I guess channel 19 is dead??? what are the truck drivers doing now?

[niceguy71]

back in the 90's CB channel 19 was always busy and had a ton of back ground noise, but it was still usable... if I was driving, I would turn the squelch up in case someone close needed directions or to get traffic alerts... mostly just to hear people that were really close by and see what they were jabbering about.... I got my CB installed in my pickup truck 6 months ago and found the noise was always 9 plus! ALWAYS???... but I could still turn up the squelch and leave it on 19.... lately it's all mega powered radio's and people trying to talk skip on 19???? the last month or so I have had to turn the squelch almost all the way up!!! so I would think with the squelch up that high I won't hear anyone, unless I see them.... so how on earth are truck drivers using the radio's the way they were designed for? such as traffic alerts etc.??? or has all the morons with big power talking non stop skip on 19 just caused all the truckers to turn off their radio's..... I feel sorry for any family going on vacation and hooking up a CB for safety only to find out it's now useless.

 

[DeeEx]

I looked at your location…I’m native to your area and visit there often. I find no absence of activity on 19 whether in MA, NH, VT, etc.

Could it be your radio or antenna?

Antenna is number one, without a quality antenna and careful installation, you won’t get much out of the hobby. Better to spend $200 on your antenna setup and run a $10 flea market radio, than to spend $500 on a fancy radio and use a $50 antenna.

Slowmover will be in here in a moment as he espouses the virtues of a quality receiver— and I’m glad I listened to him when I bought my 5555N2!!

 

[vagrant]

Gator stations...



@niceguy71 - As to the noise, I found that 12v to USB transformers to charge devices causes me terrible RFI. When a device is unplugged and not charging, the noise dropped.

 

[niceguy71]

I looked at your location…I’m native to your area and visit there often. I find no absence of activity on 19 whether in MA, NH, VT, etc.

Could it be your radio or antenna?

Antenna is number one, without a quality antenna and careful installation, you won’t get much out of the hobby. Better to spend $200 on your antenna setup and run a $10 flea market radio, than to spend $500 on a fancy radio and use a $50 antenna.

Slowmover will be in here in a moment as he espouses the virtues of a quality receiver— and I’m glad I listened to him when I bought my 5555N2!!

no my radio and antenna work fantastic! I was asking how truckers use 19 now because 19 is full of people from all across the country on 10,000 watt radios' trying to talk skip on 19... or making noise or some other foolishness.... on most channels my S meter is 3 to 5 in the daytime.. but on 19 lately it's so high I don't think anyone could talk more than a mile... just so many people with big power killing the channel

Gator stations...
View attachment 158044


@niceguy71 - As to the noise, I found that 12v to USB transformers to charge devices causes me terrible RFI. When a device is unplugged and not charging, the noise dropped.

it's not a noise problem.. I was asking how truckers /people use 19 now that it seemed totally clogged with people on 10,000 watt radios constantly making noise ...using 19 for skip... the channel is now non stop in use by mega watt radio's from all across the country, making it impossible to use 19???? is it just me??? but I have to turn my squelch all most all the way up to quiet all the morons... the other channels are normal and I can have the squelch up just past the noise level... but 19 now seems useless.

 

[niceguy71]

back in the 90's CB channel 19 was always busy and had a ton of back ground noise, but it was still usable... if I was driving, I would turn the squelch up in case someone close needed directions or to get traffic alerts... mostly just to hear people that were really close by and see what they were jabbering about.... I got my CB installed in my pickup truck 6 months ago and found the noise was always 9 plus! ALWAYS???... but I could still turn up the squelch and leave it on 19.... lately it's all mega powered radio's and people trying to talk skip on 19???? the last month or so I have had to turn the squelch almost all the way up!!! so I would think with the squelch up that high I won't hear anyone, unless I see them.... so how on earth are truck drivers using the radio's the way they were designed for? such as traffic alerts etc.??? or has all the morons with big power talking non stop skip on 19 just caused all the truckers to turn off their radio's..... I feel sorry for any family going on vacation and hooking up a CB for safety only to find out it's now useless.

no one seemed to understand I was asking how truckers are dealing with all the mega powered radio's and morons on 19 that are non stop talking skip with big power... how can anyone use it when it's taken over by a 100 people with big power... it's like the new super bowl

 

[DeeEx]

no one seemed to understand I was asking how truckers are dealing with all the mega powered radio's and morons on 19 that are non stop talking skip with big power... how can anyone use it when it's taken over by a 100 people with big power... it's like the new super bowl

I admit I did misunderstand.

Antenna remains the main factor.

Beyond that, at the very least your RF gain and squelch knobs are a good start.

ANL/NB likely on most modern radios.

Noise limiting circuits and DSP round out your arsenal. Doesn’t have to break the bank to be effective, I’ve scored a lot of gently-used deals on the QRZ swap pages.

 

[niceguy71]

I admit I did misunderstand.

Antenna remains the main factor.

Beyond that, at the very least your RF gain and squelch knobs are a good start.

ANL/NB likely on most modern radios.

Noise limiting circuits and DSP round out your arsenal. Doesn’t have to break the bank to be effective, I’ve scored a lot of gently-used deals on the QRZ swap pages.

Antenna works great....
my RF gain is at max so maybe I should turn that down....
]the ANL/NB is on .....
no noise reduction circuit in my 35 year old radio...
but on channel 18 and 20 my cb is perfectly fine.... the problem is people constantly on channel 19 with 10,000 watts pegging my needle trying to talk skip all over the county or just talking about window lickers and back to the bench... 19 now seems to be controlled by a 100 or so people that are on it all day long with powerful stations that make it impossible for anyone else to use that station..... so how do the truck drivers deal with that??? other than turn off the radio

 

[rf_patriot200]

Antenna works great....
my RF gain is at max so maybe I should turn that down....
]the ANL/NB is on .....
no noise reduction circuit in my 35 year old radio...
but on channel 18 and 20 my cb is perfectly fine.... the problem is people constantly on channel 19 with 10,000 watts pegging my needle trying to talk skip all over the county or just talking about window lickers and back to the bench... 19 now seems to be controlled by a 100 or so people that are on it all day long with powerful stations that make it impossible for anyone else to use that station..... so how do the truck drivers deal with that??? other than turn off the radio

FM is now legal on CB, as well as Pl tones, and Dcs tones, so there's 3 ways to combat the interference. Radioddity.com has a little cb mobile for $50 that has these features.

 

[niceguy71]

FM is now legal on CB, as well as Pl tones, and Dcs tones, so there's 3 ways to combat the interference. Radioddity.com has a little cb mobile for $50 that has these features

it's not interference those mega powered radio's are coming in loud and clear... so loud it pegs my S meter!!!! .. their just taking over the channel
so are all truck drivers going to FM now???? rf_patriot200

 

[rf_patriot200]

Like i said, Switching to FM, will allow you to hear them there without interference, if there are any in your area. Most of the high powered cber's tend to stay on AM.

 

[rf_patriot200]

it's not interference those mega powered radio's are coming in loud and clear... so loud it pegs my S meter!!!! .. their just taking over the channel
so are all truck drivers going to FM now???? rf_patriot200

Yes, listen on FM. Most of the high powered cb ops are on AM. FM gives you a option to get away from that.

 

[niceguy71]

Like i said, Switching to FM, will allow you to hear them there without interference, if there are any in your area. Most of the high powered cber's tend to stay on A

Yes, listen on FM. Most of the high powered cb ops are on AM. FM gives you a option to get away from that.

no one is on FM... if people need traffic alerts ...say going across country on a vacation... no one is going to hear anyone on FM

... I was asking how truck drivers are dealing with it..... they use AM CB's on 19 to talk to scale house's and shippers to find out what door / location to back into...... truckers need 19 at a lot of businesses they use it for detours and so forth.... but with those mega powered radio's I doubt anyone can use channel 19 more than a few hundred feet away.
and if you get everyone in the country to go to FM then the same mega powered jerks will follow them onto FM... so I imagine most truck drivers have shut their radio's off??? I thought I could turn the squelch up enough that I wouldn't hear those high powered radios... but they still come in!

 

[rf_patriot200]

no one is on FM... if people need traffic alerts ...say going across country on a vacation... no one is going to hear anyone on FM

... I was asking how truck drivers are dealing with it..... they use AM CB's on 19 to talk to scale house's and shippers to find out what door / location to back into...... truckers need 19 at a lot of businesses they use it for detours and so forth.... but with those mega powered radio's I doubt anyone can use channel 19 more than a few hundred feet away.
and if you get everyone in the country to go to FM then the same mega powered jerks will follow them onto FM... so I imagine most truck drivers have shut their radio's off??? I thought I could turn the squelch up enough that I wouldn't hear those high powered radios... but they still come in!

All i can suggest is try calling on ch.19 on FM if you cant get anyone on AM 19 . Or turn your RF Gain back a little. Guys I know who drive trucks, are hams, and prefer 2 meter simplex now, over cb's. I haven't used cb in decades, but that's what I would do.

 

[freqs]

As A Driver now be it only local (Michigan Ohio) pretty much gave up on CB as a usefull Traffic tool .
GPS show's all Traffic flow any slow downs and reported Police Cars .Also AM Radio has Traffic reports every 8 to 10 min'
CB near Detroit is junk at best fighting over powered radios and the Dead Key's for hours Have really killed the Hobby in my area

 

[Freemor]

Part of the problem is we are pretty much right at the solar maximun right now. So skip is indeed very active these days. And it doesn't need to be high powered rigs. I've talked to England and Scotland recently with my stock President Mckinley radio (LSB channle 37 or 38). So you are going to hear a lot of folks on days when the skip is up. Which at the solar max is most days.
You could try listening a couple hours after the sun goes down. sporadic E skip need the sun and dies at night.

Your saying that your noise is always 9+ is also concerning and my be part of the problem.

A lot of cars now just scream radio noise on AM. On our last car I could not find a decent way to mount an antenna where it wasn't picking up a horrible screech from the cars electronics. Even when the radio was connected to a battery completely separate from the car. A noise floor of 9+ is going to really degrade your ability to receive anything but the strongest signals. When you say always 9+ is that:
Just on channel 19 or all channels?
Daytime and night time?
Is it as bad when the car/truck is not running? (you'll need a separate battery to test this you your CB isn't wired directly to the cars battery).
Is it as bad then the car in turned to the "Accessory" position (electronics truned on engine not running)
Is the noise there if you run the CB from a separate battery.

it could be engine noise or it could be things like the CAN bus in the car screaming AM noise into the air.

 

[mikewazowski]

it's not interference those mega powered radio's are coming in loud and clear... so loud it pegs my S meter!!!! .. their just taking over the channel
so are all truck drivers going to FM now????

I know exactly what you're talking about. I made a cross country trip and found channel 19 to be useless. Ended up cranking the squelch and lowering the RF gain to a point I couldn't hear the "Qualified Technician" running his mouth. The few actual drivers I heard were using AM and I saw no FM use at all.

Ended up depending on Waze.

 

[Omega-TI]

Warning, strong opinions ahead, read at own risk:

Spoiler: Opinion

<< rant mode on>>
CB, in my opinion is full of retards who like to hear themselves talk funny. The refuge of modern day anti-social low education cavemen who have no decency for others (those high power illegal goons you spoke of that ruin it for others). Thankfully people have other alternatives to get away from the 11 meter mayhem. As one post mentioned, Amateur radio is one option, GMRS is another and if you are not smart enough to get a Ham ticket, or too cheap to purchase a GMRS license, there is always FRS. Now day's, cell phones also fill in, there is talk, text, Internet or many APPS that people can use.
<<rant mode off>>

 

[KB4MSZ]

19 now seems to be controlled by a 100 or so people that are on it all day long with powerful stations that make it impossible for anyone else to use that station.....

Maybe its no longer time for Mr. niceguy

 

[niceguy71]

As A Driver now be it only local (Michigan Ohio) pretty much gave up on CB as a usefull Traffic tool .
GPS show's all Traffic flow any slow downs and reported Police Cars .Also AM Radio has Traffic reports every 8 to 10 min'
CB near Detroit is junk at best fighting over powered radios and the Dead Key's for hours Have really killed the Hobby in my area

that's kind of what I figured.... I think 19 is dead..... I don't really know what you can do other than turn off the radio... I see a lot of gravel yards and warehouses in the area with a big hand painted sign out front that says "Truckers we use Channel12"... another company has one, say's we use CB 15 I don't know how truckers deal with it... it used to be real handy having everyone on 19

 

[a417]

@slowmover ?