Is a CB Radio really necessary to have?

Which makes for a perfect truck driver!

 

i've been out west. Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, Barstow, Portland, Cabbage Patch Hill, Grapevine, Reno, Vegas, Wendover, Salt Lake City, Cheyenne, Denver...I always have fine reception.

I'm on Verizon, 4g, and I rarely have issues with connectivity.

Secondly, I don't use my phone for directions...I only use the maps app with my gps feature on my phone turned on, so I can see where traffic congestion and delays are.

Here's a sample image from google images. the red shows where it's stopped or backed up at, the yellow shows where it's slow at, the green shows where things are wide open and fine at. That's all I use it for. Keep it on when I'm coming into a big city. Most little towns...aren't going to have major congestion, with exception to an accident and as soon as the 911 calls hit, the updates are automatically updated by the dispatchers that put the info in the system, so maybe a few minutes delay at best. Most of this stuff is updated autonomously.



of course I can read an atlas. I can plan a trip using my printed road atlas, I can get the exact miles. I've known how to do that since I was a kid and I took long trips with my dad.

However, I don't need to take all that much time to flip pages in a book, calculate miles, when my Rand McNally TND 520 LM (Commercial Truck Grade GPS) does it all for me, complete with my fuel stops, rest stops and 30 minute breaks does it all for me in about 1/10th of the time. A printed road atlas also isn't going to tell you which roads are restricted to big trucks and what bridge height clearances are.


ironic on your views about the sig, yet you have ever so eloquently put one in yours...and maybe you should just take your own advice?

 

See, this is definitely an us vs. them thread. The younguns just don't know what to do without their technology. They were raised with it, so it's natural to use it. I'm(as many others here) old school, and quite frankly, I feel our country is in the mess it's in ( socially) because of this. No interaction, and they are the 1st ones to scream bloody murder if heaven forbid, their smartphones give out. And don't say it doesn't happen. In a disaster, and a tower goes down, a CB will save your life. For 25 years, I never had any kind of connection with the outside world, except a CB, and I had to make decisions on what to do, based on common sense, not who I could call. And I'm sorry, but X-Country's attitude sounds so typical of people today, my way or no way, everybody is stupid except me, crawl out of your cave, dear, some of us LIKE the way it used to be, and when, not if, your truck breaks down out of phone range, good luck trying to get help. Back in the day, if a trucker broke down, the CB was alive with help. I'm appalled to see what has become of our society today.

 

Dad wanted a son named Brian. Just kidding, Brianne is a pretty name.

So what happens when your turn is coming up on the GPS and you get an incoming phone call? Better yet a 4 wheeler cuts you off and you are cussing them like a sailor just as your Mom calls?

 

I'll say this about the thread, in some spots it reads like channel 19 sounds.

 

Obviously you don't know how to read an atlas, because they tell you exactly that if you would just read. I guess it's far too much to ask for you to d do some work, you are an accident waiting to happen, and we will eventually see a video of you reminiscent of the usa truck on YouTube

 

So X-Country, how wouldve you approached Atlanta with that Ice Storm back in late Jan? Your phone would of shown Red but that would of been typical Atlanta traffic around 3-4 pm right?

And there's 3 guys I've talked to since that Tuesday-Wednesday January disaster in Atlanta. 2 of the 3 said they sat on I-285 for 16 hours. One got to 285 around 6 that night, the other around 8. Neither had a CB. Guys screamed from Greenville down that I-285 was a mess and gridlocked. I stopped and went to bed. And I came down 85 around the same time that first gentleman did, around 6. If it wont for my radio, I would had been sitting down there too.

But hey, if you trucking without an radio, good for you. But I can almost bet, Just one day, ONE DAY, you're going to wish you had a radio..


Another thing.. a lot of new guys have came into this industry and dont have a clue what's the use for a radio because their trainer (who in most cases only have 1-2 years exp) says their useless. This isn't a generalization, it's the truth. Blind leading the blind.

 

Cb is a waste of money.

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4017519]See, this is definitely an us vs. them thread. The younguns just don't know what to do without their technology. They were raised with it, so it's natural to use it. I'm(as many others here) old school, and quite frankly, I feel our country is in the mess it's in ( socially) because of this. No interaction, and they are the 1st ones to scream bloody murder if heaven forbid, their smartphones give out. And don't say it doesn't happen. In a disaster, and a tower goes down, a CB will save your life. For 25 years, I never had any kind of connection with the outside world, except a CB, and I had to make decisions on what to do, based on common sense, not who I could call. And I'm sorry, but X-Country's attitude sounds so typical of people today, my way or no way, everybody is stupid except me, crawl out of your cave, dear, some of us LIKE the way it used to be, and when, not if, your truck breaks down out of phone range, good luck trying to get help. Back in the day, if a trucker broke down, the CB was alive with help. I'm appalled to see what has become of our society today.[/QUOTE]

Good one sir...good one you hit it out of the park......We also used to stop and help each other....if a hand was broken down the air came alive with "you OK over there" (that's for the ones across the median for you young folks ) Or you stopped and if the hand needed a tool or some tape/wire/a fuse , or anything that might help him to get moving you hollered at other hands going by......not today though....sad too.....Nobody has the time ( don't throw that BS about e-log's out either...you always have time to help another hand out ) or they're worried that someone "might" hurt them.....Makes me so freaking glad I'm retired.......

 

I know this will just get the pot stirred up but I would put a CB in ( a cobra 25 or 29 ) and a RM truckers atlas before I spent a dime on a GPS unit .
Throw in the smart phone you are off to the races.

Look the route up in the atlas ask on the radio and double check on the smart phone call and get the directions right to the door once you get to town .