Anyone use CB radios in their cars?

[MeteorGray]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

19 is not necessarily the main channel. On 99 in Cali you also use 21 or 16 and a lot of people use "the COMPANY" channel between hands. Mostly everyone is 2 meter anymore because of reliable 50+ mile and higher powered better equipment.

The 50-miles-plus distance factor must be with assistance of relay towers that are in some places and that you are tuned into, or perhaps in the hills with fortuitous spacing. The ole line-of-sight rules are hard to break otherwise, especially at VHF and UHF, that restrict communications to just a few miles on the flats.

About the road information that is available nowadays via cell-phone towers, that's very true. It can be very useful.

But, nothing beats the ole driver-to-driver CB communications when it comes to immediate information where it counts most, the location when and where the action is happening. Such scenes as the videos of truck-after-truck crashing into a pileup in fog and snow come to mind. Knowing about the problem becomes less valuable after it's all over in terms of being able to not adding to the wreckage. On the other hand, hearing about it while it's happening a quarter-mile just ahead of you is most valuable.

Also, unheralded-but-real warnings that truckers can and do get from somebody behind them via the CB that their trailer wheels are coming off or their loading door is open or their load is shifting or etc and etc., can be most valuable to the individuals involved.

It's true that a CB is not THE answer to getting valuable information on the road; but it certainly is AN answer for thousands of working stiffs behind the wheel every day.

[redpoint5]

Excellent analysis.

I once glanced at Google Maps to see how traffic was moving as I headed into Portland on I-5. Green and smooth it said. Immediately upon looking back to the road I was jamming on my brakes due to a flaming vehicle in the middle of the road. I must have been about the 10th vehicle to come upon the fatal wreck. If I had a CB I bet I would have heard the chatter warning other truckers to take the 14 to 205. We sat for 3 hours in 95 degree heat before police reversed traffic and cleared us off the freeway. Of course 3 hours in heat is preferable to the poor soul who had a few minutes in flames.