How much is the CB used anymore?

A lot of companies are banning use of a phone when the truck is moving, or severely limiting the amount of time you can talk on one each day. That might help CB make a little come back. Course with satellite radio boredom is not the issue it was years ago.

 

The use of radio amongst the interstates has indeed taken a turn for the less. Just recently I embarked on a few long distance trips and the CB was nearly quiet the entire time. And mind you one of my trips consisted of a move 1100 miles across the U.S.

The general consensus ranges from:

A. The "new breed" of truckers not knowing what a CB is, much less caring about how to use one

B. The old timers who have long grown tired of all of the noise, hash and trash caused by
- dirty splattering amps
- clipped and overmodulated (read: distorted) radios
- the "kiddie toys" (echo, noise makers, roger beeps, watergate boxes)

C. The fact that many new trucks are built of fiberglass. This poses a problem because unbeknownst to most, mobile CB antennas require what is known as a "ground plane", and in the case of a mobile CB antenna, that ground plane is the trucks metal....BUT if the truck isn't made of metal, then there really isn't a ground plane....and so that causes the SWR to go high, which means:
- You will not be able to transmit far
- You will eventually overheat the final transistor in the radio, thus damaging the radio

D. Hate speech; some drivers have grown tired of the cursing and the N-word being dropped on the radio

So it seems the CB has went from it's original intended use, which was supposed to have been a low dollar business band radio, to the radio hobbyist's band, as mostly the only time you hear anyone on the CB, would be during skip.

 

I use my CB several times every day. Communicating with the office to let them know who I am, what I'm picking up, and where I'm taking it....communicating with the loaders to let them know how much to put on me...communicating with other drivers to find out what they left behind them (portables, DOT, etc...) or to find out what the best way is into a new job site. Every once in a while I'll run into an old friend out here and we'll chat for a while, but for the most part it is just a tool used to help get the job done.

We also have a couple customers that don't want you on their property if you don't have a CB, and it is a safety thing. They'd rather you stay in your truck and talk to them rather than get out and wander around the property trying to find the office, talk to the loader operator, etc...

 

I think you pretty much covered all the bases!

 

When I was pulling a bull rack people were always hollering at me to see what was going on behind me..

Now that I'm back pulling vans/reefers nobody asks at all or says anything....I'd guess out of every 10 times I ask for a bear report I might get 1 or 2 repiles....Most of the trucks on the road can't even run the speed limit down south where I run the most so they don't care whats going on..


then there is the new breed...

 

I'm an odd ball, love my CB running nights on a dedicated route. I can name 20+ people between Chicago and Indianapolis just on the sound of their voice. I don't talk much, but it sure is nice to have friends out there.

 

Dont leave home without it. I have on many occassion had drivers alert me to lights out, etc... If it saves you 1 ticket it paid for itself.

Ive had CHP in the Stockton area tell me to slowdown, or stay in the right lane, much better than the other.

Just talking to freinds of the road is nice at times.

 

In many states it's against the law to use the Cell phone while driving.

 

I drive a one of those 65MPH trucks and don't care really where the smokies are anymore when I'm on the interstate. But I sure like to know about any hazards or traffic jams! I don't know many times I've run up on something and never heard a word about it from the traffic going the other direction. Most of the time I try to warn the other traffic about something ahead of them, I never get a reply either........sure ain't like it used to be (I hope the new breed don't reproduce!)

 

In "all" states it's against the law to speed too, yet everyone does it...

Well...maybe not Schneider Drivers...But you better believe they would if they could!