CB Radio's

It seems that so many people in here are ham operators...but i know some of us are not....just wanted to know if any body still runs CB Radios anymore (i do) and if so, what channel do you talk on? I usually just find a channel that no one is on, but when other storm chasers that have CB's are in the area, it would be nice to be able to talk to them. Or at least thats what i think

[Bill Hark]

I still use a CB radio. Although I recently obtained my HAM license, I'll still take the CB along with my HAM radio. The CB also has WX on it.
I find CB useful for communicating in chaser groups (mainly line of sight). It is cheap and easy.

Bill Hark

[David Drummond]

I used to use CB for chaser "caravaning", but since the FRS radios came out they work SOOOO much better for that. I still keep a CB primarily because you can get some pretty good reports as to hail size etc from those trucks you just saw come through that storm. I know on at least one occasion I caught a quick tornado I almost missed because I was repositioning and I hear the truck drivers talk about it.

well at least im not the only one out there that has a CB....I just like to have cross-communication with other chasers....but havent ran into any that even has one anymore....it would be nice if we were all on the same channel

[David Drummond]

When mine is on it's generally on 23. Prefered method is HAM, second prefered is FRS (I carry a couple of them in case I run into someone that doesn't have radio comm), and last would be CB. CB tends to get really noisy once a storm nearby gets electrically active.

I dont really know a whole lot about the FRS....is it like a CB?

[Scott A. Kampas]

I still carry a CB with me, and use it to varying degrees. Ham is much superior, but CB still has use. Listening to traffic and weather reports from truckers is the biggie. For general discussion, talking to others on a storm (or for sky reports prior to initation), and caravanning, it's a no brainer though, go with the ham. Quite a few still don't have licenses yet though, so CB can be used in that case. I prefer CB to FRS, assuming one has a good antenna and rig. FRS is cleaner as far noise and profanity (generally) though (but range is only about 2 miles).

Scott

[Shoen Tripp]

Originally posted by Michael Shively
I dont really know a whole lot about the FRS....is it like a CB?

A FRS is a radio service that operates on 14 UHF frequencies. You do not need an FCC license to transmit on those but you need one to operate a GMRS (General mobile radio service).

FRS has uses but you must be about 2 miles to be able to talk to your group. I had not used an FRS for weather events. I use ham radio to contact my county Skywarn system and sometimes my Nextel direct-connect to contact my weather group members for storm reports and activity.

[Tim Vasquez]

I dabbled with CB's briefly in 1998 and found that you need a serious antenna to get them transmitting right. Average run-of-the-mill handhelds inside of a car (Faraday caged?) won't even transmit 200 ft line of sight. I returned the radios I had bought as I wasn't about to sink more money into antennas. Those big pickups with dual 10-foot antennas have the right idea.

On cross-country Interstate trips it's always a lot of fun to listen in on CB radio. I plop the VHF magnetic antenna on the roof (works adequately), hook it up to my Yaesu handheld, rebroadcast it to our FM car radio via a $30 CD gizmo for better sound quality, and listen in. There's an awful lot of crap on the airwaves but sometimes you hear some good conversations that fill the empty hours. The speed trap reports are fantastic and right on the mark. I do find that there seems to be better activity on the long-haul east-west routes... I-35 is kind of dead by contrast.

I'd say it has almost zero use for chasing though unless you're doing a car-to-car thing with good antennas, or are needing advisories/entertainment while on the major trucking routes.

Tim

[KMcCallister]

I have enough hillbilly family background to have seen a lot of CBs. I sometimes will add CB Chan 19 to my scanner list of rural police, etc freqs when chasing obscure areas. Sometimes a truckdriver will share a valueable piece of information about what's ahead, such as which lane the wreck is in that's causing the traffic jam. Of course, this use is limited to the interstates highways before you start the real chase day.

I've been told by a few chasers that CB radio, like 146.55MHz ham, can be useful if you are chasing alone and need help staying awake on the long drive to where you are going to sleep that night. Afterall, the highways are full of truck drivers hopefully sharing the same goals to get there safely.

I still haven't used FRS radios for chasing yet. I really try to stick to ham and encourage people to be licensed. It's so much better that way.