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Handles and CB Etiquette?

CyberRider

Member
Aug 21, 2018
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I'm new to the citizens band. Radio not yet installed even. But I'm wondering, do people still use handles and is there a certain CB etiquette? I'm clueless, so please be merciful in your replies. I can't find a thread on this forum about those topics. Help me!
 

It has gotten pretty informal since the 70s and all the Hollywood-movie slang and schtick we remember from those days.

A lot of CB operators bailed out and got ham licenses when the morse-code requirement was dropped 14 or so years back. CB started to get really quiet since them.

And a few of them have come back to CB once they found that the ham bands are now populated by former CB operators with ham licenses.

And sometimes you'll still hear a driver refer to the flashing warning lights at a construction zone as an "electric indian".

73
 
It has gotten pretty informal since the 70s and all the Hollywood-movie slang and schtick we remember from those days.

A lot of CB operators bailed out and got ham licenses when the morse-code requirement was dropped 14 or so years back. CB started to get really quiet since them.

And a few of them have come back to CB once they found that the ham bands are now populated by former CB operators with ham licenses.

And sometimes you'll still hear a driver refer to the flashing warning lights at a construction zone as an "electric indian".

73
What about the 10 code? People still use it? Should I learn it? People still say "Over"? Truckers still yack on the highways?
 
Porkchop started as a handle when I started driving many years ago, now it’s not a handle...it’s my name. Everybody calls me by that name, well almost everyone. What my wife calls me I won’t put up here, don’t want a warning.

The slang, I don’t guess so. I still hear 10-4 and 10-10 on the radio while I’m at work. I hear city cops referred to as “city kitties” and highway patrol called “full grown bear”. A DOT guy is a diesel bear. That’s about it.

I also hear “top shelf” referring to someone’s radio quality. But the jargon that I guess used to be used, I don’t hear that any more. I’d say just make yourself a handle up of some sort and get on the air. Also, welcome to the forum.
 
Don't know if you have heard what the CB Band is so well known as for the last 10 years or so but many know it as,"The Children's Band", so that just might answer your question about etiquette.When skip is rolling it's pretty much useless trying to have an actual conversation.

SIX-SHOOTER
 
The locals here use plain English with a 10-4, 10-7, or 10-20 here and there as needed. Not really any CB slang except for maybe when someone is signing off, they might throw an old one in there for a few laughs. The locals use handles for local talk and numbers for DX (skip). When skip rolls in and you want to make a contact then you might need to talk like they do on that channel or they might not get back to you. It took me a while to understand who was talking to who and which way the conversation was going. When talking to another state, I usually ask how the weather is or if its an area that recently had tornadoes or a hurricane i will ask if they made out ok. Just do a lot of listening at first. Channel 6 is way different than 38LSB it's like night and day.
 
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It's best to listen in...a lot of time the "Dialect" is what sets the tone and level of communication...

Busting into a channel using every slang and CB jargon term that was ever printed in a book, is just that - old news - you've prolly' just insulted the whole bunch. You'd be lucky if' you'd get a 10-36 from them.

Time = 10-36

So while you've gone 10-10 and back quiet in the bushes wondering if you'll even ever be 10-8 and standin' straight again. The channel chatter pretty much went to zero. Are they 10-6? Gone 10-9?

So, you can possibly 10-5 a message or two - But to whom? Whom knows? Do you go 10-7 or try and ask for a 10-13? Maybe someone can tell me the traffic conditions...but then as you reach for the Volume On/Off knob to silence the channel forever, you hear "You're not from around here are you?"

Now, before you panic - realize that you have been given a second chance.

Talk and speak to them, not AT them - they're humans after all...
 
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