CB Slang-How many

[Wolfpak]

So do drivers in the US still say stuff like "That's a big 10-4 good buddy" or have I just been watching too many 1970's trucker movies?

And here's a question I've often wondered about: When you listen to the song Convoy by C W McCall, or watch the movie, the main trucker is called Rubber Duck. Is this based on a real person? As in, was there a real-life Rubber Duck who organised the convoy? And if so, who was he?

Just curious......

[dieselhound]

Originally Posted by Wolfpak

So do drivers in the US still say stuff like "That's a big 10-4 good buddy" or have I just been watching too many 1970's trucker movies?

And here's a question I've often wondered about: When you listen to the song Convoy by C W McCall, or watch the movie, the main trucker is called Rubber Duck. Is this based on a real person? As in, was there a real-life Rubber Duck who organize the convoy? And if so, who was he?

Just curious......

"10-4 good buddy," let me brake it down. We use 10-4 still that means- OK......good buddy-now means gay truck driver, I NEVER used it all together like that even when it was OK to use.



No, CW McCall wasn't even a truck driver. He was notice on a fuel commercial before he was a singer. As for the Rubber Duck........We have a lot of guys that use that CB handle but, there was no such convoy like that. Back in the day we ran in small groups we called convoys. It was a good time, when everyone still laughed. Nothing like bringing in reinforcements from the Illinois National Guard for eight five screamin trucks and eleven long-haired friends of Jesus in a chartreuse micro-bus.lol Yes, I know the song quite well. Convoys are now actually illegal. We have to call them parades. I wish there was a real Rubber Duck. Maybe he could organize a better strike.

[Ohnoo]

Originally Posted by Wolfpak

So do drivers in the US still say stuff like "That's a big 10-4 good buddy" or have I just been watching too many 1970's trucker movies?

There is actually a list of about forty 10 codes that where used at one time. About the only two you hear used anymore is 10-4 and 10-20. And 10-20 is typically shorted to just 20 it means "Whats your location?" or a location.

Whats the 20 on that full grown polar bear?
Oh hes at about the hundred and twenty yardstick.
Well are the Chickens Lose On the Scale Eating Doughnuts?
Thats a big 10-4.

[CMoore2004]

There's a large list of 10-codes, but 10-4 and 10-20 are some of the few that usually don't change from one police department to the next. If you look online and search for "10 codes", you'll find a lot of police departments use different 10 codes. There are places online where you can stream certain police scanners over the 'net. I'd put my headphones on in bed at night and listen for a while before I went to sleep. It was hard to keep up, especially when you were listening to 3 or 4 police stations at once and had to find the right 10 code. Stolen car? Whoops, no, it was domestic assault. It was entertaining.

[rambler]

Double breasted yamaha..318 Turned around 10...9th and 10th gear were switched (made 10th gear real high geared) Tree limb...Branch Trucking Chicken Shack..If I remember right that was Peggy's on route 40 in Bear Delaware I sure miss those days. In CB radio's infancy (trucking wise) 13 was the common channel since it was the National Call Channel anyway. Then channel 10 became the truckers channel. Then since that was so close to channel 9 (emergency channel) and caused bleedover problems on emergency traffic the FCC asked the truckers to change so truckers went to channel 19.

[SouthsideTRKman]

Here are some police "10" codes I modified for truckers

10-1 Can't hear ya
10-2 Hear ya clear
10-3 stop talking
10-4 OK
10-6 Out of the truck
10-7 Going Home
10-8 Ready to roll
10-9 Repeat last
10-10 Negative
10-12 On the way
10-13 Need the biggest mofo on the lot with a tire thumper to help me get rid of the Male Lot Lizard!
10-20 Where you at?
10-21 Gimme a call on the cell
10-22 Disregard
10-23 Out with a shipper
10-100 Pee break
10-200 Taking the Browns to the Super Bowl!

[northstarfire0693]

10-200 Taking the Browns to the Super Bowl!
Or taking the kids to the pool.....

[SouthsideTRKman]

Or taking the Jeffersons to the lake! LOL

I do have one question though, what does it mean when a driver calls another driver "Hand" on the radio?

[HOT Rod]

Yrs ago farms had hired Hands,( Now we're STEEL Cowboys).

[Area904]

Police 10-codes were developed long before CB's were even thought of, and were designed to keep "undesirables" from listening in and using the information to their advantage against the police (limited success, of course, as the codes were soon deciphered). Still, using the codes was often quicker than verbalizing what you wanted to say. Many police and other government departments modified the codes to suit their local requirements and uses, and that is still true today. For instance, 10-97 is often used to mean "on the way" while "10-12" can mean "I have a civilian passenger" or "I'm transporting a perp!" 10-98 is often used to say "I have arrived at destination." Codes like 10-4 or 10-20 have remained pretty much universal in meaning. {Note to prospective hams. Hams don't use 10-codes, but they do use "Q" signals or codes where appropriate! You will be looked upon unfavorably for the use of 10-codes on ham radio. Ham radio is not CB radio!}

Government used 10-code definition depends on where you are and what agency you are listening to at any given time. Current CB slang is much the same as 35 years ago, much of it adopted from the old 10-codes, and evolving and changing with the times and locale. While stopping at a "pickle park" might be okay in some parts of the country (reference to available picknic tables), you would be considered gay and looking for a "pickle" in others (not that there's anything WRONG with that! Uh... Right!) Not understanding a new term or code doesn't mean you're somehow inferior... it just means you're about to learn a new one, and there are lots of other listeners who haven't heard it before either. Drivers used to make up terms as we drove and have others guess at their meaning, just to pass the time. Some of those caught on and are still in use today (such as Ho-Jo for Howard Johnsons, etc.)

Some little known facts about CB: It was used during WW2 as a military comunications band. Virtually every front line aircraft or moving vehicle that needed a radio had one that covered what we call the CB band today. It was (and is) HF, or High Frequency radio. VHF was in it's infancy, very expensive, unreliable, and was generally line-of-sight only. In the movies "Memphis Belle", "12-O'Clock High", and others, an old HF radio (todays CB) can be seen at a B-17 bomber's radio operator's console (it's the aluminum box with a large dial on the front and a small frequency display window at the top).

After the war, the HF (CB) band was mostly abandoned by the military in favor of more interference free VHF and UHF radio (by then perfected and improved), and HF became more used in police and local government networks. Remember those 102" whips on police cars in the 50's? Oh, ...no ... I guess you kids wouldn't, but just look at the back of the patrol cars in the old "Andy Griffith" TV show (I know you should have seen that in perpetual re-run somewhere). Some old-timers here will remember the show "Highway Patrol" with Broderick Crawford.

In the early 60's, CB became "business radio" and had only 6 channels (almost all law enforcement went to part of the VHF bands). That's when I used my first license, KMN5122, used for deliveries from the boss's business. Eventually CB expanded to 23 channels (you still see some of these old rigs) and then to 40 channels in the 70's (anything above or below these 40 channels is still technically not CB, and are often assigned government or military frequencies). My business use license had expired, and I obtained my own license, KAGO5085 (still legal to use today, though not needed). I was well known in the old Bluff City Tennessee club (Memphis) as BCT-200, or "Barnstormer". Those were great times to be involved in CB as a hobby. It is not at all the same today as it was then.