CB Radio?

[pward]

Came across my 40 channel CB. Does anyone have one mounted on their motorhome? Seems it would still be relevant if you spent time on freeways. Not sure where you could mount an antenna for a ground plane, everything is plastic.

[groutman]

most of truckers dont even have them turned on and when the do there just bitching its not like it use to be

[Sola123]

I have one...sometimes it helps with traffic backups....but mostly I have it for the instant weather info while driving....once in a great while you might have a reasonable conversation...I do keep mine off most of the time...

[Iraqvet05]

There are various lip and fender mounts that you could use to mount an antenna and use the hood as a partial ground plane...not great but it works. If you have kids/grandkids that travel with you, be aware there is usually an ton of foul language on CB.

[pward]

Thanks all, does sound like a bummer now. Used to be fun and really useful if you traveled the freeways especially. Well, was a good idea I guess, and nobody laughed at me

[kmickel]

I still travel with my CB on, scanning all 40 channels. Useful for traffic conditions, weather, local info, and just being social. My CB came with a volume control and off and on switch if I'm offended by the subject or language

[Nathan S.]

I used a cb in the old days when it was fun and useful. When I was researching and talking to people as to what I needed to stock the trailer with, walkie talkies came up. So without going into a ton of detail I decided to go with cell phone and CB’s. Cellphone is simple backing up and all that stuff. But cell phone only works if you have a tower. I like to get remote sometimes and we have grand plans to go to Fairbanks one summer. I also wanted NOAA if we traveled across the plains states in summer. Scared to death of hurricanes. So I bought a little hand Midland CB that went from the cab of the truck to portable. Found a way to mount an antenna on an aluminum truck without drilling a hole. It hasn’t got a lot of use to date, but when I have turned it on to get information it’s useful. Not many people use it anymore for conversation. But if your in traffic, or weather comes up it can be useful. If you already have the radio, all you need is to mount an antenna, go for it. Turn it on when you need it, you might be surprised at who’s out there and how it can help.

[wilderness john]

I keep a hand held unit in the truck. In addition to it's own antenna it came with a roof mount magnet antenna. I Keep the cb in a small tool box and check the batteries once in a while. Good for traffic problems or when you are out of cell service, etc. Like a lot of things it provides a good backup

[WeRJuliian]

Originally Posted by pward

Not sure where you could mount an antenna for a ground plane, everything is plastic.

You can use a "non ground plane" antenna and cable. Most of the major brands have at least one or two in their range. They won't be as efficient as a ground plane equivalent, but they still work. You can improve things, somewhat, by adding a "ground enhancer" ... the little three point radial, fitted at the base.

If you look at the next few trucks you pass, many of them have antennae mounted on places like their door mirrors. No ground plane there, so there's definitely a market.


Hope that helps...

[herewego]

we have one in our Ram truck that we set up

[Atlee]

Do you find you use the CB much?

Originally Posted by herewego

we have one in our Ram truck that we set up

[Screwby]

We started using our GMRS radios most often. Handhelds and mobiles are cheap and get very good range. I’ve got NOAA programmed on mine which comes in handy. If we want to keep it really private we switch over to a simplex ham radio setup but that’s a whole different subject. A programmable ham radio with the surrounding areas emergency frequencies and GMRS capabilities goes above and beyond.

[DNelson]

We added one to our truck for a trip to Alaska. We rarely heard anyone on the CB and never really used it. Still put the magnetic antenna on the truck when we travel but only rarely turn the CB on. It can be nice when there is traffic issues if you can put up with the foul language that seems to built into these units.

[32Pinnical]

The CB comes in handy when the traffic on the highway is at a standstill for miles and the truckers are on Chanel 16 or 9 talking about where the tie up is and how to get around it! We have taken the next exit and googled an alternative route several times!
Also a good backup for cell phone in case of a breakdown in a no cell service area!

[Av8tor]

It's kind of like a toilet. Very handy when you need it, just cargo when you don't.

[kirkelli]

I use the CB on every trip. Like everyone says, very handy for weather and traffic reports. Several times the trucker traffic reports helped with detour routes due highway closures. I will add, IMO the cb radio traffic today is much more enjoyable then years back. The garbage is not near what it used to be. I’ve had lots of nice conversations with truckers on the road. Certainly helps kill time on long trips.

[3belkhunter]

Truckers used them back in the day to be aware of speed traps - which was pretty helpful to me travelling the freeways, but now that trucker speeds are throttled by GPS reporting back to the trucking company - truckers now just spew garbage on the radio - I bought one for a cross county road trip last summer and found it pretty useless noise unless you like counting F-bombs. I sold it as soon as I returned home.

[ttvibz]

I wanted a CB or GMRS radio on our trip to Alaska this year but it never got bought. I was concerned that we might break down out in the boonies and would need to call for help. It turns out, the roads we traveled between California and Alaska were well enough traveled had we got stuck we wouldn't have had to wait long for a passer-by. We used cell phones for dealing with traffic. If I was going somewhere truly remote (up in the Canadian NWT for example), I'd take a radio. Otherwise, the world is too civilized to need it; at least in my opinion.