CB Usage

[gijohn40]

I'd love to learn more about CB etiquette.

Is there such a thing? have you been on the radio lately? there are people that seem to think that they are godlike due to they have 10k watts of power and a beam antenna which further increases the power.... and they don't care what they do...

 

[Herzog]

Is there such a thing? have you been on the radio lately?

I'll admit, it's been a great while.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Back in the day the CB community was that of a civilized and licensed group, much like the current HAM community in which its quite rare to have an outburst or get walked on by some mega amplifiers. I think it still has its uses on the trail. A few well tuned CB's can hit 3-5 mile distances and in remote portions of Utah (outside the greater Wasatch Front), its not at all hard to find a channel open of any outside interference. I had an old Midland 23 channel unit when I was in grade school. I ran a coax out of my upstairs bedroom window and had a mag mount antenna on the top of the swamp cooler. A killer base station. From there I could hit I-15 and all over the Corner Canyon/Draper/Sandy area. Since that time I've never really not had a CB, but with HAM growing in popularity it gets used less and less. I've got a 2M setup in my garage that I listen to while working from time to time, wouldn't even consider doing that with a CB these days as the headache it would be trying to have a conversation.

A good overview here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens'_band_radio

 

[rholbrook]

Too much noise to use day to day but a must off-road. I remember when my mom got a new Cadillac Eldorado in 1975 and it came with a CB build right into the 8 Track stereo. Man, those were the good ole days. For you younger generationers, 8 Track tapes came before cassette tapes which came before CDs. Google them if you need to know more.

 

[Greg]

Too much noise to use day to day but a must off-road. I remember when my mom got a new Cadillac Eldorado in 1975 and it came with a CB build right into the 8 Track stereo. Man, those were the good ole days. For you younger generationers, 8 Track tapes came before cassette tapes which came before CDs. Google them if you need to know more.

What's a CD? Is that where MP3's came from?


I have a CB and have found it to be an invaluable tool while on the trail... as long as others in the group have CB's.

 

[JL Rockies]

I think CB antennas look much cooler than Ham antennas.

 

[utahluge]

I think CB antennas look much cooler than Ham antennas.

How about a little of everything:
- CB
- Ham (2M)
- FRS
- GMRS
- WIFI
- AM/FM
(pic not updated)

(More than 20' plus a J-Pole; its up there probably 30')

 

[SAMI]

I think CB antennas look much cooler than Ham antennas.

My HAM and CB antennas are nearly identical..

 

[Rot Box]

On the road or offroad they are nice to have and for less than $50 why not? If your lucky you can get into some pretty entertaining trucker chat out on the highway. Also 95% of the time I'm riding solo so its nice to stay in touch with the rest of the group.

I really enjoy mine on the trail especially when snow wheeling :greg: I would however not want to rely on it in an emergency of any sort there are other forms of communication that are much better suited for that.