Does anyone put CB's in cars anymore?

 

It's actually pretty easy. Why do you ask?

 

Half a dozen yrs ago I thought it might be beneficial to install a CB in my truck for a road trip from MN to AK. I was surprised to find there was almost no "traffic" on it the entire way! Not even the continual noise from all the truckers that was so prevalent back in the hey-day of CB's.

I have a factory original AM/FM/8-Track and an AM/FM/CB and haven't decided which one I'll install when the time comes on my project.

 

A friend gave me one with a magnetic aerial and suggested I put it in my Cutlass for road trips. I guess I am asking because back in the 70's in my area of town it was pretty cool to have one installed in your ride. Is it a good idea ? We have cell phones, but would the CB be a good back up to the phone in case of breakdowns etc?

 

So are they beneficial in this era of cell phones?

 

There was a time that the local police would monitor channel 9 for emergency calls, however, I think that is long gone. I just don't know if any of the long haul truckers still use them like they used to. There are some areas, where a cell phone will do you no good, since there are no cell towers in the area. Most of our town, there is no cell service, and the town will not allow a cell tower to be built. I can remember a long time ago, while driving through a rural area of Georgia, that there was nothing on the radio, other than static. There are still large areas of this country that are very sparsely populated.

 

Here in Arizona outback areas we use CBs in our Jeeps for 4x4 trail runs but the range is basically a mile or two, so while it is useful for communication between vehicles on the run it is totally useless in an emergency situation when you need to communicate beyond ~4 miles or so (depends upon terrain, radio power, and atmospheric conditions). You have a much better chance of communicating with a cell phone, assuming you are within a coverage area (which I assume much of the east is).

 

I don't think it would be a benefit in this day and age.

 

If you plan on interstate travel a CB can be very useful if for some reason the road is SHUT DOWN, The truckers will then turn ON their CB to find out what the best route to BYPASS the WRECK or what ever might be BLOCKING the road, Most of the truckers have a CB but the CB traffic is nothing like it was in the mid to late 70s.
I don't travel with out one.
Go for it YOU NEVER KNOW when it will come in useful

Johnny

 

Our antique car club does numerous 3 and 4 day tours during the year. We usually have 10 to 20 vehicles in the group. For communicating with the group, the CB is great. You can give out information of a breakdown, a wrong turn or even an emergency stop for ice cream, and everyone can hear it immediately. A cell phone is great one on one, but it can not communicate with everyone simultaneously.


Most of us use under the dash mounts that can be removed with magnetic base antennas. I have mine mounted to a couple of felt covered oak boards that sits on my console. The lower board is the width of the console woodgrain and the felt keeps it from damaging the console. Nothing is permanent and it is easy to install and remove.

 

I've always thought that the idea of constant truck-driver chatter on CB radios back in the day was largely myth. Yes, truckers obviously used CB radios or we never would have had the fad nor songs like "Convoy", but most of the chatter I remember when I put a CB in my '75 Chevy Nova was from other people like me who thought they were being cool by trying to come up with as clever a "handle" as possible, describing their incoming signals as "five by five" or "wall to wall," and otherwise talking about nothing of consequence on their CB radios. Truckers generally sat on the sidelines and chuckled at the "four-wheelers" and their goofy drivers while chatting with each other when necessary on a side channel.

 

Truckers were pretty active in central Jersey back then.

 

Guys most of the Truckers are on other channels to get away from the four wheelers! As well with the addition of FM yes on the CB and other channels over 3500 that's right you might never find anybody except on Channel 9

 

The CB radio fad of the mid-'70s grew largely for one reason: the Arab oil embargo of 1973 and the resulting passage by Congress of the national 55 mph speed limit (which went into effect on March 2, 1974). Suddenly, everyone wanted to know where the cop cars were, so we had "Smokey" reports and the "Smokey and the Bandit" movie.

Getting help in an emergency, making idle chatter, forming "convoys," and so forth were secondary reasons. By the late '70s, the fad had run its course, people realized both that truckers didn't really want to talk to car drivers and that there wasn't all that much to talk about once you said "10-4 good buddy" enough times, and CB'ing largely went back to being something used pretty much only by truckers.

CBs do serve a purpose in areas where cell phones don't get a signal, and the idea of being able to talk to many people at once when traveling as a group is a valid point, but it only works if everyone in the group has a CB radio.

 

I must be really old, because I had a CB in my car in 1964.. It was a 23 channel Radio Shack mounted under the dash. I was in college, and it was a different time back then. A CB was your lifeline on the road, if you needed help in a hurry.

 

I wish I had those times back (70's) for me things were simple although there were huge problems
,they just worked themseles out....this post 9/11 world sucks...those terrorists achieved more than they ever imagined with the shape of our govt. and society today

 

I remember sitting in my dad's station wagon pretending to talk on the CB . He had just installed it and Dad told me not to use it until we had our xm number. Man, I just thought it was cool sitting in my dads car with a big olde aerial out the back. Awe, the 70's

 

Well i must have a better memory!Back in the fall of 1976 i went from kansas to gallop nm and back home.There was convoys bears in the air driving a hundred mph in the convoys and not stopping to pay the toll. Cars and pickups being pushed in the ditch by the highway patrol. As they had those big push bars on the front.Them truckers if you were a dipstick wouldn't talk to you. My 23 channel midland with a big whip could reach out good. I was driving a falcon wagon.Those truckers could run fast back in those days.Ah the good ole days makes me want to go get me a cb again.I think my dad still has his maybe i will go get it from him he doesn't use it.

 

CB radios bring back good memories for me. The times they were good.

Dad would have one installed in mom's car, for just in case reasons. Back then, lots of people were mobile, but many had console home units. Base units as I remember. These same folks would be into ham radio as well. Even today, when scouring the country side, you can still see the antennae of those in the hobby.

As a kid I would visit gatherings of radio folk and they would swap stories and cards with their call signs etc.

I still get a chuckle when my folks (who are as old as dirt, will mention "so and so" was breaching their TV reception again with power mics.

 

Ahh the GOOD OLE DAYS full of Radio checks /10-4 Good buddy replaced by AM/FM sideband wit 100 watts of linear built in Yep things were better then Wait that's why we are driving our old cars to PRESERVE THE MEMORIES Amen to that So signing off keep your wheels between the ditches !

 

Those were the days of "little white pills."

These are the days of "Pee in the little white cup."

- Eric

 

My call letters were KAUS8936 As assigned by the FCC, I still us my CB but the call letters were deemed unnecessary in 77 I think, My handle was Knuckle buster, my wife's, Stage 1 Queen, Those were the days for sure. GOOD TIMES.

Johnny

 

I remember my Grandparents as having the home based unit. Back in the early 70's my Father and his friends raised Greyhounds for coyote hunting. They would fabricate 'dog boxes' on old pickup trucks to run down the coyotes down old dirt roads, through pastures and such to catch up with them. CB's were how they communicated with each other. Slam on the brakes, pull the cord
to let the dogs out and the race was on! Great memories. I used to ride in the middle with Dad driving and Pa on the passenger side.

 

It was a very sad day when i had to take down my dads tower for his base unit in the 90's.That is when dad quit using his cb. tower. Still had a hand held for boating.He is to old now to go boating.Sad

 

A lot of off-roaders use them, so if you're going to be doing some wheeling in your Cutlass or in an area where people do you might find one handy.

 

The days of 27mhz cb radios have been replaced by 400mhz uhf cb's. I regularly use the uhf between vehicles when we go 4x4 camping. Quick and convenient communication to share a joke, warn of the impending mud hole or sand trap or just to break the long trips up.

I have installed my old original 27mhz am cb radio and 1/4 wave whip antenna in the '73 88 for that retro look and feel. Also carry the Motorola bag phone when I cruise around and get lots of, 'I had one of those', and 'that takes me back'. Of course I get plenty of, 'what's that radio in the bag for?', as well.

 

Well update my dad gave me about all his radio equipment base station two car cb's and telegraph key has tubes in it not the key it's self LOL. I also have a box of miscellaneous radio stuff i haven't even checked out yet. Car bumper jack base very nice i might add. Two boat props that i don't know what pitch or what engine lower unit they fit.Man i don't know what i am going to do with this stuff LOL.