Do truckers still use CB Radios?

[radioman2008]

when I got into CB in the 80s 19 was very busy around the interstates. ive listened from time to time over the decades, but have noticed that for years now, truckers on 19 dont even use handles anymore, they just call eacother driver "hey driver". the traffic on 19 could have been hours back in the 80s, but now i can drive in an interstate for a full day and maybe hear 10-15 minutes of traffic on 19, thats it.
the local channels like 28, 34, are more likely to have old timers using handles like foxy lady or grave digger.

I miss the 80s.

 

[trentbob]

when I got into CB in the 80s 19 was very busy around the interstates. ive listened from time to time over the decades, but have noticed that for years now, truckers on 19 dont even use handles anymore, they just call eacother driver "hey driver". the traffic on 19 could have been hours back in the 80s, but now i can drive in an interstate for a full day and maybe hear 10-15 minutes of traffic on 19, thats it.
the local channels like 28, 34, are more likely to have old timers using handles like foxy lady or grave digger.

I miss the 80s.

I miss the 70s LOL

 

[slowmover]

when I got into CB in the 80s 19 was very busy around the interstates. ive listened from time to time over the decades, but have noticed that for years now, truckers on 19 dont even use handles anymore, they just call eacother driver "hey driver". the traffic on 19 could have been hours back in the 80s, but now i can drive in an interstate for a full day and maybe hear 10-15 minutes of traffic on 19, thats it.
the local channels like 28, 34, are more likely to have old timers using handles like foxy lady or grave digger.

I miss the 80s.

I’ve said it above: want talk? TALK!

— Xtra good ears allows me to help drivers get some controls dialed in better: Echo, Reverb, Mic Gain (and maybe how to hold mic). I can hear vocal details to depth.

Get one man interested and others join in wanting some feedback.

That can sometimes lead to other topics.

Air checks for distance are popular, too.

With a base station do the work to establish the shortest distance to nearest mile marker (“Im about two-miles west of MM 363”).

“I’m gettin’ ready to leave the house. How’s it look westbound past the 366, drivers?”

Use a little imagination. What would you josh your friends with? Try that.

 

[trentbob]

when I got into CB in the 80s 19 was very busy around the interstates. ive listened from time to time over the decades, but have noticed that for years now, truckers on 19 dont even use handles anymore, they just call eacother driver "hey driver". the traffic on 19 could have been hours back in the 80s, but now i can drive in an interstate for a full day and maybe hear 10-15 minutes of traffic on 19, thats it.
the local channels like 28, 34, are more likely to have old timers using handles like foxy lady or grave digger.

I miss the 80s.

I didn't get my driver's license until 1969 and I did buy an old beater so the seventies was really my time and that's when things really bloomed... My dad was a ham operator so I got my first Lafayette he-90 with a CLR II around 65.

The FCC discouraged CB as being a hobby and a lot of people actually used their call letters and followed a appropriate protocol. My Township's school buses used Channel 19 LOL. Taxi cabs, tow trucks, delivery trucks used CB for business. My friends and I used it as a hobby. We used handles and we didn't use call letters but my dad had a license of course and we all had qsl cards.

It was a lot of fun for a 12,13,14 year old who rode a Sting-Ray bicycle with a banana seat.

Once I started driving, graduated high school in 71 CB really took off and all the rules went out the window.

I think there were more vee-hicles with a CB than not. you just started talking to someone. Of course in those days we only had 23 channels.

 

[arudlang]

I’ve said it above: want talk? TALK!

Yeah, I am trying to live by that example as well. On Saturday I was driving on a main highway two hours south of my home. The radio was dead silent for the entire drive, but I did try to see if I could catch any listeners by giving road condition reports every so often (we had a lot of loose blowing snow and near whiteout conditions). Nobody ever replied but I knew I had to try anyways. Maybe next time it will work.

It did work by the time I got home but that's just because I met up with my wife in our other vehicle and we were just talking to each other about whether there were deer or cops ahead

 

[KI5UFO]

Back when I was still in Georgia, random times of the day I could hear this one guy pushing more than the usual power since he was never able to hear me. Plus I wasn't too far from a interstate connection that had a cb shop right next to it. Like everyone has said it all just depends on when and where you are at. Here in El Paso, I got less traffic with only the occasional squelch break in my Buick riding next to 375 and 10.

 

[slowmover]

Yeah, I am trying to live by that example as well. On Saturday I was driving on a main highway two hours south of my home. The radio was dead silent for the entire drive, but I did try to see if I could catch any listeners by giving road condition reports every so often (we had a lot of loose blowing snow and near whiteout conditions). Nobody ever replied but I knew I had to try anyways. Maybe next time it will work.

It did work by the time I got home but that's just because I met up with my wife in our other vehicle and we were just talking to each other about whether there were deer or cops ahead

Yup. An ongoing conversation draws listeners. It works. Kept them going at times just for that effect.

“Conditions”: Asking travelers from the opposite direction.

“Hey, northbound, gotch’er ears on? How long dues this (weather condition) last?”

 

[wwhitby]

I used to keep a CB in the car for trips. There would always be activity on Ch. 19.

I did notice around 2008 that CB traffic really dried up. That was when the economy tanked and there were fewer truck drivers on the road.

I stopped listening after a few years and haven't used a CB since.

 

[Ruffian949]

Plenty of trucker traffic on the air in Iowa today. Of course we have 30 trucks hauling grain out to another elevator on a rail line. Not a place your average listener would be close to monitoring though, but every driver has one and we have one in the office.

 

[Ensnared]

Ok ill be the one to do it **Whispers*** I ain't got no panties on*** anyone know the standard response?

D.Watson - Truckin' Queen (I got my nightgown on, my pretty red panties on........) - YouTube

 

[sefrischling]

Busy on the airwaves along I-95 in Connecticut and Rhode Island.

 

[slowmover]

Busy on the airwaves along I-95 in Connecticut and Rhode Island.

And today typical along IH95 between DC & Balt-le-mo.

 

[KM4MA]

History lesson for those that avoided CB?
-Channel 19 was considered a main channel?
-FM use for CB is a recent change?
-Cellphones replaced many CB radios, and if so, how do you reach an unknown trucker 2 miles ahead?
-Big companies did not want the Semi altered, or it was considered a safety hazard/ safety distraction?

 

[Duckford]

History lesson for those that avoided CB?
-Channel 19 was considered a main channel?
-FM use for CB is a recent change?
-Cellphones replaced many CB radios, and if so, how do you reach an unknown trucker 2 miles ahead?
-Big companies did not want the Semi altered, or it was considered a safety hazard/ safety distraction?

Channel 19 has been THE trucker channel for a very long time. It is not an official "main" channel, but it has unofficially held that status. To the point that some radios even have knobs and buttons that will quick switch you to channel 19 or 9 (9 being the FCC's designated emergency channel), showing just how prominent and accepted the channel is, even without any official designation. If you are looking for any random talking, channel 19 is the best bet.

We only received FM just now. AM has always dominated, being one of the very few radio services in existence for general use (air traffic being an official one) that is AM centered. SSB is popular among many serious users and "skip" chasers, but US CB has remained unique in that it is an AM holdout. FM will probably never dominate US CB, because by this point AM has become so thoroughly entrenched it cannot be upended. Also, you will find very serious AM enthusiasts and HiFi AM guys on US CB, because it is the last stronghold.

 

[nd5y]

-FM use for CB is a recent change?

Petitions for Reconsideration of Part 95 Personal Radio Services Rules Report and Order

This is interesting: Petitions for Reconsideration of Part 95 Personal Radio Services Rules Report and Order

forums.radioreference.com

CB radios with FM for the US market can be FCC certified as of October 2021. So far there are only 2 or 3 models available. Europe has had FM for decades.

 

[Ensnared]

Petitions for Reconsideration of Part 95 Personal Radio Services Rules Report and Order

This is interesting: Petitions for Reconsideration of Part 95 Personal Radio Services Rules Report and Order

forums.radioreference.com

CB radios with FM for the US market can be FCC certified as of October 2021. So far there are only 2 or 3 models available. Europe has had FM for decades.

I already jumped off the bridge and landed in the water, cannonball. I bought a 10-meter with FM on CB. Here is what I would like to ask regarding the trucker channel, 19.

I thought I heard an odd transmission the other day on channel 19 between Waco and Temple, Texas. It sounded like it was USB or LSB, but I could understand the words. It did not sound like am. I have yet to use my new radio, but I was just curious.

There are a group of radio enthusiasts, most of them are HAM operators as well. They meet on Channel 2 in the Temple area.

So, here is what I want to know. Can FM and AM co-existent on channel 19? I was thinking that another CB channel would be dedicated for truckers who exclusively use CB FM.

Any commments?

 

[StoliRaz]

I haven't seen any CB FM capable transceivers, but I'm sure the market will be inundated soon.

First one I've seen. Looks good but doesn't even have weather band. Kind of disappointed there for a hundred bucks.

https://www.walcottradio.com/president-thomas-am-fm-cb-radio-p-3601.html?kw=&cpn=14789129887&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_K-Yrof09QIVgsDICh05Hwf3EAQYASABEgLt1PD_BwE

I'd love to have a CB but from what I hear on my scanner I'd be forking out money to listen to dead air. Not surprisingly here in the northeast it seems pretty dead compared to down south.

 

[arudlang]

I'd love to have a CB but from what I hear on my scanner I'd be forking out money to listen to dead air. Not surprisingly here in the northeast it seems pretty dead compared to down south

Yeah I'm upper Midwest and I've taken to hosting my own private radio show for the static, calling it "life's unanswered questions" and I pose things while I'm driving such as "why doesn't anybody ever stop at stop signs?" and I always get me answer... Hshshshshbsbshsbsbsbsbbsbs

 

[slowmover]

First one I've seen. Looks good but doesn't even have weather band. Kind of disappointed there for a hundred bucks.

https://www.walcottradio.com/president-thomas-am-fm-cb-radio-p-3601.html?kw=&cpn=14789129887&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_K-Yrof09QIVgsDICh05Hwf3EAQYASABEgLt1PD_BwE

I'd love to have a CB but from what I hear on my scanner I'd be forking out money to listen to dead air. Not surprisingly here in the northeast it seems pretty dead compared to down south.

Depends on where you are. As before, eastern PA down IH81 never not busy. (That Interstate carries a huge amount of cross-country traffic which combines at Knoxville, TN and turns north).

Alternately, the main lane from Chicago to Buffalo, NY or to Philly features turnpike it’s greatly reduced number of entrances/exits. High average speed = few delays. Drivers on those routes are on them regularly. Know the road.

And remember that most big truck radios just don’t get out very far. 1-2/miles MAYBE. You want to hear more you need to be adamant about noise reduction (signal to noise ratio).
DSP for the audio and filtration for the coax (past antenna mount diligence and specifics about antenna itself).

Scanners aren’t CB radios.
Not sensitive enough.

Will help you drive around your region to find truck-centric business: rock quarry, cement haulers, other construction. Grain haulers. Milk tankers. Regional distribution centers (where’s the WalMart or Target DCs? Lowes or Home Depot? Food centers? Major truckstops).

Who are the local manufacturers? Where do rail lines and major highways meet in outer suburban areas? Where’s the big river?

Find WHERE the trucks come & go where you live.

 

[arudlang]

Slowmover's comment made me think a scanner in the house probably won't pick up much skip either. I will say while the road has been quiet up here the skip has been great if you have a huge antenna on the roof and a dedicated base station. I've talked to Jamaica twice in the past week and hardly even been trying.