Quote:
Originally Posted by MeteorGray
The CB has helped me many times through the years, and it's still doing so.
I've saved a lot of hours and quite a few gallons of fuel by avoiding stop-and-go traffic hold-ups because I was informed of the problems in my way via fellow drivers on the CB radio. Often, drivers using the CB will simultaneously give advice about which alternate roads can be taken to bypass the mayhem.
Yep, a shortwave CB radio is a tool that can not only save fuel, but also increase safety and sanity along the way.
Thanks to Slowmover for his litany of equipment advice obviously gleaned from a lifetime of experience out there on the highways of America.
|
Thanks, MG.
It’s difficult to put into perspective what long distance driving is like versus being a commuter. It winds up sounding like isolated interesting incidents.
How about
:
Interstates 40 & 70 from AZ to OK are being abandoned as fast as drivers can divert south to IH10. Winter storm Aeolus a few years ago.
And now, 70-miles east of El Paso we have multi-truck pile-ups due to nothing more than the (legally true) border-line retarded “drivers” in big trucks. The storm is still hours away.
But it’s getting dark. Exits (many, many miles apart) are such that the next is beyond the first wreck. The shoulder and median won’t support SUVs, much less semis.
So, now what? Will WAZE or googly maps get you out of this? (Ha!)
As the cops and EMS are at the NEXT wreck with injuries reported (gee, how did we learn that?) the hundreds stalled here are on their own.
How did we get past?
Truck to truck made it possible for most of us.
Then the majority of the retards raced to the next wreck. Some returned to El Paso.
I made it a fair distance that night and parked near a pretty good Mexican restaurant. This was after a “sightseeing detour” around the next two wrecks. Didn’t run out of hours (most of those guys did).
At 0400 I drove the last hundred miles into Fort Stockton. Total sheet of ice. Frozen waves. One slow walk. Barely got out of the low side of the transmission.
Texas DPS and the New Mexico Highway Patrol shut IH10 from Fort Stockton back past Las Cruces right as I arrived. The retards had so badly blocked the truck stops we can thank God there was no reason to call the fire department. Or utility services.
I had another breakfast and resumed my way to Houston.
Later I learned there were guys lost two-three days of paying work that week. It’s tve rare company truly lives up to paying you from their own pockets you had to sit. No truck revenue = negative cash flow.
1). Where, in the above, did I specifically use the radio? To what ends (information)?
2). As distances in the West are no laughing matter, fuel, lodging and repairs always play a part in route planning.
3). The retards are bad enough on the Interstates. On the two-lanes they can get you killed. Won’t matter if they have a radio or not. You need to be able to reach drivers and base station operators with authoritative knowledge. Atlas and expanded state map at hand. Dash compass. Notebook.
Which leads to experience.
4). On an otherwise normal trip, learn to listen to the truck driver word flow. Plan to get off the Interstate. And plan how to get back on after a detour. “Is that a good road” means good for a big truck. So your Atlas needs to be the Commercial Motor Carriers version. Those routes are marked and feature the design, the shoulders and signage, to accommodate that commercial traffic.
It may be slower than you like. Thus, consider the obstacles implied just above before diverting g to a lesser road. And think of sub-standard bridges or rail crossings that you won’t be able to traverse. By accident or because the state has authorized the county to close those routes. Emergencies allow trains to just flat stop (is how to think of it).
An excellent radio system is like having been raised in a good home. It’s the manners necessary to get across a crowded room of strangers — a situation where lack of clear signals makes it a mine field — versus being disabled and stopped before execution of the trip plan is complete.
As California is now going after HAM repeaters . . wake up.
A radio alone isn’t enough. It needs a secure mount. A magnetic mount antenna won’t cut it.
The antenna needs to be dialed in by an expert with an analyzer. Chassis & body grounds. Etc. The details in Alan’s website.
KØBG.COM
Start reading. Get the radio. Make a list.
.