So I picked up a CB radio today for $8 at a yard sale
So I picked up a CB radio today for $8 at a yard sale
So... is there a mythical trucker decoder guide out there or does everyone actually use plain English on the network? On that note, how is CB organized (channels by zone; range limitations; etc.)? Are messages repeated to ensure reception telephone-game-style over great distances? So many questions you must answer for us! Or just me...
Or I could just use Google...
I decided to just take it apart and clean everything. Was pretty interesting checking out the internals
Then I put it all back together and figured I'd fire it up and see if I could talk to anyone
After a quick read on wikipedia about CB's, I learned about the different channel system and their designations Wikipedia on CB's
Originally, there were 23 CB channels in the U.S.; the 40-channel band plan was implemented in 1977. Channel 9 was officially reserved for emergency use by the FCC in 1969.[10] Channel 10 was originally often used for highway communications east of the Mississippi River, and channel 19 west of the Mississippi; channel 19 then became the preferred highway channel in most areas, as it did not have adjacent-channel interference problems with channel 9. Many CBers called channel 19 "the trucker's channel". Channel 11 was originally restricted by the FCC for use as the calling channel.
Nothing much happened except after many calls for a radio check some guy started speaking to me in spanish very quickly while on channel 9. I was quite amused 
Even after putting the antenna on my roof, I still didn't receive any transmissions. I don't live near the interstate so I figured I'll go set up at a truck stop sometime and see if I can get any bites 
Only real annoying thing about the system is the push to talk button is missing from the handheld speaker, oh well
I couldn't pass up this cheap radio. I've been interested in learning more about radios for awhile. Anyone have any experience with CB's, HAM radio, or any other amateur setups? I think it's something I'd like to be familiar with and it's downright fascinating. Any tips for learning more are always appreciated.
In reply to kylini:
I know about as much as you do, that's why I bought it. I learn best by just diving right in.
Are they still illegal in Canada?
Last I checked I live in 'merica
Ahahaha just kidding. All Deliverance jokes aside it seems that they are
I'm Canadian and I've had a CB radio for over 30 years. Back in the day we had to have a license to operate one legally. That provision was dropped a long time ago though.
I always wonder with these licenses, how the hell do they enforce that?
They couldn't. That's half the reason they dropped the requirement.
US required them as well, way back in the 70's
I got a couple of them when my grandfather passed away. Seems to not really be used much anymore, let me know if your findings are different.
10-4 good buddy, what's yer 20?
I have been studying up for my HAM license but I haven't gotten it yet. Radios are such facinating creatures, aren't they? If I had picked one up at a yard sale, I guarantee the first thing I would have done is take it apart and look at the guts. 
I still have one in my van and will turn it on for road trips if I'm traveling alone. Truckers still use them and I just like listening to the chatter. Occasionally it's useful for avoiding traffic backups ecause the oncoming truckers will forewarn the other drivers of impending snarls. I don't know that I'd spend money on a new radio any more, but I'll keep using the current one until it eventually dies.
I want one simply for the PA hook up. 
What frequency range do CB's in North America use? They are still used extensively in Australia, mostly because there is no mobile phone reception outside any town of a half decent size. The popular mode used to be the 27 MHz frequency (cheap), but this has been superceded by the UHF band as it has better range. It's mostly used by off-road, touring and caravan types and the trucking industry. Then there is also the HF band which can easily transmit/receive across the country, but these get expensive.
Do people actually use the "10-4 Rubber Ducky, what's yer 20" silliness?
XM33-20432 here...Can't believe I remember that. Time for a 10-100. 10-10-19.
Streetwiseguy wrote: XM33-20432 here...Can't believe I remember that. Time for a 10-100. 10-10-19.
¿Que?
Good buddy on 23 looking for a chum..
Heard that will riding with my dad in an old van.
CQ, CQ, CQ DX. Many many moons ago I had a President AR-144 which I'd take out to Skyline Drive and shoot skip on the side bands for an afternoon. Upper -AND- lower side bands!! Good times were had by one.
So here's me geeking out 1981 style: My parents let me install a 3/8ths wave ground plane antenna on the chimney. I'd bring my radio in from the Volvo (hence the "drew122" user name) and fire it up chatting to my two or three friends for the evening. Had found out about a tweak one could do to the radio to bump up the power to maybe 7 watts or so. I digged the extra power and the nice antenna, but I would hear second hand that I would bled over the on to the neighbor's televisions every time I transmitted. Whoops. One day I had been working hard on some BASIC programs on my Texas Instruments TI-99 4A. Just finished writing some really sweet code and wanted to save my work. Back then it was recorded onto a cassette tape deck at some stupid slow transfer rate. While my code was being saved I went over and keyed up the radio and talked to my friends for a bit. Didn't bother to check before I turned off the computer but I had bled all over the recording and destroyed everything I had done. Oh well. Then one evening the radio was stolen out of my car and put an end to all that. Still wish I had that thing (radio and volvo).
I have a neighbor that yammers on his CB any time he is in his POS 75 El Camino. This thing has a dozen antennas all over it. Some are enormous. That thing bleeds over any electronic device. TV's, stereos, clock radios, guitar amps whatever. It is ridiculously loud. Orders of magnitude louder than anything that might be actually playing on any of these devices.
It isn't anything important that he is saying either. Just chatter like a 13 year old girl on the phone with her friend. I have been awakened at absurd hours by every amplifying device in my house suddenly blaring gripping tales about stopping to pick up smokes on his way to work or man his boss was a dick today.
Why does it take over everything in my house? some crazy homebrew power boosting mods?
Grandparents had a base station, my cousin and I spent a lot of our free time in the Summers messing with. We didn't have a clue what we were doing, made several antennas of varying sizes/styles, some worked great others not at all. We talked to truckers mostly, but there were a few rare occasions that the weather was just right, and we'd get a "skip" and be able to talk to people in other states. I recall a couple different times speaking with shrimp boats in the Gulf of Mexico from the base station in central Arkansas.
I had a Radio Shack CB and Firestik antenna on the Jeep in college. Was great for the 3 hour commute home from school and back, knowing where the "Bears" were, road construction and wrecks. I'd talk to truckers to get them to block shiny happy drivers that wait until the last second to merge when going from 2 lanes to 1 in construction areas. Almost all of them would oblige to blocking when I told them, I'd let them in front of me.
Y'all are making me kind of miss my CB.
Dad installed a Midland like this one in Mom's Volare wagon back when it was new:
I think I still have a pair of Radio Shack CB's around here somewhere. Don't think I have a good antenna though.
The East Coast Timing Association was using a CB to broadcast the times at their events. Haven't made it to Ohio yet to see if they still are.
Ah yes... I remember back in the days we had a Realistic (?) For the house and a Cobra CBs for the cars with a K40 antenna. It was also fun to mess with the PA system while driving around the neighborhood or yell at other cars cutting you off.
KAII-6262 (streetwise, I can't believe I remember mine, either!!). CB was actually pretty useful on boats before they got popular on the road. Have to admit, though..I was a teenager in the '70s, and when they 'got popular on the road', I jumped in with both feet. Never had a 40-channel rig, even though the extra channels were legally open by 1977, the transcievers that could actually use them were pretty damn expensive. Most of us who didn't have a CDL stuck with the 23-channel stuff.
IIRC, most of the "ten codes" were pretty much borrowed from law enforcement. List of how they exist today: http://spiffy.ci.uiuc.edu/~kline/Stuff/ten-codes.html
I think most "civilians" running around on the Interstates now use FRS instead of CB, and only talk to the other car in their convoy (pun intended) instead of trying to talk or listen to everyone on the road. According to Wiki, lower power and FM instead of AM. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Radio_Service
Don't know if pro truckers still use CB or not..I haven't had one in the car for thirty years. Sure was fun, though. And a 40-channel rig for eight bucks? Jeez, maybe I should go find out!
Ditchdigger wrote: I have a neighbor that yammers on his CB any time he is in his POS 75 El Camino. This thing has a dozen antennas all over it. Some are enormous. That thing bleeds over any electronic device. TV's, stereos, clock radios, guitar amps whatever. It is ridiculously loud. Orders of magnitude louder than anything that might be actually playing on any of these devices. It isn't anything important that he is saying either. Just chatter like a 13 year old girl on the phone with her friend. I have been awakened at absurd hours by every amplifying device in my house suddenly blaring gripping tales about stopping to pick up smokes on his way to work or man his boss was a dick today. Why does it take over everything in my house? some crazy homebrew power boosting mods?
Holy crap, Linear Amplifiers! Yeah, they used to be homebuilt, but it seems folks have been doing that for so long that you cam buy new ones. http://www.ebay.com/bhp/cb-radio-linear
Legal CB back then was 4 watts IIRC. You could always tell when someone was using a LA because it sounded like reverb when they keyed their mikes. Don't know if the laws have changed.
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