Anybody still use CB's?

[woody]

Yes I still use a CB.

 

[CH4Ohio]

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

Just curious why you're wanting a CB. I used to use CB for road trips but haven't had one on a vehicle for the last 10 years or so. I still have 3 or 4 mobiles and a couple antennas boxed up in the garage. Probably wouldn't sell for $5 at a yard sale. I wouldn't drill holes to mount one either.

 

[woody]

I use the one in my truck mostly at the rock quarry and the one on my motorcycle for group rides.

 

[masscity]

When I was living in an apartment in Detroit City one of my neighbors kids broke a bunch of antennas off of cars so he would have swords to play with. He didn't touch my junker work car, but broke the one off of my 70 Corvette. Of course the mother denied everything. So I went to the radio shop and bought Jensen stereo and a combo radio/cb antenna that worked great.

 

[Yogi05]

Do trucks even have stake pockets anymore?

LOL good point. Darn new fangled #*#&

 

[ultrarunner]

We use them when the car club tours to keep in touch.

Cell Phone wouldn’t work as no hands free option with a Model T or Model A.

 

[Hay Dude]

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.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

We use them when the car club tours to keep in touch.

Cell Phone wouldn’t work as no hands free option with a Model T or Model A.

Speakerphone mode?

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

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.

It was very easy to record radio traffic even in the 70's. All you needed was a reel to reel tape recorder (yes, old school, but I had one, lol) hooked to a "speaker out" jack on the radio receiver. FCC would have had a more elegant setup than one of us "garage guys" could cobble together.

 

[WinterDeere]

Get a through the glass CB antenna. Have one on my F350 on the rear window.

How's the range on those little things? A typical half dipole (aka "whip") antenna for CB radio should be about 9 ft long, if placed over a metal car roof (creates reflector / full dipole). You can shorten the required length with compensating coils, but these impact performance, and there's definitely a limit in how short you can go without blowing the whole deal.

It's been about 30 years since I've installed a CB radio, but I deal with antennae and radio circuits as part of my daily work.