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Old 04-06-2020, 05:24 AM   #41
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Nowadays the only real benefit to having a CB radio is if you're running in a caravan. Jeepers use CBs on the trail. Basically as a source of relevant information or link to help the technology has become obsolete. However, if you're the prepper type keep one anyways because if TEOTWAWKI comes to pass it may be the only form of communication still capable of operating once everything else fails due to lack of the network backbones required.

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Old 04-06-2020, 06:16 AM   #42
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A lot of interesting thoughts on this thread! Last time I had my hands on a CB, it was a factory option in my Chrysler Cordoba. I'm sure they've come a long way since then.
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Old 04-06-2020, 07:35 AM   #43
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The problem with CB today is that no one uses them anymore. Sehnsucht said it best. If you are in a Caravan, but for info like where Smokey is taking pictures and what mile marker that pretty beaver is broken down at is gone.


That being said when I moved here from UK CB radio was still a thing and I got into it and the walkie talkies when I was a kid.

thus I have always installed a CB in the travel vehicle ever since. I have noticed that there is little chatter on channel 19 unless you are in a traffic jam at which point it lights up with colorful swearing, racial taunting, and "oh yeah why don't you pull over and make me" talk. it is fun to listen to and passes the time in the jam up.

Otherwise it just sits in the background on 19 just in case.


I run a CB and a Marine VHF in the Kaiju Bus... we are near the coast a lot and although I don't use it to talk (technically illegal to transmit on land so they say) but it is cool to listen to ship traffic, weather. And though it is technically illegal I do know a lot of southern folks use marine radios out in the woods while running deer hunts with dogs... I guess it works stronger than CB or walkie talkie....

Marine radio is up top and the CB is mounted on the dash




Here are the aerials... CB is a road ranger coil, a shakespeare 10 ft VHF whip (stowed horizontally while driving) and of course the top one is for the telly





Anyone else remember Cledus Maggard? I had the record in the 70's and coupled with the film Smokey and Bandit I was hooked... This was my favorite song and teaches you how to speak properly on the CB radio. My accent made it especially silly sounding.




you have yourself a good day good buddy
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Old 04-06-2020, 07:59 AM   #44
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Originally Posted by Sehnsucht View Post
Nowadays the only real benefit to having a CB radio is if you're running in a caravan. Jeepers use CBs on the trail. Basically as a source of relevant information or link to help the technology has become obsolete. However, if you're the prepper type keep one anyways because if TEOTWAWKI comes to pass it may be the only form of communication still capable of operating once everything else fails due to lack of the network backbones required.
In Colorado, all the serious off-roaders I know use HAM radio.
CB bands are useless in the mountains compared to HAM frequencies.
It's much easier to get a HAM operator licence now as well -- the requirement to pass a morse code test was dropped amongst other changes.

And of course for safety the cell phone covers all interstate corridors.
For a true boondocker living out of cell range I'd recommend a HAM.
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Old 04-06-2020, 08:05 AM   #45
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Originally Posted by RolesvilleMarina View Post
The problem with CB today is that no one uses them anymore. Sehnsucht said it best. If you are in a Caravan, but for info like where Smokey is taking pictures and what mile marker that pretty beaver is broken down at is gone.


That being said when I moved here from UK CB radio was still a thing and I got into it and the walkie talkies when I was a kid.

thus I have always installed a CB in the travel vehicle ever since. I have noticed that there is little chatter on channel 19 unless you are in a traffic jam at which point it lights up with colorful swearing, racial taunting, and "oh yeah why don't you pull over and make me" talk. it is fun to listen to and passes the time in the jam up.

Otherwise it just sits in the background on 19 just in case.


I run a CB and a Marine VHF in the Kaiju Bus... we are near the coast a lot and although I don't use it to talk (technically illegal to transmit on land so they say) but it is cool to listen to ship traffic, weather. And though it is technically illegal I do know a lot of southern folks use marine radios out in the woods while running deer hunts with dogs... I guess it works stronger than CB or walkie talkie....

Marine radio is up top and the CB is mounted on the dash




Here are the aerials... CB is a road ranger coil, a shakespeare 10 ft VHF whip (stowed horizontally while driving) and of course the top one is for the telly





Anyone else remember Cledus Maggard? I had the record in the 70's and coupled with the film Smokey and Bandit I was hooked... This was my favorite song and teaches you how to speak properly on the CB radio. My accent made it especially silly sounding.




you have yourself a good day good buddy
we down
and gone
10-4
The trolls that used to be on this site got me into trouble for posting that Cledus Maggard on here years ago. They said that me posting that made me a racist. LOL

Apparently they didn't realize folks ACTUALLY used to pick cotton. My family included although they were more in strawberry country here in FL.
Just an odd bit I thought I'd share.

This site used to be BAD about trolls.
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Old 04-06-2020, 08:08 AM   #46
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The trolls that used to be on this site got me into trouble for posting that Cledus Maggard on here years ago. They said that me posting that made me a racist. LOL

Apparently they didn't realize folks ACTUALLY used to pick cotton. My family included although they were more in strawberry country here in FL.
Just an odd bit I thought I'd share.

This site used to be BAD about trolls.
Oh my... I hadn't really ever thought of that.

our family got kicked out by the yanks way back before that cotten thing

we snuck back in many many many years later.
myself personally in the late 70's
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Old 04-06-2020, 08:13 AM   #47
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Oh my... I hadn't really ever thought of that.

our family got kicked out by the yanks way back before that cotten thing

we snuck back in many many many years later.
myself personally in the late 70's
most of my family came down here when EVERTHING from macon to atlanta was burned all the way to the ocean.
That's where MOST "native" Floridians came from.
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Old 04-06-2020, 08:21 AM   #48
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Here's an interesting tid bit. The FCC allocates frequencies to certain locations throughout the US. Different areas in the country can have access to the same frequency because of their distance apart. The VFD (in Nevada) I am a member of has one of those assigned to it. Years ago on a road trip back East, we took our fire radios to use between vehicles. Somewhere in Illinois there was a school district assigned the same frequency. They were none too happy that we were on their air waves. Originally there were 10 different frequencies allocated for CB usage, There is so little demand for that now that the FCC has reduced that number by half and allow other industries to use the old CB frequencies. I work for an internet company as a side job. One of the areas we provide service uses a CBRS unit that is operating on one of those frequencies.

When I get that far, I will add a Ham radio to my bus. Kinda cool when you can get somebody from Australia to call the wife to let her know you have a flat and will be late for dinner! The language is 1000 times cleaner and the respect level is so much better on Ham too. Perfect for the family environment.
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Old 04-06-2020, 08:26 AM   #49
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It's much easier to get a HAM operator licence now as well -- the requirement to pass a morse code test was dropped amongst other changes.

And of course for safety the cell phone covers all interstate corridors.
For a true boondocker living out of cell range I'd recommend a HAM.
I agree... I still have the 2m antenna (am assuming, and will check one day) that came with the bus.

the morse test with my dyscalculia is why I never got into HAM. that requirement was a non starter for me... I cannot do morse

I plan to get my license for HAM one day soon as I agree it is a good thing to have
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Old 04-06-2020, 08:51 AM   #50
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CB and a Marine VHF with scanner. Got it as a gift. Entertaining occasionally.
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Old 04-06-2020, 09:02 AM   #51
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We have both CB and HAM radios is our bus. Our licence plate is my HAM call sign and we've had good chats with other Hams that have passed us on the highway (we rarely pass anyone....) One day I'll add a 30' mast to the side of the bus which we can raise when parked for better distance.
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Old 04-06-2020, 09:18 AM   #52
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The problem with CB today is that no one uses them anymore. Sehnsucht said it best. If you are in a Caravan, but for info like where Smokey is taking pictures and what mile marker that pretty beaver is broken down at is gone.
My thoughts as well. Their use has definitely fallen since the popularity/availability of cell phones.

Quote:
Originally Posted by RolesvilleMarina View Post
And though it is technically illegal I do know a lot of southern folks use marine radios out in the woods while running deer hunts with dogs... I guess it works stronger than CB or walkie talkie....
I might know some that do that.

They're used for coyote hunting too. Basically any hunting that is over a wide area. The marine radios off the shelf are higher powered and clearer transmitting then a stock CB. So much so that you can buy an entire marine setup for around 150 bucks, and have the ability to transmit/recieve clearly for 20+ miles. Also, it's nice to be able to hunt, and not have jackwagons with a cb interrupting anything.

I think it is technically illegal, because I think for those frequencies you're supposed to have a license to operate. I know in some areas, certain marine/vhf channels overlap police frequencies, and we can hear them/they can hear us.
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Old 04-27-2020, 12:46 AM   #53
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Aside from the shenanigans that go on, CB has many shortcomings for use in local / regional mobile applications.

  • It's amplitude modulated, which means a lot of noise you wouldn't experience w/ FM (GMRS is FM, as are most comms on the ham VHF / UHF bands).
  • Due to manner in which CB frequencies propagate, you can often receive signals far away from your location (which in a practical sense amount to interference), while at the same time not being able to talk to people nearby (research 'skip zone').
  • Due to the relatively long wavelength, most mobile CB antennas are compromise designs that sacrifice some measure of performance to reduce overall length.
  • Unlike Ham or (in some cases) even GMRS, you don't have access to public repeaters (this is BIG).
  • Compared to ham (or even GMRS), you have a low legal transmit power limit (this is probably the least important difference, as your antenna system has much more impact than power does, but still worth mentioning).
Not only does Ham radio provide solutions to all the above problems, the mere act of studying for the tech exam will provide an education that will help you get the most out of any radio system you choose, including CB. What you know means a lot more than what you use when it comes to communicating via radio.
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Old 04-27-2020, 08:37 AM   #54
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Originally Posted by Sehnsucht View Post
Nowadays the only real benefit to having a CB radio is if you're running in a caravan. Jeepers use CBs on the trail. Basically as a source of relevant information or link to help the technology has become obsolete. However, if you're the prepper type keep one anyways because if TEOTWAWKI comes to pass it may be the only form of communication still capable of operating once everything else fails due to lack of the network backbones required.

Exactly! Being most of my trips will be with other Off roaders I'll be going all out on my radio set up. Galaxy CB, scanner and some kind of Ham. Never thought about doing a Marine like others are mentioning. Could be fun to listen.
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Old 04-27-2020, 10:29 AM   #55
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CB and a Marine VHF with scanner. Got it as a gift. Entertaining occasionally.
PSA those of us with a restricted marina radio operators licence get very annoyed when we have no access to the radio because a bunch of yahoo's in jeeps and other 4x4's in close proximity are yapping away for hours on end. They are marine channels and licensed for a reason. SAFETY.
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Old 02-05-2021, 03:54 AM   #56
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I have one, came with the bus. I don't have a clue how to use it.
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Old 02-05-2021, 08:22 AM   #57
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus View Post
Aside from the shenanigans that go on, CB has many shortcomings for use in local / regional mobile applications.

  • It's amplitude modulated, which means a lot of noise you wouldn't experience w/ FM (GMRS is FM, as are most comms on the ham VHF / UHF bands).
  • Due to manner in which CB frequencies propagate, you can often receive signals far away from your location (which in a practical sense amount to interference), while at the same time not being able to talk to people nearby (research 'skip zone').
  • Due to the relatively long wavelength, most mobile CB antennas are compromise designs that sacrifice some measure of performance to reduce overall length.
  • Unlike Ham or (in some cases) even GMRS, you don't have access to public repeaters (this is BIG).
  • Compared to ham (or even GMRS), you have a low legal transmit power limit (this is probably the least important difference, as your antenna system has much more impact than power does, but still worth mentioning).
Not only does Ham radio provide solutions to all the above problems, the mere act of studying for the tech exam will provide an education that will help you get the most out of any radio system you choose, including CB. What you know means a lot more than what you use when it comes to communicating via radio.
I can't agree more. Get a license and go ham or GMRS or both. I did. But please stay legal.
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