Do truckers still use CB Radios?

[slowmover]

My daily fare.

SKIP Problems in Noise Abatement.

The discourtesy of screwing up AM-19. The understood Truckers Channel. Got 39 to 119 other channels before we consider freeband. The thread is not to whine and moan, but to introduce others new to CB how to deal with Skip overwhelming local comms. The exigencies of the road. Your experience...

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Addresses the phenomenon and about alleviation.


A typical CB won’t cut the mustard. Meaning, DSP-equipped; either integrated,

2023 Best Mobile CB

Via mobile experience as an OTR truck driver. Several thousand hours annual use. Earlier references to the Qixiang factory’s new circuit board elsewhere. Several brands. The above possibly the best known example at present. Paired with the equally new Driver Extreme DRX-9010 External Speaker...

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or as an outboard device,

West Mountain CLR-SPKR - Review

After reading several posts by @slowmover extolling the virtues of this speaker, I bought one and tried it today with a CB (President McKinley), ham radio (Yaesu FT-818), and scanner (Uniden BC125AT). Operation.--The speaker comes with its own power and audio cables. The power cable is...

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The option exists to have DSP retrofitted internally.

Cut the noise away from voice and it’s easier to distinguish local during heavy Skip.

The rest of the radio systems need to be of highest standard.

Mobile Install

Skip is a worthy challenge to overcome.

One will have an outstanding mobile radio as a result if he’s diligent.

With exceptions, I can dodge’em by choice to speak with who’s around me.

Understand that this assault on AM-19 isn’t accidental. It’s to discourage and to dissuade. An act of war against ordinary men on the road.

The tools are available to fight back.

1). DSP equipped radio
2). Clean 12VDC
3). Quiet Coax (feedpoint & transceiver chokes).
4). 5’ antenna, permanent-mount.
5). High fidelity speaker (DRX-901).

This incentive was earlier missing. So typical radio systems were poor, and were rhe norm.

Own the means.

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[mmckenna]

I took another road trip during the Thanksgiving week from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Seattle, WA area primarily along the I-5 corridor,

I was on the same stretch of highway, also.

Years ago I had a CB in my truck. Used to have it on, especially when running up and down I-5. Many years ago I realized it was quiet and no local traffic. I think out of 4-5 trips I once heard two guys talking as I passed through Sacramento. They were running down I-5, so I was able to listen to them for a bit. But, that was it.
The rest of what I heard was skip rolling in, and after a while (about 10 seconds) I get tired of that and either squelch/rf gain the radio down low or just turn it off.

On the ham side, it's not much better. Endless IP gateways blasting out excessively long call signs with time/date/temperature/announcements every 10 minutes, essentially screaming into the ether for no reason. Most of these are on the common simplex channels, so if you are traveling with other hams, you have to listen to this crap every few minutes. Changing simplex channels doesn't help since so many hams set these things up and seem to forget about them.

In the interest of sanity, the radios get turned down/off and I put on the goodtimes radio.

 

[slowmover]

I was on the same stretch of highway, also.

Years ago I had a CB in my truck. Used to have it on, especially when running up and down I-5. Many years ago I realized it was quiet and no local traffic. I think out of 4-5 trips I once heard two guys talking as I passed through Sacramento. They were running down I-5, so I was able to listen to them for a bit. But, that was it.
The rest of what I heard was skip rolling in, and after a while (about 10 seconds) I get tired of that and either squelch/rf gain the radio down low or just turn it off.

On the ham side, it's not much better. Endless IP gateways blasting out excessively long call signs with time/date/temperature/announcements every 10 minutes, essentially screaming into the ether for no reason. Most of these are on the common simplex channels, so if you are traveling with other hams, you have to listen to this crap every few minutes. Changing simplex channels doesn't help since so many hams set these things up and seem to forget about them.

In the interest of sanity, the radios get turned down/off and I put on the goodtimes radio.

All according to plan.

Turn off the radio = comply (wear the mask).

No comms except thru approved channels (Net, etc).

And, if a response it is you want, speak up.

Many men don’t realize they can hear & be heard by a quality CB system during most of the day.

I get the ball rolling and keep it that way with noting breakdowns, slowdowns, etc.

And give a mouthful to those who have no business being on AM-19 as it’s for the traveler. (Slam the base stations).

Be the man in whom your dog believes.

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[bharvey2]

I was on the same stretch of highway, also.

Years ago I had a CB in my truck. Used to have it on, especially when running up and down I-5. Many years ago I realized it was quiet and no local traffic. I think out of 4-5 trips I once heard two guys talking as I passed through Sacramento. They were running down I-5, so I was able to listen to them for a bit. But, that was it.
The rest of what I heard was skip rolling in, and after a while (about 10 seconds) I get tired of that and either squelch/rf gain the radio down low or just turn it off.

On the ham side, it's not much better. Endless IP gateways blasting out excessively long call signs with time/date/temperature/announcements every 10 minutes, essentially screaming into the ether for no reason. Most of these are on the common simplex channels, so if you are traveling with other hams, you have to listen to this crap every few minutes. Changing simplex channels doesn't help since so many hams set these things up and seem to forget about them.

In the interest of sanity, the radios get turned down/off and I put on the goodtimes radio.

Yeah, I didn't listen for long stretches as the din gets tiring quickly. Fortunately it almost all goes away by sundown. The one thing I forgot to mention and have no explanation for it was the CW IDers I kept hearing. On CB? What, aren't the Roger Beep tones these days annoying enough?

 

[slowmover]

Yeah, I didn't listen for long stretches as the din gets tiring quickly. Fortunately it almost all goes away by sundown. The one thing I forgot to mention and have no explanation for it was the CW IDers I kept hearing. On CB? What, aren't the Roger Beep tones these days annoying enough?

Paid trolls. No different than online rabble-rousers. Same ones all-day/365. All sorts of aggro employed.

See my comments linked. Doesn’t get tiring when audio clarity is increased.

(Down to about 2-hours daily on days with worst Skip is when it becomes unlistenable).

High performance Citizen Band is another world.

No DSP means you ain’t serious.

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[slowmover]

The greater the number of foreign-born or aligned in your region the fewer the actual users of CB. (Partly explains West Coast).

It’s on you to get others participating.

“Some” of the base station mouth-breathers profess to standing-by when 19 is in use by travelers. It helps to remind them to use the other 38 (as 9 is also sacrosanct).

Use it or lose it.

The solar propagation cycle won’t last forever. I’m not kidding it’s a great test for performance.

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[bharvey2]

Paid trolls. No different than online rabble-rousers. Same ones all-day/365. All sorts of aggro employed.

See my comments linked. Doesn’t get tiring when audio clarity is increased.

(Down to about 2-hours daily on days with worst Skip is when it becomes unlistenable).

High performance Citizen Band is another world.

.

You're right. I believe I heard many of the same voices. As for audio quality, I was listening on a lone ear bud so as not to disturb my family. Definitely not the best sound quality but I'm sure there would have been a munity had I had the sound playing throughout the vehicle cabin.

 

[mmckenna]

See my comments linked. Doesn’t get tiring when audio clarity is increased.

It's not audio clarity that was my issue, I had that solved.
It's the toy noisemakers, someone yelling the same words over and over again from halfway across the country into an echo mic, and the lack of any usable information that made putting up with that nonsense worth it.

I know in some areas CB is absolutely useful. On I-5, over the last 10 years or so, it wasn't to me, and I no longer felt the need to install the radio and antenna on my truck.

Like BHarvey, it wasn't worth it to us non-truckers. As non-truckers, we're not on the clock and not in a hurry.

 

[bharvey2]

The greater the number of foreign-born or aligned in your region the fewer the actual users of CB.

It’s on you to get others participating.

“Some” of the base station mouth-breathers profess to standing-by when 19 is in use by travelers. It helps to remind them to use the other 38 (as 9 is also sacrosanct).

Use it or lose it.

The solar propagation cycle won’t last forever. I’m not kidding it’s a great test for performance.

.

Actually, I did hear one or two guys get called our for running skip on 19. However, as for channel 9 being sacrosanct, I'd say no. That's seemed to be the spanish speaking channel.

 

[slowmover]

You're right. I believe I heard many of the same voices. As for audio quality, I was listening on a lone ear bud so as not to disturb my family. Definitely not the best sound quality but I'm sure there would have been a munity had I had the sound playing throughout the vehicle cabin.

A HAM of my acquaintance — and with a few decades at the wheel — reports the W-M Speaker (linked above) gives outstanding audio quality on headsets.

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[bharvey2]

It's the toy noisemakers, someone yelling the same words over and over again from halfway across the country into an echo mic, and the lack of any usable information that made putting up with that nonsense worth it.

Oh isn't that an understatement

 

[slowmover]

Like BHarvey, it wasn't worth it to us non-truckers. As non-truckers, we're not on the clock and not in a hurry.

You got the Comply, or Else message ingrained.

AM-19 is nationally the travelers channel.

We all face the same problems of death or dismemberment on the road.

— We all look forward to knowledgeable local advice not only about routes, but about services and local features.

Don’t count yourself out. Or the well-being of your family. We others have the same concerns.

Calling it an attack isn’t hyperbole.

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[arudlang]

I took another road trip during the Thanksgiving week from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Seattle, WA area primarily along the I-5 corridor, a major trucking thoroughfare. As my 2M/70cm radio antenna connector decided NOW was the time to fail, I ended up monitoring a CB for a good part of the trip. I don't think I heard any local trucker traffic the entire time. The closest confirmed radio traffic was southern California. What I did hear was PLENTY of skip during the day. So much so that I would have considered CB almost unuseable for local traffic. What I heard was SSB on the upper few channels, the ever-present channel 6 broadcasting stations bleeding into the adjacent channels, a few 80M inspired rants and an unending supply of gibberish. Normal conversations, while present, were a rarity. CB might be a worthwhile mode of communication in some parts of the U.S. but unfortunately ,I wasn't hearing much of it

I am gearing up for a road trip out to the west coast and I will be setting up for vhf/uhf and also gmrs since there will be a second vehicle for part of the journey, but all I'm doing for CB is my Midland handheld walkie talkie in the glove box. Would be a waste of time to even put up a magmount for CB it feels like.

 

[bharvey2]

Like BHarvey, it wasn't worth it to us non-truckers. As non-truckers, we're not on the clock and not in a hurry.

You got the Comply, or Else message, I see.

AM-19 is nationally the travelers channel.

We all face the same problems of death or dismemberment on the road.

— We all look forward to knowledgeable local advice not only about routes, but about services and local features.

Don’t count yourself out. Or the well-being of your family. We others have the same concerns.

Calling it an attack isn’t hyperbole.

.

It wasn't me who got called out. I didn't transmit once during my entire trip. I was actually surprised to hear anyone try bring some order to what was going on. CB has the potential to be a useful band, especially for travel. I was disappointed that even with skip, there was a definite lack of intelligent communication. I only break out a CB once a year or so but it continues to disappoint.

 

[mmckenna]

I am gearing up for a road trip out to the west coast and I will be setting up for vhf/uhf and also gmrs since there will be a second vehicle for part of the journey, but all I'm doing for CB is my Midland handheld walkie talkie in the glove box. Would be a waste of time to even put up a magmount for CB it feels like.

I've heard quite a bit of traffic on the interstates by scanning the FRS/GMRS channels. Most of it is groups communicating between cars and not very useful, other than the entertainment value, but periodically useful traffic info is heard.

 

[bharvey2]

I am gearing up for a road trip out to the west coast and I will be setting up for vhf/uhf and also gmrs since there will be a second vehicle for part of the journey, but all I'm doing for CB is my Midland handheld walkie talkie in the glove box. Would be a waste of time to even put up a magmount for CB it feels like.

I did the same trip last year and had a handheld with me - no external antenna and only heard one person and that was at a truck stop. I figured that given the solar conditions and skip I'd hear more traffic. I planned to use an old mobile antenna that I had this this time but broke it about a week before I was to use it (granted, it was 40 years old) So, on a whim, I but a cheap K40 mag mount. Well yes. more traffic but as I mentioned earlier, it wasn't local. If you're travelling cross country, it might be worth it for you but I wouldn't invest much money unless you intend to use it betwen cars.

Ham and GMRS is a different story. The west coast has a couple of linked radio systems (ham) and you can get something of interest form those.

 

[slowmover]

It wasn't me who got called out. I didn't transmit once during my entire trip. I was actually surprised to hear anyone try bring some order to what was going on. CB has the potential to be a useful band, especially for travel. I was disappointed that even with skip, there was a definite lack of intelligent communication. I only break out a CB once a year or so but it continues to disappoint.

Participate (do your part) or it won’t change.

 

[slowmover]

I did the same trip last year and had a handheld with me - no external antenna and only heard one person and that was at a truck stop. I figured that given the solar condiitions and skip I'd hear more traffic. I planned to use an old mobile antenna that I had this this time but broke it about a week before I was to use it (granted, it was 40 years old) So, on a whim, I but a cheap K40 mag mount. Well yes.more traffic but as I mentioned earlier, it wasn't local. If your travelling cross country, it might be worth it for you but I wouldn't invest much money unless you intend to use it betwen cars.

Something better than nothing. Sorta.

Think seat belts and concealed carry have their place? So does CB done right.

Men jointly defining & solving problems.


Perspective:

DIGITAL CAVEMEN

Good news about the Fake New World

frankwright.substack.com

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[GadgetGeek]

I live in an area that was once a heavy trucker CB area in Pennsylvania where the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the New Jersey Turnpike, Route 1, Route 95, Route 13, and route 195, connected, with multiple truck stops and restaurants. At one time this was the busiest area for CB on Channel 19, lot lizards with handhelds and all in the 70s 80s 90s and Beyond.

I live in the NY/NJ Metro area and can relate. There are a lot of cb'ers in this area(38 LSB) but the truckers have disappeared. Nothing like it was in the 80's & 90's. Channel 19 is dead. I kind of miss the truckers. They were great for getting road info.

 

[slowmover]

I live in the NY/NJ Metro area and can relate. There are a lot of cb'ers in this area(38 LSB) but the truckers have disappeared. Nothing like it was in the 80's & 90's. Channel 19 is dead. I kind of miss the truckers. They were great for getting road info.

Upgrade the gear used. I’ve had DSP for audio about ten years. The times I’ve been on 287 I don’t recall silence as I was energized to get S-N or N-S without complication (to/from New England, mainly).

Comparsions to pre-Internet aren’t the thing. The analogy would be to Interstate driver skill before the invasion of foreigners circa mid-1990s.

Smart phones (GPS routing; post-2006) and the cultural influx means what came before doesn’t address today.

Today is a concerted effort to blank AM-19 almost altogether . . . atop a change in use and users.

So if you want to play, it takes better gear (new or modified).

DDS-VFO

DDS-VFO A 21st Century upgrade for the better CB transceivers of the era just past. — No more SSB drift — Scan — VFO My desire is to also add DSP to the RX side. (West Mountain hadn’t seen that on a CB, yet, and kindly offered circuit diagram advice)...

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Other men are still out there, but you need the ears to pull others together in space::time.

One’s a catalyst.

— A PRESIDENT Lincoln II+ only needs DSP to be an outstanding performer. Integrated it could then use the DRX-901 speaker.

— A GALAXY DX-959b, same, but with DDS-VFO it’s a radio where it’s easier to distinguish local from five states away due to audio quality versus SMT radios.

An old favorite given VFO & DSP leaves no tool untouched.

These complaints I find come to gear not up to the task in todays environment


1). DSP-equipped radio (given very high SSB performance; rectify that, too, if needed).
2). Clean 12VDC
3). Quiet Coax (feedpoint & transceiver chokes).
4). 5’ antenna minimum height, permanent-mount.
5). High fidelity speaker (DRX-901).


Clean Power: see posts by @W8HDU

Big Truck Radio 12V Source Upgrade

Semi-truck tractors come pre-wired with a fused 10A or 15A harness which connects to a standard radio cord via binding posts (in almost all cases). Problem is that it’s both noisy (from fuse panel), and consists of a minimal wire gauge which allows for a greater than .5V (3%) volt drop while in...

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