Cab/radios?

[Boostpowered]

Must've been a ghost that advised me just this past January in Georgia, I guess.

I dont deny there have been "better" modes of communication these last 20 years, but it seems to still have a place

Sounds like you were lucky enough to be within the 4 to 8 mile range of the one other person messing with cb, likely an old trucker. There was a time when everyone was on the air( not that that was a good thing) not so much nowdays. If your just on a trail with others within line of sight it works great if you can find others who run a cb instead of uhf vhf.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Sounds like you were lucky enough to be within the 4 to 8 mile range of the one other person messing with cb, likely an old trucker. There was a time when everyone was on the air( not that that was a good thing) not so much nowdays. If your just on a trail with others within line of sight it works great if you can find others who run a cb instead of uhf vhf.

Well, I've not thought seriously about getting a HAM, but that may change. What I am planning is to also pick up some FRS. Having more than one communications method sounds like a better practice. And at the very least, my CB has weather with alerts, so I get to be scared pantsless when the thing screams to life with an unexpected alert

 

[TexasGMG]

The midlands are good little turn key units. For the same cost or less you could be setup with a commerical spec Motorola or Midland. Think radios like fire/police/ems use. These are surplus units you can find on Ebay for well under 100 dollars all day long. The Kenwood TK-880 is a very popular surplus radio with the more radio savy GMRS crowd. I've got a Motorola PM400 and a Motorola Radium M1225 that is setup for GMRS use. The PM400 is also programed with local UHF HAM frequencies as well. Both of these radios and their accessories will probably outlast me and my kids.

Thanks, I'll check ebay and the web for the Kenwood. I looked at them briefly and saw they're also a 25 watt vs the midland's 15. Might be a better deal.

 

[smritte]

For some reason, people out here still use CB alot. Traveling within a few states I keep it on for the truckers traffic reports. GMRS hasn't taken off here either yet. I run into someone every now and then but it's odd to see two in a group. With an exception of a couple of CB models, most are still sporting 1970's tech and style. I have a small uniden in my cruiser and the President Clinton in my Taco. The President is built with modern tech and is tiny. Most of the people I run into are either Ham or CB. I wish CB would just go away. If it does then I'll add in a GMRS. I don't mind having two radios, I just don't want three. So for me its still Ham and CB.

 

[BCMoto]

So I was looking into a CB radio but why do we want it to die? sorry if im clueless

 

[Prerunner1982]

So I was looking into a CB radio but why do we want it to die? sorry if im clueless

It's really at the bottom when comparing the available communication options.
CB is AM and is more susceptible to RFI (radio frequency interference).
The optimal antenna is very long, the shorter antennas are a compromise.
A CB antenna requires a lot of ground plane and requires tuning.
It's quite common to see a short CB antenna mounted in a poor location which results in less than stellar performance.

GMRS and ham on the other hand are FM which doesn't respond as much to RFI.
It is FM so the audio is good as well.
The antennas are much shorter. A 1/4 wave GMRS antenna is about 6" where a 1/4 wave CB antenna is about 102".
You can get longer GMRS and ham antennas to help performance vs getting shorter CB antennas which hurts performance.
The ground plane required by the shorter antennas really allows the antennas to be mounted in places a CB antenna can't.
You can get 1/2 wave GMRS and ham antennas that do not require a ground plane at all. You can get NGP (no ground plane) CB antennas too, but they use the coax as the ground plane and do not work as well as a ground plane dependent antenna.
Though it's always good to check tuning of a GMRS or ham (VHF/UHF) antenna, my experience is that they rarely if ever need tuning.
GMRS and ham allow for more power, 50 watts vs 4 watts.
GMRS radios can also talk to the FRS handheld radios.
You can get GMRS and ham radios for not much more than a CB radio.

Really about the only thing that CB has going for it is that it is still popular in many places and it doesn't require a license. GMRS and ham radio beat CB in every other way hands down.

 

[BCMoto]

Thanks for the heads up