@@davidmonteil6340 yep, I hear people often talking on channel 38 LSB hear near Seattle Washington. I always use a 9' foot stainless steel CB antenna whip on my vehicle. Some people laugh😆at me when they walk by my car at store parking lots when I am talking on my Cobra 148GTL radio. They ask me what the tall antenna is used for ?
Yeah, the CB road chatter died with universal Internet coverage on the highways. Now you can chat with people you really want to chat to, or tune in to any kind of music or podcasts or audiobooks you want. In other words, CB was popular because of boredom, now it's just a tool for when you really need to talk to other drivers nearby.
I retired 3 yrs ago, after 42 years in a truck. The last 30 where with a national LTL carrier, so I pretty much stayed in AR, MO, KS, OK and TX. So most of us running overnite on regular runs had switched to cell phones using apps where we could do group calls. We've had up to 10 people on a call. With that said, if guys hadn't gotten rid of their cb, then it was either off or turned down low and not paid much attention to. I'm also an extra class ham, so i usually monitored the 75/40m or 2m repeaters on my route
I'm a convention worker at Eastern semi-annual trade shows, and drive my van in the evenings and into the early mornings. I enjoy listening to the truckers gab. The CB for them is useful, I think, to keep themselves awake and alert when they have their conversations.
Cb is more than alive especially today. Some of yall dont know about CB antenna SWR tuning and the right antenna = happy radio. I talk to people everyday on my Cobra CB 19 Ultra mini
I'm 54 years old. When I was a kid in North Carolina in the 70's, my father ran a CB repair shop out of the closed-in back porch of our house. Truckers and regular folks alike would bring their radios to him all hours of the day and night for him to fix and "hop up". I won't cover the whole history of CB radio in this comment, but, the reason they settled on channel 19 as the "go-to" channel was because they normally tuned their antenna for channel 19. Channel 19 was in the center of the assigned standard 40-channel layout, so tuning the antenna SWR on channel 19 gave you the best over-all performance. So, the radio worked best on channel 19 when the rig was calibrated in this manner. I enjoyed your video, but you need to learn the lingo if you expect a response from anybody. Try this next time: "Breaker, breaker 1 9, anybody got your ears on???" ;) I know it may sound corny, but, may I suggest that you find and listen to the 70's novelty hit song "Convoy" by C.W. McCall... LOL Nowadays, I listen to CB on my laptop and and an SDR dongle. For some reason, it appears that the big talk channel now is channel 6 and "talking skip" (bouncing the signal off of the ionosphere for extended range) is on channel 11. The most popular mode is AM, but sometimes I hear SSB (Single Side Band- both Upper or Lower)... I don't know that I've ever heard FM mode used in the CB band...
FM have been in common use in Europe since the 80`s and im 55y. started with CB as 10 year ish, all houses had a CB radio. housewife "phone" gossip at channel 40 FM or some AM channel if longer range. AM`S was 3-5W but then there came a new law late 80 . AM you can use 0.5W 23 channels and FM 4W 40 channels . calling channel for all was Ch3... In the 90-2000 there was mostly FM40 to buy in local shops but i post ordered all my 10m radios from USA and Japan . yes U know.."240" channels SSB/AM/FM/CW Cobra and superstar . and i had several midlands and Hygain as well and 50++ more radios. can`t remember all in one day so to speak :) . i live in Northern Norway and had skip contact with a Trucker in USA 1989..Amazing good skip back then..The skip have picked up again but now mostly eastern europe ,germany . had UK and italy skip mostly back then. Had a huge huge 10 dipole directional Hy gain antenna in the late 80`s-- was the biggest 10-11 m antenna to order. ordered it to sweden and drove it to Norway .big package on the roof over costum / border ..lol
Thanks for commenting. Yeah the lingo thing, I wasn't sure if the breaker, breaker thing was still used. Its been 35 years or so since I used a CB. I'll get better with the lingo. Thanks for sharing that information about the tuning.
Everyone is a know it all about channel 19 but I’m here to inform you the channel 19 existed long before 40 channels now go back and figure the 23 channel radios
Chiming in from Canada. I'm a bit of an outdoorsman, I use CB on active logging roads avoiding playing chicken with a loaded rig, as they call out their mileage. Between friends, 4x4 rigs, road trips, we use FRS-GMRS usually hand helds.
Great Video, I have both CB and GMRS in my pickup truck, we travel a lot between LA and Vegas. I leave the CB on the scan mode, I use the GMRS just for car-to-car. The only time the CB comes alive is when there is a major accident.
Thanks for the commenting and sharing. I have both radios as well but like I said in the video we didn't have any traffic or weather issues and I think you're right it would work well in those situations.
@@paulethier3416 we need to put bumper stickers on our cars to encourage people to use CB radios in their cars and houses ! ✅ CB radios and 2 meter radios are good backup communications when the corrupt politicians shut down the cellphone towers.
Yeah, this is exactly why I still always have a CB on long trips- accidents/bad weather/things going nuts, etc. It would be nice if CB radio was like it was back in the day as far as finding "bears" and such and having cool conversations. But even if it's still only useful for emergencies, that's still an awesome use for it. Cell phone signals can go down or be bad in areas. Wildfires have burned up cell towers. Sunspots happen, etc. It's a great emergency tool for when everything goes haywire even to this day.
i have a cb and GMRS and ham radio in my car. CB RADIO should be a must for truckers should be a law to be installed in Commerical and state police vehicles. But i finally got my friends to use FRS/ GMRS for traveling. Great video keep up the great work
Trucks come factory equipped with CB antennas and a place to plug your personal CB in the overhead console. Company drivers sometimes switch trucks frequently.
In Australia 27Mhz has mostly been replaced by UHF.. which sucks.. cause SSB was the baby thrown out with the bath water.. Its making a comeback now thankfully!
I live on a tall hillside 40 miles North of Seattle in Washington State USA. Somedays I am able to hear people talking from Australia and Hawaii on my Cobra 148GTL radio CB. My Cobra radio was made in the Philippines in the 20th century. I have a 9' foot stainless steel CB antenna on the top of my car.
I have a President McKinley with a 5 ft Fire Stick. From NJ to NC every month. Truckers don’t want to talk anymore. However, it’s fun to listen to chatter from across the country when conditions are right.
I was a schoolkid at the height of the 70's CB craze. It was the go-to, for 2way communications for folks of all walks of life until the skip became a daily occurrence around mid 1978 or so. I Thought the skip effect was pretty cool, and entertaining too, which for myself which got me more into CB , but for my friends and everyone else around me , it was the death of CB as a hipster fad.
I’m an old retired police officer and “back in the day” truckers helped our Highway Patrol often. But things change with generations. In my case, I’ve gone back to CB but keep it on ch-9 & 19 to just listen unless info needed or I am needed.
"Truckers" are this new cell phone generation, they think cb is "boomer" territory and think its stupid. So you dont even hear much on 19 anymore. But, theres still a few that see the value in it and know how important they can be. There will come a time in this country that cell phones wont work, and a cb will be invaluable. Its coming.
When we take a road trip, I always hook up one of my (many) CBs. The trick to getting some response from truckers (I retired from trucking 10 years ago) is to pick out a particular truck going the opposite way (like Schneider or Swift [GASP!], CRST, Prime, etc) and ask something about road conditions, weather conditions, or even your radio signal. If you pinpoint someone in particular you are much more likely to get a response. Things were a lot different in the 70' when I started trucking. You almost couldn't get a word in edgewise! So, ask CRST if "they are on this one" and see if they respond. Oh, when I started trucking, CB's had only 23 channels and 10 was the trucking channel. They moved to 19 when we got 40 channels because supposedly, 10 was too close to 9, and that is still 'supposedly' the emergency channel even though almost no one monitors it. Loved your 'joe' comments. Saying you loved him should have gotten you shot - Hahahahahaha!
55 years hobby electronics and CB and HF radio and antenna experience... in my humble opinion... Best mobile antenna compared to all others... 'Wilson 1000', magnetic or through hole roof mount. It has a 62 inch radiator. Don't buy the shorter ones if you want to get out, and hear, any distance. Size and quality is EVERYTHING for distance. Go with 'Wilson 1000' and be done with it. Shorter ones, such as the 'Wilson Little Wil', and such, will suffice for close-by comms, such as car to car within a couple of kilometers of each other. But there's more available to the 'physically' longer antenna. Best mobile AM/SSB radios... President George FCC, small President McKinley USA, or Uniden 980 SSB. Best mobile HF, (AM/FM/SSB) radios... Anytone 5555n2, Anytone 6666, or President Lincoln 2+. Best 'just AM' and/or AM/FM radios... anything commercially available from President, Uniden, or Cobra. Just buy a new one! Don't risk getting anything that's had a "Golden Screwdriver" in it.
I have cobra 29LTD and use wilson 5000 antenna magnet base, and I always hear them talking on channel 19 in western Channel 17 in Eastern. So i can hear them talking 20 plus miles away. My uncles is out there driven trucks, I miss so much and love my CB's
Thanks for the video, am looking into CB. I just did a 6000 mile vacation from TN to ND, SD, Yellowstone NP, Teton, and back home. Was listening to ham 146.52 for the entire trip, completely dead. 30 miles into the trip my power cord to the Midland GMRS broke in the 12 volt socket so out of luck there.
Thanks for commenting. Other people on here have said that CB is kinda quiet until there is bad weather, traffic or an accident. We didn’t experience any of that so it was pretty quiet.
I recently did a trip going up to Cleveland, Ohio on I-71 North and back down to southeastern Ohio and was surprisingly able to get quite a few contacts on channel 19. We made roughly 7 contacts, most of them being radio checks. The rest were very immature and stupid chatter sessions but honestly very fun. We even passed one of the people we made contact with and waved at them. When we were in the Cleveland area, there was a great amount of radio chatter on channel 19. Mostly unintelligible, and most likely skip, but still very incredible and I've never heard that much chatter on the radio before. Very great video, I'm happy to see others trying to make contacts on CB. 73!
A few years ago my wife and I were traveling from Florida to New Jersey along I-95. I believe that we were in South Carolina when traffic started to slow down in the north bound lanes and there was no traffic in the south bound lanes. A few miles ahead, there was a multi vehicle accident which closed down the south lanes. I have a CB in my Jeep and I started getting calls on 19 to ask what was happening. I let them know that the lanes were closed and to get off as soon as possible. Other than that, there was no other reports.
we have alot people use cb radios in Tennessee truckers on cb radios on channel19 am,channel,28 am,channel 26 am if outside knoxville,tn if get out rural areas near knoxville,tn outside knoxville on i40.
Sad what's happened to CB. My first right was a Robyn T-123 tube set with a Hi-gain Chicken Choker and Super Penetrator antenna on the roof. Then I moved up to the President Washington Base a few months later. In my truck I had the Cobra 138XLR with dual fire stick antennas. From the age of sixteen, I met every one of my present friends on those boxes, from all over Western New York and as far away as Port Colburn, Ontario, on AM. CB radio was pretty much the old school dating app too and some of this ladies sounded like super models but many times you discovered that these gals were only on CB because they were too big and hefty to even walk out their front door and UGLY !!! Holy crow !! There was this one gal name Giggles and her trusty sidekick, Sweet Pea. Heavier than a Red Angus and looks only a mother could love. A whole slew of them fellas have since passed on but their handles live on in conversations at our local breakfast dive. Puddle Jumper, Speedy, Jolly Green Giant, Chug-a-lug, K5, King Snake, Sunflower, Foxy Lady, Pickles, Chopper, Fonz, and yours truly, Bandit. I ended up changing my handle to Ridge Runner because of the movie and then two years later had to get my car repainted because of the Dukes of Hazard. I had the Stars and Bars custom painted on my White 69' Charger long before the show was on TV.
If you want some information from the opposite direction traffic, you have to give them some information yourself. Say for an example you are traveling west, just get on the CB channel 19 and tell them what is front of them. If eastbound is clear to the ramp you got on at, let say you got on the highway at 138, then say "Eastbound you are clear to exit 138." Or "Eastbound you have a bear in the middle at Mile Marker 150." Or "Eastbound you'll be running into a backup at the 221 Mile Marker." Or "Eastbound your chicken coupe (scale house) is open (or closed)." Or "Eastbound you'll be running into ice about the 89 Mile Marker with several big trucks in the median." And I'm sure you realize that the CB range is only going to be a a mile or 2 going the opposite direction, so you won't be able to have a long winded conversation with them. If you want to talk to a driver going in the same direction, make sure you call out the company name on the truck (or color and make of truck) so the driver knows that you are talking to them. "Hey Westbound blue Volvo, you got your ears on?" "Thank you black Peterbilt for letting me in." "Hey yellow Kenworth that is a pretty truck, are you an owner operator or is that a company truck?" "Hey black Peterbilt, that's a nice looking tarp job on that flatbed. Looks like a Christmas present." They may talk to you on Channel 19 for a while or may have you go to a different channel to talk. It annoys others when people are having long winded conversations on channel 19. There are literally 39 other channels to use long conversations for. Use Channel 19 for information. Please.
Great information, thank you. I'm never sure what to say because I'm new to this whole thing. Thanks for commenting and sharing all of this information.
😅Propagation was bad the other day, so I glipped fromm 38 LSB to AM 19 and was amazed at how busy it was! Truckers were talking non-stop, and the conversations were G rated. CB is alive and well in Central PA.
My dad was a farmer and into the 90s he and CB set up in his pickup when I was a kid. I remember him striking conversations with truckers on the highway, asking drivers if we were clear to pass them, etc. Good memories. Eventually the farm cres transitioned to nextel and now it's all just cell phones.
Always use cb on long trips. Got me out of a traffic jam from trucker instruction. Good for that. Think u need a linear for respect. I would like to get one Thx for video
I installed a CB with 4' firestick in my truck last year. I live in the Buffalo area and can tell you that there is radio traffic, although it definitely varies based on day and time.
Just installed a CB in my pickup, disappointed with all the noise and skip junk. I can hear someone hundreds of miles away but not anything local. Any help?
Sorry, same here. But, I will still use while traveling just in case. I've not been traveling in bad weather with it and some people say that's when the talking starts. But I've had others say they hear nothing. The skip is great if that's what you want to do but your right local stuff is not very busy at all. Thanks for commenting.
Just recently got back into CB after a long stretch. Had my first CB in 67. Lots of different units since. Still have a Johnson Messenger 40 channel from when they first came out. Currently have a president Bill FCC due to it's minute size, fits in my Bronco Sport very well. Mostly up here in SASK, Canada I get mega skip during the day. All those high power amplifiers, some sound like they're on the next street.
Hey there sask boy. It's another sask boy. I also just got back to CB. I got a new president Lincoln 2. I know a few people in the area cranking up CB again. I still have all my qsl cards from the 70s and 80s. Welcome back.
There’s some CB’s still out there most of the time you only hear them when there’s a accident now everyone has a cell phone but back in the day cb’s were the thing.I still have mine and we travel full time in a RV.
I travel from near Chattanooga to Atlanta often. I put in scan mode and fine a lot of conversations going on. Ch 19 is for traffic but general talk is all over the other channels.
Yes, for sure. I listen to all the other channels all of the time. I just need a better setup to start talking skip. Locally for me not much CB action.
In a few days I will be 68 back in the late 60's and 70's my friends and myself were into CB radio a lot of folks were back that 23 channels and if you went illegal and ran a linear amplifier from around 25 watts to over a 1000 watts at time you could talk thousands of miles away with skip when the atmosphere was right, Yes channel 19 was the road Truckers channel to keep track of open weight stations and smokie reports of radar or a rolling bear in a plain wrapper [ unmarked cop car ] had a lot of fun and back then no cell phones so when we kids wanted to meet up CB's let us communicate to meet up lol. As I recall over the years a lot of truckers mover off CB radio and got ham licenses. A lot of kids over the years got ham licenses and today are the old timers it only took about 50 years lmao I am going 10-7 73's everybody.
I see a lot of trucks without Antennas. I always check when I pass them. Many companies banned the High power radios or modifying a truck. Most use cell phones since mid 2000s . Lots of jamming going on now to and CB "wars" have also turned the truckers that did listen to just turn the radio off. Sad. I loved all the traffic that used to be out there when traveling the I-90. I remember bases used to monitor speed traps and relaying information to others passing through...now Waze seems to be it..
Before I retired I was a serivice tech on the road in Washington State, Pacific North West in and around Seattle and points north to the Canadian border. At that time Ch #17 was the popular trucker channel. I learned later from another tucker that Ch #19 was the favorite East Coast channel while Ch #17 was the popular channel on the West Coast so far as I knew in Wa state. Not sure what channel(s) were use on points south out of Seattle. 73
@paulethier3416 when condition's are right just about any radio and antenna will do. Without conditions it doesn't matter if you have the best of everything.
No offense, but that CB antenna is like the tiny GMRS ones. That is probably why you had few (almost none) contacts. If you want to increase your coverage area on CB I will help you. You need to stay away from the K-30, the Little Will and most of the shorter antennas. They all work but compared to the longer quality antennas THEY ALL SUCK! If you want to stay with the base loaded coil design, that is fine. The best average magnet mount CB antenna would be a K-40. There is a trick to get a little better output out of a K40, there is a tuning mod (where the spark gap is in the coil). Next is the Wilson 1000 (it will out perform the Wilson 5000, but the Wilson 5000 will handle more power). Next is the Sirio Performer 5000 Magnet or the Sirio Turbo 5000 Magnet mount. The Sirio is the best of the best and actually worth the extra money! Sirio Also makes a great magnet mount. Also the Sirio Magnet works much better on the Wilson 1000 than the Wilson Magnet. I am an older CB'er. I have been on the air since 1968, I also used to Own a CB shop during the CB Boom in the 1970's. Just for a reference the whip on the K40 is 58", the whip on the Wilson 1000 is 62" and the Sirio whip is 71". The K40 and the Sirio Magnets will ALL hold all these base loaded coil design antennas to well over 100MPH! No worries the skinny whips have almost no wind load.
Thanks for all of this great information. I’m new at this. Had a CB in my truck in the 90s when I was in high school but never “learned” about CB. I’m learning so much and loving it. Thank you!
Most of the complaints I hear about CB radio is that too many can't handle the trash talk anymore, they take it too seriously. I've been on the radio for longer than I want to admit (1988) but that trash talk was just that talk. In the early 90's I did OTR for a couple years and heard it all the time (I drove for JBHunt) didn't bother me one bit it was all in good fun and kept us awake.
That's a very very easy fix now we using in UK ,use ctcss sub tone codes on FM mode CB. You can now do this on FCC USA CB now's just like gmrs UHF radios. Try president Harrison 2 FCC George 2 FCC Randy 3 II FCC There are more out there too. Rob P 👍
I have a CB in my truck but rarely monitor channel 19. I'm into SSB and from my truck I have talked as far as South Africa ,Europe, and all over the USA and Canada. Lots of chatter there. It's a poor mans Ham radio without all the rules/protocol of Ham. I would try that if interested. I see you're from Western Massachusetts area as am I. There are a few SSB guys base and mobile in this area I regularly speak with on SSB. Not exactly what you were looking for but it can be fun as hell. Why not go to the top of Greylock and test the GMRS as well as your AM CB too? Nice video and thanks for posting.
Thanks for commenting. I'm a little bit more involved with GMRS than I am with CB. But, sideband CB is where I think I'm heading. The CB is way more fun to listen to but the GMRS works well for me for Jeep stuff, just as its suppose to. I think CB is awesome and I'm working toward installing a base radio with sideband. Happy you enjoyed the video.
Hi, great video. I am a long time radio ham and that antenna is too short to be effective on 11m CB radio tbh. You need the longest antenna you can afford on CB, as a short antenna greatly affects efficiency and your range of transmit and receive. On GMRS shorter antennas are not so much of a problem due to the higher frequency and shorter antennas are more of a resonant length. Think of the antenna as the equivalent of a lens in photography, the better the lens the better the results.
I always have my c.b. on when traveling, remember where c.b. is concerned F.M. is a " new mode" probably not a lot of radios with that in them out there yet, I run my amateur radio gear all the time, it has a place though just like GMRS . Study and get your Amateur radio license would be my recommendation That said radio is radio. Have fun.
I have a walkie talkie with an external antenna and I pick up people from literally a thousand miles away but they can never hear me. 19 is busy for me all day, but its listening only at this point.
I drive truck from coast to coast I have a ham radio I have a GRS radio and a Cb Radio 80% of all trucks still have CB radios but only 20% of them turn their CB on .....unless it is adverse weather conditions traffic and other problems (we referred to it as their back up radio when traffic is backed up, they turn the radio on)...I leave my GMRS radio on channel 19 ...and you won't believe this, but nobody has ever answered me on that channel except... get ready here. It comes our good friend randy notaRubicon. Yes!!! I actually talk to him in southern California he and his wife were traveling, and I heard them on channel 19 and him and I talked back-and-forth for about five minutes. Other than that conversation I have never had a conversation with anybody on GMRS channel 19. Now there are many, hundreds of GMRS repeaters and people that use the radio but nobody recognizes channel 19 as a travel channel. The Cb Radio I think you'll be lucky in 100 miles stretch to find five trucks that will answer you back anyways that's the information that I can give you as me and my wife we travel 20 hours a day usually 1200 miles a day and I am always playing on the radio
Thank you, this is great information. Thanks fully we had great weather for the trip so we didn't get a chance to use the backup radio. I like messing with both radios also, I have a GMRS too. Thanks for commenting.
I have both GMRS and CB, never ever hear anyone on GMRS except occ commercial 2 way talk. CB still gets some air but not much. The only talk I ever did on GMRS was with a repeater, and it was the owner! Cool thing with GMRS is you can talk with walkie talkies, family, kids, etc. GMRS can go out further since they allow more power but no one is there!! Going back to CB in my Jeep and truck.
TY. Great report. Wondered about cb. I think you proved that Waze and cell phone obsoleted the radios on the road. Both GMRS and Ham seemed dead as far as road reports on my tests. Off road, GMRS on scan wins. On channel 16 (4x4) if “Not A Rubicon” on You Tube is correct for a universal channel for off road. Hilarious comments about our Resident.😂
GMRS, when created as FRS, was super short range radio. It was basically 2 watt or less walkie talkies mostly used by hikers, skiers, and others who wanted person to person communications without hassle. GMRS with the higher power (typically up to 5 watts, although 50 watts is allowed on some channel) still was mostly used as point to point "family" radios. I don't think it has generated enough interest and enough mass appeal to be anything other than that. CB radio overall is pretty dead now, unless there is something specific going on (traffic jam, etc). Also, with the use of FM approved, you may find that operators have moved in that direction. Finally, let's not forget cell phone based apps. Zello is awesome to be honest. Works pretty much everywhere, doesn't have range limits, doesn't have skip, interference, or any crap like that, and you install nothing except to put your phone on a cradle so you can use it that way. Zello based walkies and traditional "cb looking" radios with PTT mics are widely available and cheap as chips. So yeah, radio is nice, but it really is a rotary dial level communications tool now.
I'm big into CB..... great video,,, a lot of people have shut the CBs off as so many morons with thousands of watts just talk over every one on 19.... but most truckers still listen and keep the squelch way up..... TWO THINGS that antenna is terrible only good for 2 maybe 3 miles range....... if you get a 5 foot antenna it will double your range.. the Tram 3500 ( tram just discontinued it... it was a $40.00 antenna and worked great if you find one even for 50 or 60 dollars it's worth it )... the Tram 3500 does 20 plus miles on 4 watts.... and 2ND that radio is easily adjusted to 8 watts and I have seen people using a Tram 3500 antenna and the CS-47 after modification and getting 25 miles range..... just search youtube for CS-47 modify and try this again if you ever go on another trip.... great video you certainly did try to get people talking! but with that antenna you would have to get someone awfully close... I enjoyed the video thank you
I already knew that GMRS is not meant to be used like the old CB radio back in the day. CB radio is meant for sharing information with fellow travelers, not necessary in your party. Yall keep the Shiney Side Up and don't FEED the BEARS. 73 DE WQAI363
I'm 34 years old and I have both GMRS and cb and I'd probably prefer to use a CB radio when I travel due to I get better range out of it over my GMRS radio
General topography in the south gmrs frequencies just don't have much range simplex. Perfect for several people in close proximity, but from the real world tests i have done you aren't gonna be reaching very far with you signal. And i assume CB is about like anything else in that people just are gonna be sitting there monitoring like they used to due to the convenience of cell phone communications, and if they are they aren't just gonna pick up and start chatting with anyone they hear, but may key up when they run across something they believe others that may be monitoring need to know. ("Full grown smokie under the exit 15 overpass eastbound." Or "traffic backed up on the I-9 from a wreck 5 miles up.") For just general conversation with strangers while traveling nothing will beat HF ham. All that to say the different services all have a different use case. That doesn't make any one better than the other, just maybe better for a specific purpose. Stay radioactive. 73
I live in san antonio tx cb radio 19 is always busy and if there's skip talking around the world and better with side band...get a better antenna like a Wilson1000 better radio you be getting more than 20 miles
Better taller antenna will get you out much better. Height is might. Not as many truckers running radios anymore but some still do. I run one and also one in my personal vehicle. You'll find alot on side band
@@paulethier3416 just set my own up about a month ago, antron 99 on a 19 foot mast, gets a little more than 2/3 of it over my roof. The tip is 37 feet in the air. It's gotten out to Trinidad, Ireland, the uk, Netherlands and Germany so far. Heard Australia one evening but couldn't raise him.i run a cb with side band in my semi as well.
There is a lot out there just not traveling on the highway. Skip seems to be the way CB is being used the most. However, others have commented that during bad weather or traffic backups CB comes alive, but I've not experience that.
Mobile phone killed CB. Cell phone also killed Amateur radio. The only problem will cell is you can't really call some random person near by. If you want to talk to someone on the cb you have to call out, a lot. There's still a few truckees and RVers out there whom will talk back but they have to be pretty close. You can transmit and receive reliably to anyone within eyesight. Sometimes you can talk farther if conditions permit. If you want a cb for emergencies you will find it fails in many ways.
Right now we're going into solar Sunspot Cycle 25 which means that on CB the skip conditions are worldwide even with 4w during the day in the early evening
Know your use case for CB. Before cellphones, there was a lot of use cases such as if you're a trucker, getting your number called for the loading gate. Now, unless you like a lot of trash talk and nonsense, there are not so many use cases. What follows is the best use case I ever had used the CB radio for: * Winter in the 1990's! Imagine snow covered Alaska Highway in the middle of nowhere in the Yukon territory. Your in dash AM/FM car stereo has been on scan for 6 hours and still hasn't found a station. And now you are coming up behind slow moving tractor/trailer rig. Even though the last oncoming car was seen a couple of hours ago, passing the truck without first talking to them is unthinkable. The big rig is kicking up snow dust impossible to see through. THIS is where CB shines. The trucker is your eyes, letting you know the road is straight and no cars are coming. Your life is now in trust to this stranger. Passing, it's not until our tiny pickup truck is next to the tractors rear two axles that we can finally see through the snow. Traveling at about 25mph faster than the trucker, a lonely road for a trucker, he was happy to talk for another half hour or so as the capabilities of the radios would allow.
The antenna you are using is not really suited for long range. It’s good enough to communicate within a couple of miles. It sounded like your squelch was set too high. When I need to talk, I set my squelch off so I can pickup everything out there. I have both CB and GMRS in my car. As long as you can get into a repeater, you will find someone to talk to on GMRS. It is usually monitored by someone associated with the machine.
I run a CB in my truck that dead keys 100 W swinging to 900 and I try to talk to people and barely anyone is running a CB anymore with this new trucker generation… it’s nice to have like other people in the comments when there is a traffic jam or accident, but that’s all they are good for nowadays. It’s definitely good that I can reach out over a lot of other people when I need to though.
You should get a ham radio license if you want to have radio traffic on the road. There is a national call frequency on 2M 146.52 MHz My radio I have in my jeep has 50 Watts of power. The sky is the limit om ham radio.
Maybe someday. I'm just getting back into CB and I got my GMRS license so I'm enjoying that right now. Thanks for commenting and sharing your experiences.
Im a travel nurse from Nevada who will be working and traveling to rural ne Montana . I might get a cb for emergencies or just to have on. Thanks for the info. I used to use them on road trips in the 80’s and early 90’s but it has been awhile.
You need to try with a SSB capable radio. I took a president McKinley from Tucson to San Diego and there was heavy traffic all way long on ch. 36 - 39 LSB. I even made a couple of contacts as far as Florida and Ohio mobile in the middle of nowhere with 12 watts.
CB is better for road travel, GMRS is 467 MHz and the wavelength is about 1 foot for a full wave, 6 inches for a 1/4 wave, 70 cm. So the distance that signal will travel is significantly reduced in comparison to CB radio which is 11 meters, 36 feet for a full wave and 8 feet 6 inches for 1/4 wave. Whether or not you find people talking simply depends upon local radio traffic & DX conditions. 2 months ago there should have been some DX (skip) on the radio. Although I don’t think the Cobra antenna would be my choice. You might want to get yourself a Wilson 1000 if you are serious about using CB radio mobile. GMRS is good from car to car on a trip, unless you make the same trip often and know of GMRS repeaters along the traveled route. CB is free, GMRS requires a fee for a 10 year license which is a personal preference. They both have their uses, travel is not really one of them for GMRS unless you have a list of repeaters along the way. You can find local repeaters for GMRS online. Hope this helps. 73’
Thanks for commenting. Yeah this radio is just a entry level CB only, no sideband. Maybe someday I will get one with sideband. I'm currently contemplating a base radio setup.
@@paulethier3416 if you like the CB even a little bit you'll love ham. Cuts out most of the jerks static and you can talk all over the world jst a hundred watt radio and a wire and the license. I use the endfed half wave single wire antenna got from eBay.
I know almost next to nothing about CB comms and driving industry terminology...is "SWL" a single-wide load? Is that like moving MIC equipment, or/and double-wide homes/trailers on a single trailer?
great video you will prob catch more on AM mode then FM at this point, Because FM was just made legal for CB radio FM i feel will help CB come back alive
When there's a big traffic jam, CB comes alive like it's the 70s. It's great.
And also in emergencies.. Use an SSB one and get on 37 or 38 LSB.
@@davidmonteil6340 yep, I hear people often talking on channel 38 LSB hear near Seattle Washington. I always use a 9' foot stainless steel CB antenna whip on my vehicle. Some people laugh😆at me when they walk by my car at store parking lots when I am talking on my Cobra 148GTL radio. They ask me what the tall antenna is used for ?
So he doesn't even scan the whole 40 channels? why did he only keep trying to make contact on channel 19?? 🤦🤦🤦😂😂
Or when a hurricane or foul weather rolls in.
Yeah, the CB road chatter died with universal Internet coverage on the highways. Now you can chat with people you really want to chat to, or tune in to any kind of music or podcasts or audiobooks you want. In other words, CB was popular because of boredom, now it's just a tool for when you really need to talk to other drivers nearby.
I retired 3 yrs ago, after 42 years in a truck. The last 30 where with a national LTL carrier, so I pretty much stayed in AR, MO, KS, OK and TX. So most of us running overnite on regular runs had switched to cell phones using apps where we could do group calls. We've had up to 10 people on a call. With that said, if guys hadn't gotten rid of their cb, then it was either off or turned down low and not paid much attention to. I'm also an extra class ham, so i usually monitored the 75/40m or 2m repeaters on my route
I'm a convention worker at Eastern semi-annual trade shows, and drive my van in the evenings and into the early mornings. I enjoy listening to the truckers gab. The CB for them is useful, I think, to keep themselves awake and alert when they have their conversations.
Cb is more than alive especially today. Some of yall dont know about CB antenna SWR tuning and the right antenna = happy radio. I talk to people everyday on my Cobra CB 19 Ultra mini
Try AM, they didn't change the availability for FM until recently. Lots of old CBers probably still use AM.
I'm 54 years old. When I was a kid in North Carolina in the 70's, my father ran a CB repair shop out of the closed-in back porch of our house. Truckers and regular folks alike would bring their radios to him all hours of the day and night for him to fix and "hop up". I won't cover the whole history of CB radio in this comment, but, the reason they settled on channel 19 as the "go-to" channel was because they normally tuned their antenna for channel 19. Channel 19 was in the center of the assigned standard 40-channel layout, so tuning the antenna SWR on channel 19 gave you the best over-all performance. So, the radio worked best on channel 19 when the rig was calibrated in this manner. I enjoyed your video, but you need to learn the lingo if you expect a response from anybody. Try this next time: "Breaker, breaker 1 9, anybody got your ears on???" ;) I know it may sound corny, but, may I suggest that you find and listen to the 70's novelty hit song "Convoy" by C.W. McCall... LOL Nowadays, I listen to CB on my laptop and and an SDR dongle. For some reason, it appears that the big talk channel now is channel 6 and "talking skip" (bouncing the signal off of the ionosphere for extended range) is on channel 11. The most popular mode is AM, but sometimes I hear SSB (Single Side Band- both Upper or Lower)... I don't know that I've ever heard FM mode used in the CB band...
FM have been in common use in Europe since the 80`s and im 55y. started with CB as 10 year ish, all houses had a CB radio. housewife "phone" gossip at channel 40 FM or some AM channel if longer range. AM`S was 3-5W but then there came a new law late 80 . AM you can use 0.5W 23 channels and FM 4W 40 channels . calling channel for all was Ch3... In the 90-2000 there was mostly FM40 to buy in local shops but i post ordered all my 10m radios from USA and Japan . yes U know.."240" channels SSB/AM/FM/CW Cobra and superstar . and i had several midlands and Hygain as well and 50++ more radios. can`t remember all in one day so to speak :) . i live in Northern Norway and had skip contact with a Trucker in USA 1989..Amazing good skip back then..The skip have picked up again but now mostly eastern europe ,germany . had UK and italy skip mostly back then. Had a huge huge 10 dipole directional Hy gain antenna in the late 80`s-- was the biggest 10-11 m antenna to order. ordered it to sweden and drove it to Norway .big package on the roof over costum / border ..lol
Thanks for commenting. Yeah the lingo thing, I wasn't sure if the breaker, breaker thing was still used. Its been 35 years or so since I used a CB. I'll get better with the lingo. Thanks for sharing that information about the tuning.
Everyone is a know it all about channel 19 but I’m here to inform you the channel 19 existed long before 40 channels now go back and figure the 23 channel radios
Get on the CB and use the lingo call me a good buddy and you get more “F bombs” thrown at you than you can think of
We were using channel 19 as the road channel before 40 channel CBs were even a thing!
Chiming in from Canada. I'm a bit of an outdoorsman, I use CB on active logging roads avoiding playing chicken with a loaded rig, as they call out their mileage.
Between friends, 4x4 rigs, road trips, we use FRS-GMRS usually hand helds.
Thanks for commenting and sharing your experience.
I also love the LADD VHF allocation that they seem to use in (I think) Alberta?
Great Video, I have both CB and GMRS in my pickup truck, we travel a lot between LA and Vegas. I leave the CB on the scan mode, I use the GMRS just for car-to-car. The only time the CB comes alive is when there is a major accident.
Thanks for the commenting and sharing. I have both radios as well but like I said in the video we didn't have any traffic or weather issues and I think you're right it would work well in those situations.
@@paulethier3416 we need to put bumper stickers on our cars to encourage people to use CB radios in their cars and houses !
✅ CB radios and 2 meter radios are good backup communications when the corrupt politicians shut down the cellphone towers.
Damn bro Louisiana to Vegas is a long trip! CB lights up when something's wrong up the road for sure! Really helps for a long journey like that.
Yeah, this is exactly why I still always have a CB on long trips- accidents/bad weather/things going nuts, etc. It would be nice if CB radio was like it was back in the day as far as finding "bears" and such and having cool conversations. But even if it's still only useful for emergencies, that's still an awesome use for it. Cell phone signals can go down or be bad in areas. Wildfires have burned up cell towers. Sunspots happen, etc. It's a great emergency tool for when everything goes haywire even to this day.
i have a cb and GMRS and ham radio in my car. CB RADIO should be a must for truckers should be a law to be installed in Commerical and state police vehicles. But i finally got my friends to use FRS/ GMRS for traveling. Great video keep up the great work
Thank you for commenting. I'm happy you enjoyed the video.
Yeah, but I think what turns people off to c.b. is that guy in New Mexico. He basically takes over 19 with his buddies.
Trucks come factory equipped with CB antennas and a place to plug your personal CB in the overhead console. Company drivers sometimes switch trucks frequently.
In Australia 27Mhz has mostly been replaced by UHF.. which sucks.. cause SSB was the baby thrown out with the bath water.. Its making a comeback now thankfully!
I have made many contacts in Australia on 11 meters SSB using a 5/8 ground plane and 100 watts, from the southwestern U.S.
I live on a tall hillside 40 miles North of Seattle in Washington State USA. Somedays I am able to hear people talking from Australia and Hawaii on my Cobra 148GTL radio CB. My Cobra radio was made in the Philippines in the 20th century. I have a 9' foot stainless steel CB antenna on the top of my car.
@@unitedstatesirie7431 That's really cool. I would like to hear Australia on one of my radios.
Get both. Before cell phones CB was really useful. In high school we coordinated our parties. That was fun. Road coms, CB. Family coms, GMRS.
I have a President McKinley with a 5 ft Fire Stick. From NJ to NC every month. Truckers don’t want to talk anymore. However, it’s fun to listen to chatter from across the country when conditions are right.
I was a schoolkid at the height of the 70's CB craze. It was the go-to, for 2way communications for folks of all walks of life until the skip became a daily occurrence around mid 1978 or so. I Thought the skip effect was pretty cool, and entertaining too, which for myself which got me more into CB , but for my friends and everyone else around me , it was the death of CB as a hipster fad.
I’m an old retired police officer and “back in the day” truckers helped our Highway Patrol often. But things change with generations.
In my case, I’ve gone back to CB but keep it on ch-9 & 19 to just listen unless info needed or I am needed.
"Truckers" are this new cell phone generation, they think cb is "boomer" territory and think its stupid. So you dont even hear much on 19 anymore. But, theres still a few that see the value in it and know how important they can be. There will come a time in this country that cell phones wont work, and a cb will be invaluable. Its coming.
@@lescobrandon3047 got your six blue.
When we take a road trip, I always hook up one of my (many) CBs. The trick to getting some response from truckers (I retired from trucking 10 years ago) is to pick out a particular truck going the opposite way (like Schneider or Swift [GASP!], CRST, Prime, etc) and ask something about road conditions, weather conditions, or even your radio signal. If you pinpoint someone in particular you are much more likely to get a response. Things were a lot different in the 70' when I started trucking. You almost couldn't get a word in edgewise! So, ask CRST if "they are on this one" and see if they respond.
Oh, when I started trucking, CB's had only 23 channels and 10 was the trucking channel. They moved to 19 when we got 40 channels because supposedly, 10 was too close to 9, and that is still 'supposedly' the emergency channel even though almost no one monitors it.
Loved your 'joe' comments. Saying you loved him should have gotten you shot - Hahahahahaha!
Thanks for commenting and sharing this great information. I think from here on out I'll be bringing a CB with me on all future road trips.
55 years hobby electronics and CB and HF radio and antenna experience... in my humble opinion...
Best mobile antenna compared to all others... 'Wilson 1000', magnetic or through hole roof mount.
It has a 62 inch radiator. Don't buy the shorter ones if you want to get out, and hear, any distance.
Size and quality is EVERYTHING for distance. Go with 'Wilson 1000' and be done with it.
Shorter ones, such as the 'Wilson Little Wil', and such, will suffice for close-by comms, such as car to car within a couple of kilometers of each other. But there's more available to the 'physically' longer antenna.
Best mobile AM/SSB radios... President George FCC, small President McKinley USA, or Uniden 980 SSB.
Best mobile HF, (AM/FM/SSB) radios... Anytone 5555n2, Anytone 6666, or President Lincoln 2+.
Best 'just AM' and/or AM/FM radios... anything commercially available from President, Uniden, or Cobra.
Just buy a new one! Don't risk getting anything that's had a "Golden Screwdriver" in it.
Ok, thank you for the recommendation
Very interesting on AM, FM is still new, I live just north of BOS and was thinking of installing a compact one in my truck for my trips north.
I would still install one. There is a lot on CB and although I have not experience it I'm told in bad weather or heavy traffic CB comes alive.
I-10 from Jacksonville to Houston is very busy on the cb.
I have cobra 29LTD and use wilson 5000 antenna magnet base, and I always hear them talking on channel 19 in western
Channel 17 in Eastern.
So i can hear them talking 20 plus miles away. My uncles is out there driven trucks, I miss so much and love my CB's
Thanks for the info
Thanks for the video, am looking into CB. I just did a 6000 mile vacation from TN to ND, SD, Yellowstone NP, Teton, and back home. Was listening to ham 146.52 for the entire trip, completely dead. 30 miles into the trip my power cord to the Midland GMRS broke in the 12 volt socket so out of luck there.
Thanks for commenting. Other people on here have said that CB is kinda quiet until there is bad weather, traffic or an accident. We didn’t experience any of that so it was pretty quiet.
I recently did a trip going up to Cleveland, Ohio on I-71 North and back down to southeastern Ohio and was surprisingly able to get quite a few contacts on channel 19. We made roughly 7 contacts, most of them being radio checks. The rest were very immature and stupid chatter sessions but honestly very fun. We even passed one of the people we made contact with and waved at them. When we were in the Cleveland area, there was a great amount of radio chatter on channel 19. Mostly unintelligible, and most likely skip, but still very incredible and I've never heard that much chatter on the radio before. Very great video, I'm happy to see others trying to make contacts on CB. 73!
Awesome thank you for sharing that. CB is awesome and it’s fun listening to everything.
A few years ago my wife and I were traveling from Florida to New Jersey along I-95. I believe that we were in South Carolina when traffic started to slow down in the north bound lanes and there was no traffic in the south bound lanes. A few miles ahead, there was a multi vehicle accident which closed down the south lanes. I have a CB in my Jeep and I started getting calls on 19 to ask what was happening. I let them know that the lanes were closed and to get off as soon as possible. Other than that, there was no other reports.
Thank you for commenting and sharing that story.
we have alot people use cb radios in Tennessee truckers on cb radios on channel19 am,channel,28 am,channel 26 am if outside knoxville,tn
if get out rural areas near knoxville,tn outside knoxville on i40.
Thank you for commenting and sharing this information.
Sad what's happened to CB. My first right was a Robyn T-123 tube set with a Hi-gain Chicken Choker and Super Penetrator antenna on the roof. Then I moved up to the President Washington Base a few months later. In my truck I had the Cobra 138XLR with dual fire stick antennas. From the age of sixteen, I met every one of my present friends on those boxes, from all over Western New York and as far away as Port Colburn, Ontario, on AM. CB radio was pretty much the old school dating app too and some of this ladies sounded like super models but many times you discovered that these gals were only on CB because they were too big and hefty to even walk out their front door and UGLY !!! Holy crow !! There was this one gal name Giggles and her trusty sidekick, Sweet Pea. Heavier than a Red Angus and looks only a mother could love. A whole slew of them fellas have since passed on but their handles live on in conversations at our local breakfast dive. Puddle Jumper, Speedy, Jolly Green Giant, Chug-a-lug, K5, King Snake, Sunflower, Foxy Lady, Pickles, Chopper, Fonz, and yours truly, Bandit. I ended up changing my handle to Ridge Runner because of the movie and then two years later had to get my car repainted because of the Dukes of Hazard. I had the Stars and Bars custom painted on my White 69' Charger long before the show was on TV.
If you want some information from the opposite direction traffic, you have to give them some information yourself.
Say for an example you are traveling west, just get on the CB channel 19 and tell them what is front of them.
If eastbound is clear to the ramp you got on at, let say you got on the highway at 138, then say "Eastbound you are clear to exit 138."
Or "Eastbound you have a bear in the middle at Mile Marker 150."
Or "Eastbound you'll be running into a backup at the 221 Mile Marker."
Or "Eastbound your chicken coupe (scale house) is open (or closed)."
Or "Eastbound you'll be running into ice about the 89 Mile Marker with several big trucks in the median."
And I'm sure you realize that the CB range is only going to be a a mile or 2 going the opposite direction, so you won't be able to have a long winded conversation with them.
If you want to talk to a driver going in the same direction, make sure you call out the company name on the truck (or color and make of truck) so the driver knows that you are talking to them.
"Hey Westbound blue Volvo, you got your ears on?"
"Thank you black Peterbilt for letting me in."
"Hey yellow Kenworth that is a pretty truck, are you an owner operator or is that a company truck?"
"Hey black Peterbilt, that's a nice looking tarp job on that flatbed. Looks like a Christmas present."
They may talk to you on Channel 19 for a while or may have you go to a different channel to talk. It annoys others when people are having long winded conversations on channel 19.
There are literally 39 other channels to use long conversations for.
Use Channel 19 for information. Please.
Great information, thank you. I'm never sure what to say because I'm new to this whole thing. Thanks for commenting and sharing all of this information.
When doing an swr check all doors on vehicle must be closed to get a accurate reading. Thanks.
Great point! Thank you.
😅Propagation was bad the other day, so I glipped fromm 38 LSB to AM 19 and was amazed at how busy it was! Truckers were talking non-stop, and the conversations were G rated. CB is alive and well in Central PA.
My dad was a farmer and into the 90s he and CB set up in his pickup when I was a kid. I remember him striking conversations with truckers on the highway, asking drivers if we were clear to pass them, etc. Good memories. Eventually the farm cres transitioned to nextel and now it's all just cell phones.
Always use cb on long trips. Got me out of a traffic jam from trucker instruction. Good for that. Think u need a linear for respect. I would like to get one Thx for video
Very true. Thank you for commenting.
I installed a CB with 4' firestick in my truck last year. I live in the Buffalo area and can tell you that there is radio traffic, although it definitely varies based on day and time.
Just installed a CB in my pickup, disappointed with all the noise and skip junk. I can hear someone hundreds of miles away but not anything local. Any help?
Sorry, same here. But, I will still use while traveling just in case. I've not been traveling in bad weather with it and some people say that's when the talking starts. But I've had others say they hear nothing. The skip is great if that's what you want to do but your right local stuff is not very busy at all. Thanks for commenting.
In Tennessee you can hear a lot of traffic on channels 6 & 9.
Thanks for commenting
About 20 years ago on a fishing trip to Wisconsin, we used my CB to bypass a huge traffic jam by communicating with some truckers
Great story thanks for sharing it.
Still running Cobra 29, 23 Channel CB Radios in 27 of my 38 Trucks. Drivers love them, Peaked and tuned.
Just recently got back into CB after a long stretch. Had my first CB in 67. Lots of different units since. Still have a Johnson Messenger 40 channel from when they first came out. Currently have a president Bill FCC due to it's minute size, fits in my Bronco Sport very well. Mostly up here in SASK, Canada I get mega skip during the day. All those high power amplifiers, some sound like they're on the next street.
I agree. I'm picking up stuff thousands of miles away. Thanks for commenting.
Hey there sask boy. It's another sask boy. I also just got back to CB. I got a new president Lincoln 2. I know a few people in the area cranking up CB again. I still have all my qsl cards from the 70s and 80s. Welcome back.
@@SocialistDistancing Channel 19 Outlaws out of Regina about 1975
@@fredhinck9685 I may one of their patches. I forgot about them.
I just heard Montreal and Saskatchewan on 38 lsb. I'm in northern cal
I'm a CB operator since I was 13. Lots of trucks don't use the CB like they used to. 713 SDS-1 North Dallas.
Thank you for commenting. Yes, its very evident. I don't even see antennas on trucks much anymore.
There’s some CB’s still out there most of the time you only hear them when there’s a accident now everyone has a cell phone but back in the day cb’s were the thing.I still have mine and we travel full time in a RV.
Thank you for sharing this.
You gotta say BREAKER BREAKER ONE NINE for a radio check
I travel from near Chattanooga to Atlanta often. I put in scan mode and fine a lot of conversations going on. Ch 19 is for traffic but general talk is all over the other channels.
Yes, for sure. I listen to all the other channels all of the time. I just need a better setup to start talking skip. Locally for me not much CB action.
In a few days I will be 68 back in the late 60's and 70's my friends and myself were into CB radio a lot of folks were back that 23 channels and if you went illegal and ran a linear amplifier from around 25 watts to over a 1000 watts at time you could talk thousands of miles away with skip when the atmosphere was right, Yes channel 19 was the road Truckers channel to keep track of open weight stations and smokie reports of radar or a rolling bear in a plain wrapper [ unmarked cop car ] had a lot of fun and back then no cell phones so when we kids wanted to meet up CB's let us communicate to meet up lol. As I recall over the years a lot of truckers mover off CB radio and got ham licenses. A lot of kids over the years got ham licenses and today are the old timers it only took about 50 years lmao I am going 10-7 73's everybody.
Thanks for the comment and sharing. We used CB about 35 years ago when I was just a kid. It's fun getting back into it.
Since I moved away from the I-95 corridor and got back to Iowa, my Midland is now set to NOAA Channel 7 nearly all the time.
Thanks for the video. 21 S.C. South Carolina Old Radio Night
Glad you enjoyed it
I see a lot of trucks without Antennas. I always check when I pass them. Many companies banned the High power radios or modifying a truck. Most use cell phones since mid 2000s . Lots of jamming going on now to and CB "wars" have also turned the truckers that did listen to just turn the radio off. Sad. I loved all the traffic that used to be out there when traveling the I-90. I remember bases used to monitor speed traps and relaying information to others passing through...now Waze seems to be it..
I noticed that too, no antennas. Its crazy.
@@paulethier3416 yeah, newer trucks sometimes don’t even have an option to mount on the mirrors as they are all plastic covered now
I get a lot of CB traffic here in Southern AZ, mostly truckers hauling materials from work sights. Really depends on the area you live.
Thanks for sharing
Before I retired I was a serivice tech on the road in Washington State, Pacific North West in and around Seattle and points north to the Canadian border. At that time Ch #17 was the popular trucker channel. I learned later from another tucker that Ch #19 was the favorite East Coast channel while Ch #17 was the popular channel on the West Coast so far as I knew in Wa state. Not sure what channel(s) were use on points south out of Seattle. 73
I tried them all on I90 in NY and limited action. I'm sure if the weather was bad it would have been busy. Thanks for leaving a comment.
That radio you have works excellent with a RM Italy Kl-203 amp
Ok good to know. I was thinking of making it into a base station. I might look at that.
The cb frequencies get active when the skip comes rolling in, often from around the world.
Thanks for commenting. I can hear a bunch from all over the country. I need a better radio and antenna setup before I get into that.
@paulethier3416 when condition's are right just about any radio and antenna will do.
Without conditions it doesn't matter if you have the best of everything.
Sounds like there needs to be a "Paul Ethier Raw" channel so we can hear what that trucker said.
No offense, but that CB antenna is like the tiny GMRS ones. That is probably why you had few (almost none) contacts. If you want to increase your coverage area on CB I will help you. You need to stay away from the K-30, the Little Will and most of the shorter antennas. They all work but compared to the longer quality antennas THEY ALL SUCK! If you want to stay with the base loaded coil design, that is fine. The best average magnet mount CB antenna would be a K-40. There is a trick to get a little better output out of a K40, there is a tuning mod (where the spark gap is in the coil). Next is the Wilson 1000 (it will out perform the Wilson 5000, but the Wilson 5000 will handle more power). Next is the Sirio Performer 5000 Magnet or the Sirio Turbo 5000 Magnet mount. The Sirio is the best of the best and actually worth the extra money! Sirio Also makes a great magnet mount. Also the Sirio Magnet works much better on the Wilson 1000 than the Wilson Magnet. I am an older CB'er. I have been on the air since 1968, I also used to Own a CB shop during the CB Boom in the 1970's. Just for a reference the whip on the K40 is 58", the whip on the Wilson 1000 is 62" and the Sirio whip is 71". The K40 and the Sirio Magnets will ALL hold all these base loaded coil design antennas to well over 100MPH! No worries the skinny whips have almost no wind load.
Thanks for all of this great information. I’m new at this. Had a CB in my truck in the 90s when I was in high school but never “learned” about CB. I’m learning so much and loving it. Thank you!
Most of the complaints I hear about CB radio is that too many can't handle the trash talk anymore, they take it too seriously. I've been on the radio for longer than I want to admit (1988) but that trash talk was just that talk. In the early 90's I did OTR for a couple years and heard it all the time (I drove for JBHunt) didn't bother me one bit it was all in good fun and kept us awake.
Thanks for the comment and sharing that story.
That's a very very easy fix now we using in UK ,use ctcss sub tone codes on FM mode CB.
You can now do this on FCC USA CB now's just like gmrs UHF radios.
Try president
Harrison 2 FCC
George 2 FCC
Randy 3 II FCC
There are more out there too.
Rob P 👍
I was a mechanic at the jb hunt shop in Houston in the early 90s
I have a CB in my truck but rarely monitor channel 19. I'm into SSB and from my truck I have talked as far as South Africa ,Europe, and all over the USA and Canada. Lots of chatter there. It's a poor mans Ham radio without all the rules/protocol of Ham. I would try that if interested. I see you're from Western Massachusetts area as am I. There are a few SSB guys base and mobile in this area I regularly speak with on SSB. Not exactly what you were looking for but it can be fun as hell. Why not go to the top of Greylock and test the GMRS as well as your AM CB too? Nice video and thanks for posting.
Thanks for commenting. I'm a little bit more involved with GMRS than I am with CB. But, sideband CB is where I think I'm heading. The CB is way more fun to listen to but the GMRS works well for me for Jeep stuff, just as its suppose to. I think CB is awesome and I'm working toward installing a base radio with sideband. Happy you enjoyed the video.
I'm wanting to get either cb or gmrs for emergency but not really sure which would be best .
Just get both no big deal no regrats
On the highways I think CB would be best
hello go for a 27mhz am/fm/usb/lsb ssb cb radio.
Working on it. I'm thinking about installing a base station. Thanks for commenting.
You stayed in my area im about 10 minutes from seneca casino. Cool stuff.
Thats cool. We are headed back there in May. Our Niece graduates from UB.
Hi, great video. I am a long time radio ham and that antenna is too short to be effective on 11m CB radio tbh. You need the longest antenna you can afford on CB, as a short antenna greatly affects efficiency and your range of transmit and receive. On GMRS shorter antennas are not so much of a problem due to the higher frequency and shorter antennas are more of a resonant length. Think of the antenna as the equivalent of a lens in photography, the better the lens the better the results.
Thanks for the info! This is very helpful. I’m kinda new to this so this is great advice. Thank you.
I always have my c.b. on when traveling, remember where c.b. is concerned F.M. is a " new mode" probably not a lot of radios with that in them out there yet, I run my amateur radio gear all the time, it has a place though just like GMRS . Study and get your Amateur radio license would be my recommendation
That said radio is radio.
Have fun.
Thanks for commenting and sharing your experience. I'm having fun learning GMRS and getting back into CB after 30 years or so. Lots of fun.
Ah the good ol children's band haha. I grew up on cb and now have my gmrs & ham license but I still have and use my cb mobile & base station.
I have a walkie talkie with an external antenna and I pick up people from literally a thousand miles away but they can never hear me. 19 is busy for me all day, but its listening only at this point.
I hear ya. Its all about the antenna and sideband so I'm told. Someday I'll find the right combination of radio and antenna. Thanks for commenting.
Did you scan with the GMRS? With travel tones?
We scanned but without tones.
Nice video. If you really want to get out, look into a Sirio 5000 or styker mag mount.
Ok, thank you. I will check them out.
I drive truck from coast to coast I have a ham radio I have a GRS radio and a Cb Radio 80% of all trucks still have CB radios but only 20% of them turn their CB on .....unless it is adverse weather conditions traffic and other problems (we referred to it as their back up radio when traffic is backed up, they turn the radio on)...I leave my GMRS radio on channel 19 ...and you won't believe this, but nobody has ever answered me on that channel except... get ready here. It comes our good friend randy notaRubicon. Yes!!! I actually talk to him in southern California he and his wife were traveling, and I heard them on channel 19 and him and I talked back-and-forth for about five minutes. Other than that conversation I have never had a conversation with anybody on GMRS channel 19. Now there are many, hundreds of GMRS repeaters and people that use the radio but nobody recognizes channel 19 as a travel channel. The Cb Radio I think you'll be lucky in 100 miles stretch to find five trucks that will answer you back
anyways that's the information that I can give you as me and my wife we travel 20 hours a day usually 1200 miles a day and I am always playing on the radio
Thank you, this is great information. Thanks fully we had great weather for the trip so we didn't get a chance to use the backup radio. I like messing with both radios also, I have a GMRS too. Thanks for commenting.
I have both GMRS and CB, never ever hear anyone on GMRS except occ commercial 2 way talk. CB still gets some air but not much. The only talk I ever did on GMRS was with a repeater, and it was the owner! Cool thing with GMRS is you can talk with walkie talkies, family, kids, etc. GMRS can go out further since they allow more power but no one is there!! Going back to CB in my Jeep and truck.
TY. Great report. Wondered about cb. I think you proved that Waze and cell phone obsoleted the radios on the road. Both GMRS and Ham seemed dead as far as road reports on my tests. Off road, GMRS on scan wins. On channel 16 (4x4) if “Not A Rubicon” on You Tube is correct for a universal channel for off road. Hilarious comments about our Resident.😂
Thanks for commenting.
I tried CB locally . Got more on AM. Much less on FM. I did hear some truckers talking.
No much around here locally but it’s fun to listen to
GMRS, when created as FRS, was super short range radio. It was basically 2 watt or less walkie talkies mostly used by hikers, skiers, and others who wanted person to person communications without hassle. GMRS with the higher power (typically up to 5 watts, although 50 watts is allowed on some channel) still was mostly used as point to point "family" radios. I don't think it has generated enough interest and enough mass appeal to be anything other than that.
CB radio overall is pretty dead now, unless there is something specific going on (traffic jam, etc). Also, with the use of FM approved, you may find that operators have moved in that direction.
Finally, let's not forget cell phone based apps. Zello is awesome to be honest. Works pretty much everywhere, doesn't have range limits, doesn't have skip, interference, or any crap like that, and you install nothing except to put your phone on a cradle so you can use it that way. Zello based walkies and traditional "cb looking" radios with PTT mics are widely available and cheap as chips.
So yeah, radio is nice, but it really is a rotary dial level communications tool now.
Thank you for leaving a comment.
I run a cobra 29 with turbo echo and it's peaked and tuned I get truckers all upset when that echo is on
All the CB action is either on 26.805 FM or from channel 35 lower Sideband up to 27.855 mhz
Thank you for sharing that information.
I'm big into CB..... great video,,, a lot of people have shut the CBs off as so many morons with thousands of watts just talk over every one on 19.... but most truckers still listen and keep the squelch way up..... TWO THINGS that antenna is terrible only good for 2 maybe 3 miles range....... if you get a 5 foot antenna it will double your range.. the Tram 3500 ( tram just discontinued it... it was a $40.00 antenna and worked great if you find one even for 50 or 60 dollars it's worth it )... the Tram 3500 does 20 plus miles on 4 watts.... and 2ND that radio is easily adjusted to 8 watts and I have seen people using a Tram 3500 antenna and the CS-47 after modification and getting 25 miles range..... just search youtube for CS-47 modify and try this again if you ever go on another trip.... great video you certainly did try to get people talking! but with that antenna you would have to get someone awfully close... I enjoyed the video thank you
Thank you for this information. Very helpful.
Side band Chanel 38 lsb 37 lsb .
Alot of cbers are using lsb on cb. And it sends and receives farther.
Nice vid.
Thanks for commenting. I hope to try the sideband thing soon.
I already knew that GMRS is not meant to be used like the old CB radio back in the day. CB radio is meant for sharing information with fellow travelers, not necessary in your party. Yall keep the Shiney Side Up and don't FEED the BEARS. 73 DE WQAI363
Thanks for commenting. Bye, Bye, Bye I'm reading the mail. 😂
I'm 34 years old and I have both GMRS and cb and I'd probably prefer to use a CB radio when I travel due to I get better range out of it over my GMRS radio
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
General topography in the south gmrs frequencies just don't have much range simplex. Perfect for several people in close proximity, but from the real world tests i have done you aren't gonna be reaching very far with you signal. And i assume CB is about like anything else in that people just are gonna be sitting there monitoring like they used to due to the convenience of cell phone communications, and if they are they aren't just gonna pick up and start chatting with anyone they hear, but may key up when they run across something they believe others that may be monitoring need to know. ("Full grown smokie under the exit 15 overpass eastbound." Or "traffic backed up on the I-9 from a wreck 5 miles up.")
For just general conversation with strangers while traveling nothing will beat HF ham.
All that to say the different services all have a different use case. That doesn't make any one better than the other, just maybe better for a specific purpose.
Stay radioactive. 73
Thanks for commenting.
Is it correct that when on FM a CB on AM doesn’t pick it up?
I'm not sure I've never tried it. When listening to skip on 38 if I put mine on FM I can still hear them but its just a little muffled or scrambled.
You should try ham radio many repeaters all over us someone is always listening
Maybe someday I'm doing the CB and GMRS thing right now.
I have my cb on all the time.
Thanks for the comment. They sure are fun to listen too.
If you were up here in canada, you would have heard quite a bit of chatter on GMRS since our walkie talkies often run GMRS/FRS.
Hope to get to Canada soon. But, we were close in Niagara Falls. Thanks for the comment.
I'm an old CBer, can your FM CB radio switch over to AM mode ?
@jimgresham… yes the newer radios that have FM also have AM and you can use either one
@@slapoutindixie7537 Thanks a bunch, don't have an FM model yet.😄
I live in san antonio tx cb radio 19 is always busy and if there's skip talking around the world and better with side band...get a better antenna like a Wilson1000 better radio you be getting more than 20 miles
Thanks for the advice. That Wilson 1000 is 60" tall right? I'm debating installing a base station with sideband right now.
Thanks for the advice I live in San Antonio and have been thinking of getting a CB radio for a while, but I wasn’t sure if it was active here.
What about traveling with a scanner kind of video?
Police scanner
Taking a trip with a police scanner
Ok we might be able to pull that off. I’ll have to see if I can find the right state police frequency and we could scan everything
Better taller antenna will get you out much better. Height is might. Not as many truckers running radios anymore but some still do. I run one and also one in my personal vehicle. You'll find alot on side band
Thank you for this information. I knew with that antenna I was limited but I'm thinking about a base station with sideband.
@@paulethier3416 just set my own up about a month ago, antron 99 on a 19 foot mast, gets a little more than 2/3 of it over my roof. The tip is 37 feet in the air. It's gotten out to Trinidad, Ireland, the uk, Netherlands and Germany so far. Heard Australia one evening but couldn't raise him.i run a cb with side band in my semi as well.
Interesting. Funny. I was thinking about hooking up a CB before a road trip (they're so cheap now!) but decided not to bother.
I would because if you run into an accident or bad weather, I think it could be helpful. Our trip was smooth sailing, so there was no talking at all.
Most truckers turn the rf gain down and the squelch way up. They don't want to hear the BS.
I don't blame them.
It seems that the only thing that's active are HF bands on Ham.
There is a lot out there just not traveling on the highway. Skip seems to be the way CB is being used the most. However, others have commented that during bad weather or traffic backups CB comes alive, but I've not experience that.
Mobile phone killed CB. Cell phone also killed Amateur radio. The only problem will cell is you can't really call some random person near by. If you want to talk to someone on the cb you have to call out, a lot. There's still a few truckees and RVers out there whom will talk back but they have to be pretty close. You can transmit and receive reliably to anyone within eyesight. Sometimes you can talk farther if conditions permit. If you want a cb for emergencies you will find it fails in many ways.
Great video series. I guess truckers just aren't using any radios much these days.
Thanks for commenting. I’m thinking the only time these radios get used is in traffic or during bad weather. I’m happy you enjoyed the video.
That's because many of them don't speak English. True story.
Right now we're going into solar Sunspot Cycle 25 which means that on CB the skip conditions are worldwide even with 4w during the day in the early evening
Know your use case for CB. Before cellphones, there was a lot of use cases such as if you're a trucker, getting your number called for the loading gate. Now, unless you like a lot of trash talk and nonsense, there are not so many use cases. What follows is the best use case I ever had used the CB radio for:
* Winter in the 1990's! Imagine snow covered Alaska Highway in the middle of nowhere in the Yukon territory. Your in dash AM/FM car stereo has been on scan for 6 hours and still hasn't found a station. And now you are coming up behind slow moving tractor/trailer rig. Even though the last oncoming car was seen a couple of hours ago, passing the truck without first talking to them is unthinkable. The big rig is kicking up snow dust impossible to see through. THIS is where CB shines. The trucker is your eyes, letting you know the road is straight and no cars are coming. Your life is now in trust to this stranger. Passing, it's not until our tiny pickup truck is next to the tractors rear two axles that we can finally see through the snow. Traveling at about 25mph faster than the trucker, a lonely road for a trucker, he was happy to talk for another half hour or so as the capabilities of the radios would allow.
Thank you for sharing that.
How do you know what channel to try? Is it all just a random guess?
I tried 19 which is the "travel" channel and they I scanned the rest until I heard some chatter.
The antenna you are using is not really suited for long range. It’s good enough to communicate within a couple of miles. It sounded like your squelch was set too high. When I need to talk, I set my squelch off so I can pickup everything out there. I have both CB and GMRS in my car. As long as you can get into a repeater, you will find someone to talk to on GMRS. It is usually monitored by someone associated with the machine.
Could not agree more with everything you just said. Thanks for commenting.
I run a CB in my truck that dead keys 100 W swinging to 900 and I try to talk to people and barely anyone is running a CB anymore with this new trucker generation… it’s nice to have like other people in the comments when there is a traffic jam or accident, but that’s all they are good for nowadays. It’s definitely good that I can reach out over a lot of other people when I need to though.
Thanks for commenting
I drive i80 in IL and i39-i94 in Wisconsin all the time. CBs are never on not even in traffic.
Yeah, the good old days are gone for sure.
when you get into pa there is a lot more chatter
You should get a ham radio license if you want to have radio traffic on the road. There is a national call frequency on 2M 146.52 MHz My radio I have in my jeep has 50 Watts of power. The sky is the limit om ham radio.
Maybe someday. I'm just getting back into CB and I got my GMRS license so I'm enjoying that right now. Thanks for commenting and sharing your experiences.
Today I was on my ham radio, and I was talking to France, Canadia & Venezuela along with serval (111) contacts in the US. @@paulethier3416
I have done 8 trips between Illinois and Florida, about 1300 miles each way. On 146.52 I have had zero calls. On the CB I can talk most of the way.
Well, sometimes you need to call CQ Also it helps to program the local repeaters that you will be going through.@@dennis72355
Nobody uses FM simplex on the road.
Awesome video. I need to get a CB for my truck.
I'm glade you enjoyed it. Thanks for commenting. I'm just getting back into CB myself. Its a bit of a learning curve but super fun.
Im a travel nurse from Nevada who will be working and traveling to rural ne Montana . I might get a cb for emergencies or just to have on. Thanks for the info. I used to use them on road trips in the 80’s and early 90’s but it has been awhile.
you need get a anytone5555 cb radio or cobra29.
Wow! I just looked at one online. It looks like a great radio. Thanks for the recommendation.
You need to try with a SSB capable radio. I took a president McKinley from Tucson to San Diego and there was heavy traffic all way long on ch. 36 - 39 LSB. I even made a couple of contacts as far as Florida and Ohio mobile in the middle of nowhere with 12 watts.
You need to find out which CB Channels are in use in your state. My local town uses Channels 11 and 17.
CB is better for road travel, GMRS is 467 MHz and the wavelength is about 1 foot for a full wave, 6 inches for a 1/4 wave, 70 cm. So the distance that signal will travel is significantly reduced in comparison to CB radio which is 11 meters, 36 feet for a full wave and 8 feet 6 inches for 1/4 wave. Whether or not you find people talking simply depends upon local radio traffic & DX conditions. 2 months ago there should have been some DX (skip) on the radio. Although I don’t think the Cobra antenna would be my choice. You might want to get yourself a Wilson 1000 if you are serious about using CB radio mobile. GMRS is good from car to car on a trip, unless you make the same trip often and know of GMRS repeaters along the traveled route. CB is free, GMRS requires a fee for a 10 year license which is a personal preference. They both have their uses, travel is not really one of them for GMRS unless you have a list of repeaters along the way. You can find local repeaters for GMRS online. Hope this helps. 73’
Thank you I’ll look into a different antenna
Next time try it on 38 LSB lower side band. You might have to get a different CB radio that LSB get all over the country with that
Thanks for commenting. Yeah this radio is just a entry level CB only, no sideband. Maybe someday I will get one with sideband. I'm currently contemplating a base radio setup.
@@paulethier3416 do yourself favor and save a lot of money and get ham license.
@@JOHN_COSMO okay I’ll take a look at Ham.
@@paulethier3416 if you like the CB even a little bit you'll love ham. Cuts out most of the jerks static and you can talk all over the world jst a hundred watt radio and a wire and the license. I use the endfed half wave single wire antenna got from eBay.
I can pick up America on ch 38 lsb over here in England. I think someone heard me from Florida
👍 YOU ~ ROCK ! ! 🤛
Thank you!!
@@paulethier3416 hi Sir Paul…more on telling how to Resurrect our ol CB radioszzzzzz!!
Ty!!
I would like cb to have 4 channels of wx/local traffic/news/ music given by truck stop/venders.
I think FM is great for groups of people.Because when you close you will not get the bleed over from other people
11m free band is rocking!
As an SWL I imagine 40 channel is also.
I know almost next to nothing about CB comms and driving industry terminology...is "SWL" a single-wide load? Is that like moving MIC equipment, or/and double-wide homes/trailers on a single trailer?
@@drowebd short wave listener. I was a HAM for 31 years, until they dumbed it down. Retired trucker & wind turbine technician.
great video you will prob catch more on AM mode then FM at this point, Because FM was just made legal for CB radio FM i feel will help CB come back alive
Thanks for commenting. I was on AM a lot. I tried FM a little but there is nothing on it.