Wondering

You use the same CB but if even slightly illegal the DOC will nail you at the border. They do not talk to you because you do not speak French and in general they hate Americans even if they mostly are too PC to say so. Experience speaking. The DOC will nail you to the wall and they do not mess around up there. Try it if you think I am not saying it like it really is. In 88 Walt (NAO 01 - Winnipeg) turned the NAO over to me down here, because of the way the DOC was going after him and all other citizens up there over CB. I mean SWAT like raids on CB'ers up there. I can only imagine they are worse not better in this and remember up there you are not a native born citizen.

 

A Galaxy 959 is a regular, certified, legal CB. A lot of the guys in Western Canada do use a different band, I think it's called LADD. There's already a thread here about it, here, but it doesn't really get you anywhere. You may just have to ask around the next time you're up there and see if you can pick one up.

As someone who has actually been to Canada in the 21st century in a truck with an illegal radio, I can assure you that you're not going to be shut down at the border and have your radio confiscated-nobody cares. Every time I've been to Canada, most of the Canadian drivers not only spoke English, but treated me like they were my tour guide, telling me the best places to eat, etc.

 

Lucky you. I listened to stories from Walt through the 80's. He is a native born Canadian from Winnipeg. He was visited often by the DOC though they never once found an illegal radio. The DOC singled him out because he was the founder of the North American Outlaw CB group. It was Walt who told me about the English prejudice and their attitude towards Americans. He often mentioned that the western half of Canada was very different, saying one day he would move west. In the 90's my brother hauled loads of lettuce into Ontario for 8 years once a week. He was threatened with jail more than once and had over a dozen radios taken away, two scanners he used mainly for the WX feature, several knives, and once for a can of mace he carried in the truck for protection. The loss of his weather receivers really irritated him as he ran the north country in the winter all the time and being caught in ice storms was a real danger. These were real people and their stories were real, maybe you are lucky or maybe you only go into the western half of the country I don't know. Or maybe in the last 15 years they have lightened up but somehow I have to wonder about that one.

 

He had over a dozen radios confiscated? See, stuff like that just doesn't add up-who does the same thing 12 times expecting different results? They do speak French in Quebec, and the road signs are in French, but they're easy to figure out, and enough people speak English to get around OK. I've never been to Western Canada, just Ontario and Quebec, the Canadian border control people were always polite, and the truck drivers (in Ontario especially) went out of their way to help the American truckers.

 

"See, stuff like that just doesn't add up-who does the same thing 12 times expecting different results?"

You are making assumptions to say he did the same thing expecting different results. Explain how you knew what he was thinking. In the 34 years my brother trucked until he died of cancer in 04, never once would he had made a run without a radio. He considered it a most valuable tool. As he lived near Billings there were few over the road jobs around, the main one hauling produce to Canada. He considered the lost radios the cost of doing his job. Most of these stories occurred from 85 to 93. Either you did not truck during those years or did not make most of your trips across the border I don't know. Nor do I care if you believe his stories or not. I was not even talking to you to begin with you interjected yourself. However if you are a veteran trucker who sees no need for a CB in the cab why even bother with the conversation.

Bottom line is he was asking about CB in Canada and I am merely telling him to be sure it is 100 percent legal to avoid any possible problems. Surely you do not have a problem with this.

 

You said that he had over a dozen (that's where I got twelve) radios confiscated over the years-I guess I'm wondering why he didn't use legal radios if it was an issue. I do still think CB is still a necessary tool. I was thirteen in '93, not quite trucking yet, but I went up there plenty between '03 and '05, and never had a problem. Had a couple of unnecessary inspections coming back into the US from the US border patrol people, but never had any problems in Canada.

(edit) No, I have no problem with him running a legal radio, of course. He's not going to talk to the people he wants to on a regular CB (or an export) though, they're on VHF now, which is why I chimed in here in the first place.

 

Been years so no I did not know they went to VHF but that explains why I do not hear skip from there anymore. My brother might have owned a CB not tuned and without channels here and there but the ones he had taken were not legal there or here. If I had been running up there in the late 80's or beyond I would have had only a legal CB, just from listening to the grief Walt was having with the DOC. His story was not typical though. He founded the largest group of outlaw upper channel SSB skip shooting CB'ers I had ever heard of, having almost 7,000 members in the US alone, and the DOC knew it and who he was. While always careful to never have a modified CB in his house he was still visited many dozens of times over the years. One day he said it was all nothing but intimidation and fear tactics and he was tired of it. So he turned all the books and ledgers over to me giving me his number 1. This made one member who had been in the group a few months longer than me get irritated and try to create a splinter group in his Ohio area but I do not think it ever went anywhere. Myself I still have all the books with over ten thousand names and info of the entire membership at around 1991. Pretty much died out though I rarely ever hear the call anymore, in fact not in years now. Their standby channel was 27.665 LSB. I imagine most did what I did and move on into the internet but still I miss the good old days.

 

I think the VHF/LADD thing is mostly in Western Canada, I think there are only four channels on those radios. Seeing how thedrifter is from Portland, I'd say that's what he's running in to. The OTR guys, at least the ones I run across, still use regular 11meter CB.

 

thought I'd chime in here...I'm based in winnipeg, we do have a hard time getting people to talk here, but mainly because we have a huge amount of new drivers, mostly non english speaking, or choosing not to speak english. Not a racist statement, simply fact. The have radio's sometimes, but never use them. Get on 19, ask for help. You will have someone help you out with directions. I have even led other drivers to a warehouse that they couldn't find. There is a white van, government, that apparently has a meter to check for illegal radio's, but I can't confirm that. The VHF thing is not common on the praries, more in alberta/BC,probably due to the mountains.