Is CB Radio Dead In Your Area? Maybe Not. Try This!

I get a lot of e-mails and comments telling me that CB radio is dead in (fill in the blank) part of the country.
While this is sadly true in a few parts of the USA, a lot of the time that dead air you hear is just part of the process of finding someone to talk with. This fairly lame video tries to show that a quick spin through the dial does often bring up nothing but static even with a large base antenna and a good location.
But try again and listen for the little things and you might be surprised.

[kentrinfret]

I’m almost 59 years old, and I’ve had a CB in every vehicle since the 1970’s

[robertleete]

We don't care about other people talking, up here in the mountains. There is no cell signal. We use CB from car to house in town.

[shaneharrison]

Ion my late 40’s had cb’s growing up .. now my son who just got his first truck just installed a cb now all his buddies are getting them in our town .
Glad to see it . I may get my base back out now

[nikkichadsey]

Thanks sir . I have a terminally ill 3yr boy with SMA type 1 and its a very scary, up and down roller-coaster of a disease. I have to always be one step ahead of the pack and we have emergencys all the time so I thought having a cb would be a important thing to have for our hospital trips and just everyday. I went to the truckstop and bought a handheld and also a base one for the house. I started thinking it was a waste of money until I watched your video and learned more about it. I think its a really good way of communication and taught my wife and kids to use it to. Thanks again and God bless you and America

[snowmanth]

I'd hear silence, , on 19. I'd say, "DAMN!! She ain't got no panties on" and the radio, comes alive. "WHERE SHE AT" LoL C.B. just needs the right people on them.

[danwingo]

Great video! Been a CBer for over 42 years, still have my FCC license, ( they use to require a license for CB's back in the 70's). Keep up the good work.

[Martinleesmirl]

Watching your video inspired me to build a Rasberry Pi powered CB auto-tuner. Motor on the channel selector, motor on squelch and 3rd DC motor on RF gain switches. Small external mic measures and sound from speaker to detect new channels with audio traffic. Running program in a loop will add new channel detected to a “active channel” table. All 40 channels scanned / sweeped every 10 seconds. Much easier to find traffic on all channels now! Need more CB’ers in this hobby!

[cindyrose]

I just came across your video by accident.
Back when I was in high school in the early 1970s, everyone had a CB radio in West Milford, New Jersey!
That was our form of communication, I guess today it would be a “group chat”!
We would all discuss some what we were doing that evening, during the winter we would talk about what roads needed to be plowed, we all had trucks with plows on them, and the town would pay us to go out and plow those roads.
We use them when we needed help, whether it was a vehicle breakdown or an accident we drove up on, that was our form of communication.
Four years ago when my ex and I bought a motorhome, we were gifted a CB radio, when we divorced, he got the motorhome, and since the CB radio was a gift from my nephew, I got the CB radio! 😉
The CB radio is sitting in a closet 10 feet from where I’m sitting right now, you’ve given me the incentive to take it out of the closet and start using it again.
Every RVer and traveler should have one in their rig.

[marcusfred]

Ok. So back around 2001-2003 I setup my old CB I had from my teenage years and put up the 1/2 vertical and also built a 3 element beam and faced that east to talk into Syndey and Melbourne. Then I found a linear in a pawn shop one day and my eyes lit up. I grabbed that and hooked it up. Talking local to some guys in a radio club they told me to listen out on 38 LSB about 10am on in the moring and you might hear some American skip coming in. Sure enough, one day I did. I tell you it was quite exciting to hear American accent coming out that little speaker!! I remember I spoke into Hawaii and I think California and maybe one or two other places that would have been along the west coast on that skip. I am from Australia near Perth and 35 LSB used to be the standard call channel here. Had I known all those years before that you Americans were sitting up there on 38 LSB I would have made more contacts I reckon! Fun times. Still got a few radios, a 5/8 wave vertical and that linear amp too!

[VegasCyclingFreak]

I remember talking to truckers on the CB in my dad's car on road trips in the late 70s. Was kinda fun, brings back some memories.

[outbackeddie]

I remember driving across the country in 1971 and there was CB traffic everywhere. I was able to get updates on highway patrol, gas stations nearby, good places to eat, and tons of other information. I had almost as much fun playing with the CB radio as I did driving cross country.

[tonysolar]

Best to learn about CB and how to use it and setup a rig in case of emergencies.

[tac]

Haven't seen a D104 for decades! My first CB was a Realistic Mini 6, from 1971. I became a R.E.A.C.T monitor in Los Angeles at the age of 17. It was a great experience. I connected up with some great people! In 1975, I got my HAM license, and concentrated on that. But, CB is where it all started. 😁

[MattZorrow]

I'm new to CB. Your channel has been the best source of information that I've seen!

[MarkyShaw]

I can definitely attribute my new CB hobby thanks to your channel. I ended up buying an old used Realistic TRC-453 SSB for around $50 but sadly the thing had a couple blown IC chips and was totally useless. I found out about a local electronics repair guy who specializes in HAM and CB radios. First of all, I had no idea there was a guy in my area that was an expert on radios. Mind you, this dude is super old school and has seen some things. His shop had everything I could ever want when it comes to radios. He was fascinating to talk with and one who is always eager to help someone learn. I walk in his store and see all sorts of other old school radio guys who are talkin' shop and having a good time. Even more yet, I learned that there's a radio electronics show coming up next month as well about 30 minutes from my house. Never would I have thought that by getting in to a hobby for fun, that I'd end up uncovering this subculture of enthusiasts right here in my back yard. Needless to say, he fixed up my radio like a champ. It's works perfectly now. A soldering master.

Nice tips on tuning in these stations. I hear channel 6 going off all the dang time. It can be entertaining to listen to! Part of the fun for me, is driving around to different spots and seeing what I can pick up in my truck. Good times.

[trailerparklife]

Back in the 60s and 70s used to see antennas on every other car.

[retgunz]

Wutzup Eric? Just got my first CB, (Uniden 980), after around 35~40 years! I'll probably wind up getting a base unit as well, but we'll see. I also live in NC in a little town called Oriental near the coast, about 40 miles from New Bern. Maybe if the skip's right I'll talk you up! Thanks for all the informative vids, Steve.

[davidmandziuk]

I'm a child of the '70's. Wanna give a middle finger to smartphones and GPS. Looking to pick up a CB again

[rheinerftvideo]

Over here in Germany and other European countries, there is some sort of revival for CB. There are still many spots with no cell phone coverage and it´s interesting to see you can use CB to communicate. I have a 60 $ small mobile unit and a Dipol and on good days, this can take you from North Africa to Germany or from Germany to United Kingdom or Sweden with 4 watts and a 12 Volt battery.
Last weekend - Easter - there was a lot of traffic on all channels (we have 40 FM / 40 AM). Maybe better results with SSB, but I don´t have this in my unit. Nevertheless I´m pretty happy with the results. I can´t use shortwave cecause I don´t have the license :-)
Many people think it´s good to have CB in emergency situations (power failure etc.) when nothing else works.

Cheers, Bernd

[edftow]

I was glad to see you use the LSB on your Grant. I regularly ran a Galaxy 99 on LSB 38 and have had the pleasure of making conversations as far as Australia. I was a once in a life contact, haven't done it since. I upgraded to my ham license (general) and still find myself going back to CB for travel, off-roading, and working skip for fun. Keep it on and enjoy!!