CB Radios

No I don't use a cb. I'm a local driver and I split seat so I end up using a lot of different trucks since who I split seat with won't get back in time. I find cb radios only useful if you are OTR.

 

at the dc I work at some of the daycabs have the cheap cb's even though its a slip seat, I have a fairly cheap bearcat 880 that I got when it was first on sale about a year ago for $80 I think it was and I always have it on. There are times I do turn it down for a few minutes just because of those idiots who want to share music etc....

There has been times it has saved me though from traffic jams etc, its nice when someone gives a heads up about a jam and tells you to take an exit and get around it. I also try to help other drivers out but most of the time they have it off or just dont have one...

 

I love the cb radio. It's the first place I learned you can call the US Marshall Service and they will come rescue you when your logbook is bad at the scales

 

I won't run a truck without one. Now that I'm running pneumatics just about 75% of the shippers ask to communicate over the cb. On top of everything else that has been stated already on the actual need to have one in you truck. Even if you keep it turned down a lot cause of the garbage.
I have always had cb radios and been around them rather its base stations or mobile ones in my 4 wheeler. Something I have always enjoyed being around

 

I always had a cb even as a teen but at times I was one of those idiots back then...my parents were both truck drivers in the 80's and my dad had an awesome base station setup when I was little and got me into it, of course back then a lot more people talked on them.

 

I don't play that game at Shippers/Receivers, most (not all) will take your phone number and call you

 

The one place I'd lie and say I didn't have one - tell them to call me or bang on the door. Couldn't sleep and be tuned in waiting for their highnesses to summon me

Rest of the time have it turned on and have the lunatics squelched out. Priceless in bad weather. Has saved my life a few times, and I often wonder how many others it could have done the same for.

 

I'm local, and I use my cb a lot. it has saved me a good chunk of time routing around accidents, and I can give directions if an OTR driver asks for local information.

I do agree it's more of a pain if you slip seat, but I used a 12v power cord on my Cobra 19. Plug it into the cigarette lighter, connect the coax, and I was good to go...if the truck of the day had good antennas, that is.

 

I have a cb but don't turn it on unless I want info. Most of the time it's, like previously stated, some ####### talking smack, playing the radio, ######## about his job, wife, dog, truck or bragging about what an awesome trucker he is.

 

It is far more useful in the east. In New Mexico, Arizona, Southern California, & Southern Nevada you'll mostly hear ads from the deisel doctor in Effingham, IL blasting the airwaves until everyone turns off their radio. In Oregon, Idaho, & southern Montana you get some ####### from the gulf coast whose mic plays a couple annoying tones everytime he keys up&down. And in the gaps between those two, you've got a douchebag from Atlanta speaking ebonics.

So most everyone has theirs off or the squelch up so high you can't hear a truck from the opposite side of the interstate.