CB to GMRS Conversion?

I just now ordered a BTECH GMRS-V1 that I will use to evaluate radio traffic as I travel across this great land of ours. As always, a split second after I ordered I saw other makes/models I wished I had ordered instead lol. Nevertheless, it's not a big ticket item so I guess we'll see what happens

 

Well, actually your wrong,

 

external antenna for GMRS is no biggy, use a 1/4 wave mno mount you could mount a small piece of metal for a mag mount to stick to. The one advantage is fm sound quality is much better than cb am.

 

Thanks for the info! It seems that if your buddies, which probably comprise mostly of your company's drivers, have GMRS and you spot them on the road and they're on the agreed-to frequency, then you can talk to them for a couple of minutes until the opening speed brings them out of the five-or-so mile range. Otherwise, there's no usage of the GMRS radio. Of course, if you-all are heading in the same direction, the conversation could continue, especially if in a convoy, just as with CB.

This may have been somewhat the same when the CB was first started, but the meteoric rise in CB usage for truckers in the last half of the 20th Century was fueled by the fact that when it was introduced, for the first time in history drivers could communicate with somebody else while on the road. This ability was quite an innovation.

In contrast, today's reality is quite different with the prevalence of cell-and-satellite-based communication devices in such wide use. I don't think that CB would catch on if it were being introduced today. Indeed, it is because of all the advanced communications competition that the CB is a small fraction of its past popularity today, and it seems to be fading as time goes on.

So, does the GMRS have enough benefits to replace the CB in its shrinking world of usage? I'm sure the manufacturers hope so, because that would mean that all those who use the CB would buy brand-new GMRS equipment. The factories would be humming.

But why would CB truck drivers shelve their CBs and buy new GMRS equipment?

The only advantages I see that GMRS has over the CB is that it uses smaller antennas and ground planes, it offers more legal wattage and FM has less static in some situations. The smaller antenna and related ground plane requirements indeed is a real advantage for a trucker. But the range issue is not, because GMRS frequencies are more line-of-sight-bound than 11 meters, and the legal wattage difference is either not important as a result of that, or can easily be overcome by use of illegal amplifiers that are popular because they can extend the range a bit and they have an infinitesimal chance of causing problems for the sane user. As far as any difference in static in some situations between AM and FM, I doubt that is a meaningful issue for most truckers. After all, GMRS is not used for stereophonic music that has made FM commercial stations popular but has had no such advantage over AM talk radio.

IMHO, I doubt GMRS will be replacing CB for the trucking industry, at least not to any meaningful measure. But as the old truckers retire and the new ones replace them, it will be interesting to see how CB fares and to hear reports from those who are buying new GMRS equipment and trying it out on the road and encouraging others to do the same. After all, that's the way progress is made, and whether that progress is worth the effort will be interesting to see.

Good luck to all.

 

Okay. Thanks for the info.

 

He was replying to my "did you test this theory" post. Since it was his first post and the way he said it, I thought maybe it was russbrill using a new alias. Ha.

 

Yah, it's either folks who are eager to get their preference adopted by others, or radio industry reps trying to get those GMRS factories a-hummin'

 

Meteor wrote: "But why would CB truck drivers shelve their CBs and buy new GMRS equipment?"

Don't forget the thousands of NEW drivers entering the market. They do a lot of things different than old-schoolers

 

I've been ignorant about GMRS radios, but from what I just read with the number of radio repeaters on cell towers, a 50 watt setup could go several hundreds of miles. If many drivers switch to this setup, the airwaves would seemingly be filled with a hodge-podge of racist trolling, undirected angry ramblings and the typical weirdo CB requests on if anyone is wearing panties.

I'm not sure I understand the benefit of a long distance CB (GMRS). My weather / road condition apps + GoogleMaps Traffic seems to serve the same purpose but much more efficiently.