Talk:Citizens' band radio

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[edit] Old Comments

Isn't it strange that it has GMRS, but no FRS? Ilyanep 17:44 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Yes, and it was not properly characterized (FRS, GMRS, MURS). These services and CB are part fo the FCC's Personal Radio Services (PRS). It use to be Citizens Radio Services since 1957 - BUT the public could not understand or differentiate that title from Class "D" service - so FCC changed the division’s name (reducing ambiguity). http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/index.htm?job=service_home&id=personal_radio

The origianl Class "D" and Class "E" sections had significant errors (not supported by the FCC filing and ruling records). I softened wording - for proper context -- since it comes across to this reader as "anti-amateur radio". Class "E" requirements were actually met in 1980s with 3 new services. The 220 MHz band is not generally available to the public (globally) - so this would have been an economic barrier for affordable radios (global mfg.) to public in 1970s. The UPS allocation (arm twisting in Washington DC) menioned in 1993 did get some 220 MHz bandwdith (as did another service at 218 to 219 MHz. These frquencies are not well utilized (economics again) - and FCC forced UPS to use a narrow bandwidth system (not FM, SSB, or AM) -- much to the embarrassment of UPS. G. Beat 21:56 18 March 2006 (UTC)

I could be mistaken, but wasn't channel 19 the default channel for most truck communications, not just traffic moving in certain directions?JesseG 03:44, 8 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Back in the 1970s channels 19 and 21 were both trucker's channels. If I recall correctly, 19 was for east/west and 21 was for north/south. When I was truck driving in 1996 and 1997 channel 19 was the trucker's channel thoughout the country. However, I think channel 21 was still popular on Interstate 5, perhaps to avoid interference with State Route 99. Rsduhamel 19:42, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Wasn't channel 3 the main channel for boats equipped with a CB radio?

JesseG 18:47, 25 Jul 2004 (UTC)

In Australia they have a seperate Marine CB band which is a little higher up the frequency spectrum. Petedavo talk contributions 22:15, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

I'd like to see more about CB-like services in other countries. In the UK they have a 446 MHZ service that's unlicenced. And I bet Japan has some interesting radio hobby services, too. I'll have to dig up my old magazines from the period and see if I can identify when 40-channel gear first turned up in quantity. --Wtshymanski 23:32, 7 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Somebody needs to verify that Popular CB Channels section. --141.156.47.42 20:53, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] CB in Movies

I really don't rememeber the use of CB in the movie Die Hard. I thought they were just 2-way FM radios - not CB.

To the best of my knowledge in Die Hard the bad guys use kenwood handy's, as well as in Die Hard 2. Since kenwood only produces for amateur of professional bands it is unlikely that they would have covered CB.

John McClain gets on the radio and says something like "channel 9 channel 9!" Then it cuts to a scene in a police station where the female cop responds to the call. Anymore doubts?

Channel 9 can be an assignment on a 16 position radio for the Land Mobile Radio (LMR) Service - just as it is for a Citizens band radio (27 MHz). Nope, not 27 MHz CB - LOOK at the length (wavelength and frequency have inverse relationship) of the radio's antenna used - physics answers this question - looks like a UHF radio (GMRS service is at 462-467 MHz/UHF). G. Beat 21:56 18 March 2006 (UTC)

In Die Hard, the handhelds are obviously not CBs, but when they show the dispatcher on the other end, she has what looks like a Cobra CB base station.

Channel 9 on CB is typically at the time of the making of Die Hard considered the Emergency Channel for CB, which was monitored by Police stations nationwide (hence the 911 operator responsed to the call). So in effect it could be CB radio even though the equipment used (McClain's hand held) could have been a VHF/UHF transmitter —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.156.42.129 (talk) 16:17, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Channel 9 is still reserved for emergency communications, though even at the time that movie came out it was unlikely the police in a big city would be monitoring it directly. The point is that in the plot of the movie, it's a CB, but in reality the radio doesnt look like a CB and doesn't work like a CB. Squidfryerchef (talk) 04:02, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Other, derogatory terms

Does it make sense to mention the other terms sometimes applied to CB, such as "children's band" or "chicken band"? N0YKG 21:07, 28 September 2005 (UTC)

I suppose it would depend on how you present it ;)

[edit] Isn't 14 the main calling channel?

Breaker, breaker 1-4; 1 4 for a copy? DavidFarmbrough 13:32, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

Yes, in Britain, on the 27/81 channels. I think that was a USA reference about 11 being the calling channel. While i read long ago in a book on CB that 11 was an unofficial calling channel, i've never seen it used IRL as such. I'd suggest relegating 11=calling to a historical note. -- anon, 07 Jan '05

Here's your answer. Way back in the early 1970's when CB was illegal in the UK, British CB'ers used 11 as a calling channel (just like the Americans) but were forced to move to 14 because of interference from legal equipment on the same channel. When CB was "legalized" in 1981 they continued to use 14. Apgeraint 14:57, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What a Picture...

What a dirty radio, you'd think someone would wipe the dust off of it before taking a picture and putting it in the encyclopedia. Anonym1ty 17:58, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

  • Because dust is totally uncylopedic?--205.188.117.72 05:29, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] replace the picture!

If I could, I would take a product shot from some place online and submit it instead of that ugly dusty radio, but I can't, so it's up to the other users to take a freely usable picture of a CLEAN cb radio and replace that dusty POS picture.

I'm here to say the same thing. How about a photo of a CB radio in a truck cab, or one of a mint Cobra 148 or President Lincoln. Not a dirty old rig on someone's bed, please! --kingboyk 03:33, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
it is a horrible picture. i may have a better picture, i will check. if i dont i'm sure someone else looking at this does. also technically a president lincoln is not an american c radio ;). A president washington or a cobra 2000 would look great on this page though. 08:29, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
I have a good photo showing a base station in new condition with a D-104. Many CB'rs have bigtime base set-ups with "extra" stuff if you know what I mean. Should I post it? JungleCat Image:Texasflaginstate.png 23:30, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
Much better picture. Great job! Phauge 04:36, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
that is a beautiful picture, great looking rig you have there Lenn0r 02:30, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] huge Australian CB history section?

It's enormous. Why not create a separate "CB Radio in Australia" article? --141.154.25.91 16:49, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

  • I agree. But I looked at doing it and decided it needed a bit more thought and discussion rather than merely cutting out the Australia paragraph, because the whole article could do with deciding whether it's "CB radio" or "CB radio in the United States". And either way, there's a bit of Australian stuff outwith the main paragraph. – Kieran T (talk | contribs) 09:34, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
You are correct. That would take much time and thought to "separate these twins". JungleCat Image:Texasflaginstate.png 15:23, 9 July 2006 (UTC)
  • I agree, and here is a tidbit that can be reworded and added to the new article

    Australia can be proud of being the first Country in the world to produce the world's very first UHF CB radio. Phillips' FM320 will be put into production this year and be available early nest year (1978.) Australia's largest manufacturer of mobile two-way radios has unveiled its $112 million UHF CB gamble. A 40 channel, compact and lightweight rig designed and built in Australia. Working prototypes were shown publicly for the first time at the National Citizens Radio Association CB Convention in Canberra early this month. The prototypes, which are worth about $50,000 in design and research, are almost identical to the units that will be available early next year. The company's specially set-up CB research section was still experimenting with modifications to the design. The FM320, which operates on the newly allocated 476 MHz Ultra High Frequency CB Band, is based on the more powerful and more sophisticated FM747 commercial UHF rig. And despite skepticism throughout the CB industry, Philips maintains the price of the FM320 will still be around $300, subject to sales tax increases. Philips entry into the CB market with a UHF unit has been a gamble from the start. It took a punt that the UHF service would be introduced on the CBRS.

    There's an online version of this on http://www.acbro.org/remember.htm. Good luck with it.Petedavo talk contributions 22:09, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] CB usage in the United States

I'm going to go for it and split this off to a new article. The main article has gotten too long to manage. Squidfryerchef 17:51, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Additional references

I'm moving some books from the References section to here for the time being. Based on the edit history, I think they were added as sort of a working bibliography. I'm moving their bibliographic information here until someone uses them as a source. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Citizens%27_band_radio&diff=63694925&oldid=63524200

  • Franklin, Lou (1996). Understanding & Repairing CB Radios. Tucson, AZ: CBC International. ISBN 094313224X. 
  • Franklin, Lou (2005). "Screwdriver Expert's" Guide to Peaking Out & Repairing CB Radios. Tucson, AZ: CBC International. ISBN 0943132398. 

Squidfryerchef 17:55, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Alfred J. Gross

I added a link to Alfred J. Gross in the See also section. Since he was the inventor of the original technology, maybe there should be a bit about him in the History section? --cslarsen 10:03, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

Done. Squidfryerchef 16:04, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
I found this tidbit of info in an old mmagazine

Phineas Thadeus Veeblefetzer who is also known as Al Gross, was never confined by technical limitations as an Electronic Scientist during the 1930's. In 1938 he built a small transceiver with a range of 60 kilometers using the 300 Mhz band. After developing and improving the idea and after discussions with Jack Jet of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided that this would be a good thing to give to the public so that citizens may appreciate the benefits of public radio. In 1944 the FCC issued Al with the experimental CB licences no. WIOXVX and WIOXVY so that Al could continue with the concept of a possible introduction of a Citizen's Band Radio Service. On March 22nd in 1948, in Cleveland, Ohio in the U.S.A., Al succeeded in meeting the FCC specifications which he helped lay down. The FCC gave 460 Mhz to 470 Mhz to the public and within 3 months Al received $5,000,000 worth of orders from the public for his 465 Mhz CB sets. Thus, was born the Citizen's Band Radio Service and the rest is history. The very first “legal callsign” ever issued to a person for use on the Citizen’s Band Radio Service was 19W0001 and in fact, is still current, issued by the FCC. Who was it issued to? Who else? Mr. Al "CB" Gross.

I also found the same in an online source here http://www.acbro.org/inventedcb.htm Petedavo talk contributions 21:49, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Indonesian UHF CB?

I condensed the material on Indonesia and added a couple sources. However, I removed mention of the UHF band because the other sources I looked at only mentioned a 27 MHz band and a VHF band, no UHF. Squidfryerchef 16:09, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] freebanding section

is it US centric in the sense that - aren't those frequencies legally used in areas outside of the US? El hombre de haha 06:05, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

I toned it down a bit. I wouldn't say that the section is US-specific as it is now, because even in countries that allow more frequencies, they still have people who go outside the band. Squidfryerchef 02:50, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

While finding a cite for it would be difficult, it might bear mentioning the underground semi-industry that served CB radio people who were running illegally. Back in the day, the terms for radio modifications were: "Freaked", "Peaked" and "Slid". "Freaked" referred to fooling the PLL chip responsible for frequency generation into generating channelizations either below channel 1 or above channel 40. "Peaked" referred to making the transmitter finals output at levels above 4 watts AM, or 12 watts PEP (Peak Envelope Power) for single side band. "Slid" referred to a modification where the clarifier, on single sideband radios, was tied into the transmitter and the circuitry modified to increase the sweep of the clarifier- Thus allowing a defacto ability to freely tune from well below the legal CB band to well above the band. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.215.224.137 (talk) 07:41, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] License requirements and effect on radio control modeling

The FCC required a Class C license for CB radio. The cost was $20 for seven years. Also I believe when the CB craze hit, CB was reserved for business use and was illegal for personal use even with a license. Many people were flying radio control airplanes on 27 MHz at the time but were forced to move to the newer 72 MHz band for safety reasons. WAB Houston 17:25, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

The Class C was for model control and Class D was for 2-way voice. At the time, yes the FCC didn't allow "ragchewing". It wasn't exactly business use only but there had to be a purpose for each transmission. There's more about model aircraft at CB usage in the United States. Squidfryerchef 21:32, 11 August 2007 (UTC)