Why dont truck stop drivers sitting in the lot use another channel?

I was an MP in the State Guard and had an 8-transistor linear amplifier in my POV which was used for duty at times.
When I got out (for health reasons) I removed the amp, but that was a pure coincidence. Or was it?
The thing is, I never used it to speak of. It was truthfully only for emergency use. haha none came up where I didn't have other (official) radios and a cellphone. In 9 years I never used it for an emergency.

All that said, under what conditions would someone want or need a 400-1000 watt linear amp on a CB for an emergency? Vehicle CB can reliably reach maybe 40 miles with power. What conditions would that range, instead of the crappy 3-5 miles of a stock mobile CB station, be needed?

1.) zombies taken over the Flying J. Yes you must warn people as far as 40 miles away because they will need to find another truck stop and not run out of fuel.. We know this is coming.


2.) NBC disaster in next town - maybe to warn others 40 miles away, because of the size of the nuke, plague, or spread of fumes can be many miles in diameter.


3.) gang war or shootout with police (or equivalent disturbance with machine guns and RPGs) covering 5 or 6 miles of highway? yeah OK.

The above involve warning others away. A string of 5 watt radios might work. Some drivers will already be closer, etc. The next one is better:

4.) a deserted route with nothing for 10 miles in either direction + absence of other usable communications equipment. Trucks with satellite transponders might be able to use those to send help calls, right? but not all trucks have them (or want them). I have been through certain rural 'highways' at night, for hours at a time. there is nothing.. and no cellphone coverage. In case of an accident, there would be no way to summon help. Someone could die. A member already posted about being in a deserted place and having to use a CB to ask for the police due to an accident.

I'm really trying hard to figure out what are good enough emergencies to justify using a 400-1000 watt amplifier on 11M. Reasons the FCC would accept, that once. Any of those reasons above are OK for me.. However the FCC would no doubt raise a stink about the amp, after the fact. It's not just the amp, it falls under unlicensed operation. The next paragraph should make that clear.

There was a case some years ago where a licensed amateur was with someone who was injured unable to walk and maybe had a broken bone. It was some national park IIRC. He used his hand held radio and after not being able to reach any amateur repeaters or operators, he finally resorted to using a police frequency on which he heard activity. He had no choice. But the FCC, instead of going by their own emergency rules and recognizing him as a life saver to the injured person, made a huge stink about it and tried to fine him, confiscate the radio, roast him alive, etc. Public opinion was in swing however, as were the hams up in arms about it.. So what does that say about the FCC? What would change today? If they try to destroy a person who has the privilege as a licensee to use any means in an emergency, what is that all about? It was written up in QST I believe.

I believe the FCC considers that if the amp is connected up or present near the 11 meter radio, they consider the law to be already broken or evidence of actual use.


A side note: Wouldn't it be interesting if a policeman got caught breaking the FCC rules? It happens to cities too. The city will get cited.

 

Here's a modest proposal. Instead of a several-hundred-watt CB amp in your truck, install a MURS ("Multiple Use Radio Service) with a +3 dB gain. You'll get about 15 miles reliable *and* legal range to other similarly equipped vehicles, 5 channels and about 350 tones and digital codes so you can set up your receiver to not allow signals except those from your group to get through. Type-accepted radios are available for less than $100, and a decent antenna is $30 or less.
Plus, think of the convenience of a quiet, FM channel to use for chatting and *mostly* be skip-proof. Drive into an area where others are using the channel you were on, change to one of the others.
It's easy to establish one of the 5 channels as a Truckers' Calling Channel by convention; I'd suggest the lowest, 151.820 (narrowband) with no tone or digital protection, use it as CB Ch 19 is now.
Just a thought. Why not take advantage when it's available now and costs less than Kevin Kilowatt rigs that are likely to run you afoul of everyone with a badge and some imagined (or actual) authority to take it from you.
73,
Handlebar

 

Handlebar you are asking way to much.

 

He can't hear you unless your using a MURS.

 

I know. I just keep mulling over terms like "efficient spectrum use" and "simple fixes" and "affordable technology". Toss in "smart enough to get a CDL, smart enough to use a second microphone at the right time" and MURS just kinda pops into my mind. Works for The Little Woman & me.
<sigh>

 

Dunno why. Spend less than a junky non-linear CB amp would be for an entire MURS mobile system that actually works when you need it?

<second sigh>

 

Really? What superior officer authorized that piece of equipment for use on a frequency on which the military has no jurisdiction? If your "State Guard" is like those in some others, they come under state civil law, and are not allowed to preempt primary users, especially not under conditions in which martial law has not been declared. So again I ask....did your bosses know about your "official use" high output amp in your POV. Since you were able to keep the device when you left their agency, sounds like it wasn't the Guard's gear in the first case. And you already said you could use your shoe phone and the official radio circuit for routine commo. So....ummmm.....why was the amp in there? Alaska's Home Guard isn't allowed to use any equipment that is not specifically authorized by a list from the Governor's office, or would not be authorized by a senior officer in exigent circumstances unless that officer is on-scene and makes report at the earliest possible time to the office of the Governor with the specifics of his variance from the requlations.


When I was working in Public Safety in Alaska, two or our LEOs used their duty handy talkies on moose hunt opening day one year, figuring they'd use their department's tac channel for sneaking up on a couple of nice bulls. They were used to nobody else using the channel within 200 miles. (They were *not* used to every person with a VHF scanner already knowing what the freq was and having it programmed into their scan lists.)
Up into the Caribou Hills they went (several hundred feet above average terrain), and commenced to use their GE PY legacy (wideband FM, no encryption, clear voice, high power) radios, and everyone down in town, including those of us on duty, were riding around, thinking,. "Well, Steve & LD are f*d. The Chief is listening to this at home, so we can't warn them."
That evening, back in town, met by Chief of Police who confiscated their firearms and credentials; the Fish & Wildlife Detachment Commander, who confiscated the meat and hides which the two cops had dutifully quartered and sealed the hides on, and who cited them both for Unlawful Means of Chase During a Hunt, worth about $1750 per occurrence. Both were suspended without pay for two weeks. Three days later the Engineer in Charge from the Anchorage FCC Enforcement Bureau came into to town, stopped at the PD, and cited both officers and the Chief for Use of a licensed device on a frequency and/or for a purpose not licensed, to wit, a frequency from the Police Radio Service being used as either a personal communications device or an unlawful game harvesting use. The Chief was cited in that one for not exercising sufficient oversight, i.e., letting these two yahoos think that somehow this was a good idea.
So yeah, the police *do* get busted when they do stuff they're not supposed to. And the FCC has held on numerous occasions that the possession of a functional yet unlawful (because of lack of certification) piece of equipment that is in such a state as to be easily put into service indicates an unlawful intent to do so, as there is no way once the equipment exists to devine what state of mind would move the transgressor to enable the device, most of which are clearly not preservation of life or property.

 

Personally. I love the "High Speed Chicken Feed" guy in West Memphis. (of course he's a cop-duh?!?) Always make a point to have CB on when passing that exit. But as yet, still don't know what it is. I can make a quess but it's irrelevant. Hes got Mad Rhyming Skills.

 

It's meth.

 

I'm interested!