Look In The Mirror

I too, fiddled around with CB when I was young, and things are much different now then they were then.

A couple of years ago, I received some gift cards from a promotion, so I decided to use them to get a unit for my motorhome. Went down to the shop, picked one out, they installed it, tuned the antenna, and off I went. I got out on the interstate and turned the thing on, and I was shocked at the arguing and abusive language that was going. I'm definitely not a stranger to foul language, but even by my standards, it was over the top. I shut the thing off and it just sat under my dash, gathering dust.

A few months later I was traveling in LA and had a blowout. I pulled over and grabbed my phone to call roadside, and realized that I had no service in that area. So, I thought about it for a minute, remembered I had a CB, then went back in and got on channel 9 to see if I could raise the local sherriffs or maybe a roadside assistance truck, if LA had them.

Well I turned her, on went to 9, and all that's coming out of the speaker is Spanish. I don't have much of a problem with this other than the fact the 9 is supposed to be for emergencies only. So, in my best broken Spanish I break and ask that the air be cleared so I can contact some assistance.

I never knew that Spanish had so many colorful swear words. I learned a few good ones that day.

I finally just shut the damn thing off and walked down the interstate for a few hundred yards until I could find a signal for my phone. I never turned on that radio again. Matter of fact, when I sold the MH, the guy that bought it asked me if I was going to get the radio out and I told him he could have it. My new motorhome never got a CB.

Cell service has pretty much rendered the CB obsolete. And, since the FCC isn't monitoring CB and enforcing the rules, CB is now just inhabited by a bunch of idiots.

I am in the process of obtaining a CDL and getting a driving job right now, and I have already decided that CB will not be a tool I will be using, unless it is a last resort. If a company i drive for has them in their cabs, that's fine, but I won't spend my money to put one in. It's a waste of a couple hundred bucks, if you ask me.