Why doesn't anyone talk on the radio anymore?

Yea i too would love to have decent converstions during those runs when the Night is too long, The road is to empty, and the eye lids are too heavy. But finding it is hard.

 

Last time I went through Ga into Tenn I had several radios in the car CB / 2Meters.
I got to talk to a trucker who was happy to have someone to talk too at about 4 AM and we chatted for almost one hour .... YES we were both north bound. He had a very strong signal And I'm thinking how much power is he running .... until .... we got to a delay in traffic outside of Chattanooga and I saw him only 1/4 mile ahead

His comment was DANG I thought you had one hell on a amp too ......

 

I still run a radio, I always have and always will. There have been too many times to mention that there was something up ahead of me and out of my sight that I was made aware of and was able to avoid.

In the "old days" I can't count the number of times I've ran from the Mid-west to the coast talking to someone most of the way. It helped pass the time and helped keep me somewhat sane.

If I happen to run across someone who is in the mood to shoot the breeze I'l always suggest we find a clear channel to move to. That's just me i guess. All the talk on the radio isn't negative, some of it is humorous, and some helpful.

My biggest pet peeve is the drivers that do have it turned on but are talking on the phone , listening to satellite, or what ever and have to have a personal message sent to them concerning some "report" that they didn't hear. I.E. traffic is stopped ahead of a bunch of trucks and you say something to warn them and for the next minute or so you have to keep repeating it to each and every truck that was doing something else. I believe that most times these are the guys who don't want to be "bothered" until it is in their advantage. These are also the same drivers that won't thank you when you do take the time to repeat the warning just for them, or won't at least say you're clear going your way.

 

I always have, and always will have a cb radio in any commercial truck I drive, will drive, or have driven.

If I need directions or need to give them, I have a way to get/give them "on the fly."

If I need to let the driver (in the truck driving slow in the truck hammer lane) know that he's in the wrong lane to be riding with his passenger side tires on some kind of white line, I can do that before he takes my mirrors off.

If I (or another driver) needs help getting help, I can do that.

If there's a broke down four-wheeler who decided the best place to park was the slow lane of 285 around Atlanta, I can let trucks behind me know.

There are a million and one reasons we could all come up with for positive uses for a cb radio being on, in the cab of a truck. Just like other parts of the job, steeringwheel holders don't like to work anymore than they have to, so they'll blame the foul language, stupidity, etc etc so they don't have to have a cb radio on. Either that, or their company doesn't pay them enough to afford a cb radio lol

Helping out other drivers is part of our jobs, whether we want it, or not.

I remember having asked for directions on a number of occasions. I was very thankful somebody else had a radio on to help me. I've given the same help back to other drivers that've asked for "local." Even if I don't know, when somebody asks for "local," I tell them, "throw it out there, local, somebody'll know." You know what? Nine times, out of ten, somebody has come back to help that driver.

I've asked drivers, who I knew was lost, if they needed directions. They've not come back after three rings, so I always say, "oh well, I tried." The next thing you know, they're asking where something is. I ask them if they're in such and such truck. "Yeah," is what they say. I tell them, "I know where it is, but I hollered three times, so you're on your own."

Same deal for bears, or an accident. 3 tries and I'll say, "oh well, xxxx-bound, I don't want to hear any crying or whining about, 'hey xxxx-bound why are we stopping up here??'" Usually I get, "hey xxxx-bound, what's going on up here??" I'll tell them "I already tried, nobody was concerned about it, so you'll find out."

I hear stupid on the cb radio, but not as much as being claimed in this thread. I reckon it just all depends on where you are at whatever particular time.

So, I think the reason a lot of "drivers" don't have a cb radio on anymore is one of the following:

1) They don't make enough to afford a cb radio

2) They cannot handle criticism

3) They don't want to help other drivers (but they'll be the first to cry about not getting help from other drivers)

4) They're scared to take one hand off of the steering wheel while they're driving in all that traffic

5) They spend three weeks in driving school, so they know it all

Now, even with the lack of folks running cb radios, anymore, I've still had plenty of good conversations while I'm driving around, etc etc. I still have fun with it, too ..."hey southbound, you've got a triple digit truck stepping on at the one oh five get on, when I get it in the big hole y'all best get the hell out the way, I got ta ###### go." So, in a fun way I let south bound 65 know there was a truck getting on at a blind get-on ramp that's pretty short. Anybody that's got their radio on (on the big road) knows and is moving over, but at the same time poking fun back.

 

Well, it gets annoying to listen to, and frustrating to try and hold a conversation when the opportunity arises. It's tough to explain unless one's experienced it. The "cb rambos" will begin competing with the "shut-up'ers" and drowning out any meaningful commo with babble. It's like trying to listen to 30 radio stations playing through the same speaker.

My personal most hated type are the people that compulsively bark, whistle, yell, etc. into their mikes for minutes at a time. It's a bit painful to listen to, and it's as infuriating as being on the phone and having someone in the room repeatedly trying to get your attention. My solution? I put in a 100w Kicker. SOLELY for shutting up the rambos. When it gets bad? I'll power it up, key the mike, and treat them like children. "You're getting a time out. If you people don't shut the ell up, I'll shut the channel down till you do."

I'll get surley replies I'm sure, but it's effective. If nobody can hear them, they quit trying.... For awhile.

 

Back in Hutchinson KS in the mid 70s there was a guy who was the self appointed channel cop, he ran a kicker from his Browning Golden Eagle base station. Most of the locals ran on this channel, dont recall which one, doesn't matter anyway. He'd key up just to be onery then when the traffic moved to another channel he'd follow and harass there too. This lasted for awhile until some electronics students from the local junior college got some gear, triangulated his position, and made a jigsaw puzzle out of the Golden Eagle. Problem solved.

 

WOW! A hundred watts?





I'm surprised they can even hear you!

 

I don't even try to listen to a CB radio once I get parked at truck stops for the reasons mentioned here, and I just turn the volume down until the channel clears when I pass by major clutter or plain garbage overmodulating in metropolitan areas. It seems to me, and this is just my opinion here, keying hi-watts in an area like this is not really a solution at all, it's just another way of participating in the garbage dump. I personally don't want to be just another peice of radio trash.
This being said, I do monitor 19 running on the road most of the time, but I am careful about replying to agitators...you know the type, they call you by the name on your truck or type of truck and follow it with personalized driving instructions
I have conversed with many drivers through the years and still find it enjoyable and worthwhile to monitor my CB while driving, but I don't think using or not using a cb in favor of XM or music/book CD's has anything to do with being or not being a "real truck driver" as opposed to a "steering wheel holder" as I see being proposed here in this thread. I think that distinction is made from truck driving skills, not radio operation..Just My Opinion.
Oh, yeah, and all you guys that sit in truck stops and attempt to direct parking via CB, I got a story for ya!
I have only been involved in 1 accident in my entire career with another vehicle, and I was fast asleep when it happened! I crashed into a deep sleep after a hard drive from south of Jacksonville up to Dunn NC after parking and turning the TV on on break at the Pilot there. It was about 1400 when I fell asleep I guess, ad I was awakened suddenly about 1700 with the TV and the shelf it was on in the sleeper hitting my feet and lower legs from about a 3' drop! I could hear noise like the truck exploding and tires sliding at the same time. I was loaded with 45000 lbs of isopropal alcohol, and all I could think as I awoke was something had set it off. I jumped out of the sleeper, opened the curtain and headed for the drivers side door. As I unzipped the curtain between the sleeper and the cab to exit, all I could see through the windshield was the logo and name of a big refrigerated frieght company. As I opened the driver door to exit the cab, (in my underwear, no time for getting dressed), the truck started to pull away! I ran up to the drivers door of that truck, jumped on the step, and knocked on the window. The young driver stopped the truck, rolled down his window and asked, "Did I hit you?" I replied, "umm, yeah I'd say you did!".
He set his break and exited the truck, extremely nervous, and surveyed the damage...he had dead center backed directly into my MACK tractor so hard it had left skid marks over a foot long where the brakes had the wheels locked! The radiator and grill were smashed to pieces and the alternator was laying on the ground...the hood was destroyed. I asked him what had happenned to make him miss the 2 open parking spots to my right and dead center me, and I will never forget what he said. He told me he had been backing up into one of those spots and some drivers were ridiculing his backing skills on the CB and pressuring him to get out of their way so they could get out of the fuel island area and he had just not had time to get out and look like he usually did! I don't know if that driver ever actually got out of his truck to look when backing anytime before, but after the NC Highway Patrol had left and I was sitting in the truck waiting on my Taxi to the motel to arrive, I turned on my CB and just listened. There were several drivers conversing with each other in exactly the way the young man described over the radio even then with nearly every driver trying to park in the truck stop! I don't think some of these "helpers" could have possibly even seen some of the trucks they were directing!
Anyway, if I don't respond to you in a truck stop, or if I still set my brakes and GOAL a couple of times as I back in a slot even though you are out there waving me back, I don't mean to be rude...I just need to actually see what I am doing when I am doing my job. I really would prefer you get back in your truck actually, because as long as your out there, your just one more object I got to worry about avoiding
I guess my point with all that is sometimes a CB or a well meaning truck driver can be a hazard, I guess that makes me a "steering wheel holder" to some of you, but I am OK with that!

 

I always have it on until it gets annoying, then I turn it off for a bit. I do enjoy a good conversation to pass the time on a quiet channel, that is kinda rare. Most of the time I just dial up a friend and talk.

 

Heck thats more than I run on the

HAM BANDS