to investigate GMRS. It is up in the UHF area.... so dx is going to be out.

But if you are looking for local comm...... $35 for a license (good for your immediate family), it is already FM and ready to go....
Plus I think the transceivers can go up to 50 watts. Then you can also hit repeaters like on 2m amateur. If there are any in your area...
that would be good....but if not.... or if you are just looking for simplex operation....GMRS is fine for that.

Just a thought.

Thank you for the kind suggestion. I'm not really into that anymore, I did that in my old Amateur Radio days. I'm more of a listener now. Also, I hardly ever use my FRS radios. There is one GMRS repeater listed down south << HERE >>, so I may just punch the frequency into my 800XLT and see what happens.

 

[lu81fitter]

I was looking in to GMRS, but can't find any repeaters in my area. I think about 25 miles is the closest one, and that is the wrong direction of most of my travelling. Looking into the HAM thing again. Found a radio at a second hand store that does AM, upper/lower, CW and 10 M. It's a President HR2510. No mic or power cable, but for $10 I can listen. I'll find a mic somewhere.