Smokey Reports?

Point taken...lol

 

You really mean to say, if someone is using a lot of "trucker" lingo like "Breaker breaker good buddy how a copy on them bears? How boutcha got a copy on this hear radio c'mon?"

I understand that was the 70's and it's behind us, but unless someone uses a ton of lingo how can you tell if the person on the air is a trucker or a 4 wheeler?

 

One way you can tell is when they call a carrier by their trailer name i.e. MS Carriers instead of Swift or CFI instead of Conway or Overnite instead of UPS.




RE: Illinois speeds........

If you're on a rural interstate, the speed limit is 65 for cars and trucks now.

This will change when in urban or suburban areas of big cities just as it does in every state I've ever driven through.

 

It's not that simple.

The radio is a tool, it also helps pass the miles especially when running hard.

Four wheelers generally ask for bear report's every 20 secs or so. So I ignore them.

Now if a Truck is coming toward me or I see another driver from my Company I'll give him any info he asks for.

If I hear in the distance someone asking every 20 seconds I ignore them, if I see a 4-wheeler with an antenna coming my way I ignore them because they usually were the ones asking 10 times during the last 2 miles I just drove.

Look a Driver depends on his license to feed his family, we have big targets on our backs since the cops know they can write us a ticket and we will most likely just pay it. Hell allot of states if you just pay the ticket it won’t even go on your record so safety isn’t the reason they hand out tickets to us, it’s all about revenue nothing more.

Now if a 4-wheeler is on vacation or just headed to his 9-5 job, or out joy riding with his friends he has no schedule to keep so I just don’t waste my time. If he’s running late he should leave earlier next time.

A Driver has no control over shippers, receivers or dispatchers, he get’s told the load has to go, NOW.

BTW from what I’ve seen over the last 2.5 decades on the road most 4-wheelers should concentrate on driving and not talking on the cell phone or jaw-jacking on the CB.

 

I agree the radio is a tool. To some, it's also a "toy". Which explains why there's so many parts to jazz up your radio...jewel knobs, confederate flag face plates, chrome case covers, blue lights and so forth.

I can understand some 4 wheelers who are new to the CB game, might be asking for bear reports more often than not. It could also be that rookie Swift driver too.

I don't drive a truck and still run a radio in my 4 wheeler but I also don't jump on asking for bear reports every 20 seconds. I mostly use it to listen to traffic info on the interstates and a good chat with anyone on who is up for a chat. I'll bet most, if not all of the truckers I've had good chats with, probably had no idea I wasn't a truck driver.

But it sounds as if there's some animosity from you towards anyone not a trucker who happens to have a radio. Believe it or not there are some good folks on the Cb that don't drive a truck for a living. Yes there's not many but they do exist. I always believed in the "everyone play nice" thing. Now I can see why some people migrate from CB to ham radio. They don't want to socialize with some trucker who thinks he "owns" channel 19 or detests anyone who doesn't drive a big rig for a living.

I do agree on tickets being revenue generators. They always have been.

I also agree with you on people who drive not using their cell phone. But there's nothing wrong with using the CB IMO. If that were the case maybe the truck drivers themselves should not use their CB's either. They're no better off than anyone in a 4 wheeler.

 

I got passed by one last month, I was doing about 70.






It was behind a KW wrecker though, does that still count?

 

There are allot of nice people on the CB that don't drive trucks, I agree with that, but when I'm working and that what I'm doing out there, I just prefer to talk with someone who has chewed some of the same dirt as I have. Also with 4-wheelers, I see them do a lot of stupid stuff that puts theirs and my life at risk, it has very little to do with them being on the CB, I think to drive a car you should probably have to go thru the same safety training a professional goes thru. A truck driver will look a mile ahead and a mile behind, a four wheeler tends to look at the end of his hood. As far as the swift drivers, they all have to start somewhere. Me I started in the 80's pulling Tank for Schneider National Bulk. Now I'm a local tank driver in Chicago (Not for Schneider they were a dozen or so jobs ago). That's not to say there's anything wrong with Schneider though, IMO, they have the best program for students and I won't hesitate to send new student drivers to them. I would never send anyone to Swift, CRST, CR England or a host of other outfits.

 

Well I suppose if you want to limit yourself to only talk to someone else who drives a truck. Guess that just reiterates why some have migrated to ham.

I won't say that some 4 wheelers don't drive like idiots. Yes they do. I see it happen too. And usually have to deal with it. But truckers aren't exempt. Just yesterday my wife and I were coming back from Columbia, MO on I-70 and watched a trucker in the granny lane swerve badly right over to the shoulder of the road and then back across. Nothing in the road, no cars around, and I was a good 100 feet back. When we finally did pass him he was hunched over his steering wheel looking dead ahead like he was running on 18 hours straight of driving and the coffee and no doze was finally wearing off.

As for driving, I took a drivers ed class years ago, they always taught us to look 12-15 seconds down the road, and cover your brake as soon as you see a dog, car, kid, etc enter the roadway. But yes you're right, some people got their license out of a cereal box somehow.

 

I haven't driven a big truck since the first fuel crunch in the early seventies. I drove an orange twin screw A-car with a five and a four hauling logs in southern Wash. and northern Ore. My Silverado just pulls a lowboy and maybe a TT when a friend needs one moved to or from the E. Texas lakes area south. It was the week after I bought it that fuel prices really started up.

With the price of fuel I've backed off the pedal quite a bit. I'm a lot more concerned about getting a few more mpg than paying a ticket. I don't ask for smokey reports but won't hesitate to give one when one's behind me and a truck comes by me with the hammer down. I have been known to ask about traffic though. I'll always volunteer info about portable scales set up, too. Nobody probably knows I'm driving a pickup.

Most of the two lane north/south highways in East Texas have a lane-wide shoulder for hurricane evacuation. When someone comes up behind me I'll move over once I can see far enough ahead to know there's not a gator waiting to get me. The trucks will always blink thanks once they get by; sometimes a 4 wheeler might (rarely) wave.

I'll try to tell the trucker I'm gonna move over when I can see ahead a bit. If he comes back all the better; we can coordinate the pass. He can pedal down as I start over. It takes far less highway that way. As hilly as it is you need every advantage you can get.

I don't see as many Hot-Shot rigs as I used to. That may be just the route I usually take or maybe air freight/local delivery is getting more efficient. Those drivers aren't known for good road manners and usually burn out fairly quickly. I know a couple of ex Hot-Shot drivers. I have wondered if pocket rockets were a requirement to Hot Shot. I guess random testing has it's benefits.

My little brother just retired; the last gig he had was driving tank for Martin. He gave me his Gen. Washington and DX959 which got me back into CBs after a very l o n g time. Both had bad ext. speaker jacks and mic cables from slip-seating.

Ted

Edit: I forgot to include the pickups with boats, especially new boats. They are some of the worst drivers I've come across. And bad manners out the ying-yang. They probably have no idea how long (or wide) their rig really is and might have trailer brakes or might not. Not all of them just some. You can usually tell by the way they drive. I don't like a pickup (or worse yet a car) with little bitty mirrors and 8 or 10,000 lbs of boat sitting on my rear bumper. Big trucks don't bother me as much. They can see over me and I know I'm not gonna do something stupid.

 

I'm not aware of any drivers that use No-Doze, the few idiots who do use stimulants use stuff a bit stronger.

18 hours of straight driving? It's more like waiting at a receiver half a day to get unloaded and then having to throw 40,000 lbs of soap by hand, waiting do be dispatched when MT and then waiting to be loaded at the shipper for 6 more hours just to drive 250 miles overnight to do it all over again. That's reality, not driving for 18 hours.

As far as Armature Radio? They have their own problems, below are some vids that speak truth of many Hams.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWE7FrVY9T4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fo-W1wDXHA&feature=youtu.be

It's been nice chatting wth you Turbo but after this week I have to go back to work (been on some much needed R&R)

Take Care

Jake