Are CB Radios Actually Useful In 2023?

Good thread y’all! Nice to see a consensus like this.

Good discussion that comes around all the time. As a kid, I used one to talk to friends in my neighborhood. It was set up in my garage! Then, when I towed cars and trucks for my uncle, I used one to talk to local police and drivers. As a driver, I only turn mine on if it's winter or inclement weather. I cannot stand to listen to the garbage coming across that thing, and it almost got me into an incident with another driver in Ohio.

In the military, I was on the front lines of the GPS tech when nobody even knew what the heck it was. I'm a HUGE fan of GPS. My GPS has helped me avoid more issues on the road than my CB ever has. A GPS finds construction, traffic, weather, and accident issues long before the CB ever will. Of all the accidents I've been around and had to sit through, the CB would not have helped me avoid having to sit through them. And, I drive defensively enough by staying away from packs of vehicles that it keeps me from having to jam on my brakes to avoid being in the pile-up and someone is always (used to be me) shouting out over the radio "Brakes, Brakes, Brakes."

However, I still keep one in my truck and will not run without it because I will use it when the weather changes and if my GPS takes a nose dive.

So many of the large vehicle pile-up accidents in snow storms could be avoided by folks using CB radios. It's the original instant messaging system. Somewhere in our archives we have a live video of a huge pile-up taking place. You can hear someone on the radio calling out to the other drivers on the radio, but they keep on rolling in. I tried to find it, but wasn't successful.

Here's another reason for having a CB. Sometimes being on the radio will bring you into A Fun Little Chat.

Here are two great examples to support running a radio:

Yesterday I was S/B I-85 in NC. I was about 2 miles north of the scale house in Mebane. A pickup pulling a trailer crashed going N/B and lost a trailer it was pulling. It happened right across from me. Smoke and chaos. I announced it on the radio and NC DOT came up and responded units from the scale house immediately. That caused a far faster response than dialing 911 could do.

Several months ago I was going into Knoxville Tn right after dark. A ped had ran out in front of a truck at the split of I-40 and N/B I-75. DOT announced a detour and I was able to go around it, costing me about 15 extra minutes.

There have been alot of times having a CB on has been a big help. I run one, always have. It is on and I keep the squelch down to filter out most of the garbage. I pull into a truckstop, it goes off. It can be a great tool if used correctly.

Cobra 29 Classic will suit you well. Find a radio shop to tune it, and get a decent antenna. You don't need to Electromagnetic Pulse anyone (although some of the schtuff I've heard over the years has made me wish I could), but tuning and a good antenna will increase the quality of your signal l, how clear your transmissikns are, and how far out you can be heard.

Ya, I've got a handle. Sharps50-90. Occasionally someone gets the reference. Billy Dixon, Esquire was the other option...

I mainly used mine to figure out which lane to be while in heavy traffic. I also spoke to a guy at a truckstop diner who told me his saved his life.

He was having a heartattack about 2 in the morning. All he could do was call for help on the cb. By the grace of God someone else was listening and was able to get medical personell to his location. He said he would've surely died if not for that.

Other than for traffic updates I rarely used mine. I got tired of hearing all the *****ing, moaning, complaining and cussing on the airwaves.

Cobra 29 Classic will suit you well. Find a radio shop to tune it, and get a decent antenna. You don't need to Electromagnetic Pulse anyone (although some of the schtuff I've heard over the years has made me wish I could), but tuning and a good antenna will increase the quality of your signal l, how clear your transmissikns are, and how far out you can be heard.

My fleet (mainly daycabs) has cbs in all the trucks. Nothing special, primarily used to communicate in the yard. The very basic setup we run I have roughly a 1 mile range. We used the cobra classic and it looks like factory antenna. For me, that's plenty. Good enough to hear about delays or wrecks, plus I haven't had those knuckleheads with their home bases blowing up my radio. I used to be flooded by a fellow that goes by Buckshot anytime I was near Kansas City while in some trucks that had several miles of range. Now I only hear his preaching of God for a minute while crossing over the Missouri River in North KC.

My dad was a trucker throughout my childhood, and I rode with him (local) whenever I was allowed. His CB was in constant use. This was just before cell phones became really popular. He put one in his personal vehicle as well. If all works out in my journey, I plan on looking into getting one! This thread has only solidified that choice. Love seeing all the stories and input.

The Cobra 29 is a great radio, had a couple of em, back in my "CB days". Ran one in my car, with a trunk antenna.It was tweaked and I had a little 100 watt linear. I worked at Pepsi back then as a truck tech in Carson, Cal. Mom would usually be on the base station when I got off work at 12 am, so I'd yack at her on my way home.

Dad had 1 those "illegal" radios then, a military grade Galaxy, with a matching 1000 watt kicker, with a tweaked lollipop mic, and crank up tower with a big stick, he had almost $2,000 invested in that stuff, a lotta dough back then. Pop's liked shootin' skip around the globe.

The radio had FM bands he could slide thru and it was like talking on a phone with his buddies. Those old steel whip antennas like from the 50's-60's actually were a GREAT antenna to get out on, no wonder CHP used em for years.