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CB radio Becoming Respectable Again???

Is CB radio making a comeback?

  • Yes

    Votes: 7 18.9%
  • No

    Votes: 11 29.7%
  • Maybe

    Votes: 7 18.9%
  • Who Cares

    Votes: 12 32.4%

  • Total voters
    37
  • Poll closed .

HBW1412

Member
Jan 18, 2011
27
19
13
45
Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia
Let’s be honest. CB radio has the reputation of being filled with nothing but misfits using raunchy language. Where I live though, CB radio is making a comeback and it’s mainly the 20 & 30 somethings. Us younger folks on the CB are cordial and carry on really decent conversations using the Queens English. Albeit with a southern accent. I know about 10 or so people with CB radios personally and all of us run stock. No amps or noise toys to be found among us.

As the older crowd from the heyday of CB “sign-off” the trash talk is going away. In my opinion the 11-meter band is becoming respectable again. Just this past winter I was able to help a guy out who ran off the road and got stuck in a snow storm. He called for help on Ch.-19 so, I got on my tractor, drove the mile and a half and pulled him back on the road. I have no idea who the guy was and haven’t heard from him since. There is no cell coverage in my area for miles so this was his only way of communication and I regularly monitor the CB during storms.

I’m seeing more and more CB radio antennas on vehicles, too. Yesterday, I drove to the Salem VA medical center and on the way there and back I counted a total of 14 vehicles with CB antennas. Granted, I don’t have a CB in the vehicle I drove so I don’t know what the talk was, but the CB’s were definitely out there.

The point is that I believe a new generation is taking over the 11-meter band and doing so in great numbers all over the Country. I think there are many reasons for this and wanted to know if you guys are seeing the same thing in your area.

Now, I know there are a lot of undesirable folks using the CB, but if we are completely honest we can say the same thing about the amateur bands too. In fact, the main issue we have where I live is HAM operators getting on the 11-meter band and trashing us CB guys.

I’ll admit that my “radio dream” is to have a network of about 750,000 CB users that would create a blanket of coverage over the entire U.S. This grid of users would become well known to the general public as a reliable means of assistance therefore bringing CB radio back to the masses. Highly unlikely. I know.

Many of you probably think I’m either joking or crazy, but I’m quite serious. Hmm, does that make me crazy?

Did any of you know that CB radios are selling like hot cakes? I looked up my Galaxy 959 on Amazon and it is number 14 in sales in the Car Electronics/Satellite Radio category. That’s amazing considering the “modern” competition it has and the volume of sales on Amazon.

Anyway, what are your experiences? Do you think CB radio is making a comeback? After all, often times what’s old becomes new again.
 
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AntennaCar.jpg


can you tell which antenna is for ham and which is for cb radio ?

896bc2efeb75c3725fc2fb0c8658ba80.jpg
 
man i haven't heard any christmas CBers in a long time. LOL

HBW, if you don't know what a christmas CBer is, then you are too new to all this to know that you are one.

Here's the thing, it's great that you have discovered CB radio, and it's great that people are still buying radios, and it's great that people in their 20's and 30's are discovering the hobby.
however, you need to be careful with regards to alienating yourself from the very people you are trying to correspond with.

to come to this forum, and tell everyone here to "be honest" and admit that CB radio has a bad reputation only serves to separate you from the people who are supposedly giving this hobby a bad name.
Guess what! that would be us!

Do you really want to start off here by attempting to put yourself above the "riff raff" before you even know who the "riff raff" are?
You are on a forum full of "riff raff" for goodness sakes!

I understand that you were just trying to make a point, but what you don't realize is how much your lack of perspective is showing.

only people who are new to CB radio think that CB radio has a bad reputation.
people that have been into this hobby for any length of time know different.

In each and every public forum, whether online, on the air, or in person, there will be troublemakers, there will be good people, and there will be those in between.

for many of us, the irreverent nature of CB radio is exactly what draws us to it as opposed to amateur radio where things are much more structured.
To us, CB radio has a great reputation!
we see it as the last place where true freedom exists.
Sure, there are people that are only out there to mess with others, but they are part of the fun too!

You sound like someone who might be more comfortable with ham radio and it's rules of etiquette. Although it is also populated with grown ups who sometimes use colorful language so be careful.

all i'm trying to say is that you might want to sit back and listen for a while before you "key the mic" and tell a bunch of long time CBers what CB radio is like.

oh, and BTW, it makes you look like a paranoid weirdo when you tell everyone you keep your rig stock because you are afraid of the FCC.
again, that only shows your lack of experience and perspective.

upgrading radios and improving their performance is one of the greatest parts of this hobby, and just because some people take it too far doesn't mean that the entire idea should be impugned.

look at the title of your thread, and try to see how disrespectful it might sound to someone who has been a denizen of these airwaves for decades.
LC
 
hbw,
u are new here and hopefully not a troll from years past or u will already know that this radio forum is very strong with 10's of thousands of members and the forum views the radio hobby as just that- a radio hobby period.
 

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