I guess I'm not the only one!

[curtis73]

I guess I'm not the only one who digs the old technology. Who else has a squawk box?

[TheSilentChamber]

I havnt owned one in a while... but...

[G-man422]

I should get one in my car. I hear they really help if you can get truckers to tell you if there are any "Bears" around. are they expensive, or hard to install?

[BigBL87]

I have one, doesn't work though. I'm hoping to get a new one someday, they can come in handy.

[curtis73]

You can get them cheap, and if you're just planning on listening they all do that pretty well provided your antenna is pretty capable. Radio Shack, WalMart, and other electronics stores carry CBs for $30 or less. Antennas can be had for $15.

I have a Uniden PC66 radio and a Wilson 1000 antenna and a Road King mic. The radio was about $80, and the antenna about $70. I think the mic was $69. I had some work done to the radio so that it puts out about 40w peak (FCC regulations limit manufacturers to 4w). With modifications the radio cost me $130.

So, for $270 I'm talking at the same intensity as many of the big rigs. Its not that you can't talk to them on smaller boxes, its just that they don't hear you. If there are 50 truckers talking at 100 watts, a stock 4w radio isn't loud enough to hear and they disregard it as something too far away; or their squelch is set to not even pick it up.

If you just want to listen to road conditions and cops, get an inexpensive radio and a good antenna. If you want to contribute to the conversation, get a good radio: uniden PC66 or higher, Cobra 25 or higher, or just stop by the local truck stop and ask around.

[curtis73]

Originally Posted by BigBL87

I have one, doesn't work though. I'm hoping to get a new one someday, they can come in handy.

I had a radar detector and it did nothing but tell me when a cop already clocked me going 80. Now I know 20 miles ahead where the cops are. If I get a ticket while listening to a CB, its totally my own stupidity.

[BigBL87]

Originally Posted by curtis73

I had a radar detector and it did nothing but tell me when a cop already clocked me going 80. Now I know 20 miles ahead where the cops are. If I get a ticket while listening to a CB, its totally my own stupidity.

It's kind of ironic, I'm the one of the few guys out of my group of car enthusiast friends that doesn't have a radar detector, and I'm the only one that doesn't have a ticket. I've been pulled over twice, once for my license plate bulb being out and once becuase I was "coming up on the cop pretty fast" (he was a county guy, it was out in the middle of the country). He was nice about it, and he realized I knew he couldn't get me for anything, so it wasn't too bad. I went the speed limit til I got out of the county and then booked it to get back to my school on time.

[Andydg]

I just got one out of my grandma's basement, I think it's from the 60's. I'm gonna hook everything up and see if she still works one of these days.

[sv650s]

i heard that the new ones are restricted from listening in on police conversations.......and if you want to do that you have to get a 24 channel radio from the 80's but hide it somewhere cos they aren't legal....is that true?

[curtis73]

Not at all. The 24 channel is the same band as the 40 channel, just with 16 fewer channels. CB stands for citizens band which is an AM range of radio. Police operate on a completely different FM band which can't be heard on CBs any more than AM radio stations can be heard on an FM radio.

The FCC regulates what frequencies you're allowed to transmit. CB under 4w TX is open territory, and the new Family band (like the little talkabouts) under 1w are open territory. Anything that falls outside these ranges needs an FCC license to transmit. There are still some short wave transmissions that don't require a license I think, but they're not anything that someone would really use these days.

Once its transmitted, though, its free range. You can legally use a police band scanner to listen in on what they're saying. That's one of the reasons for the "10" codes and crime codes. If they broadcast that there is a fire at the grocery store on main and Officer Smith is on the way, everyone with a scanner would show up to watch Officer Smith and a fire. Instead they say something like there's a 4412 in progress at 212 main, 141, 10-12.

Whenever you hear about some egghead listening in to NASA transmissions and breaking the code, they can't legally be arrested for listening and understanding. They can be taken out with a sniper because now they know too much

[2.2 Straight six]

my friend has a police-spec CB fitted in his car, it also has flashing lights fitted in the grill, headlights, front and rear bumper and both windscreens (in the sun visors, and a flip-down panel at the back) as well as sires, he's not a cop but it's perfectly legal to do that here in england. we use radios to communicate when we go out racing.

the police here use encrypted digital radios, so it's hard to get anything from them. unless you know the right people. or in my friend's case, have an uncle that makes them.

[cody_e]

Yeah I just put one on my '97 neon

[cobradude360]

got one in my 92 grand maruis and love it just a radio shack but works awsome for trips expesilly when ur all alone

[cody_e]

Originally Posted by sv650s

i heard that the new ones are restricted from listening in on police conversations.......and if you want to do that you have to get a 24 channel radio from the 80's but hide it somewhere cos they aren't legal....is that true?

Nah that's a marine band radio. I heard channel 64. I'm thinking of eventually getting a marine band radio. My regular CB works fine now.

I actually installed one in my buddy's SUV. Do you guys wire them directly to the battery or get an accessory plug and plug it into the cigarette lighter? I do the accessory plug way.

[typesix]

I have a portable unit to listen to on trips but many times I have to turn it down as I have kids in the car and the language can get bad.