I drive over the road. Thirty or more states on a regular basis.
My CB radio is always turned on. You’d find that brains = radio use to be a useful parameter for knowing who’s listening.
The kicker is this:
some ordinary guy in his ordinary car is well-served only if he’s gone to some trouble:
1). A quality installation where details are respected
Install Guide
2). He’s spent some time listening to what’s to be heard on-air.
What he does or doesn’t like about it is irrelevant As this barroom is a thing of its own.
To sum up: Gear that’ll get out and that’ll hear what’s available. Hear, and be heard.
To have a feel for how conversations go while on-air. Requests for emergency assistance aren’t common. I’ve answered some over the years. Relay a phone call, etc.
Guys flying past at 65-mph have a SHORT window of signal interception.
Im currently using a UNIDEN 980 in the Peterbilt. The least expensive radio to be considered seriously (AM/SSB). Paired to an RM ITALY KL203. WILSON 2000 antenna pair (at 14’ tip height; trailer needs 13’5” clearance; 14’ almost a minimum as is a 5’ antenna or longer). West Mountain Radio DSP Speaker. Ferrites & filters at every cable end.
Here’s your motivation:
Be the man who himself answers the call.
Isa: “Whom shall I send, who shall go for us?”
“Here I am, Lord, send me”.
Don’t ever confuse that which is dead for that which lives. (Tech, for spirit).
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Experience with the gear
and conditions affecting RX are huge.
What radio settings work as I’m sitting prior to departure in rural countryside (o’dark-thirty) is different than mid-day in a major metro area.
Mobile is NOT a base station.
Road traffic heaviest in daylight hours.
But TX/RX
best when sun is down
Skip (sunspot activity) a whole other complication.
Dead engine? How to monitor battery is then critical. Short use. Scheduled times? A plan.
CB has the greatest likelihood of reaching those nearby. Rural areas feature a higher ratio of users. Those folks have heard the stories.
Note I’m not saying “best”. That’ll shake out according to whom owns what. And decides if your access is granted (payments made or not).
There’s garden variety CB. And there’s those who have
an Eleven Meter Radio.
The Install Guide linked above is for
Mobile Amateur Radio Operators.
Take the step up.
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Yeah--and even though company drivers have their business-band radios to talk to each other with (talking to dispatchers is mostly done through their CAD system), CBs are still needed to communicate with drivers of different companies (who have different business band frequencies) and/or the independent drivers, so don't give up on CB entirely. And if channel 19 seems quiet anyway, it's because either drivers have their hands full (maneuvering a rig especially in traffic definitely takes both hands) or they're just board with mindless chatter.
Business band radios is pretty much only local guys. On road at 0400 and out of the truck by 1500. Some use by specialized haulers (oversized)
Regional OTR truck fleet is Qualcomm or PeopleNet satcom. Unlike phones or radio, is a legal record.
CB is how we talk to those around us. Before cell phones, it was a direct line of comms for truck routing and road hazards. AM-19 most of USA, some changes to that on West Coast and isolated areas. 15,17,21.
Some radios will auto-monitor CH-9, and a few states still do.
For this reason alone is CB worthwhile.
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95% of truck drivers haven’t a clue of what is a GOOD radio system. Don’t assume “truck driver” = “relevant experience” as a judgment about radio.
Prevalence is higher west of the Mississippi as exposure to good systems
is greater.
Experience, though, is that conversations of interest garner listeners.
Some old boy gets on past you and you wonder what it is he’s laughing at, mic in hand.
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