Does Anyone Still Use CB Radio?

[Drak]

I've got a nice unit that's been sitting on a shelf for ~30 years.
SSB Johnson that was treated/heated/tweaked long ago.

Is CB still a 'thing' anywhere?
Or a dead fish, except among truckers?

In other words, would it be worth installing in my 4Runner?
Or a total waste of time?
Yes, I was part of 'that scene' in the '70's/'80's.

Thoughts...

 

[ads2539]

For general use, they’re pretty much dead. They can be useful in emergencies if your cell phone battery is dead, or to find out why traffic is bad.

If you go off-roading, they’re handy for talking to other vehicles if you’re on a group ride where everyone has a cb radio to communicate with other vehicles.

 

[JerseyDevil]

I use one for RV convoys. When you have friends that like to go camping, and we all have them, makes the road trip easier. No use in my everyday driver.


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[Zahman]

I use CB and WT for coms. Soon will be obtaining my Ham License.

 

[spartacus]

hand held boefeng are great.for convoys ,off road and hiking or camping.

 

[patkelly4370]

OTR truck driver here.
CB use is mostly done with. I might hear 2-3 people talking a week, if that.
I have several CBs, one really good one.
I travel through long stretches with no cell or data service. I can crank it up and reach someone in an emergency. It does have 200 ham channels if needed (I'm not licensed so no talky)
I also carry a Baofeng handheld as a backup with s LOT more frequencies.
On the CB side of the good radio, I once managed a "skip" when I was in Albuquerque and talked with someone in New Jersey for about 30 seconds. Another driver with a similar CB (we're a few steps above Cobra, et al) and I stretched 30 miles across the Bonneville Salt Flats before the signal weakened. We could still talk at 50 miles but curve of the Earth interfered with line of sight and it dropped off soon after.
The advantage with ham is repeaters.
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[Ogre75]

hand held boefeng are great.for convoys ,off road and hiking or camping.

Do you have to have a license to transmit using one? I always see videos of them being used for group trail rides, but didn't know if there were some channels open for non-licensed folks to transmit in such instances.

 

[spartacus]

Do you have to have a license to transmit using one? I always see videos of them being used for group trail rides, but didn't know if there were some channels open for non-licensed folks to transmit in such instances.

So fcc is trying to limit the use of devices that can be modified to use frs and gmrs frequncies and comply with their order that was issued in 2019. So as long as you don't use frs or Gmrs frequencies it is legal.

 

[Bumbo]

I had one back in the day, but ever since I got into ham radio I never had the want or need to buy one again.