CB radio

[noway]

I recently found some old CB equipment in the loft of my sons new home,the previous owner apologised that she may of left some boxes of rubbish up there and it was too heavy for her to move.They have stickers saying 27/81 on the front which means it was when CB became legal in this country (27mhz 1981)..

I never got into the CB scene and wondered if any of you did?

I guess it died a death many years ago?

[Saleen836]

Mobile phones killed it off, mostly truckers just use them these days

[Spare tyre]

Popular with Greenlanders (off roaders) and farmers still

[gazzarose]

I think it's still legal to use one whilst driving which is an advantage over mobiles in some circumstances. I think it was put in as an exception so emergency services could still use radios but also means taxi drivers and national grid type people still use them. My dad works for the electric board and they've still got push to talk radios, but posh ones that you can call a specific van with. I think the legal bit is you have to have push to talk so it encourages you to get the conversation over promptly rather thhan yapping for hours.

[dtmpower]

CB is undertaking a bit of a revival.

Transmission1.net is a good place to take a look.

[Hilts]

I had one when I was still in school, this model with a DV27 aerial screwed into an upside down Quality Street tin earthed to my bedroom radiator.

[5ohmustang]

CB's are still used in the states quite a lot in trucks. There's a number of cb shops at the truck stops.

I had one in my foxbody.

Edited by 5ohmustang on Saturday 15th April 20:18

[Yipper]

dtmpower said:

CB is undertaking a bit of a revival.

Transmission1.net is a good place to take a look.

Yes, some truckers, farmers and ham-radio enthusiasts still use CB in the vehicle and home. Tends to be older folks over 40, so whether CB has a longterm future remains to be seen. But, for now, there is a bit of a cult revival, with big CB aerials starting again to pop up on housing-estate rooftops.

[Jambo85]

Used them a bit a few years ago driving tractors, quite unreliable but useful. Think we used FM ones. I seem to remember being told AM ones worked a lot better but were illegal, can anyone confirm?

[dtmpower]

UK now has the UK40 and CEPT channels available on FM AM and SSB.

And you here people on 27,555 out of band too.

[ChemicalChaos]

I still use CB when driving in convoy with other 4x4s on a greenlane.

To see if the equipment you have been given is of any use, check if it is AM or FM - early AM stuff was outlawed and replacd with FM many years ago

[catfood12]

Funkycoldribena said:

On the side...

Come alive......

[dfen5]

catfood12 said:

Funkycoldribena said:

On the side...

Come alive......

10-10 'till we see this topic again..

[cologne2792]

It's still alive and well and has gained something of a resurgence due to the relaxation of certain licensing.
The CB27/81 stuff was 40 channel 4 watt with restrictions on antenna and power outputs.
We eventually gained the EU block 40 channels on FM and in 2014 we gained the AM channels along with SSB and a permitted 12 watts output.

Should Donald, Kim & Vlad get there way it, along with Amateur Radio will probably be the only form of communication left.

[noway]

Cheers for the info so far,one of the radios is a cobra 148gtl dx (am/fm/usb/lsb/cw) and i am doing some digging into its rarity,there is also a tristar 747 also am/fm/usb/lsb (the 27/81 label peels off both of them)

I did have friends who used cb radios many years ago and i do remember the legalisation in 1981 and i think rumbelows,dixons,boots etc used to sell them.

Edited by noway on Sunday 16th April 09:23

[catfood12]

Back in the day on AM (1980 ish) everyone was on one-nine, then a couple of years later everyone had gone to one-four, how did that happen ? Even the AM & FM lot moved to one-four....

[PoleDriver]

As I remember it, 19 was for truckers and 14 was for normal people!

[ChemicalChaos]

I was always told 19 was the breaker channel, never used 14!

With the ever -more stringent penalties for mobile usage I definitely see CB having a resurgence for short-range communication between cars

[V8 FOU]

I was one of the pioneers of CB.
Did a lot of lobbying in Parliament - that was very interesting. Had my 'phone tapped too!!!
Very cloak and dagger. Got "busted" once. Court/fine/etc.

In the end, did wonder if it was worth it....

[227bhp]

Thanks to this thread i've now got the theme to Convoy going on in my head.