I leave my CB off most of the time now

Mine's on. I can't figure out what that screeching whistling noise is that people like to make. Almost sounds like feedback from a talkback speaker. I've heard people key up and say "auuuuudio. hellllllo. Hellllllo. SQUEEEEEEAAAAK." then the screeching will continue for several minutes.

I'm pretty sure these morons are oblivious to their own stupidity.

 

What you're hearing is a cheap way of doing a modulation check. Though some do it because they know after a few times it riles some up.

 

I like using my cb. I try to keep everybody up to speed w/ important info but most of the time get no aknowledgement. Also don't see why someone can't have a little fun out there once in a while. Guys getting all pissy because someone played 5 seconds of music doesn't really make sense to me. I know its against the rules but is it really something worth getting heart disease over. Cb has gotten me around accidents that would have otherwise caused me to have a late delivery. Yesterday going past the Gary, In TA on I-80 there were probably 10 guys yelling at eachother to "Shut up!" so I joined in and had a good laugh. If you can't have a little laugh out there once in a while it's going to mke for a long six weeks. Part of cb is having to hear things you may not like. If you can't deal w/ it then you don't belong on-the-air. Trucking for me is more than a job, it's a lifestyle. There has been a long line of drivers before me and turning your back to the way things were done in their time (legally) is dis-respectful and the reason it's so much different now. I also like the technical aspect of getting a stock radio out of a box and seeing what you can make her do. Have spent many days banging my head on the steering wheel trying to solve a problem and I'm very new to that part of the hobby. I think anyone who considers themselves a professional driver and takes pride in their work owes it to all the other drivers out there that feel the same way to own a radio and have it on when they are driving. If someone says or does something you don't like that you can feel good about yourself for not being "that guy". Don't let the jokes/comments/noies/music get under your skin, Whats the big deal? Someday your radio could save your life or someone elses. Like all things in life there are good and bad things that happen everyday. How you handle them is what really matters. So how bout'cha?

(end inspirational speech, 34hr reset = sooooooo bored right now)

 

There's a reason for that and I bet you already know what it is.

What'd ya know, you do know the reason. Its you. You're the reason. That fun of yours is annoying. And I can live without it. So I do. And that's why you get no acknowledgement most of the time.

No problem. That's why mine stays off. That's why you won't hear an acknowledgement from me when you decide to broadcast important info.

For me, its a job. Sorry. If I want do something that gives me that warm fuzzy 'I'm living a lifestyle' feeling, I'll buy a trench coat and become a private eye.

What are you Amish? This sentiment surfaces on this forum all the time and it always makes me shake my head. We always hear about how back in the good old days that's not how they did things so that's how we should still be doing them. We hear about how back in the 70's the highway heroes didn't need no GPS so guys today shouldn't use one either. Meanwhile the reality is, those guys in the 70's didn't do things the way they were done in the 40's and didn't seem to worry about it. So it was fine for them to ignore 'tradition' and do things their own way, but now suddenly its disrespectful if I do it? Please. And the GPS thing? If GPS had existed back then, almost every single one of those guys would been using it.

The guys in the 1970's didn't care a lick about what the guys in the 1940's did and I don't care a lick about what the guys in the 1970's did.. And I honestly hope that 30 years from now, no one will care a lick about what I did. Having nostalgia for the way things were is one thing. But this notion that we're not being respectful unless we mimic the traditions no matter how antiquated is just idiotic to me.

 

To each their own I guess. Most drivers realize what the radio is about today. Some choose to partake in what they consider "fun" and others like you, do not, but you don't see or hear anyone saying you're part of the reason radio is in the shape it's in because you choose to keep it off (as compared to years ago when every driver had it on), but using your logic, it is as just as valid a position. The driver above didn't make radio what it is today, he simply jumps in and takes part. Many drivers know exactly what will elicit a response from another driver and carefully choose their words, although it may not seem like it. Much of what you consider "annoying" is good, clean fun to others (again, to each their own) and most on the radio employ such out of boredom or to pass the time. I notice the radio is much more quiet out west but alive and kicking on the east coast, especially on 95. As far as nostalgia, I agree, those days are dead and gone never to return, as is the kinship once shared among drivers. You can't blame any single person or driver, there are many mitigating factors for the current state of the CB. I don't consider it "good" or "bad" it simply "is" what it is. Partake or don't. Personally, I keep mine on all the time. Sometimes I listen, other times I join in. Sometimes I laugh so hard it brings tears to my eyes, other times I'm glad I don't have any small children with me because of the language. I can say this though, whenever there is a serious traffic problem and a driver tells another driver to knock off the shenanigans because they need to hear the traffic or 10-33 report, most usually oblige. I can remember but a single time I shut it off and it wasn't that long ago as I passing the outskirts of Gainesville, Fla. on 301 as a base station was blowing a horn repeatedly for hours and running some serious wattage. Heard a driver say he was going to rip the guy's antenna down and was triangulating his 20. Now THAT made me nostalgic for the old days.

 

I disagree and here's why. I started driving in '04, drove for a while and then stopped and got into another line of work. Then I started driving again a little over 2 years ago. When I first started driving, the radio was a very, very useful tool. Essential really. Yeah, there were kooks who fooled around tried to be annoying to entertain themselves the way a 2 year old might act. But that was probably 15% of what was on the air vs 85% real and useful information. Now? Its the opposite. Its 85% crap and 15% information you might actually want to hear. That ain't my fault. That is 100% the fault of all the small minded morons who want to yell about how evil Obama is, remind everyone who isn't white that racism is alive and well in trucking and/or let everyone know about their lack of women's undergarmets over and over and over again. After I started driving again, I ran for quite a while putting up with that crap and giving reports on useful info as best I could in between the BS before I finally gave up and turned the power off because it was just pointless to try and use the radio for actual work among all the jagoffs who were getting their grade school mentality jollies from it. So don't even try to tell me that its the fault of those who shut the power off. That dog won't hunt. This ain't a chicken or the egg debate. There is absolutely no doubt which came first and which caused the other to come second.

 

Not sure what it is about a cb that turns so many into jack #####, but there is something... that said I keep it on and if you were on 95N through northeast MD yesterday afternoon and had it off... you sat.for a few hours because of the accident that closed 95... if you had it on you heard to exit at the 109 or the 100...

I was one of those giving directions around it. I was on my way to park the truck for hometime and know the area well... Some drivers got the message and kept on rolling, others didn't and sat. Their choice... just gotta have the ######## filter on.

 

I usually have mine off. Can't ever figure out what channels people use in different states -shrugs

 

Had two drivers today that could have benefited from having their cb's on. First guy I tried to call was pulling a hopper bottom. He rolled his tarp closed but didn't roll it tight so its locked down. It was flapping in the wind tearing itself apart. Second guy wasn't a real big deal but his trailer lights were flashing on and off.

Makes no sense to me why people would not want to know if they are having some kind of issue.

 

We all have opinions and as long as you recognize it as such, it's all good. The problem with subjective insight is someone can read your post and change your time frame to any other era or period in time that applies to them and it would be just as accurate ... for them. It most certain IS a ... as you say, "chicken or egg" debate. Just because you see the glass as half empty doesn't mean another doesn't see it as half full. Your opinion of the situation is no more valid than the next ten guys who come along or have already been there long before you. Too many people try and use their time in trucking as some kind of litmus test as if it qualifies or reinforces their opinion somehow. When the skip is running high and hard, such as it was back in 1999 and 2000, the jokers you refer to can't even be heard ... except at night. That skip runs in cycles and the cycles come and the cycles go ... and then it repeats. Thing is, some folks, like yourself, weren't driving then and can compare it to the only thing you know. When you start experiencing the strong skip cycles, such as is coming back now and will be increasing over the next few years, you won't even be able to talk two or three miles away without getting walked on by someone in another state. But don't take my word for it, ask any driver who was driving back then and they'll tell you the same thing.