Okay How many RV'ers here use CB-Radio's?

[Songbirds]

While waiting on my wife I struck up a conversation with a fellow RV'er. During our exchange, he began telling me of his dependence on his CB-Radio while SHOPPING, Appointments, pickups, and other uses. I informed him I had not used a CB radio in over 50-years. So my idea was a radio with a long cord and a mic. NO, he informed they are walkie Talke radios.

He was carrying his own in his pocket about 3"-high, about 2"-wide. I was captivated by some of his stories and our conversations about CB-Radio's many uses. I think he was a midline, In our old Class A Winnebago Tour we had 4-handheld radios and in the years we had that RV, I never took one out of its holder near the front door.

I also learned the range with the small one was the same as I had with the one under the dash about 5-miles, back in what 1974.

So how many RV'ers here use CB-Radios today in place of a cellphone and for what if you have a phone? The best recommendations you have about them if you have any. I'm thinking with all this flu and virus it could come in handy to have a set. Your thoughts, please?

[Gjac]

The first time I used a CB was back in the 80's traveling to Florida in a Hi-Top van I asked for a radio check and a trucker answered and asked what I was hauling, I told him 3 kids and a wife, he laughed and we talked for hrs and kept me from falling a sleep in the middle of the night. My MH came with an old Cobra, and when I went to Alaska in 2006 with another Rver we used it to communicate about the road condition animals along the Hiway etc. He was a full-timer and had a Copilot nav system so I just followed him. Much of the areas we traveled through had no cell service especially through Canada where there were also roaming charges at the time so it was useful. Also the truckers alerted me several times of accidents and alternate routes to take. Having said all that if I bought another MH I would not buy a new CB for it because I really like the RV Copilot and Waze app's, but if it came with it I would keep it because you need cell service for Waze to work.

[rlw999]

BackOfThePack wrote:

2000-mile trip quiet? Late morning departure and driving over the weekend are almost a guarantee of hearing little the farther one gets from the US Northeast.

I was on the West Coast (I-5 mostly) and did most of the driving from 8am-noon to avoid having to run the house A/C to stay cool in the 95+ heat. Did all the long drives on weekdays too. Saw plenty of trucks, but heard little chatter on the radio.

[BackOfThePack]

rlw999 wrote:

rlw999 wrote:
As soon as I figure out where to mount an antenna without drilling a hole in the side of my Class C, I'll install a CB for an upcoming road trip. I just ordered a hood mount that I think will work well. I won't use the CB all the time, but am looking forward to having it for long freeway drives.

Sooooo... got my antenna and CB hooked up for my long 2000 mile trip.

Turned out to not be worth it, few truck drivers were talking at all, I asked for a radio check a few times just to be sure it was working since I so rarely heard anyone else. The one time I heard someone report an accident ahead, I already knew about it from Google Maps.

Oh well, it was worth the experiment, but now I think I'll just keep the CB in a storage compartment along with a mag-mount antenna in case I ever get stranded where there's no cell service.

Most of the chatter on AM-19 will be pre-dawn until about 1100 local. If not in a metro area (see map: Mega-Regions of the USA) understand that truckers have already done the hard work of the day: get to the receiver AND THEN to the next shipper. The last few hours of the day don’t/won’t elicit much pass-the-time-of-day talk.

In every part of the USA it’s the local bulk haulers who dominate AM-19. Guys home every night and weekends. Trying to get their several loads DONE. Once they’re off -air at 1500 or so, expect quiet.

An Rv’er who starts driving at 0930 and continues past 1600 has slotted himself into the hours PAST what is generally busiest.

In the Mega Region map (population density) there’s exception to the above as regional delivery is also prominent. Guys also looking to be home nightly, or several nights per week before the weekend. Tend to hail friends and others.

70-mph speed limits PLUS big trucks difficult to get a good ground plane are natural discouragement to drivers. One, can’t run 70, and, Two, hard to get a CB system worth beans in a plastic truck.

2000-mile trip quiet? Late morning departure and driving over the weekend are almost a guarantee of hearing little the farther one gets from the US Northeast.

Not all talk is on AM-19. I’ve run a scanner constantly searching the rest of the Elrvrn Meter band and “found” plenty in some regions NOT on 19.

It’s a tool without a replacement while on-road. Commercial Carriers Road Atlas and a Garmin big truck spec GPS are what I use. WAZE and Google maps are only useful for knowing where NOT to go.

Unless you believe that running up into a crowd on the road you’d avoid while walking is a good idea. (Trapped, with no exit).

I’ll be on my way around those problems.

Good luck

.

[rlw999]

rlw999 wrote:
As soon as I figure out where to mount an antenna without drilling a hole in the side of my Class C, I'll install a CB for an upcoming road trip. I just ordered a hood mount that I think will work well. I won't use the CB all the time, but am looking forward to having it for long freeway drives.

Sooooo... got my antenna and CB hooked up for my long 2000 mile trip.

Turned out to not be worth it, few truck drivers were talking at all, I asked for a radio check a few times just to be sure it was working since I so rarely heard anyone else. The one time I heard someone report an accident ahead, I already knew about it from Google Maps.

Oh well, it was worth the experiment, but now I think I'll just keep the CB in a storage compartment along with a mag-mount antenna in case I ever get stranded where there's no cell service.

[obiwancanoli]

Back in the 70's, I used to have an SBE Sideband number in the car, and a Siltronix 1011-D at home. The Siltronix was a HAM radio I had modified to work on CB frequencies... it had a VFO (Variable Frequency Oscillator) and I used a D-104 mic. For a while there, I enjoyed meeting people, chatting, etc., although, of course, once kids got onto the channel, it soon became messy... Since I, and many of my friends, had VFO's, when there were kids messing up the channel, we'd go in between channels (where a click, click channel changer on a typical CB was 10 KC's apart, fixed) and after a few minutes of normal conversation, the kids would leave, because they couldn't find the channel we were on to complain!

[me2]

Sjm9911 wrote:
My dad swore by them in the 80s. Its not the 80s anymore. The cell phone has replaced it. I didnt think anyone used them anymore.

So who do you call to ask about the condition of a pass in a snowstorm ? The truckers coming the other way just climbed up it, they know.

Who do you call to tell the driver of the truck you are following that you'd like to pass ?

[Sjm9911]

My dad swore by them in the 80s. Its not the 80s anymore. The cell phone has replaced it. I didnt think anyone used them anymore.

[me2]

rexlion wrote:
I had been looking at the Baofeng UV-5R.

I have UV-5Rs and use them on GMRS and FRS. They work great. Nobody has arrested me.

About 50% of truckers still run CBs. The air is usually dead quiet. Around cities it can be noisy.

When there is bad weather or traffic issues or I have a roadside issue, I want to communicate with the people on the road I'm on. And the best device for that is a CB radio. Extremely handy, even if you only use it once a year.

FRS/GMRS radios, especially the UV-5R variety are very handy around campsites, especially with kids or when there is no cell service. I usually pack a couple when we go into the back country. If the group needs to split or someone gets hurt you can keep track of each other. 90% of the time they stay in the pack.

[houstonstroker]

My super C on a Freightliner chassis came with a Cobra CB. Changed the antenna to a no ground plane and it seems to work pretty good

Just installed a new 40 Watt Midland GMRS radio, after receiving my license first. The 1/4 wave antennas are only about 6 inches tall. So far I really like it and should come in handy when we caravan with friends.

[rlw999]

My dad swore by CB radio. It's saved him a few times, like the time he had a flat tire in the trailer and didn't know it, a passing truck driver told him. And the other time one of his tow chains was loose and dangling, a truck driver saw the light show from the sparking chain on pavement and told him about it.

He was a former truck driver himself and was very comfortable talking with other truckers.

As soon as I figure out where to mount an antenna without drilling a hole in the side of my Class C, I'll install a CB for an upcoming road trip. I just ordered a hood mount that I think will work well. I won't use the CB all the time, but am looking forward to having it for long freeway drives.

[cptqueeg]

Slowmover, thank you for your detailed and interesting post.

[Slowmover]

Twice in the past three weeks have been able to divert around a closed Interstate due to fatality and NOT get trapped on an alternate routes with the illiterates.

A better than average CB radio system, an Atlas, and knowing how to use both takes practice.

(The usefulness of Waze is in knowing how the stupids will respond. Mob prediction).

Your commuter miles in a metro area don’t count when out on The Big Road.
Take that as a humility pill, if it’s understanding you want. The assumptions about services will put you into real trouble if you miss the mark.

Today’s cars are harder in which to make a good radio installation than a 1971 Dodge Polara wagon, and while experience in mobile radio use adds confidence, it still needs to be turned on more than turned off.

What distinguishes the road of today versus 1980 and earlier is that the level of co-operation has dropped to near zero. CB Radio replaced a whole slew of hand and vehicle signals needed to negotiate two-lane highways.

Bad driving practice is universal now. Include yourself. Metro commuter habits are worse than terrible. It’s ME versus being WE. Rules are for someone else. The underlying principles don’t pertain to special people.

Most truckers don’t use CB, install, or know how to do either. Most private vehicle owners aren’t willing to do a good installation of a radio and antenna system, much less invest the time to learn its ways. Again, include yourself. Humility is: don’t yet know what’s possible.

It’s the Citizen Band. Not the Slave-Tracker (cell phone).

You’ll get what you put into it. Use the Internet window while you can.

There are experienced operators out there DESPITE morons crowding some areas at some times. Better radios can scan all channels fast. AM-19 isn’t the only action

An NMO-Mount Larsen NMO27C on the roof practically guarantees king of the hill status in terms of being heard — and being able to hear — with a radio system of reasonable cost (well-installed).

Your neighbor with an antenna stuck to the aftermarket rack on his pickup for his CB hasn’t a clue. That’s performance as bad as most composite-body Class 8 trucks of today. Abysmal.

1). Radio gear will last a decade or more in constant use. The price divided by ten years is next to nothing when compared to cell phones, WiFi routers and the rest over the same period.

2). Where family vehicles — all of them — also feature radio installations and there’s a radio at home mounted under a kitchen cabinet completes a circle not dependent on your owners willingness to allow you communication AT A DISTANCE.

3). Other radio modes may be “better” in a technical comparison, but CB is the one that’s everywhere in someone’s attic or garage, gathering dust. What you and your family have is one thing. What MATTERS is what you share with your neighbors.

— a record number in Great Britain are sitting for Amateur Licensure. Reports here are similar in re equipment purchases and interest.

4). The “minimum” unit is AM/SSB capable. Sideband is the bees knees. Solid-value & rock-steady performance is with the Uniden 980 at very low cost. ($180 retail, $140 all over). I recently sat in NE Ohio on a break and listened to Wisconsin talking with Georgia. Florida, with Chicago. 11-Meter is an introduction to Ham Radio (Amateur), but without having to prove technical competence through licensure.

— while conditions and gear questions apply, conversing with others in the Caribbean, South America and Europe isn’t outside what’s possible. Canada and Mexico aren’t anything remarkable. No, this isn’t automatic or plug & play. . But it’s close.

5). An RV is a natural home for Radio. Wherever it is. Mobile, or stationary. Any tools or supply needed to make installations is reduced when spread across home, family cars, and an RV. Money spent is in paying yourself is an important understanding.

— the 1960s saw the peak of RV adventure travel. It established a norm of having a “campground radio” as common right into the early 1980s. CB outnumbered TV in use by a large factor. One IS dependent on others, thus easy communication “fixes” problems, one man to another, one family to another. Ordinary AM radio had at that point a thirty year history of providing local news and maybe weather. Network-affiliation. Shortwave, the international scope. CB was what closed the loop. The “adventure” was in providing ones self with what before was corporate-controlled.

— A cell phone connects you to someone with their hand out for money. And then only if they deem you worthy of access. Not yet banned. The Net is no different. Full dependence is the model. AWAY from independence.

6). RADIO is a system of systems. Of which — by far — the most important is the antenna system. That all parts of it work together. There are simple and complex mobile antennas. An RV Radio is likeliest to be used while stationary, so one is not limited to typical mobile mounting. (Motorhomes have their own problems, but nothing that applying one’s self can’t remedy). A tripod-mount away from the vehicle or a wire antenna strung in trees are starts. CB is generally, but not wholly a line-of-sight TX/RX performer. As to antennas: Height is Might.

7). An installation where details are attended to the higher standards of Amateur Radio ensures best performance. And eases entry to that world should it prove attractive. Makes every vehicle or structure treated that much more valuable. The cost of quality supply goods is as nothing compared to the brains to use them well.

8). Many will worry over memory or reports of CB Radio theft sensationalized in the 1970s. The Enemy wants you dependent, should be your first reaction. And common sense should dictate how to look at the problem otherwise.

— What’s in your RV or home is easily concealed from view.

— Your family vehicles need this: Don’t tell a story to a passer-by. Mounting a radio inside a console or on the back of it is one approach. An NMO-Mount antenna can be removed and the mount capped (no, a magnet mount antenna attracts MORE attention, and suffers significantly diminished performance). If you want the most, get the most. And that’s in the installation far, far ahead of the gear chosen.

9). As to a large difference between CB and true Amateur Radio equipment Digital Signal Filtration in the audio chain so lessens the noise that signals previously unknown can now be not only deciphered, but one can at times communicate. Ears trump Voice.

— there is quite a bit of Amateur equipment being used on 11-Meter (total number, not percentage) even though it is prohibited. “Noise Abatement” is a large reason why.

— there are stand-alone DSP units that go between radio and external speaker. I prefer where it’s integrated with a mobile speaker, specifically, the West Mountain Radio ClearSpeaker. A $200 purchase I made six years ago and has covered past 300k miles in a big truck including off road oilfield without incident. Marketed to the Amateur crowd, it’s an amazingly effective device. There are those with $2,000 HAM radios who use it even though the radio has a multitude of filtering controls built-in.

— a guy with a good radio system — “better” than mine — will tell you he gets reports of problems 7-8/miles away. That’s outstanding . . . but I get them 12-15/miles out with the WM Spkr added to a VG installation.

10). CB Radio was given a clowns image by Hollywood. (Gee, imagine that). It has no substitute as the immediate area communication device. As before, your family or group may use another choice. So what? Eventually it WILL matter you can speak with strangers nearby. Who, remember (even if you haven’t the experience) have the same concerns and feelings as you.

11). The basic system, IMO, is:

Uniden 980 AM/SSB Radio.
West Mountain Radio ClearSpeaker
RM Italy KL203 amp
SOTABEAM 4-way DC distribution (or similar; make disconnect E-Z).
Harbor Freight “Apache” 3800 Transport Case to keep it safe.

This set-up outperforms every high dollar Big Radio.
Use as is. No upgrades or grubby tech fingers inside units.

(The amplifier is small and the current draw remains under 20A for all devices working at peak. Get at 88 Radio website. Yeah, CB is limited to 4-watts. But this isn’t nice & quiet 1959 any more.)

This radio rig is, Hear & Get Heard.

The default mobile antenna is ALWAYS the quarter-wave whip. 102” Stainless. All else tries to emulate its virtues. Skipshooter is an excellent American-made top-load whip. Limit overhead clearance to 13’5” maximum. Aim at height as the virtue.

More money pertains to supply & tools depending on what you already have. The above is the best $500 you can spend. Over ten years it’s $4 per month. Mine pays for itself all over every couple of months.

Safety on the road is risk-avoidance. Knowing what’s around a curve ahead doesn’t have a price tag. One serious accident is life-changing. (Waze and the like are too slow EVEN IF they report).

Extrapolate the desire to make choices to more than just what’s on the road. Rioters in Nashville mean I’m not using IH-40 to travel west and am now diverting north to IH64 across Kentucky. No propane in one place. Power out in another. Etc

And, for what it’s worth, some of the funniest things I’ve heard in this lifetime came across that radio. It’s friend, fair weather and foul. A good place to eat. A fair-minded tire store owner. Heavy crosswinds just ahead.

A). The bible of Amateur Radio installation is at (link)
K0BG

He includes many links. Make notes.



B). Internet retailers of repute (all of which I use) include:

Bob's CB (Pennsylvania)
Bells CB (Florida)
Walcott CB (Iowa)

DX-Engineering (Ohio)
Universal Radio (Ohio)

HRO Ham Radio Outlet
(Online, and regular retail across nation)

Radio Shack is long gone.

Websites include:

RadioReference
WWDX
QRZ

Equipment Reviews at

CB RADIO MAGAZINE
eHam


YouTube

Farpoint Farms Series (on the 980 as SSB choice).

“102 Whip CB Base Station Antenna” (title)



As before, one gets what he puts into it. Read up on best practice.

.

[valhalla360]

ferndaleflyer wrote:
Just last night a 50mi trip turned into 60 just because someone insisted on using the GPS directions. Also a bridge near me was out for 2 years and was never mentioned by any GPS apps. Sure made a lot of people mad because there were no warning signs until it was to late. To each his own.

Using a stand alone GPS right.

Use an online like google maps.

I was working on a project a few years back. We shut down a 6 mile stretch of freeway as 6am. By 7pm, the freeway no longer showed up on google maps...and we checked with them, it wasn't an operator updating the system.

[Mrgunguy]

{facepalm}