Why hasn't CB radio died?

[Lucan Unlordly]

Whilst looking for inspiration for a new business it seems that CB radio is alive, kicking and some say on the up?
By any stretch of the imagination the advance of technology, primarily mobile phones with hands free usage, Satnav etc., should have seen CB radio go the way of the Abacus years ago.

 

[Aniela]

Whilst looking for inspiration for a new business it seems that CB radio is alive, kicking and some say on the up?
By any stretch of the imagination the advance of technology, primarily mobile phones with hands free usage, Satnav etc., should have seen CB radio go the way of the Abacus years ago.

Few reasons.

1) It's become a sort of hobby market.

2) There is an exception in law to be able to use CB radios while driving; so it's actually practical for certain use-cases, such as taxi businesses or driving around at events etc. You can't use a phone when driving but can use a CB radio.

3) There's no licensing fee, so free to use. No network costs.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I dont think it is my mate Basher Bale is a small holder/lumber jack He is the craziest person I know .

He has one in his Land Rover but I dont know who he talks to on the thing
Dartmoor rescue use it but no one gets a phone signal up there

 

[paulears]

If people need to chat and don’t want to take ham radio exams, then CB is indeed active. There is also a considerable base of people using the PMR446 system for the same thing, and an even bigger worldwide system called network radio which uses a phone data sim in a radio package. On these you can chat to people world wide from a handheld or mobile radio. It’s similar to the digital radio system hams use to talk worldwide. Works great. To get a flavour of the best and the worst. Install Zello on your phone. Try Glasgow rangers if you find prostitution and death threats funny! Makes the complaints about Facebook bullying laughable.

seriously though, talking as a hobby has increased my sales through covid times, and kept me afloat. There are even Brazilian lorry drivers who have taken over an ex-US government satellite link to listen to if you find it interesting?

be aware the talking while driving thing needs thought. The Police need to use their radios while driving, so the law is formulated to make using telephones illegal, by the driver, even when stationary. It is NOT the microphone that decides, it is the designation of the device. Is it a phone? Sometimes easy. A CB is not a phone. An iPhone bring used on Zello is a phone. A network Eadaoin with dangly mic is believed to be not a phone. However mine uses the EE network, and runs Android. It will receive texts and has a mobile phone number. Is it a phone? Only a court can decide and so far, they haven’t. The police’s new system piggybacks on the EE network, so they’ve clearly thought about this. If you crash or cause one everyone is of course likely to be prosecuted for driving with due care or attention or dangerous driving.

 

[Scalloway]

I never got the CB radio craze. It was just a bunch of people with silly user names making stupid comments.

Oh wait.....

 

[paulears]

For me, I read the radio forums avidly - it's amazingly divisive, and some of it illegal. CB has settled down nicely in the main to a community. The PMR446 folk can't do much with the low power they are allowed and no proper antenna rules - so they buy (sometimes from me) higher power radios that I know they will put on the low power unregulated band and talk for miles. Ethically, I'm torn. It's wrong, but I sort of have to set that to one side. CBers and PMR446 folk even have a sort of national database of callsigns, it's highly organised into communities. They of course hate the hams, and the hams hate them - many secretly are both. Old hams hate new hams, because the tests they took were different/easier/harder, and many continue with Morse, which puts those people into a promoted/demoted category. I sell one radio that is designed for radio hams, but can be used by CB'ers - that's always fun when people order them and ask advice. I have two different answers, depending on who asks. What is clear is people like the idea of these communities. The technology is crazily complex for some, simple for others. I programmed one radio for an elderly chap to talk to his elderly friend ten miles away. I messed up, but he won't let me fix it. His first response when he called was from a trucker on the old Route 66 in America. He has kept my programming error. He is 85, and enjoying his new unexpected hobby.

 

[WaveJumper]

I remember those days before mobile phones clandestine meetings in car parks to buy a 'rig'. I think you are onto something though the other month we were looking out our lounge window and noticed a house across the road had placed a 21 foot dipole in his tree since then we have noticed more and more aerials appearing on roof tops and put this down to people getting bored in lockdown one house I passed in Chelmsford yesterday has three aerials up now. And I have to admit this morning I was looking at units for sale on FB market place whilst waiting for the markets to open ......... breaker breaker

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

I programmed one radio for an elderly chap to talk to his elderly friend ten miles away. I messed up, but he won't let me fix it. His first response when he called was from a trucker on the old Route 66 in America. He has kept my programming error. He is 85, and enjoying his new unexpected hobby.

That's a great story and for all the bad parts of CB radio first time around I have many recollections of good use.
Driving in to work, with a choice of two possible routes into town, both via busy roundabouts, a couple of old ladies living in view of each route, would rise early to give real time traffic reports during the rush hour. It was great for shaving a few minutes off one's journey and even better when a member of staff arrived late due to traffic a traffic jam that you knew wasn't there!

 

[Awinner2]

Is this why I cannot tune into Radio Caroline anymore?