An Alternative View about CB Radios
This memo was sent to RTA and used by permission of the author:
Hi Guys,
Enjoy your site - especially the 70 driving tips.
I have to take exception to some of your enthusiasm for CB radios. You didn't mention that CB is rarely a G-rated medium of exchange and, in my experience, isn't nearly as informative as you suggest. It also becomes very short ranged during daylight hours when "the skip is in." And let's not discuss the legality or ethics of converting 10m ham radios...... The simple test is- Would you let your young children listen to it?
My most recent (but extensive) experience consists of commuting 48
miles each way (96 round trip) from home to work and back. I've been doing this routine for better than 2.5 years now. I removed the CB from my car this past weekend where it had been for the past 2.5 years.
Here's why-
What I've found that is MUCH better is a police scanner. Specifically, a current model, 800 MHz, digital-trunking capable scanner. (Radio Shack PRO-96)
I have had a scanner in the car for the 2.5 years as well though it wasn't the fully capable unit I just installed (Couldn't receive the Highway Patrol nor my home town's trunked system).
I have found that I can listen to the various police and fire departments along my route and learn where the traffic tie ups and accidents are by simply listening. I can hear ambulances responding to accidents and with that I hear the exact location of the problem. These callouts work during daylight and dark and I've become familiar with the voices of the dispatchers. In bad weather I can hear the buildup of slide offs, fender benders and so forth and get a good feel for what's going on Out There. I can also push one button and get the NOAA weather broadcasts and I can program channels to receive airport current condition broadcast. And I can program channels to hear snowplows and follow their work too.
In contrast, the CB depends upon the other operator seeing something of interest and being willing to report it. In some cases you have to request info and often they don't know or don't care or just got on the road a mile ago. I've sat in traffic jams listening to the scanner and I know what's going on. Meantime, on the CB, it's just one big jawboning session of alligators expounding on what they don't know but keeping the mic keyed anyway. SOMETIMES the CB has useful info. Most times it's just noise or obscenities.
For me, the solution is to learn to use the scanner well and understand what information is there. I program the scanner with Channel 19 just in case the cops are quiet but I have no need of a separate radio and no real need to be able to talk 2-way on it. When the CB channel becomes busy with blather & noise, I lock out that channel and continue to listen to the professionals as they go about their business of dealing with the chaos caused by the motoring public.
On one road trip last year I was crossing Wyoming listening to both CB and the highway patrol. On the CB the word was that there was a fast-moving highway patrol car on the go. That's all they knew - what they saw.
From the scanner I knew that the car was responding to a medical emergency at a rest stop and that the patrolman had blown past the correct rest stop. When I saw the cloud of dust in the median I knew that the patrolman had turned around and roared back. And 20 minutes later I knew that the trucker was in an ambulance on his way to the hospital and that the trooper dispatcher was calling the truck company to come get his truck. Given that major difference in info- the scanner is far and away the better choice. (especially for I-80 across Wyoming!!)
As an Extra class ham radio guy (over 35 years as a licensed ham) I could install ham radios in my car too. But I find the scanner to be my driving tool of choice.
Some states prohibit installation of mobile scanners. I pity the people who live in such places. They should escape to a free country when they can..... I like knowing what my public servants are up to. A CB would still be in my vehicle for an interstate roadtrip. But it's kind of a 3rd level just-in-case item.
BTW- I've done side-by-side testing between a mobile CB with handheld CB vs 2 FRS (Motorola Talkabout) units. One side was positioned on a dam that's about 300' above town. The other drove. Used GPS to mark the range. The CB was unusable (daytime, summer = high ambient noise) at 1/4 mile. The FRS radios were still going strong at 7 miles as long as the dam was visible.
---- "Not a fan of CB radio"
No Fan of CB surfaces to engage - with help first.
Hi Guys,
First, a helpful posting about noFanofCB's quick and dirty CB radio installation perfected over 30 years: (we'll do the controversy in a different posting)
I like to use magnetic mount antennas and cigarette lighter power plugs so that the installation is easily removable and so the antenna can be made to disappear for overnight stops or when 4wheeling under low branchesand so forth. My favorite antenna is a short, black center-loaded one I bought in the last century I think it was made by Midland. The reason I like it is that it has a very strong magnet and very little for the wind to grab. But it's bigger than the "emergency CB" rubber finger antenna you might be familiar with. Bigger mag-mounts have been buffeted off my car when driving 55 in a famous Wyoming 40 mph crosswind. A dumptruck passing upwind of me causes more than enough turbulence to knock most magnetic antennas off. But that happens so rarely that I still use mag-mounts. On the rare occasion when I know it's a possibility I'll plant the magnet in the center of the hood. The airflow over the front of the car (jeep actually) protects the antenna somewhat. This is NOT OPTIMUM. The maximum antenna performance is the biggest piece of wire you can put up high and in the clear with good low-loss coax and a 1:1 SWR tuning accomplished. (If that sounds like technical jargon - it is. Sorry. Those are the words used. Radio knowlege is kinda technical.)
Radio Shack sells a great little lighter plug that has push-down spring connectors that you shove the power wires into which doesn't require soldering. Very quick, very handy. It's a bit better for longevity if the wires have been "tinned" before being inserted. (Tinned = solder in the raw wire which holds the strands together and stiffens them.)
Lighter power has disadvantages of having potential for alternator noise getting onto the radio's transmitter from the engine. And it can come loose. And some CBs require "keep alive power" so it remembers what channel you were on. If the lighter socket is switched off when you turn the car off the radio will revert to the default channel (on my radio it's Channel 9). I use multiple adapter sockets to run CB, scanner, GPS and more.
I jam the radio between the console and the passenger's seat facing up. I buy cheap radios - Wal-Mart or Radio Shack with a minimum of features. They seem to last forever though I've seen two failures out of about 6 radios over a period of 30 years. I still have a 23 channel Midland unit I bought in 1976 to install in a sailplane. The radio still works! I had to re-solder a metal shield can in my father's CB after about 15 years to restore it to happiness.
I have a cute little Midland handheld that could be made to work in the car similarly but I find that its best use is for the spotter to talk to the driver during off-road 4WD maneuvers that need outside eyeballs. Then the CB-as-convoy-comms thing works pretty well. But for inside the car the display and buttons are too small and you might not want to jam it between the seats.
Since the internal speaker in the radio is either pointed at the console or the seat cushion, I use an external speaker (standard Radio Shack). I use a 1" nylon webbing strap wrapped around the passenger's headrest slipped thru the speaker's mounting bracket to hang it up and in the clear. If my wife is going with me I'll hang the speaker (s) from MY seat and put them over near my left ear so they don't annoy her.
Defects in this installation: (1) easy to steal. Ans- so what? Cheap radio.
(2) loose objects near one's head. Ans (yes, it's lame) - don't crash.
(3) cheap radio equals poor performance. Ans- tuning the SWR on the antenna will make the cheap radio perform better than a really good radio installed by ..... hmm, a person who lacks understanding. And the best CB radio is still a CB radio and is still limited by ambient radio noise, ratchetjaws, skip, terrain, and lack of interest within radio line of sight.
That's the technical help section since the thread was initiated as technical help. Next posting will turn the temperature up a bit :-)
noFanofCB in Colorado
noFanofCB answers some of the comments
Some more detailed background for context on noFan-
Saw my first CB in 1970. My buddy was visited by the FCC for using his to "chit-chat" which was illegal and even enforced in those days. I went to ham radio for bigger and better privileges. I still had, and have CB radios. I even was "licensed" as KAXX8806 when licenses were "required."
The FCC gave up completely on enforcing the laws, ANY laws, on 27Mhz CB in the mid-1970's. MAYBE illegal amplifiers that splatter onto the neighbor's TV reception gets looked into. But the FCC has been badly undestaffed for decades. Don't count on them enforcing anything CB-related.
Some more denigration of CB- (long, but occasionally amusing rant follows)
I appreciate the sentiment that if more good guys used it then it would become good but my view over that long period (and life in general) is that it will not happen. The bad drives out the good. The anonymity of the radio means that unless you choose to go "fox hunting" and hunt them down, you will be heckled, harassed and/ or generally ignored and stepped on.
CB 9 was a great concept in the 1970's. REACT was a great idea. It even worked for awhile. State Troopers even had CBs in their cars. Sometimes they were set to Channel 9. Now they don't.
For help, use Channel 19. It has the most listeners. If you get a helpful soul, change channels for a quieter conversation. Use what's available.
I think FRS radios are what CB should have been. Cheap, short-ranged, low powered, not susceptible to skip. I've convoyed with CB and I've convoyed with FRS. I vastly prefer FRS. I've even used a VOX headset on FRS to good effect when on a convoy roadtrip and trapped in a strange city in the dark in an absolutely torrential downpour on a freeway where we had to take an exit. Hands-free driving with comms to the leader helped it work out. It didn't even matter that the leader was behind me 4 car lengths and over two lanes when the waterfall lessened a bit. Lead called the turn and we made it. I kept both hands on the wheel the entire time - couldn't let go for another 30 minutes.......
If you want to neighbor with the locals, well CB'ers are people too. I have no problem with that. The hobbyists are likely to be pretty friendly. If you want someone to talk to, fine. A scanner won't help with that.
If you want to know where the cops are, well, lotsa luck. It's a hit-or-miss system at best. At worst they'll tell you it's all clear and just over the next rise is the speed trap. Or the DUI checkpoint. Or the jackknifed semi. At best they'll tell you where the one they saw was about 5 minutes ago but they missed his buddy who was doing the flip-turn then setting up the radar in front of you.
The scanner, properly operated, depends on no one but you to make it work out for you. You can let the kiddies listen all day long and they won't learn any new bad words. The calls report accidents far off the interstate which you might need to know about if your route goes there. The next 50 trucks, if they reply to you, might not have come from there. Yesterday I heard the callout to a rollover 1.5 miles from my house ON my route. I was 48 miles away. I could plan for an alternate route. If I'd asked every truck I met for the next 45 minutes about that road on my route, chances are that none of them had been on that road.
My scanner has channels 19 and 9 programmed into sequence. I can hear a call for help if it's there (maybe). I'll help if it's appropriate.
I don't agree that a CB has very much value among the spectrum of gadgets available. It strikes me that it's sort of like one of those "emergency ponchos" that you see in the hunting section in Wal-Mart. It's way too flimsy to actually work very well when the standard Colorado summer torrential thunderstorm catches you far above treeline bringing 2" of hail and a 30 degree drop in temperature to chill you to the insides of your muscle t-shirt and hawiian jams hiking pants making you shiver so hard you drop your Big Gulp.
It might *marginally* save your life. It isn't a lot of trouble to carry but-
you can do better. Frankly I'm a bit surprised to hear that there is still a REACT monitoring channel 9. That's honorable and admirable. But I bet business isn't like it was in the '70's.....
For a long road road-trip I carry and install: scanner, and CB. I also carry and have lighter adapter power for: cellphone, 2m ham radio, GPS.
Not to mention the tool kit, the service manual for the vehicle (without knowing what's broken the tools don't help much...), food, water, maps, selected spare parts, coveralls, gloves, emergency sleeping bag, phone card, list of phone numbers, handgun (where legal - I'm licensed to carry) and so forth.
OK. End of rant. :-)
If you want to go jeeping sometime, we'll use our CB's to stay in contact. Otherwise, call me on my cell ok?
noFanofCB in Colorado (with > 30 years experience at it and at least 4 CB radios available for quick and dirty installation if needed)
Passion is A-OK around here
Quote:
Originally Posted by noFanofCB
I guess I got a bit emphatic. Sorry. Hopefully some of it was amusing.
No problem. We all tend to have opinions about things on this board.
Quote:
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.
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.
Quote:
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.)
Who is "Stickey"?
Quote:
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 :-)
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
"Getting those things horizontal!"
Quote:
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 ;-)
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
Do cops have CB in their vehicles?
Quote:
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 ;-)
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
Mobile and Hand-held units
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvdxer
but you'll want a mobile radio and external antena, and don't count on channel 9.
We don't differentiate between mobile and hand-held, (I am not sure there is any difference in recent years) and all cases, we are recommending the use of an external antenna -- either mag-mount or fixed. The 7" flex antenna was never envisioned to be workable inside a moving vehicle.
