PRACTICAL CB RADIO

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Welcome to Practical CB Radio, where we reminisce, chat, help and encourage each other in our admiration and operation of Citizens Band Radio.

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Michael D Bolton

December 16, 2025 3:07 am

Since everything has a beginning, then let's start at, well...the beginning. I'll throw in my story. Sit a spell and grab a serving of your favorite beverage. 😁 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *... View MoreSince everything has a beginning, then let's start at, well...the beginning. I'll throw in my story. Sit a spell and grab a serving of your favorite beverage. 😁 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CB Radio In 1970s Pleasant Grove (Section of Dallas, Texas) In 1976 I was introduced to CB Radio by a neighbor down the street from me. He ran a mobile as a base station, powering it from a car battery with a charger floating thereon, into a Hy-Gain Penetrator groundplane antenna. He did rather well, out in the travel trailer next to his home. Because of a grounding issue with the extension cord powering it, one just had to be careful touching anything metallic on the exterior when standing outside barefoot or with wet shoes after a rainstorm. Whee! ⚡😲😆 Little did I know of the explosion that I was in the midst of. Seemingly everyone had, or was getting, a CB rig. Local base-station operators homesteaded channels, and if someone got out of line, there was hell to pay. Or so they said. Before- and after-work drivetimes would find ops in their mobiles chattering away with their significant others or kids at their home bases. "Pick up ________ at the store," "I'm on (Highway) 175 at ________ Road, be there in a minute," and so on. When all were home from their toils at work and had dinner, nightly court would commence. Roundtable discussions were had about various and sundry topics, with a helping of silliness thrown in, some of it rather suggestive. The occasional argument would ensue, with plenty of name-calling, heterodynes, and music-playing to "lock down the channel." I think that the first tune I heard broadcast over CB was the parody of "In The Mood," by the Henhouse Five Plus Too 🐔 (a.k.a. Ray Stevens -- yes, *that* Ray Stevens). My first CB rig was a Realistic TRC-100B 6-channel walkie-talkie. It was a bit heavy for a portable, and it devoured AA batteries as if they were going out of style. 🔋🔋🔋🔋 😲 For Christmas 1976 I received a Cobra 85 AM base. A local op donated a Radio Shack 1/4-wave groundplane and a section of mast, and off I went. There were a few kids that I went to school with, on the air. But mostly it was older teens and twentysomethings, then late-thirties and older. Just about all were lower-middle-class, workaday types. The 40-channel band expansion of January 1977 resulted in some of the older group staking claims on the upper 17 channels (not that some of them weren't *already* there, with modified gear -- the entry of PLL frequency-control into the 1976 crop of 23-channel rigs helped spur this further along that it already was). I ran under my older brother's callsign in the 1970s, and then obtained my own license when I turned 18. Unfortunately, individual CB licenses were abolished not long afterward, with the service becoming "licensed-by-rule." Soon came the end of high school and an ill-fated marriage with subsequent divorce. I've kept my interest in CB all these years (I'm 62 now). It was my First Love in two-way radio, and shall always hold a special place in my heart. It also has a few things going to it that Amateur ("ham") Radio doesn't -- ease of access and operation, and a more relaxed and informal operating style. It truly was the original Social Media for the masses. I've recently set up my latest base station, with one of the new President AM/FM*/SSB rigs, and a modest antenna. I invite all CBers past and present (future?) to join me; dust off those old rigs or buy a new (or used!) one, and get on the air. 😉 -- Lonestar, KART-6244 / KBTB-8663 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * (* -- In 2021 The FCC approved FM as an optional operating mode for CB. AM is still mandatory, SSB has been optional since the 1960s. New CB transceivers, currently from AnyTone, Cobra, Radioddity, Retevis, and President, offer FM to enhance operating enjoyment. No channels are designated for FM use, although some have promoted the idea of using Channel 33; much like Channels 16, 36, 37, 38, 39, and 40 being used for LSB by "gentlemens' agreement." -- MDB/LS)

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Michael D Bolton