CB Radio Users In Cabarrus Country Area

[edcheek]

Hello all. I am going to get my HAM Technician license in September. I have thought of getting an old CB radio base station to play with for a while. Do any of you folks use CB in the Cabarrus area? I don't want to invest in equipment if there is no one to talk to. Thank you for your answers.

 

[SCPD]

As pretty and nice as the old radios can be to look at. They are almost worthless for communication unless you had a buddy or two on the radio nearby that have CBs WITH ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIPS. You are in a ham rich area with lots of stuff nearby (DMR,DSTAR, PACKET and plenty of VHF/UHF activity) CBs are pretty to look at and fun to twist knobs on but I have come to realize "No one you want to talk to is home anymore" I had one monitor about a month ago and after 2 days " Someone blurted an expletive and rattled my household and I said that's it NO MORE ! Its ashamed a good looking radio is about a waste but that's how it is... Also Truckers are not using them much as I know truckers who have removed them or keep them off until they need to hear about a road problem they are actually seeing. The CB people around here I would not want to associate with so why get involved with them... Ill be nice and not label them...

You will enjoy the good people on Ham radio up there as you maybe a tad northwest but should still be within mobile and base range of a lot of activity.... Im out of Florence and ride the border alot and activity is always great in the Wingate Monroe area and a lot of repeaters are linked to one in Concord Area. Great people up there to talk with...

Good Luck and find a cheap scanner vs a CB Base Radio.

 

[edcheek]

Thank you KYQ1952. I will take that advice. Thank you. I am going to take my Technician class test at the Shelby Hamfest. I will wait and pass on the CB idea. Thank you for your input. Your advice is sound. Have a good weekend.

 

[Harlock]

I would also say that unless you live in a fairly flat area with lots of people, you won't get that much range on a CB. Most CBs are only 5w so with mountains, tall buildings, etc, you might get a range of 1 mile. I recently tested my mobile/base CB at my house, and while I was picking up a lot of chatter (agreed, most of it is crazy talk) from all distances (some were hundreds of miles away), my broadcast range reached about .5 - .75 miles. We tested this with a handheld ham radio to my CB.

Overall, they're fun to turn on and listen every once in a while, but you can essentially do the same thing with a scanner. On a positive note, if you really want to buy a radio to experiment with, CBs are fairly inexpensive. I'd recommend an old Radio Shack handheld or Cobra LTD Classic for a mobile/base unit.

You'll have a lot more fun with the ham radio.