OT: CB radio use

With the cell phones,GPS and such are CB's in use by truckers and other over the roaders as much as they used to be. Just wondering after watching Smokey and the Bandit last night.

I keep a CB in whatever my daily driver is, and among truckers they're still almost standard equipment but there doesn't seem to be as much idle chatter as there used to be. Mostly just business, etc. Not like when the national speed limit was 55 and truckers kept track of LEO's. Now on the Interstate here in Nebraska the speed limit is 75 and nobody pays much attention to that.

I like one because if you're sailing down the Interstate and all at once traffic starts to slow down it's nice to be able to pick up a mic and find out what's going on. Or to check road conditions ahead. I left the CB on all the time when I was on the road doing real estate inspections.

you use a CB when hauling grain into croton egg farm, cross the scales and tell them what farm it came from and to store or sell your grain

I hauled my old CB radios out of the basement and put them in the tractor and combine. I have a base unit I want to set up again but the constant jabber in Spanish on the ones I already hooked up has given me second thoughts.

I have had a A CB since 1973 and can say that their use has severely declined. also the new trucks don't like high powered CBs They set codes in the computers.

I stopped using the cb years ago when the trash talk and language was just too much to put up with. Have thought about it since, but just haven't had much need. Is hard for us to travel, and very few people in our area.

I took the CB out of my truck (and my life) quite a long time ago. Between listening to all of the bad language, radio fights, radio toys, and those truly annoying echoes, it just became too annoying to listen to.
Among the uses I had for it previously...
Directions. Many times I got directions over the radio. BUT, many times, the folks giving the directions did not account for things like low bridges, weight limited roads, restricted roads and the like. Other times, you could not get an answer when you needed it. I replaced that with GPS. However, GPS requires that you use a LOT of common sense along with it. A GPS will steer you wrong as well as right.

Cops and scales. Well, if you run legal, there is no need for that. I really never did like crossing scales - even when legal. I had a number of "experiences" at scales that did not have "happy" outcomes. No serious legal trouble or anything like that. Just things like missed pickups that turned into layovers or late deliveries that wasted too much time. Speed was never much of an issue with me. Just stay with the flow of traffic and you never get bothered.

Any other communications like calling customers and the like were handled with cell phones.

Another note: As another poster said, when traffic comes to a stop, picking up a mike to find out what happened. Well, every time I tried that, there was always one wise guy that would make some rude comment about that was already discussed, or why wasn't I listening ten minutes ago. Got real tired of the smart alecs. So, I finally took it out of the truck and it sits on a shelf in my basement until I get around to putting it out with the rest of the trash.

I still have mine. To use at the feed store scales. Talk to a few friends around town. But rarely anything more than that. I do try to help out truck drivers in trouble or lost. I live just off of I-45.

I have them in all 5 of my trucks,and a few tractors

I use one in the truck when hauling grain. It comes in pretty handy. I use one a lot when traveling on trips on my motorcycle. CB radios are very handy when traveling with a few other bikes.

Fortunately, in general, CB usage has dropped off considerably, which makes them more useful for those of us who still use them. There isn't nearly as much nonsense on there as in years past.

There is a lot less chatter on them now, but I still keep mine because it still announces trouble in most cases.

I put mine in my faraday cage/bucket,you know just in case the SHTF.
will be handy if and when!!

I used to find them really handy when I was looking for a customer or a location I had a delivery for. I guess cell phones and "google" have taken that use over. gm

At work all of our big trucks have 2 radios. A "company" radio that is a private radio that also includes the GPS tracking of our trucks. That is the one the bosses or central dispatch will call us on. Then, we each have our own CB's in all of our trucks. We are responsible for supplying them, but our mechanics can install them if needed. We use them between truck when we are working close together on a road project, or between our heavy equipment and whatever truck is supporting them.

Also GPS.

I haul grain around the Canadian prairies, and it isn't necessary to have a CB, but it helps. Some of the facilities still use CB's to communicate with the trucker, and it also helps to coordinate with other grain haulers. Some of the pilot trucks for wide loads will warn oncoming trucks over the CB. Other than that, I find there isn't really much other use.

They are pretty much required in dump trucks in the quarries. Also as jmgallentown said if it enables you to avoid a scale it can be a big help. Even if they find nothing wrong and reward you with one of those pretty yellow stickers you have still lost 45 minutes.