Other services are fine. But CB remains the way to be in contact with the drivers who care about what’s happening up ahead.
Coming off the West Coast are foreign scab drivers who’ve undercut Americans from a lot of refrigerated loads via money-laundering leverage and state officials looking the other way. So-called emissions regulations are the other. Which is why major E-W Interstates are quiet. They’re “drivers”
wholly dependent on the Internet. Cannot navigate or communicate. Coast-to-coast loads are also much fewer than 20-years ago as container rail got the nod.
As American manufacturing got moved out of country CA doesn’t receive all that much from the rest of the US. It’s isolated. Much of what does passes thru Las Vegas / Phoenix area (Henderson, and Casa Grande) not farther north on IH-80 or IH-90 into CA. This is the point of exchange in many cases. Same as with eastern PA into NYC. Coming off the border near IH-8 is the other. Some loads from far eastern SoCal just off IH-5 to haul ass out Cajon Pass on IH-40.
You won’t reach “America” till you’re crossing US-83 past Denver or Amarillo one helluva long ways East. 5% of the US lives in this gigantic region.
Skip is the big problem gotten underway last year and will extend another year or so. Paid agitators on AM-19 intentionally screwing it up for others.
All this I’ve covered elsewhere and at more depth.
One wants to drive the population-barren Far West (up to the Coastal Range), then an antenna reaching closest to 14’, NRC-integrated radio, HQ extension speaker plus some SNR relief
will pull what’s available. NMO-27 is a joke in those circumstances, as is less than 40W. Cattle haulers and commodity haulers are the mainstays in the intermountain West.
CB today is for the few.
The ones who place a premium on getting back home.
You fellows make an occasional trip. Respectfully, there are those of us who run that territory more in a year or two than y’all will in a lifetime.
QT/60
Sirio 5000
DRX-901
CMC-130S-CK
About $525 will cover state-of-the-art.
You’re missing much of what’s there, otherwise.
You yourself “sound good” will receive replies especially in information exchanges.
A weak signal gets lost or ignored as operator fades away too fast. Look to see who’s coming at you to key up. The above, or tankers, are a better guarantee. Fleet trucks (van or reefer) aren’t. Flatbed and Oversized are a mixed bag.
Given that SSB ability on these is a quantum jump from before, what’s listed is far more in performance than what’s been available since circa 1989.
Non-NRC and too short is obsolete. Bad practice.
Listening to the motel maids change sheets ain’t the thing when a semi has blown both tires on a trailer axle four miles ahead. Rolled.
And you’ll be there in 3.5-minutes at 80-MPH meaning you have only a minute or two to avoid the shock wave coming back your direction as vehicles panic.
Wrecks are more common, and more severe than in decades past.
Bad weather will rock your world.
— Only takes one time to pay off a good system.
Brainpower understands that the average radio rig encountered isn’t very good.
That is Job One:
Hear, and Get Heard so that complete info exchange is possible.
Being on-air is part of the bargain. Get the mile marker and what’s notable. Time since you passed it. (Weigh scales open, LEO activity, and so forth).
Being on-air encourages others to do the same.
— Stay the hell out of the left lane and avoid packs at all costs.
Someone headed to Moab for 4-Whlng ought to enjoy the trip. Same with a fishing trip up to the Madison River. I stopped in Bozeman the day after Christmas for a pair of HQ orthopaedic hiking boots. Would have been nice to have been a tourist, sure.
But a breakdown far from home means one may have to hoof it. A cheaply-made pair of Wally World boots ain’t gonna get me home (an NMO-27 &
Cobra 75
Have the means. The right tools.
HF in Australia (Barrett) is your actual model:
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