CB radio Becoming Respectable Again???

[Rwb]

S

I do believe but I am not positive that it was Lady Bird Johnson. She was the reason that they did away with the license. There was a photo and a big front-page news spread where she showed up at the FCC and her license was issued to her on the spot. People raised such hell because there was a month to two months waiting. Sometimes. And that I believe is why they did away with the CB license.

she wasnt first lady when she got her cb but close nuff

 

[Road Squawker]

S
she wasnt first lady when she got her cb but close nuff

she was the 1st lady from Aug 1974 to Jan 1977.
Here is all the white house photo documents.


https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0126/76018443.pdf

She received an STA (special temporary authorization) that was valid for 90 days, on April 2 1976 with 1600 Pennsylvania Ave as the address.

The STA was a common FCC procedure at the time for issuing CB licenses to people that could demonstrate a need that was time sensitive.

 

[TheRealPorkchop]

 

[164 northern cal]

Late 60's early Seventy's I got my CB Licence KBNT1164 I still have the Licence the FCC sent me. Somewhere?

 

[S&W357]

I don't even remember what the letter prefix was on mine...much less the numbers. Seems like it had a KHT something in it but don't know for sure.

 

[Rwb]

Haha that song fits he/she

 

[Rwb]

Mine was kco something

 

[Sonar]

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.

I began using a CB in or around 73 (9 yearsyold.) I hate noise toys, and always have. I don't see any point Rhyme or Reason as to why people use them. I do admit to using amplifiers. I would like to say that I use them purely for the Nostalgia. But in all honesty 4 Watts AM and 12 SSB just isn't going to cut it. At least not for most. Unless you're content with local rag chew. If no one used amps I'd say I might have a shot at making a particular dx contact. But trying to compete with 100-1kw stations with an imax 2000 10' off the ground is nearly impossible. Although I do enjoy making 12 watt (freeband) SSB contacts theirthrare and far between. Not to mention I love the smell of hot glass when I'm operating my cb radio. It's something that's difficult to describe unless it's something you've done almost since day one. And no I don't think you're crazy. Possibly unrealistic, but definitely not crazy. Very nice post actually. I hope the person you pulled out of the ditch pays it forward. 73 from NJ

 

[Handy Andy]

Not to mention I love the smell of hot glass when I'm operating my cb radio. It's something that's difficult to describe unless it's something you've done almost since day one.

Sigh, yep - there's nothing like it. Grampa used to smoke a pipe while watching TV, so not only the "scent" the tubes emit but the smell of a tobacco shop wafting thru the air was pretty special.

Tobacco may be on the way out, but the smell of warm tubes you never forget...

Too bad they don't make a scented spray, one for Transistor or MOSFET - it could at least be like Febreeze, when you smoked your radio - at least you could use it to cover up the stench left behind from smoked, doped - sand grains...

 

[164 northern cal]

I still use the CB on the ranch. I hardly hear anyone anymore. I listen to the log truck drivers in the woods here on the North Coast. I monitor Ch 9 at night and on the weekends. I talk to L.A. when the skip is in. 4 watts AM 12 SSB. Got the Moccasin for the times I need to get the reach. The Palomar still lights up in the hour of need! I often wounder how the tube type Browning's do in the age of solid state. 73's to all!

 

[w9cll]

But in all honesty 4 Watts AM and 12 SSB just isn't going to cut it. At least not for most. Unless you're content with local rag chew.

Isn't this what CB is for?

 

[Handy Andy]

Had a guy just a few years ago that used a ORIGINAL Browning - had the "extension cord - D104" hooked to it along with his speaker, used to have coffee and breakfast with his XYL and chat while we drove to work in the mornings - fun days. He said that he always loved the radio and how it "warned up the house from the sound it has" - wish I had that time back - miss the guy - do not know whatever happened to him...

So I guess, if Browning ever made a radio fan, he was one of them - we heard him all over the city - was not hard to mistaken his voice, the "treble" of the D104 and his signal - ran one of the tallest towers with an A99. He proved over and over time and time again you didn't need power - but I never saw his setup so whatever he did or had done to the Browning - he took it with him.

 

[jon666]

respectable never

 

[Redbeard U812]

It was long ago....the Bicentennial Year I believe, grampa and grammy showed up with the camper and stayed a couple months before heading to Fla. They were Snowbirds from Ohio. We would sit in grampa's suburban and listen to the CB. Wasn't anything special in radio had this mag mount he'd put on the roof. He even had the official CB License, but then they removed the requirement. My step-daddy got one from a friend and put it in the '76 Impala. I was hooked. Convoy, Smoky and the Bandit, and The Duke's of Hazard really fueled the flames.
Grampa bought me one of those Radio Shack build it radio kits with the wires and springs rather than get a CB. Guess it was a start. I built all the kit had, ran long wire across 1.3 acres to receive. Got mostly South American AM on it and one Cajun Station sitting in the front yard west of Mobile.
Once old enough to purchase my own I bought a Uniden PC66XL and amp on my drive up to Ohio to see grandparents. Have had that radio in every truck since. I have others but it's now an old friend I can't part with.
In times when the cell towers go down and the lights are off many will pull there mothballed CB's out and communicate. I live along the Gulf Coast we get Hurricanes. Last year was working in Corpus, Harvey hit Rockport, where I was staying. We left out in the camper headed West-by-Northwest and ended up in Fort Clark, TX. CB's blazing all the way. Went back to Rockport and the CB traffic was like skip on steroids with locals. Cell phones down, power out, but CB worked.
CB has always been respectable, just not accepted until needed. And if some figure ain't nuthin but rednecks use CB, well fine then. I R One.

"Ah, breaker one-nine, this here's the Rubber Duck. You gotta copy on me, Pig Pen, c'mon? Ah, yeah, 10-4, Pig Pen, fer shure, fer shure. By golly, it's clean clear to Flag Town, c'mon. Yeah, that's a big 10-4 there, Pig Pen, yeah, we definitely got the front door, good buddy. Mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy

Was the dark of the moon on the sixth of June
In a Kenworth pullin' logs
Cab-over Pete with a reefer on
And a Jimmy haulin' hogs
We is headin' for bear on I-one-oh
'Bout a mile outta Shaky Town
I says, "Pig Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck.
"And I'm about to put the hammer down." ~ Convoy

 

[Handy Andy]

As yes, again CB proves to be the one go - to for those that have one....

Better than a cell-phone...

More activity on it than a party line.

May seem like we're going backwards but really we get to be social and interact again as Americans.

We re-discover our neighborhoods, not a virtual family on Facebook.

.... You CERTAINLY know your are a CB'er when...
... you hear "Convoy" for the 1,683rd time ...
... - and it still brings tears to your eyes...