C.B. Radio

I use mine all the time, sometimes in the evening just to shoot the breeze while heading down the road. Yeah there's bs on there but have you looked at social media lol.

Over the years I've watched the CB save lives many, many times. I've also enjoyed a ton of fantastic conversations, gotten directions to customers, found out about traffic and weather up ahead, been warned about obstructions in the road ahead, and been notified of problems with my truck.

I personally wouldn't want to drive 50 feet in a big rig without a CB radio but that's because I know from experience how critically important they are.

Oddly enough I've found over the years there are an awful lot of people who seem to take an almost angry and passionate stand against using a CB as if their reputation would be hurt by doing so. They seem to have this serious distaste for them, but rarely do they have much experience with them either I've found.

Once you've experienced how helpful they can be and how critical they are to safety you realize you'd be a fool for not having a CB in your truck. To those people I would ask, "Are you aware of the fact that there's an on/off switch?" You might want to turn it off if you're sitting at a truck stop in West Memphis or something but wouldn't it be nice to know about the black ice on the road ahead sending trucks into the ditch, or the DOT inspections going on in the rest area 45 minutes up the road, or the cop that's sticking out into your lane of traffic around the blind curve ahead?

If you're going to drive a rig you should have a CB. You can always turn it off if need be. But if you choose not to have one in the truck at all I'd love to hear how you feel that's helping you be a safer, more informed driver.

Over the years I've watched the CB save lives many, many times. I've also enjoyed a ton of fantastic conversations, gotten directions to customers, found out about traffic and weather up ahead, been warned about obstructions in the road ahead, and been notified of problems with my truck.

I personally wouldn't want to drive 50 feet in a big rig without a CB radio but that's because I know from experience how critically important they are.

Oddly enough I've found over the years there are an awful lot of people who seem to take an almost angry and passionate stand against using a CB as if their reputation would be hurt by doing so. They seem to have this serious distaste for them, but rarely do they have much experience with them either I've found.

Once you've experienced how helpful they can be and how critical they are to safety you realize you'd be a fool for not having a CB in your truck. To those people I would ask, "Are you aware of the fact that there's an on/off switch?" You might want to turn it off if you're sitting at a truck stop in West Memphis or something but wouldn't it be nice to know about the black ice on the road ahead sending trucks into the ditch, or the DOT inspections going on in the rest area 45 minutes up the road, or the cop that's sticking out into your lane of traffic around the blind curve ahead?

If you're going to drive a rig you should have a CB. You can always turn it off if need be. But if you choose not to have one in the truck at all I'd love to hear how you feel that's helping you be a safer, more informed driver.

I always knew I would be getting one but I have not owned one in 20 years Which one would you recommend?

Over the years I've watched the CB save lives many, many times. I've also enjoyed a ton of fantastic conversations, gotten directions to customers, found out about traffic and weather up ahead, been warned about obstructions in the road ahead, and been notified of problems with my truck.

I personally wouldn't want to drive 50 feet in a big rig without a CB radio but that's because I know from experience how critically important they are.

Oddly enough I've found over the years there are an awful lot of people who seem to take an almost angry and passionate stand against using a CB as if their reputation would be hurt by doing so. They seem to have this serious distaste for them, but rarely do they have much experience with them either I've found.

Once you've experienced how helpful they can be and how critical they are to safety you realize you'd be a fool for not having a CB in your truck. To those people I would ask, "Are you aware of the fact that there's an on/off switch?" You might want to turn it off if you're sitting at a truck stop in West Memphis or something but wouldn't it be nice to know about the black ice on the road ahead sending trucks into the ditch, or the DOT inspections going on in the rest area 45 minutes up the road, or the cop that's sticking out into your lane of traffic around the blind curve ahead?

If you're going to drive a rig you should have a CB. You can always turn it off if need be. But if you choose not to have one in the truck at all I'd love to hear how you feel that's helping you be a safer, more informed driver.

Thanks for posting this. I'm a new driver, only been out 3 months now. I met one experienced driver who was helping me back into a space one night asked if I had my radio turned on. That was when I had just started driving solo. My trainers never had them in their trucks and so, due to that and then how expensive they are, I never got around to getting one. But I saw a post on FB where a driver posted about the huge accident pile up and how he had been on his CB trying to warn many other drivers. I then stated looking here and have been rethinking that I may need to seriously look at getting one. I have no idea how to turn one though or which channel would one need to use?

Over the years I've watched the CB save lives many, many times. I've also enjoyed a ton of fantastic conversations, gotten directions to customers, found out about traffic and weather up ahead, been warned about obstructions in the road ahead, and been notified of problems with my truck.

I personally wouldn't want to drive 50 feet in a big rig without a CB radio but that's because I know from experience how critically important they are.

Oddly enough I've found over the years there are an awful lot of people who seem to take an almost angry and passionate stand against using a CB as if their reputation would be hurt by doing so. They seem to have this serious distaste for them, but rarely do they have much experience with them either I've found.

Once you've experienced how helpful they can be and how critical they are to safety you realize you'd be a fool for not having a CB in your truck. To those people I would ask, "Are you aware of the fact that there's an on/off switch?" You might want to turn it off if you're sitting at a truck stop in West Memphis or something but wouldn't it be nice to know about the black ice on the road ahead sending trucks into the ditch, or the DOT inspections going on in the rest area 45 minutes up the road, or the cop that's sticking out into your lane of traffic around the blind curve ahead?

If you're going to drive a rig you should have a CB. You can always turn it off if need be. But if you choose not to have one in the truck at all I'd love to hear how you feel that's helping you be a safer, more informed driver.

I always knew I would be getting one but I have not owned one in 20 years Which one would you recommend?

Cobra 29. It hasn't changed much in the 20 years since you last had one. Cheap and easy to modify and will always power up. I picked mine up, already tuned with a swing kit for $45. I can reach out about 5 miles or so and hear guys clearly 9-10 miles out. It does me just fine.

I've got an old cobra 29 or some such from the early to mid eighties that I'll have to go dig out of storage. I can't remember for sure but it's also got a 100 or 150 watt booster on it as well. I know they're probably illegal as all heck these days. They were back then as well but no buddy really cared. My buddies and I all had them mounted in our vans or 4X4's and would use them mostly out in the desert to keep track of each other when we'd go camping and or dirt bike riding and such. Heck on a good night we could probably transmit or 20 - 30 miles or so, maybe more. I'm pretty sure it's still there unless my kid ran off with it. LOL!

I've got an old cobra 29 or some such from the early to mid eighties that I'll have to go dig out of storage. I can't remember for sure but it's also got a 100 or 150 watt booster on it as well. I know they're probably illegal as all heck these days. They were back then as well but no buddy really cared. My buddies and I all had them mounted in our vans or 4X4's and would use them mostly out in the desert to keep track of each other when we'd go camping and or dirt bike riding and such. Heck on a good night we could probably transmit or 20 - 30 miles or so, maybe more. I'm pretty sure it's still there unless my kid ran off with it. LOL!

Problem with the booster (or linear amplifier), is that it steps on everyone around you. Most folks find it rude and annoying, and the folks nearby that you want to talk to, will find you near unintelligible. Unless you're running a base station out in the boonies, no real reason to run that many watts.

You can have the finals replaced on your Cobra 29, and get up to 20-25 watts which is just fine for the road, and doesn't slam folks nearby (well, not too bad). I've got a final & echo mod on mine - sounds nice and clear.

Rick

I've got an old cobra 29 or some such from the early to mid eighties that I'll have to go dig out of storage. I can't remember for sure but it's also got a 100 or 150 watt booster on it as well. I know they're probably illegal as all heck these days. They were back then as well but no buddy really cared. My buddies and I all had them mounted in our vans or 4X4's and would use them mostly out in the desert to keep track of each other when we'd go camping and or dirt bike riding and such. Heck on a good night we could probably transmit or 20 - 30 miles or so, maybe more. I'm pretty sure it's still there unless my kid ran off with it. LOL!

Problem with the booster (or linear amplifier), is that it steps on everyone around you. Most folks find it rude and annoying, and the folks nearby that you want to talk to, will find you near unintelligible. Unless you're running a base station out in the boonies, no real reason to run that many watts.

You can have the finals replaced on your Cobra 29, and get up to 20-25 watts which is just fine for the road, and doesn't slam folks nearby (well, not too bad). I've got a final & echo mod on mine - sounds nice and clear.

Rick

Hi Rick,

Oh I don't plan to use the booster in the truck at all. I really only have the darn thing because we used them back in the 80's before affordable cell phones to locate each other out in the desert while trying to meet up or if one of our group was having problems.

My parents were never truck drivers but both of them always had CBs in their 4 wheelers. I remember how much fun they had on them at the same time I can remember hundreds of times it helped them out of emergency situations. That's what's wrong with the world now we have gotten rod of the classic way of doing things. I would much rather talk to a human voice no matter how annoying if I needed some help or instant info.

What kind of antenna should I get? My truck had a cobra 19 already in it when I got it, but no antenna. I might eventually get a better cb when I have money but for now this one should do just fine once I get an antenna