Do i need to get a cb?

All this talk about them becomong obsolete is crazy. They are a tool and nothing more. Most of the time mine is quiet and most of the time whats said is useless but I can't count the times I have been driving along and some says "hey Schneider you got a tail light out" or something similiar. Also when you hear about a bad traffic jam up the road. I still can't understand why people have this absolute hatred of them. They can be turned off. Why would you not want another tool? Sounds silly to me but hey drive the way you want. But no sympathy when you drive straight into a 2 hour backup.

 

Perhaps some of you guys are right... It is 2013, next time I see some moron going down the road with a major issue(back doors open, smoking brakes, shredded tires, lights not working, missing tires etc etc etc). I'll use my phone and call their safety person and ask if their driver is drunk, stoned, or just plain stupid... and see how that goes for them.

 

Have had one for 3 years in my truck, can count on both hands the total number of times in 3 years I've actually had it turned on

 

Some places still come to expect the truckers to have them. Some coops still have signs that say "Tune CB to channel 16", several shippers / receivers still use them to give out door assignments, and like a lot of people have said- on the highway many of us still call out bears, as well as alert others to hazards such as brake checks in blind corners, over hills, letting folks know about drunks, etc.

Is it more quiet on the radio these days? Yes! I can drive for whole shifts sometimes without hearing anyone. It largely depends on the region I'm in. North-central is pretty quiet. Pacific Northwest there is a little more but a lot of it are the local freaks who never were told when all their friends made the transition from CB to internet chatrooms. Get over to the East and South, and there's still a good deal of radio traffic... except I've noticed many of the southern boys don't talk to the yankees much. Can't quite figure that one out, either. I guess "Southern hospitality" is a myth.

 

CB still has a place in trucking. It depends on the job. When a string of trucks are on a 1 lane(2 track)haul road with pull outs you're going to need communication. Cell phones don't work! "Loaded out @ the 4 marker on the 2567 road."

 

I go through dead spots everyday out here. Cell phones don't always work, cb'a don't need a data plan, it a service area.

 

absolutely not, we just cant understand what most of them Yankees are saying and they don't ussualy understand us that well either. but on a real note. I actually like the cb not only the for the few practical uses it has but I though it was cool as s4!t to have. I never had anything that I could use to communicate with somebody that wasn't right beside me that I didn't have to pay a monthly premium for or on a use by use basis. for the cb you get unlimited talk time, never have to worry about the service area running out, and you don't have to buy stamps and envelopes to use it. you make one down payment for the equipment and don't have to worry about it until the thing dies. that's a fairly cheap, and pretty reliable communication device when you see the life it will have for the price. totally worth it, even with all the crazy people you have to sort through EVERY NOW AND THEN, not even all the time.

 

Just starting new career going to put a cobra 200 in the truck

 

CB is another form of redneck cell phones have had them for years

 

Until you start having things such as echo, roger beep, noise toys, talkback, blue lights, jewel knobs, chrome case covers added or buy one with these items to have these items...then it serves double duty as both a tool and a toy. All of what I mentioned is not required to perform a simple communication. However there is nothing wrong with having nice things in the cab, just in this case it's going overboard.

Otherwise when i go on long road trips I usually have a CB with me, and in some cases even a second as a back up in case the primary takes a dump OTR somewhere.