CB Radio

The CB radio (for Citizens Band radio) is an icon from the 1970s propagated by the need of motorists, mostly truckers, to communicate to each other to locate ample gasoline which was then in short supply because of an oil crisis. This communication system is for short distances, revolving around selecting from 40 channels in the range of 27 megahertz.

A license is required to broadcast in this band, and the user has to have an individual call sign. Some channels in the 40-channel band are assigned for specific usage. Highway communications goes through Channel 10 and Channel 9 for emergencies. Later, however, users preferred Channel 19 for highway communications because of broadcast interference problems.

It was at that time that, CB broadcasting was at the height of its popularity. It became so popular that the licensing rule has been largely ignored. Call signs were just made-up nicknames, so-called “handles” that drew more public attention with the release of movies which rode in the craze, like “Smokey and the Bandit” and “Convoy”. Such a sub-culture of people on the road in contact over the air but not in person, in hindsight, seems to be the prototypes of today’s denizens of internet chat rooms and e-mail groups.

Its own popularity, however, may have smothered the CB fad. Violations on licensing became so utterly flagrant (particularly in height of antenna, communication distance regulation and call signs) that the licensing rule was dropped. With so many users jamming into the channels, communication signals became poorer and poorer. And with the recent new advances in communications technology such as cellular or mobile phones, the CB radio now appears to be a buried and forgotten icon.