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Is CB radio still used much ???

Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse

Well-known Member
I saw a highway rig yesterday and the driver looked like he was talking into his CB radio. "Citizen's Band" right? Everyone had a so-called "handle" ...... I remember back in the 80's the neighbor lady was Devil Woman or some such name. Anyways, is CB radio still used much these days? You never hear about it like you did 30+ years back.

And if you want, let us know what your handle was, that should be fun.

"Ten Four good buddy, keep yer ears on" ..... ha!
 
I have my ?radio ? on all the time but other then around Greeley Colorado it?s pretty quiet. Very few people use handles any more
 
I had one back in the day. My handle was "Wagon master". I had it modified to put out 13 watts, 9 more than the legal 4. Quit using it when everyone got foul mouthed.
 
My handle was Ripcord, but in 1980 I bought FM business band radios...much better range and reception. Built a 70 foot tower and can talk over 40 miles.
 
" River City Bandit " CB is sitting on a shelf in the shop. Antenna cable is rolled up under the tool box in truck bed. Every time I clean it out I think I ought to do away with it can't remember the last time I used it.
 
I've got one in my pickup. Pretty much only use it in bad weather/busy traffic for the traffic updates. Don't think they really use handles anymore.
 
I have one in the minivan that's my daily driver.

I don't use it a lot anymore, but up to a few years ago when I was doing the real estate inspections I used it all the time. If you want to know what weather or road conditions are up ahead, or if traffic all at once slows down, it's nice to be able to pick up a mic and get some info.

There's no where near the idle chatter nowadays like there was when CB's first hit 40 years ago, most of the conversations are business, now.

One downside is, the way the interiors of cars and pickups have evolved, it's almost impossible to do a relatively professional installation of a CB in current vehicles.
 
I drive truck for a living and use one most everyday. Mostly for traffic updates in the cities and sometimes to warn other truckers about open scales ahead. Most trucks on the interstate don't seem to use them or at least they never respond. Usually it's the local drivers or owner operators that use them and we make a little small talk here and there. A lot of elevators and load out facilities use them to direct trucks and exchange load information.

Never had a handle and never hear of anyone using one anymore.
 
Of course cell phones and similar technologies have cut heavily into their usage, but many of my trucker buddies keep the CB on--they're still useful for local traffic and road hazard info, and are still used extensively by places like logging operations to direct traffic and ensure everyone knows where everyone else is. Backing a loaded log truck up a mile of twisty, muddy road because you didn't know someone else was coming the other direction is no fun at all, and a CB is a great help in avoiding those scenarios. Still, most CB traffic nowadays is done in plain speech, and you see very little usage of handles, 10-codes (with the exception of ones like 10-4 that have long passed into universal usage) or other terms that marked CB traffic in their heyday.
 
When I was hauling cars around the country I had one in the truck but it was seldom on or was turned way down if it was on. I only used it for congested traffic reports or weather reports. My handle was Sour Dough. Anyone who has read history on the gold rush of 1896 or spent any time in Alaska knows about a person being a Sour Dough.
 
meadow muffin here.......kinda like a pasture pastry.....er cow pie.....er........ah you get the idea
 
Just like today, my handle was "flying belgian" Got cb when I hauled Hiniker tractor cabs out east. Some of you guys like otr. truck driving but I hated it. Always racing to the next stop, always alone, can't make plans with your gal because you never new when you would be home, I would get sleepy in the afternoon sun. Hard on your back, truckers gut. No thanks.
 
Seems like it's still used widely. I plugged in an old 323 channel model still on the shelf, rigged up an antennae, and all kinds of chatter, though most in harsh foreign accent that day.

My handle was "Freight Shaker" used to drive a Freightliner and recall someone calling for me saying that and it stuck for years LOL !
 
up here in canada most of us use vhf radios. gives you option of programming off road channels. still have a cb just in case.
snagglepuss on the side bye-bye
 
Robert Service published Songs of a Sourdough, more commonly known as The Spell Of the Yukon in 1907, IIRC.

"There are strange things done in the midnight sun, by the men who moil for gold...."

Dean
The Cremation of Sam McGee
 
No. Not nearly as much as in mid 70s into the 80s. That was the era of the highly unpopular and mostly ignored 55mph national speed limit. Everyone wanting to know where the cops were hiding. Of those using today: seems that there are those that want to act like the south end of a northbound mule. Others leave them off or cut way back on listening range to avoid the jerks. I was Little Man beginning in 74. At 5ft 10 and 122lbs it seemed appropriate. Not so much now at near 200lbs.
 
I have a box full of them here, still one in the semi,,but I haven't turned it on for years,,back in the 80's we had them in most of the tractors had had them working fair to good,,had 200 watt amp's in a couple trucks..went to FM's for a while in the 90's then the cell phone took over..my handle was Sod Buster..sort of forgot all that till it came up...
 
My friend from up here in Alberta visited Memphis two summers ago, said it was a beautiful city and he is going back one of these days.
 
YEP back in the early 80's I had a base station in my room when I lived at home.. Had and made a few friends being on it to which I met three or four.. I went by SuperSnoop... some of the others I talked to were
Thin dime
ink spot
half horse shoe
my son and his friend put them in their trucks when they were in high school.. didnt last long as not many use anymore..

I still have a the 40 channel base, and two 23 channel radios..
 
I haul grain. CB is a hated necessity. Some of the processors use them to communicate with the drivers. The last 2 days I had a loaner truck as I blew an airbag Monday. The loaner CB only worked transmitting. I had to go ask someone in another truck to see it my load was a "hold" or good to go. 7 loads the last three days. Inconvenient! I hate to ask others for favors. But everyone was gracious and helping me was no problem.
I drove over the road for a couple years and did not have one. That suited me fine. I can't think of a time when I wanted one, except when driving a trainer around in Missouri, there was an accident ahead and he found out and we took a detour that saved us from getting stuck for a long time. I usually ignore it when driving down the road. I don't hear so well and would rather listen to AM talk radio. I have one in the pickup I bought from the neighbor over 10 years ago and have never turned it on. I don't think it works. Before I got it I was working for him hauling grain with a tractor and wagon. I had a flat and was disappointed that I could not reach him within 2 miles. Maybe he couldn't hear me as he didn't hear that good either.
 

KRS 42--, can't remember the last two anymore.
Went by Slow Hand
Got my first CB radio in 74, started driving over road in 78, retired in 08, always had a CB in the truck turned on, came in handy late at night talking to other drivers keeping each other awake, made lots of friends talking on a CB radio
Still have my last Galaxie 33 in the closet, haven't talked on one in a while.
I've thought about putting some in a couple of trucks and the cab tractor, several areas here that have no cell reception.

Local rock haulers still use them to talk to the loader operator at the quarry.
 
We got into CB radio in 1970. I still have a few units in storage. Smokey and the Bandit and C.W. McCall killed CB radio overnight.
 
I had a base station as a kid. 35-40 years ago. Ended up with a 40 channel set with upper and lower sideband. Had a few low fm crystals installed. Peaked and tweeked. I had a starduster antennae. Couldn't afford a moonraker 4 or 6. The neighbors wouldn't have liked it either as it came over their tv's at times. The radio shop where the work was done is still in business here. Any day after school I could talk to the southwest area of the Country I'm in the state of Delaware about 20 miles south of Philadelphia. The skip at times was unreal and I could talk to others like we were in the same room, very clear. Once for about a week when the skip was running good I talked to a lady in London England. That was about in 8th grade. I had a teacher that let me use her post office box for "Q" cards from the people I talked to. Basically a post card to prove you talked to people. The lady in England I'll never forget hers, it had 2 Old English Sheep dogs on the front. Haven't touched one since, but as stated someone must be using them as I said R&R is still in business.
1 Wiskey 13 13 over and out.
 
When they arrived in Oz they did a serious upgrade to rural station (ranch)communication. Mobile phones have cut into that, though remote rural coverage isn't good unless you're near a major highway. Most stations still have them .

And they can be VERY handy in emergency. Last big flood here we lost the land line service completely. And mobiles unless you could get on a hill to get the next tower. So creek height relay downstream was by uhf - fortunately the water was going down by then.
 

I use one quite often. All of the trucks, dozers, loaders, excavators etc of the guys that I drive for have them. You are expected to have them in a dump truck going into quarries so that you can call for your load as you enter and so that the babe in the scale house can tell you that you need to get a tare. In addition the loader operators need to be able to tell you when you blow a stop sign or drive too fast or fail to yield.
 
When I was trucking, I used one. Learned to hate it.
Idiots with echoes had them turned up so high that you could not understand what they were saying.
Other idiots with foul language to the extreme. Every other word was a cuss word.
Then there were the radio toys. The Tarzan yell, the woman moaning, etc.
Add to that the rudeness that you would get when you asked for information. Coming up on a traffic delay, I would ask what was going on, and got told rudely that I was 15 minutes too late - they already told what was going on. Last time I tried to ask for directions, either got no answer or was told rudely that if I was out here to make a delivery that I should already know where I was going.

Finally took the darn thing out of the truck and lived happily ever after - sort of. Do I miss it? NO!!

some things simply do not belong on the CB. Echoes, lewd noises, and sideband on main channels were some of my pet gripes.
 
My old buddy bought every one of them he could find, usually gave a couple of bucks for them at consignment sales/ garage sales. When he passed away, they sold all they could at his sale, but they hauled 3 heaping pickup loads of them to the dump. Sad part of it was most worked, he loved to fix the broken ones, he lived 1/2 block from Radio Shack.
 
CQ CQ CQDX 2double 6 out of SE Iowa trying. Still have my base in storage and a couple of mobil units around. Handle was the Hillbilly . Shot alot of skip back in the day . Devonshire England was One I remember, also talked to Hawaii on side band.
 
Mine is on all the time in the semi. Thankful for any good information that I hear Especially any potential problems with my load. Handle is SILVER KING.
 
SIL drives OTR. He has one but seldom uses it. I haven't had one in years. They were great for those long drives to and from home while going on leave. Help to keep you awake on those cross country trips. Got out of it shortly after I retired from the Army. Started out with a Radio Shack 23 channel and had an upper lower 40 channel SSB later on.

Rick
 
When we are fishing in Canada there is no cel service. We use the shirt pocket size multi chanel fm radios. Boat to bgat and cabin to cabin. They are much better than the oldCB radios.
 

Problem with CB radio is they choose a low frequency next to the 10meter Ham Radio band . A 1/4 wave CB antenna Is resonate at 102” length. Just way too long for a mobile application on the highway to have a 8-1/2 foot tall antenna .
Shorter loaded antenna’s reduce transmission and reception range .
If the powers that be had understood radio theory . The CB band would be where the current family radio system and general mobile radio system is located on the 400Mz band . 1/4 wave antenna is 6.1”.
On 5 watts any half decent handheld will do 5miles over open country .
 
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