Anybody still use CB's?

[newbury]

I still like to carry a CB in my traveling vehicle. I use a Midland 75-822, bought back in 2011.
Mainly used for when there are major traffic jams encountered on my route from DC to North East Mississippi along I81. It's come in VERY handy to just be able to listen to the truckers get around major problems and when I'm hauling my trailer with my F350 dually I hate getting into place where I have to turn my rig around.
It's not a particularly powerful CB but easy to move around.

 

[jyoutz]

LOL good point. Darn new fangled #*#&

Every truck (including current year) I’ve seen has stake pockets.

 

[Jstpssng]

We use CBs on woods roads to tell where the trucks are. They call out every mile marker so that you don't come around an icy corner and meet a loaded truck.
They ALWAYS show up on a curve, never on a straight stretch.

Many places are going to MURS, to get away from all of the chatter.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

All my CB's went into the trash in the 90's. An utterly ruined comm band.

Cell phones saved the Citizens Band. There's no problem finding a clear channel.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I was thinking of installing a CB radio in my Ford F150. I used to have a magnetic antenna for my car. The ford is all aluminum, and I don't know how to put it on without drilling holes. Anybody figured out a good setup?

Thanks
Dave

You might be pleased with an external antenna. I put one in my travel trailer years ago. The aluminum skin made a great ground plane. The range was phenomenal for a CB.

 

[arto98607]

I think they will make a comeback when the realization that cell phones calls & texts are not private conversations.
Don’t know if CB talk can be “recorded” or monitored the same way as cell phones.

I have the antennas & mounts in the farm tractors, but I opted for some quality walkie talkies and they work pretty good For farming.

CB talk can easily be recorded, but may be pretty hard to prove who is or was talking and afterwards pretty hard to show where they were located at the time!

 

[alexpops]

I keep a CB in everything that might pull a trailer for long-distance trips. Pretty much only used when there's an accident or other road blockage to get a handle on which lane I want to be in to get through the fastest (or the detours the big trucks are taking). I'll usually turn up the squelch & only dial it down when something is happening on the road. Have used a few times to let big trucks know they're dragging chains, have trailer brakes burning up or overheated bearings, torn tarps, etc. Woke up a few as well when they started drifting.

Seems a lot of truckers do the same thing since there's times that it's almost impossible to raise anyone. Between cheap, available radar/laser detectors & cell phone apps that show speed traps, the bear reports are minimal compared to the seventies. I don’t miss the ratchet jaws from those days.

Galaxy 409b mated to dual Firestiks in Stake pockets with grounding wires run to frame, 40-year old Cobra 29ltd w/ a mag mount Stryker A10, and a newer Cobra 29 ltd w/mag mount little will. All tuned & dialed in for the respective vehicles. Best/most reliable is the old Cobra, followed close by the Galaxy after replacing the finals. New Cobra is junk, & I gave up on trying to get 2 different Nighthawks working right.

 

[Jstpssng]

Back before cell phones and/or caller ID were popular (1988) I was headed home up the interstate when I passed a car with its hood up. The State Police supposedly monitored channel 9 so I tried to raise them but got no reply. At the next off ramp I pulled off, turned around, went back to the previous off ramp and turned around again. By that point I felt pretty foolish but the car was still there with a woman in it who said she’d been sitting for quite some time. After getting a phone number to call I headed north, jumped off again. Finding a pay phone I called her friend but the line was busy. I took the back way toward the next on-ramp, hitting every pay phone only to find the line was busy. Finally I called the operator, explained the situation and asked if she could help.
She did, and I was finally able to get the poor woman some help.
When I told her friend what was going on she said “ We were wondering why she hadn’t gotten home yet”, which leads to an obvious question at least to me; “WHY did you keep your phone line tied up?”

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Get a through the glass CB antenna. Have one on my F350 on the rear window. I have a CB in the truck, A Uniden and I use it to monitor truckers filthy mouths and talk to my wife (she has one in her Burb as well), through the glass antenna as well. We also have FM transceivers in the tractors and a base station at the farm for communication. They have some really dandy CB's out now with SSB and shortwave built in.

My best and most expensive buy was a SAT phone. They work anywhere and no dropped calls but you pay by the half minute and air time isn't cheap. I take it on out west hunts where there is limited cell service and the one I have has a built in emergency beacon too.

That emergency beacon could be life saver. I'm interested in the Tesla SAT phone but I haven't heard much about it recently.

 

[newbury]

“WHY did you keep your phone line tied up?”

Because she had to talk to her friends about the stranded friend not arriving or calling.