Disappointed With CB Radio? You Shouldn't Be!

[@RevMikeBlack]

I was in college during the mid 1970s CB radio craze in America. For about a year, EVERYBODY had a CB radio in their car. It was a great time to be alive... and we had only 21 channels back then, too.

[@StalinTheMan0fSteel]

*23

[@jamesslick4790]

Yeah, it was 23, but we guys from back then are getting old now and forget shit. 21 inch TVs and 23 Channel CBs....All blends together after a while. @@StalinTheMan0fSteel

[@disorganizedorg]

@@StalinTheMan0fSteel 24 on some Radio Shack kit with a mechanical tuning knob with a PA setting... carefully turning the knob to between ch 23 and PA would tune to another frequency that I think corresponded to channel 25 in the 40-channel allocation. This is all in the US as referenced by the thread starter. I don't think this was terribly long after radios which accepted discrete crystals per-channel finally went away?

[@slightlyevolved]

I remember CB being a factory option on my friend's dad's Chrysler. It was integrated with the AM/FM dash radio. The FM antenna on the fender had a load coil just below the halfway point.

[@StalinTheMan0fSteel]

@@slightlyevolved My dad had a 79 Buick Riviera, it had a factory am/fm/cb and the antenna was the same, a power antenna with a center load coil.

[@Hultis-Funkbude]

The same self-made problems here in Germany too. Bad comments just because radio operators are too stupid to operate the devices correctly. 73 from Germany, Sascha

[@thejoneseys]

I'm glad I was around at the very start of the 80s to experience the CB era in the UK. Fond memories of Midland, Rotel, Maxcom rigs installed in rusty Ford Cortinas with a mag mount aerial and absolutely stinking of cigarettes 😂 Good times!

[@petemillis4666]

And Club Tropicana by Wham blaring out the Audioline stereo

[@tassiebushcraft3965]

I'm really hoping a model comes out with SSB, that would be a game changer.

[@revoxjazz8317]

Personally, I never stop having my CB equipment fully functional, because I have always believed that it is something that will not disappear. I don't use it daily because it doesn't justify doing so given the small number of users. And there is also the problem that many of those users are not actually operators, which means that it is common to hear conversations that in no way dignify amateur radio. Despite this, I listen CB almost every night, in my workshop. And so I will continue, Lewis. Macedo Pinto, Portugal.

[@RT-qd8yl]

It's the same way in the US now. It was very popular and useful in the 70's and 80's but outside of truck driving and docks/ports etc, most of what you'll hear on CB is just trash. Our ham bands are 10x better than CB all the way around, but even that is starting to slip here. It's really a shame because CB is a great way to get beginners into radio and really interested due to the ease of use, no licensing etc. But at the same time that's what makes it so vulnerable to misuse.

[@Brookspirit]

I see so many comments from people buying these and Baofeng radios who have no idea how they work or what they can and can't do, and then they complain about the radio. People need to learn more before spending money.

[@glenjarnold]

True that. Quite a few people have bought Thunderpole TXs for example, and are disappointed that they can't talk back to the Americans they hear on Channel 6 ('SuperBowl ') and such like!

[@Savagetechie]

I remember when I was little, we used to sit outside the front door with an old midland handheld (it took something like 22 AA batteries) had a rubber duck antenna on it while channel 9 was constant traffic reports you could just flick around and hear so much. That would have been late 80s early 90s 40 channel rigs

[@simonnoble7589]

i had such a rig , i still remember it well ..

[@dw7920]

Glad to hear someone else refer to it as an early form of social media because that was exactly what it was - way before the term was coined of course. A number of us at school had CBs and would spend hours talking to each other, but just as importantly, widening our social networks and making friends further afield that we'd never have got to know had it not been for the radio. It also taught us a lot about the tech which was right up my street. I still have a real fondness for CB and whilst I really ought to get off my backside and do the Foundation licence, it does offer the opportunity to carry on playing with radio after all these years.

[@RCAvhstape]

I got a Uniden Bearcat BC125AT scanner, mainly for train and plane watching, but it also scans CB radio and it picks up quite a few signals, so CB is less active but certainly not dead, not in the US at least.

[@digitalmediafan]

Beware folks although the same radio internally the display is not the same as the Thunderpole. The signal meter on the Jopix is inferior for a start but if you don't care about that then yes it's cheaper than the original Thunerpole version

[@dktr2]

CB radio was something amazing 20 years ago, with a base antenna on every roof, every channel crowded, everyone knew each other and could recognize by just a short carrier push. I passed the amateur radio license exam 3 months ago and those emotions before the radio came back ;) 73! SP4OX

[@togeika]

I’m in the USA, Minneapolis, MN. I have a tram antenna outside and have tried an inverted “V” dipole. Running a CRT SS6900V converted to 11 meter, with a K-Po power mic. I hear skip from down south and out west but no local traffic. On GMRS, the best chance of hearing traffic is on the repeaters. Since I mostly listen, have ordered a dedicated Uniden scanner to monitor GMRS/CB/MURS/ham repeaters/marine/aircraft./and railroad. If I hear anything I want to respond to, I can turn on the Tx radio.

[@alabamared2568]

Ringway ...love the channel mate i recently spoke with alan at thunderpole he told me us customers can order from the thunderpole site ask them they will modify the T-X for use here in the usa we use the same frequency and he also says there working on opening a usa store on Amazon soon for usa customers to buy thunderpole products....73s from Alabama USA 😊

[@Broad2020]

Gr8 video Lewis, Back in the 80s i had an AM side bander and a 20f Dipole. Now i have just got myself a President Randy 3. WOW what a little belter.

[@AlexSwanson-rw7cv]

As a complete novice it'd be great to see a video comparing these hand-held CBs with PMR446 radios in different real-world scenarios, since they're both licence-free.

[@dave0smeg]

I used to spend hours on the air back in the day. But people moved away or sold up. I did tune in about 3 years ago and the only activity I could hear were the mic keyers on 1 9 in Liverpool running 1KW burners, playing music 24/7.

[@graemedavidson499]

Fond memories of CB in the late 80s here too in North East Scotland. Sadly, the only time I see any activity on the bands is when propagation is good and even then mainly overseas stations are heard. I miss all the wonderful characters of that era albeit I’m sure there’s an element of rose tinted spectacles involved.

[@jamesslick4790]

This comment is in the context of the US. (I don't know much about the non-"ham" HF/VHF/UHF radios available to the general public in Europe). 27 Mhz CB should be considered a hobby in the realm of Shortwave Listening. "CB" is shortwave. Invest in a GOOD antenna (For ~27Mhz!) and perhaps an upgraded mic and try to go for DISTANCE. If you just want to talk to your friend down the street, get an FRS (Like "regular" CB, there is no license required), or for more POWER go to GMRS (a "license" is required, but there is no test, so more of a tax than a license) I make contacts and "shoot the breeze" on both CB and GMRS. They are like being a ham without a test. CB for Distance, GMRS for local. ( FRS/GMRS is really a UHF-FM version of "CB"). Radio is a fun hobby, but investigate HOW you want to get into it. And use the right gear (ANTENNAS particularly!!)

[@rogerburchell4567]

You are quite right ... people need to get out there and play about with the old cb ... been on since 1979....then moved over to 27/81.... everyone and their dog was on channel lol...again as you said long gone days now ....nice handheld...i have a DNT 40 channel with a four foot telescopic antenna from years back ...also my ex xyl had a TRC 1001 handheld....thanks for the video ..👍

[@tim.iteland.9447]

I was a cycle courier in East London in 2001 , I had a half digital / half analogue Motorola handheld unit . Amazing system, I could even radio into base in hackney while doing 90mph on a train near Slough . Via repeater beacons . Amazing system and very clear audio .

[@gtretroworld]

I have made some great contacts on one of these, even had it on the end of a 3 element Yagi with incredible results. Absolutely impeccable fun if used correctly and a great excuse to get out and about…Superbly put video Lewis which I’m sure will be helpful.

[@MarjaMariachi]

CB should become popular again, just for the slang alone! "Breaker, breaker, got your ears on? My 20 is by the Flying Hook outside Space City, my bird-dog was barking, smokey's got customers, it's wall to wall bears. Lay off the hammer."

[@samgraham9754]

Love your channel, always something new, might get myself one of these CB radios! Thanks

[@RingwayManchester]

Thank you so much!

[@GG-im1cb]

I really like this radio, I have the Thunderpole variant. If I had one wish though it would be that they put in an FM receiver for commercial radio like they do with the Baofengs etc.

[@cjespers]

Thanks for the video. Had a lot of fun with cb. Had a hy-gain V with extra xtals before 40 channels came out. A PDL-II on the roof. Good times!

[@meola69420]

CB is the 11M band of the spectrum, nuts to buying an antenna, just make a simple dipole for the 11M band and your CB radio will probably work a charm. All you need is your feed line and two pieces of wire that are 8 foot 6 inches long each. Solder one to the centre of your coax and one to the shield, toss it up the air, boom monoband 11M dipole tuned to roughly the middle of the band, so channel 20 on CB. I did this when I first got my HF HAM radio and made contacts with 5/6 continents, granted that was on 20M. Messing with FT8 on 10M as I type this, and it looks like my signal on PSK reporter is making it into most of the East Coast of the USA, scattered all over South America, a bunch of Coastal Europe around England area, Hawaii, Fiji, Norfolk Island, Sweden and Alaska, and I live on the West Coast of Canada, way up North. With solar cycle 2025 approaching, CB radio could get quite fun here soon!

[@26DR302]

I have just sold my SSB rig and bought one of these. I want to get out portable and mobile more and prefer FM modulation. I know people will say FM bands are quiet but i dont here much local SSB anyway, it is mainly skip. I have also worked Canada on FM and Eastern Europe on the mids so SSB not the be all and end all it is made out to be. 👍

[@SSN515]

Lots of truckers and mobile commuter activity here in the Northeast and Southeast USA.. A lot of skip from the south ( Caribbean, Mexico, South America) and the western USA with the SFI getting up there, too. I'm not hearing much from Canada on CB or 10 meters, though.

[@David0lyle]

Not too many years ago my friend was hooking up his CB to communicate with other 4 wheelers. His first contact was with a woman who offered to sell him weed. 😬 The idea would have been inconceivable in the activities hay day but an awful lot of the channels were pretty much clear at the time. I actually didn’t spend that much time on the channels myself except for experimenting but there aren’t big crowds. I really do think that the nice little rubber duck that the radios are coming with are probably better suited to close contact. 🤷 If you didn’t buy a pair with someone specific to talk to it’s probably a good idea to order an antenna with more gain when you buy the radio.

[@robertfatman167]

I made a dipole from garden cains and a split coax . I was getting good signal reports from across town. Sadly, when I disclosed what was been used as an aerial, the other party thought I was winding them up and would not talk to me. A correctly dimensioned piece of split coax adequately suspended makes as good an aerial as anything at these frequencies. 27MHz band is so noisy it’s nigh on useless for anything other than short range communication. That said, being in the North East and receiving Cornwall or Germany on a summers afternoon is somewhat exciting, especially given the transmission powers involved

[@bill-2018]

That's because they were operators, buyers, not experimenters. G4GHB.

[@mfbfreak]

My radio career started (after a handful of tiny 1 transistor medium wave transmitters) with a CB radio i got from a pirate friend. With a halfwave vertical and the legal 4w power i managed to get a contact with someone 45km away who was using illegal power in a car mounted antenna. From there, i shifted to ham radio because the ham bands were busier and more open to connecting to random people, rather than being (in my case) a cheap mobile phone alternative to a "closed" group of friends. Or people making fucking or farting noises. Or crane drivers cursing at other people who use the CB band, because channel so and so is the crane driver's channel and no one else should use it etc etc... But go for it if you want to try it out. I even connected to a packet radio node once, 15 years ago. Just get a serious antenna, or make your own half wave dipole or something.

[@AJ-qn6gd]

I’ve got a President Randy 3 which I put a telescopic antenna on and easily get 15+ miles across water, it also receives skip from USA and Europe really well one evening was picking up conversation from all up the east coast of the USA and Canada, that was on the stock antenna !

[@jasonclarke7422]

What’s your 20 good buddy.

[@TheSpitfiregoggles]

I've heard similar comments about using HTs on the amateur 4m band..."don't bother with one of those, you'll get nowhere, you need 100W ssb to a beam" etc., etc...and yet, I've had contacts out to 25 miles with the helical that came with the radio! I've got back into CB in a small way, with a second hand TTI rig from Newark Hamfest last year and a £10 Sirio DV27, getting contacts out to 30 miles plus. Looking forward to getting a handheld again as I'm more likely to be active with it. A big part of the problem in getting contacts is lack of activity in some areas and a shift away from monitoring the calling channel to having local chat channels which is fine, but how do you know about them if you're new to the hobby or area?

[@robertmeyer4744]

great video. the thunderpole TX is back in stock. think new commers are not understanding 27 MHz CB. I have ordered one of them. I have outher CB HT radios. fun to play radio with. hear in the US the range is bad do to skip and noise on the band. I have the longer BNC antenna and it does help a bunch but still has limit of the 11 meter band. that not like FRS radios we have in the US or PMR 446 in UK. they UHF and lo power can go quite far if some height on them. still a nice radio to have. I have the outher PNI one. the escort HP 62 and this does UK and EU and more bands. takes same battery as midland one. I have that one as well. AM/FM they still sell the UK and US versions of that. you can make a end-fed half wave for 11 meter CB and run it up a pole like the DX commander 7 meter one and strap to a bench or fence and it will get out great. just make wire a tad longer than 10 meter ham and it will match. with all the videos on end fed half wave antennas you can easy make one. or buy one. add some wire and works CB ! love the video with the half wave put to a fence on a hill into the thounderpole TX . it works quite well. I made a antenna watching you tube . CB can be a lot of fun. times have changed . I love all things radio ! 73's

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

Prices? Used to be on cb in the 90s, with a car rig but for my home with a 20ft dipol. I used to be able to get quite far. But yea i can imagine its pretty dead and wonder what the range is on these.

[@sputumtube]

I noticed that these CB radios are all FM (frequency modulation). The CB's of the early 80's when I had a Midland 240M in my car had both FM and AM (amplitude modulation). What happened to the AM frequency. It's almost 40 years since I had mine!

[@crosisofborg5524]

I was a daily CB user in the late 70s to mid 80s. I had fun. I used an AV101 Astroplane antenna.

[@andrewagner2035]

Greetings from Cape Town. CB radio, the “facebook” of the 70”s and 80”s. Unfortunately on the frequencies that CB operates on 27 Mhz , long and large outdoor antennas are required. Back in the day, sets were not hand held , but mobile units at home or in the car, with an external outdoor antenna. These new handheld sets are misleading, as an external outdoor antenna is required for reasonable range.

[@james-5560]

Do you think it would be a good idea for the authorities to allow higher power on CB and to be able to buy radios with a higher output power?

[@Rob2]

No. Running more power does not really improve the situation. What the authorities CAN do (and usually do in most countries) is to allow CB-type operation on VHF or even UHF. That will work better. Still, when you want to be able to contact your friends anywhere, get a network radio.

[@SimonBlandford]

A higher power UHF service would be cool, like GMRS in the US which can run up to 50W. 27MHz is really a bit rubbish for local contacts because the antennas have to be quite large and the skip is actually a nuisance as far as wanting to talk locally is concerned.

[@bill-2018]

Why? C.B, was originally supposed to be for local communication only. More power just bumps up the electricity bill. I have run 5 Watts ssb and cw for over 30 years. I would suggest you get on amateur radio if you want distance. I could run 400 Watts but choose not to. VK3YE has videos showing what low power can do using 5 Watts out. G4GHB.

[@gower23]

We just use the T-X radios for the utilitarian, two-way comms that PMR446 is inadequate for in terms of range or terrain. Fishing and hunting trips etc. Most of the time the low power setting is fine and even then you get better range than on the 446. But like anything it's a trade off. A 446 radio will fit neatly into the pocket of your chest waders for example, the T-X not so much. But disappointed...no way. Would never be without the T-X's.

[@johnnywad7728]

I have a Mosley 5 element,a Starduster, which was pictured in this video. But the antenna I've talked all over north America on is a 5/8 wave Astroplane omnidirectional antenna. I once in mid 1980s on SSB made contact from my location in Pennsylvania to a station in El Salvador,Central America! If I was going to use this radio featured in video as a mobile,I would go with a 102" stainless steel whip. One time while stationed in Missouri,in my pickup truck w/ my Cobra 146gtl SSB,w/ 102" whip, located on right rear of vehicle. I took a piece of copper wire about one wavelength or approximately 11 meters. Connected that to a screw on left front of my truck,out to a tree limb about 7' off the ground,then into the earth on a piece of copper pipe. I made contact with a guy in NYC,which is where my ground plane was aimed. He said you are pegging my meter and I had to hold microphone out the window and honk the horn to prove I was a mobile.

[@DavieTait]

CB nowadays really has to use SSB to be of any use , the "mid band" between the USA/EU and UK 40FM bands is where almost all the activity is , calling channel is 27.555mhz USB , occasionally get contacts with Europe or the USA on the lower band but mostly on the mid band , need a decent antenna as well

[@saxpert]

I made about 70-90km from a mountain with a stabo sh7000 in the 80s and 30km from a bridge all with a stock telescopic antenna. I never used CB for talking with strangers, always to talk with people who become friends in the first place.

[@StalinTheMan0fSteel]

I've never given up on CB, ever since i was a kid, It's where i started and obtained a Novice licence at 15 and upgraded to General the next year. I have grey hair on my head now and was listening to the free band region yesterday then i was on 29.000 mhz listening to AM activity, boat anchor stuff! 8-)

[@bobbysenterprises3220]

Used to spend most the night laying in my room on the 11 meter band. Big metal ground plane in the back yard. Rigs in my car and sometimes in the parents when i used that. Still have most of the equipment but dont lock my jeep or convertable so dont want it in it anyways

[@ashleystyles6888]

Hi mate. I had baofeng radios that I couldn't programme so I sold them. So what's the cheapest 27/81 CB you can buy? (Amazed I remembered that designation from the front of my CB back in the 80s lol) many thanks

[@wallywo7392]

Thanks for this the Jobix looks identical to the thunderpole, is there any difference at all in terms of functions and performance? Thanks very much

[@chrislittle9057]

I love my thunderpole t-x...not much on local chatting for me ....i like the dx...and on the European bands .....this radio is brilliant for dx...❤❤

[@johnnywad7728]

I've been a cb radio fan since early 1970s. Then in the military discovered a while group of military and prior military on SSB. Any cb fans who want to make contact should consider SSB. And remember, ANTENNAS are EVERYTHING when it comes to radio and Cb in particular,due to limitations on ERP! 5 watts on am,can be 10-12 watts or more on SSB. But when connected to a 5 element bean antenna,with multiplication factor of 2.5 or 3.0,your 10 watts on SSB is now 30 watts of ERP( effective radiated Power). Along with antenna gain ,is antenna height. Can't be in a deep valley and expect miracles!

[@andrewdolinskiatcarpathian]

Fond memories of my own CB radio in the early 1980’s and attending monthly gatherings. 👍😀

[@radiovan3910]

i have a pni escort hp 82 and it does the same thing when i hold ptt and func button... so is in export mode like the thunderpole or the jopix!

[@johnflowers1976]

You can have a great radio but without a good antenna you might as well just use a dummy load! Great to meet you at Woofferton Lewis. 73 John G0JLF

[@Bluelagoonstudios]

Wow at 3:14 was my very first basis antenna, very easy to use, but power limited, so I upgraded to a log per on a 40m mast, stuffed between the trees, but good enough to use a rotor motor, these were popular in those days. Hmmm I see also a FM dipole on there, but eh, if you mount that antenna so close to a roof, you will get a lot of reflected power in your transmitter, so I assume this was one for only listening?

[@glennwillems9924]

i remember getting into CB radio back in the previous century... I was 13 years old. The year was 1981. The radio was a Ham International Viking. Homebrewed an antenna for it- a full sized dipole and worked into Switzerland with 2W on FM channel 34 :-) I moved on, got my degree in RF Electronics and now I'm a broadcast engineer with a full amateur license as wel. 73 de Glenn ON4WIX

[@jacquesmertens3369]

These would be very useful in a war situation, which I hope we never find ourselves in. But how do CB radios compare to PMR ? Where I live you can use CB up to 4W (or 12W peak on SSB), whereas PMR is restricted to just 0.5 W. Would that be a reason to choose CB? Any other advantages?

[@Rob2]

I would think a handheld PMR radio with 0,5W will usually outperform a CB handheld even when it has 4W. Because antennas practical on a handheld will have a very poor efficiency on 11m, being much too short relative to the wavelength.

[@refraggedbean]

honestly, combat and disaster is part of why I even have my baofeng, the other half is casual listening, but being able to get infrastructure independent weather and comms is an amazing resource, as long as another transmitter is in range I can hear it

[@robertfatman167]

No good after a nuke though. Need something made from valves. After an EMP, semiconductors such as transistors end up with extremely low gain, hence not much use and your radio probably won’t work. Likewise any vehicle with any kind of electronic ignition. My plastic piggy with its breaker points will probably run though. That said, if war were to break out, I don’t think it will involve actual weapons. More likely to involve cyber attacks and taking over infrastructure, including telecommunications, so I suppose a cb could be useful.

[@refraggedbean]

@@robertfatman167 if you look at an actual wars, ones going on right now, you can see what to expect, and that's two fronts, actual guns and weapons, and cyber warfare, we still have not had anyone launch a nuke at someone else since WWII, so while planning for that is fine, its not something you need to focus on compared to just how to communicate without internet, which is the usual case during war

[@paul1962uk]

My intention is to have a loft antenna but want to run the coax down the inside of the wall in oval pvc trunking (the mrs doesnt like surface mounted trunking or cable clips). Are plate mounted so239's available or will i need to make my own from a 1 gang blank plate?

[@micwell2247]

Skip is still there and being used quite a bit with SSB. That is where these hand held's lack is the SSB capability . Radio with SSB you can be in contact with someone on the other side of the world ...

[@brianweston83]

I would warn anyone in a city getting back into CB not to bother, due to cheap switch mode power supplies on everything all you get is noise of about signal 7-9. The handheld should be good out in the open. Better for you and a mate to use them out and about.

[@MattJones675GR9]

I remember my Harrier CBX and Hygain 5 I had with the 5K mod

[@HS0ZIQ]

I'm certain with the current conditions I would be able to work the UK from Gibraltar with one of these..

[@garymcgehee5467]

Is there a Thunderpole CB for the frequencies allocated for the U.S. Market???

[@MM0XET]

There is a thriving CB community in the Dundee area.

[@RogierYou]

Same for ham radio on VHF / UHF I can call any times cq on a repeater. No one replies. Until suddenly someone calls a fiend who instantly replies. Turns out they do hear me but don’t want to talk to a new guy.

[@bill-2018]

That's not good. I remember I hated 80m ssb for that about 40 years ago. I came to the conclusion people were on and then switched off after talking to the same people they had talked to for the last 25 years, I called and called cq for nothing, 100 Watts must have been getting out. I much prefer c.w. I never use repeaters.There's a few of us get on 2m f.m. and I've had a few c.w. contacts, only local stuff using h/b 4 el collinear. I often wondered why G8's didn't learn c.w. to get out further. They used to say they were not interested in h.f. but look how many appeared when the licence conditions changed. G4GHB.

[@juliogonzo2718]

Probably you should bait and switch with a female voice first 😂 I see hitchhikers do that sometimes. The woman stands on the side of the road with her thumb out, and her bf hides till a car stops 😂

[@ejholden8851]

The VHF ham repeater snobs ignored me and my mate when we got our F calls (Foundation beginners ham licence). We knew they could hear us because they mentioned ignoring us deliberately while chatting among themselves on their simplex "usual" a few days later. We decided to stir the pot, mate and I started using over-emphasized CB lingo like "Break 144 for a copy big buddy, what's your 1-20, we are at the chicken coop going 10-7, break break" with a bad phony deep south American accent. The snobs all came to life and said "you are not allowed to talk like that here", we asked them for the ACMA rule that stated this, they couldn't tell us so they started jamming us instead 🤣

[@juliogonzo2718]

@@ejholden8851 that's hilarious! Ham snobs are why I just got a business licence to dick around with radios. Not very expensive here (Canada) think it costs me $80/yr. Mostly me doing radio checks to myself and switching things with a dtmf relay, but they don't know what I'm doing anyway, cause I can run encrypted DMR and they can't without publishing the encryption key 🤣

[@ejholden8851]

@@juliogonzo2718 We are using mining company surplus radios (cosmetically damaged but fully functional) Motorola XTL 5500 VHF's on 2 metres. With digital encryption enabled on some in-band simplex channels. The snobs heard us and came back on FM wanting to know what mode we are using, we told them "open source digital voice enhancement for yaesu amateur radios, google it and get out your soldering iron if you want to talk to us on that channel". Last I heard they were still searching 😆

[@sirog68]

shame you cant plug a mic in would make a nice little tidy set up for the car with a mag mount antenna

[@RingwayManchester]

You can plug in a mic

[@lampshadesneeded]

Cb is alive and well in uk and Europe. I often go to 11 because 10 is dead except ft8

[@RichardGilmoreDronetech]

Whats that white thing flying through the sky behind the clouds at 4.04 minutes???

[@RingwayManchester]

Cobweb..

[@RichardGilmoreDronetech]

​@@RingwayManchesterlol. I was wondering. 😂😂😂. Cheers mate

[@RingwayManchester]

😂👍🏻

[@RCAvhstape]

It's a "rod"! Back a decade or two ago there was a paranormal phenomenon known as "rods" where people were catching things like that on video cameras and all sorts of crazy claims were made about what these things were, including, of course, aliens.

[@tomperone9338]

Phaser fire, obviously.

[@vtechead1]

Mobile phones have killed CB in most areas. Sure, CB comes in handy in areas of poor phone signals, but when you can facetime people on the other side of the world, never mind a few miles away, the phone is going to come first. I had a CB and gave up through lack of activity in my area, which used to be good. Went back to shortwave listening, searching for obscure radio stations across the world. Some of the language on CB radio puts a lot of newcomers off the hobby too.

[@mjradar]

I had a handheld CB just over 30 years when it was popular on CB bands and it was not much good in built up areas was better with a external antenna but never great

[@bill-2018]

Is anybody still on C.B.? It's very quiet round here, Manchester area. It died after the peak in the 1980's. G4GHB.

[@ErikS101]

I wish these were available in the U.S.

[@ErikS101]

I ordered 2 of these from the UK. VERY NICE!

[@jamesslick4790]

"CB" is at the upper end of "Shortwave", I'm surprised if any of the radios that transmitted for any amount of time on a VHF (or WORSE!) UHF antennas STILL function. Seems almost as bad as blasting with NO antenna! 💀

[@barrykelly2722]

How people consider this a hobby baffles me. The same applies to GMRS and HAM. I dont consider yacking into an HT a hobby but it is a learning experience. I have radios for SHTF comms. But I'd love to see CB make a comeback. It'd be an excuse to finish that other antenna. 😉

[@bill-2018]

It depends where you take the hobby. I wanted the most from the hobby and knowledge I had gained, I made my own h.f. ssb and cw 4 Watt radio based round the G4CLF p.c.b. I don't buy aerials, I make them, dipoles for 20 - 10m, inverted vee for 60m and a 4 element collinear for 2m. Got a 1944 Wireless 19 Set going after much work, plus others. G4GHB.

[@tomperone9338]

I've never gotten why many people are so obsessed over sports. Different strokes for different folks.

[@bill-2018]

@@tomperone9338 I never watch footlball. Overpaid self obsessed men kicking a ball about.

[@MattJones675GR9]

CB was social media before social media

[@gman83090]

CB radios are not dead my friend and I use them when we go 4wd driving out bush truck drivers use them and also aeroplanes use them as well pilots use them truck drivers use them police use them everybody's still uses CB radios it doesn't matter if it's a digital CB radio or an analog radio there's still being used

[@tomfox4642]

Isn’t it about time the manufacturers turned out a high quality sideband handheld perhaps with a loop antenna. That way customers would make contacts. CBers will pay£500 even £1000 for a product that actually delivered. These current offerings are simply not good enough.

[@vincentremazeilles504]

These days you can receive many stations from the USA on ch 6. 😊

[@hfvhf987]

Well said

[@TheSillyshyguy]

Great little radio

[@RingwayManchester]

Yeah they’re becoming collectible as you can see 😂

[@JamesHalfHorse]

CB like ham radio seems to be waking up a bit again. CB never died among commercial drivers and has seen a bit of a revival lately but always a band you can go have fun in. My first introductions to ham I describe as geriatric men thumping fcc rule books at each other maintaining a strict almost military discipline where cb was and still is a free for all and you know.. fun. The ham scene has changed too past decade or so. Lots of new blood and has overall fortunately... lightened up.

[@saxpert]

Ah you already did a comparison of both....maybe you should like this video in the first comparison. 😅

[@andrewcbartlett]

Never listen to complainers, especially if they are couch potatoes! 🥔

[@taylor7668US]

Its fair to say CB radio is dying i have one fitted in the car although i rarely use it as its just not worth it

[@billyhatcher643]

most people are on social media these days

[@shaunsiz.itsbetterbytube2858]

The sun spot cycle will be getting to peak in 2024 max in 2025 so lots of skip on ssb .loads of dx

[@CathodeRayNipplez]

Does /did UK 11m CB have SSB?

[@SimonJackson13]

On the EU or "mids" 40 all modes are allowed but AM/SSB are conventional.

[@richintalent]

It's dead in the USA, has been since the late 1980s