CB Radio (handheld)

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Originally Posted by noFanofCB

I guess I got a bit emphatic. Sorry. Hopefully some of it was amusing.

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No problem. We all tend to have opinions about things on this board.

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Colorado State Patrol does not have CB in their vehicles.
Nor does Wyoming. I don't see CB-length antennas on Boulder, Weld or Larimer County vehicles.

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OK, I will bow to your current observations, I know that some CHP and NVHP and NVDOT units have them. Now, I am curious and will see what I can find out about other state trooper's use of them.

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I'll see if I can conjure up a writeup of a (ham) radio-based rescue of a buddy from Red Cone Mountain, a view of which was included with Stickey's writeup about fuel pump repairs to his CJ. The Red Cone scree slope is behind him in the picture. (Not sure if I've saved the writeup.)

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Who is "Stickey"?

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Mag-mount tidbit- I've encountered 80mph winds in Utah climbing up the canyon headed east out of SLC. Mag mounts wouldn't hold. So I stuck them on the back liftgate of the Cherokee oriented horizontal to the ground. Looked funny but they stayed put :-)

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I like that idea -- I haven't had a problem with movement yet, but I have smacked a few too many low-hanging tree limbs -- with the resultant scratching as the mag-mount dragged across the roof.

That must look like a backwards-facing unicorn?

Mark

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Originally Posted by Editor

Who is "Stickey"? I like that idea -- I haven't had a problem with movement yet, but I have smacked a few too many low-hanging tree limbs -- with the resultant scratching as the mag-mount dragged across the roof.

That must look like a backwards-facing unicorn?

Mark

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Sticky was "Stuck at 12,000'- "
http://www.roadtripamerica.com/forum...ead.php?t=8544

I've slid several Jeeps down that scree slope. That's how you get down.

The horizontal antennas might have looked more like a big bug. There
were two waggling antennas. I didn't notice any degradation in reception though there HAD to be some.

noFanofCB

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Originally Posted by noFanofCB

Sticky was "Stuck at 12,000'- "

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I thought you might have been referring to Boston Wrangler's post, but I wasn't sure. I have logged my time on other scree slopes too. My most memorable (still makes my hands sweat) was one time in the Phoenix One on an abandoned ski run in SW Idaho. When I met the local ranger that night and told him where I had come from and in what vehicle -- he just stared, shook his head and started laughing. It was a gnarly experience to say the least. (Don't try this at home kids...)

Have you taken your Mog down that slope?

Mark

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Originally Posted by noFanofCB

Colorado State Patrol does not have CB in their vehicles.
Nor does Wyoming.
I don't see CB-length antennas on Boulder, Weld or Larimer County vehicles.

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What is a "CB-length antenna"? Mobiles come in lengths from 2' to 8.5' with a million and one different load configurations ;-)

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Originally Posted by Boston Wrangler

What is a "CB-length antenna"? Mobiles come in lengths from 2' to 8.5' with a million and one different load configurations ;-)

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Good point, but I wager he was speaking of the notorious "whip" antennas found on most patrol units. Some highway patrol buddies have frequently discussed the, um... technique required to get those antennas to lay out flat behind their cars.... Such a... technique would probably lead to mag-mount failure on a normal citizen's vehicle.

Mark

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Originally Posted by Boston Wrangler

What is a "CB-length antenna"? Mobiles come in lengths from 2' to 8.5' with a million and one different load configurations ;-)

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Theoretically true.
But they don't look like 4 evenly spaced 8" whips in a small forest on the trunk of the vehicle. And they usually look different from the 154Mhz public service band antennas.

Nor do they look like a cellphone antenna.

If they were installed they generally used base-loaded trunk mount verticals.


In the old days there was room in the cars for the Motrac and a CB.
Nowadays the cops here have MDTs and 800 Mhz scanning trunked cop radios. Which takes up a LOT of interior room in the car.

I think the cops decided channel 9 was just not worth the effort.

Your county might be different.

noFanofCB

Although not really a stretch, but perhaps they decided to cut costs on installation, reduce the annoyance of massive amounts of antennas, etc. and just went to handhelds in the rural areas. To me, this doesn't seem to far fetched, especially in the rural areas. It would certainly help concel the fact that they're listening in.

I have my smaller Cobra Unit in My toyota Truck (No USB or LSB). I've used it on trips to California. Mainly for getting road condition updates from truckers/fellow CBers. It's come in real handy on long road trips. My other unit is a Bigger LSB/USB CB that is too big to fit in my little truck. (That or I haven't yet found a sufficient mounting location.) I'm not a big fan of handhelds because my experience with them has them at limited range.

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Originally Posted by Cascadia4-brad m

Although not really a stretch, but perhaps they decided to cut costs on installation, reduce the annoyance of massive amounts of antennas, etc. and just went to handhelds in the rural areas. To me, this doesn't seem to far fetched, especially in the rural areas. It would certainly help concel the fact that they're listening in.

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Pursuing the discussion with actual data:

I called the Colorado State Patrol. No CB in their cars.

I called Larimer County Sheriff. No CB unless some deputy did it himself.

I called Weld County Sheriff. Was eventually forwarded to voicemail. None of the intermediate people understood what I was asking.

I called the Boulder County Sheriff. No CB in their cars.

This doesn't conclusively prove that there isn't a peace officer somewhere in the state who monitors but it suggests that the percentages are pretty heavily against it - especially in north-central Colorado and along the interstates.


It might be interesting for the CB fans to make the same kind of calls for their area and see what answers they get.

I would expect that the CB radio in that single cop car would not be a handheld. That's too much loose stuff to deal with. If it isn't hard-mounted somewhere in the car it probably isn't there at all.

nonFanofCB

As a radio hobbiest, I think I could contribute to this thread.

I was quite active on CB as a 10 and 11 year-old for a short time in 1997 (until I damaged the radio!). I've occasionally listened or talked on the band since then.

You might get some usefulness out of a CB on road trips. Most truckers have radios, and I'm sure you can converse with them about traffic and whatsuch. When we would travel by road (even short distances), I would always make conversation with 18-wheeler guys, even being just 10.

Generally speaking, most relevant and good activity is to be found on channel 19. This is the "trucker" channel and is the most active of channels by far.

I wouldn't count on calls to channel 9 being answered in this day and age.

The original poster mentioned wanting to use a handheld model. This might be reasonable for communicating short lengths, such as within a trucking/shipping district of a city, but I would advise against it on the road. If you want to make contacts of a reasonable distance, I strongly recommend getting a mobile CB and a mag-mount antenna for your SUV's roof. While you may not be particularly enthused by the look of the antenna, they are not difficult to remove. Many mobile radio models today are quite attractive in appearance, and small as well.

Somebody mentioned obscenity on the radio, and skip. Yes, CB does contain a lot of foul language. This seems to be concentrated off of channel 19, but you might hear cursing on that channel as well. As for skip, being in late 2005 we are near the solar minimum, so that should not begin to be a real problem until about 2009 or 2010.

So, you can exchange information over the radio, and it's generally a cool gadget, but you'll want a mobile radio and external antena, and don't count on channel 9.