CB Radio

[plattman]

Cleaning out some attic stuff and found a CB radio from back in the day. Probably headed for the dumpster. Does anyone use one now days?

 

[PJH]

Cleaning out some attic stuff and found a CB radio from back in the day. Probably headed for the dumpster. Does anyone use one now days?

My daughter-in-law is a school bus driver. The bus drivers use CB's to communicate with the coal haulers. We have some hilly, curvey roads with poor visibility, and the bus drivers can let the coal haulers know when and where they are stopping. I have no doubt that the cb's have prevented accidents with trucks and school buses.

 

[Steven Allen]

Cleaning out some attic stuff and found a CB radio from back in the day. Probably headed for the dumpster. Does anyone use one now days?

Likely functional?

 

[Texasmark]

Breaker one nine.......yak yak. Be seeing you "Good buddy.".....smokey on the side of the road at Mile Marker 123.....taking pictures!!!!!

 

[Wdj]

A requirement for traveling timber company roads.

 

[504]

I have a new truck on the way( that can mean next week or maybe by Christmas) and I am putting one in it. Maybe an FM this time.

 

[SkipperII]

Still use them in our trucks that go into lumber mills, and gravel pits.

 

[Ray,IN]

I still have 5 CB radios. One is a still in the box Dale Earnhardt #3 model + a pair of #3 driving gloves. I have one #8 for Jr. too. Somewhere I have an old Cobra SSB radio with 80 extra channels added for a total of 160 channels, some of which cannot be used because they get into the military radio bands.
I have one in the motor home for road travels, because it's the only instantaneous communication available that's commonly used.

 

[Tony in SD]

Not as common as they once were. One of my jobs in the late 70s early 90s was a CB repairman. I trouble shot to component level. There were only a few CB manufactures. Most of CBs were the exact same circuit board inside. The only difference was the brand name and case it was put in. Interestingly enough even the more expensive models were the same circuit board inside as the cheap ones. The difference was the expensive ones had more switches on the face that you could set. Most of those set and were never changed. The cheap models only had on/off/volume, squelch, channel and did not have other switches. The cheap models were wired to the default setting, Usually where you had the switch set on the expensive models.

 

[504]

I Still have the SSB and the slider to go with it. I did sell the Maco!

 

[DWF]

I bought a new Western Star Dump Truck a few years ago that came with a Cobra CB. Use it when I am in the gravel pit to tell them what I need and what volume I need. One of the pits has a scale, but no one in it. If the loader operator is busy we use the CB to tell him our weight.
DWF

 

[Phill Tibbetts]

I have an old Browning Golden Eagle set down cellar. They were the cat's Pajamas's years ago.

 

[Gambles]

Not as common as they once were.

A local factory owner here had four (yes, 4!) Lincoln Continental Town Cars in storage. He recently thinned the herd down to two. They are all 1979 models. They all have AM/FM, 8-track, 23 channel CB factory radios.
I know what shops did when any part of that radio failed. They just swapped them and they were rebuilt by a Ford-contracted shop.

 

[Tony in SD]

A local factory owner here had four (yes, 4!) Lincoln Continental Town Cars in storage. He recently thinned the herd down to two. They are all 1979 models. They all have AM/FM, 8-track, 23 channel CB factory radios.
I know what shops did when any part of that radio failed. They just swapped them and they were rebuilt by a Ford-contracted shop.

I actually worked on one of those all in one POS. The biggest problem with them was the hide away antenna. It was common for the antenna to stick and not fully extended. That would cause the antenna to be out of tune and reflect the power back to the transmitter rather than over the air. That power would in turn overheat the output transistor and fry it. That particular transistor was a proprietary part and took our shop months to get.

 

[Texasmark]

I bought a new Western Star Dump Truck a few years ago that came with a Cobra CB. Use it when I am in the gravel pit to tell them what I need and what volume I need. One of the pits has a scale, but no one in it. If the loader operator is busy we use the CB to tell him our weight.
DWF

Western Star builds some impressive equipment.

 

[Goose]

I had one in my car yet a few years ago when I was on the road doing real estate inspections.

It's nice to be able to check road conditions ahead, or if you're rolling down the Interstate and traffic begins to slow it's nice to be able to pick up a mic and ask what's going on

 

[Stephen Newell]

Cleaning out some attic stuff and found a CB radio from back in the day. Probably headed for the dumpster. Does anyone use one now days?

I've tried to use one of my dad's before. Seems like everyone that talks on one has a mouth full of marbles and you can't understand anything they say. I packed it back away. You might try to sell yours. Supposably obsolete electronic devices are in high demand. Look at the price of a clock radio.

 

[Charles in Aus.]

Some 18 years ago forests in our district reached maturity and were being logged , I bought a radio thinking it was a little foolish to be playing about with it . The very first time I announced my presence on the road to our farm I was greeted with the response " I will see you shortly " . Moments later 40 odd tons of pine trees lumbered past me with inches to spare .
During logging season we broadcast our position at each kilometre marker , truly a life saving practice.

 

[moresmoke]

I've tried to use one of my dad's before. Seems like everyone that talks on one has a mouth full of marbles and you can't understand anything they say. I packed it back away. You might try to sell yours. Supposably obsolete electronic devices are in high demand. Look at the price of a clock radio.

A mouth full of marbles would of been an improvement over most of what I heard coming form the CB. Pretty well gave up on it aside from the occasional yard/security shack that used it.

 

[Destroked 450]

Back in April our cattlemen’s association sent 8 truck loads of hay from Ky to Ok for cattle in the wildfire areas, I drove one of the trucks and it was the first time I had driven a truck any distance since I retired from trucking in 08. We had CB’s to communicate with each other which reminded me of days past, but I did notice a large void in the amount of radio traffic I had been accustomed to back in the 80’s/90’s long hauling or even during the 2000’s while driving more localized 3 state deliveries
My neighbor has CB’s in his dump trucks to communicate with the quarry and other trucks when working job sites
CB’s may be a thing of the past but they come in real handy when there’s no cell service or you don’t know the other drivers phone number
I still have my Galaxy 33 sitting on the shelf in a closet