Is CB Radio worth considering for a HAM?

[RayAir]

CB is pretty good* for road trips. I left it on Ch19 and the road reports (accidents/speed traps) the Trucker's were giving each other were pretty accurate.

I took one on a road trip through West Virginia where there is no cell phone coverage through parts of the mountains (Pochohantas County).

*- Don't have one on if you have children in the car and most Trucker's are running power (think 250-500+ watts).

I wouldn't really recommend one except for a last resort communication device in times of disaster or where there is no cellular coverage.

 

[ramal121]

I usually keep my mouth shut on this topic but i will spew just this once.

I have always had a CB since my early teens in the early '70s when callsigns were still issued. You weren't supposed to have casual conversations so bootlegging by deleting your callsign and inserting a handle instead so "charlie" wouldn't hunt you down and slap your hand with a ruler was the game. Skip came and went and it was kinda fun to make a call to someone in the midwest and they answered you back. Hardly anybody had or could afford or retained the smarts to boost there transmit power with a "footwarmer". Most people you talked to were cordial and easy to talk to.

Then a little later came all those crazy movies and songs hyping the truckers and the CB thing. Suddenly every kid (with a car) wanted a CB. The channels increased from 23 to 40 and they almost all full with some kind of chit chat. In the early '80s went to San Diego to visit my cousin. He and I went cruzin' the strand at night. Well seems everybody had a CB in their car and if you wanted to find out who's out, where the party is or who's getting busted, you'll have to check one of several different channels to get the info you need. Fun times.

Today I put CB into two categories. Skip or no skip. With no skip you're limited to local groundwave communications. This limits you to several miles miles and maybe 15 to 20 miles in a good location. More if you can get in a high spot. This gives you mostly individuals of lesser maturity that cuss, play the key down game or constantly invoke their noise toys. This relentless cacophony of noise has driven most sane users from the band. Even truckers seem to turn their rigs off and are silent on the road and then only power up in the yard for directions from the scaler or dispatch. To hear a local station transmitting coherent voice is rare indeed.

When the skip is up and rolling, just forget about having the radio on. Yeah, you could try your hand at one of those far off stations, but after yelling and screaming your head off time after time after time just to maybe get an acknowledgement without any confirmation of the contact gets old after about twice. Skip just raises the noise floor and negates any real use the CB was designed for. I had the CB in the truck a month ago when I was freewheeling the dirt roads of Death Valley thinking that is the most probable form of communications (although I had the 146/440 radio scanning call channels and such and the other radios scanning MURS and FRS and GMRS) I found myself cranking the squelch up and RF gain down so much to git rid of the mindless okie dribble coming in on skip that if a real local call came up on channel for assistance, they would have to be a half mile or closer to be heard. This is bordering on the edge of useless.

Am I being overly critical of CB and what it has become? You bet I am. Unless you want very very local communications or are traveling in a tight caravan where you can crank down the radio to limit you to the parties you want to talk, you are open the most headache inducing noise ever heard through the radio. The CB band is totally useless for the service it was intended for and anyone should think twice about considering it for any serious communications.

 

[KK4JUG]

Ramal121, I think you nailed it.

 

[K4EET]

I gave up on the idea completely. I've seen a couple of clips with jacked-up 100 Watt (!!!) CB radios making pretty clear transmissions to about 50 Mile range, so that was kind of interesting, and some of those guys were just like HAM operators, simply making contacts, talking to one another, but you guys are right. Why mess around with that when a licensed HAM can do the same better legally with much higher quality equipment and service? <snip> I'm done with the topic, thanks for the comments everyone!

I used to be licensed as a CB operator with the callsign KGBK9754 (I think). I sold my CB radio because there were no interesting conversations around my area. For travel, we have a cellphone and a 2 meter / 70 cm Ham rig. Generally speaking, one of them will get a road emergency though.

Ham Radio is a different world of folks. While not all conversations are interesting, it is interesting to talk to folks on the other side of the world. Called "DX" stations outside of the United States, working DX on different modes is quite exciting.

Long story short; you made the right decision to give "up on the idea completely."

Happy hamming! And welcome aboard...

73, Dave K4EET

 

[AK9R]

On the other hand, as the clips prove it, none of those people seem to worry about using those illegal radios, so I can only guess that the FCC doesn't give a flyin' you know what about CBs all together and left it for the masses as is, to be used and abused.

The FCC does continue to enforce the rules for Citizens Band as contained in Part 95. They typically only investigate users when they are causing interference to some other radio service. OTOH, they actively investigate retailers when they are found to be selling non-FCC certified radios or amplifiers. Several truck stops, CB shops, and on-line retailers have been fined by the FCC for selling non-FCC certified CB gear.

 

[bharvey2]

Funny thing this thread, I've just recently dusted off some CB equipment to see what was going on. My brother and I used them in the 70's so it's been a while. When I got everything connected and started monitoring, man was I disappointed! I heard some guys that were way over-modulated and splattered across multiple channels, plenty of echo and other "noise toys". Everything was gibberish and not a coherent conversation in the mix. I thought that as RF dense as the San Francisco Bay Area is, I'd find something worthwhile. I guess I need to go bury the CB stuff for another 30-40 years. I'll stick to the Ham bands.

 

[K4EET]

I'll stick to the Ham bands.

Amen to that! Are you a ham? If so, you should tell the RadioReference moderators so they can give you the Amateur Radio badge. Hope to see you around the Amateur Radio sections more.

73, Dave K4EET

 

[bharvey2]

Yep. Ham and GMRS. Used to have a CB call and even an IG and one time. I didn't know we could get merit badges at RR. Who do we contact to get those added?

I scan through and read the forums almost every day but only post occasionally. I've heard it said that one has two ears and one mouth so they should be used proportionally. I try to subscribe to that. ;-)

 

[K4EET]

Yep. <snip> Who do we contact to get those added? <snip>

On the Forums' Main Page, click on the moderators for the Amateur Radio forums. Once in contact, give them your callsign. Many hams will use their callsign as their username which will automatically get you the badge. If you post pictures of your shack, you get another badge kike you see on mine, You might even ask if the can change your username to your ham callsign without losing your post count.

73, Dave K4EET

 

[Wally46]

I think a CB radio makes a good addition to a ham shack. I figure the more ways to communicate the better.

 

[K4EET]

I think a CB radio makes a good addition to a ham shack. I figure the more ways to communicate the better.

Was I right on how to get the badge when your username is not your callsign? How did you get your badge? As for a CB in the shack, I live next to an Interstate and have often thought about monitoring Channel 9 for any emergencies the State Police or County Police don't respond to.

73, Dave

P.S. We need to get this thread back on track before the moderators get after us... :lol:

 

[bharvey2]

I think a CB radio makes a good addition to a ham shack. I figure the more ways to communicate the better.

I was thinking the same thing too. Since I remember I always wanted one with SSB capability, I thought It might be a reason to get a new radio.

(Dave, I couldn't find any moderators so I tried e-mailing a forum manager. If I'm told to get lost, I'll know I went about getting the HAM badge the wrong way.)

 

[902]

I know only very little about CB radios, so I'm wondering if getting one is even worth consideration now that I've got my HAM license?

I would say "Yes." In the vehicle I use to drive long distances, I have a stock CB radio that's usually set to channel 19. It's come in handy many times when I'm stuck in traffic and need to know if I should exit or just keep waiting. Twice, while traveling on the PA Turnpike during the winter, we encountered several collisions that had the roadway shut down for hours. Found out on the CB and got off an exit and stayed in a motel for the night. So, it's got its uses and does things ham radio does not do. Yes, there are limitations, too. It's another tool in the toolbox is all. For what it does, it's fine.

That's where it ends. No mods, no fancy radios, no opened ham radios (for that, at least). None of that. Just a $50 off-the-shelf CB with a magnet mount antenna.

 

[elk2370bruce]

In a true emergency, any radio is better than no communication. I have CB, FRS, and MURS radios in addition to my ham equipment. In a true emergency, you can hand a FRS or MURS to anybody and they can be one extra person to help or provide information.

In a true emergency, you'll also find that most local police (depending on where in the nation you live) have long abandoned monitoring cb as useless trucker and trash talkers noise..

 

[RodStrong]

I have a CB in my work rig, which I travel in regularly. Always keep it on Ch 19. I don't talk on it much, but enjoy listening. And it occasionally helps me out with road conditions, crash info., etc.

FWIW, I hear more activity on CB Ch. 19 than I do on 146.52 and 446.0 (which I also monitor) combined.
.

 

[902]

FWIW, I hear more activity on CB Ch. 19 than I do on 146.52 and 446.0 (which I also monitor) combined.

That's my experience, too. And, I might add, if I do hear something on "52" (rare where I live) or 446 (next to never), it's usually not relevant to my driving conditions.

 

[TheSpaceMann]

In a true emergency, you'll also find that most local police (depending on where in the nation you live) have long abandoned monitoring cb as useless trucker and trash talkers noise..

True, but if the power, cell service, internet, and landlines went down and you don't have a ham ticket, CB would be about the only game in town if you needed to call for help. This is exactly what happened to many areas when hurricane Sandy hit.

 

[mrweather]

On road trips I'll hook the CB up. It has been useful on occasion, like if there's a massive jam on a highway somewhere I can find out what's going on. It has been more useful than either 2M or 70CM.

 

[robertmac]

I have a CB in my work rig, which I travel in regularly. Always keep it on Ch 19. I don't talk on it much, but enjoy listening. And it occasionally helps me out with road conditions, crash info., etc.

FWIW, I hear more activity on CB Ch. 19 than I do on 146.52 and 446.0 (which I also monitor) combined.
.

Well, there probably are far more truckers than Ham radio operators in any given spot. I threw out CB years ago when the fould mouthed people started. Now, how do you know noone is on the calling frequencies? Just becaue noone is actively talking doesn't mean there is noone on. In my town there is activity, especially in the evening. But then, if I was travelling, I would want to listen to repeaters as they can tell me a lot more on whats happening 100 or more miles away than within 20 miles. So I tend to listen to repeaters and not simplex. Another reason I listen to repeaters more is that simplex, like CB, has so much white noise to try and listen to. Oh, I know, one can squelch that out but then calls are missed. Plus you often get a one sided coversation. As has been mentioned in a lot of threads, a lot of truckers have migrated to VHF and there are reasons for this. So when I am traveling around, I tend to scan the frequencies that truckers are using in my area. But again, because range is limited, the information from these truckers is often too late to avoid a problem. Listening to local police, fire and EMS which often use repeaters and has greater range will tell me more about problems up ahead. Although saying this, I am not certain why Ham clubs don't participate more when there is severe weather. I know in the US this is done much more frequently than in parts of Canada.

 

[mikewazowski]

On the Forums' Main Page, click on the moderators for the Amateur Radio forums. Once in contact, give them your callsign. Many hams will use their callsign as their username which will automatically get you the badge. You might even ask if the can change your username to your ham callsign without losing your post count.

73, Dave K4EET

The proper procedure for both is outlined in this thread:

http://forums.radioreference.com/fo...requently-asked-administrative-questions.html

Point 1 concerns changing your username and Point 11 concerns adding the amateur radio icon.

Moderators cannot change usernames or add icons to profiles and using your callsign as your username does not automatically get you the icon.