Approx 43 years late but catching up UPDATED

Rob Keeble

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Location
GTA Ontario Canada
So i did a little shopping today.

Let me preface this by reminding ya all that i did not grow up in North America but watched from a far the happenings here.

So for most of my life i have wanted to hear the truckers on the radio etc and today i finally had a bucket list item and childhood dream come true when i picked up a CB radio.
Nothing special just a cheapie but it will serve its purpose. :) Scratch another one off the longggg list of catching up. Hope there are still guys out there to chat with. :)
View attachment 78283

Already have the antenna wired into car and mounted on roof with bracket. Did that before leaving home hoping to pick up this puppy at a flying j or pilot gas station but none I stopped at had stock of the one i wanted. Found this at a small local electronics repair shop and cheaper than even amazon. Went to a radio shack the other day and they had a single radio. Showed me just how popular cb is nowadays but it was not stopping me.

All i have to do is hook up to the wires i have already fed through the firewall from the battery and connect the antenna.
Will see how it goes tomorrow. :) Cant wait to hear the radio crackle again. Will remind me of my days back in signal corps. :)

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:thumb: I used to use the CB a lot on the highway. Even if I wasn't talking, there was stuff to be learned by listening. I have no idea how active the airwaves are these days.
 
I remember seeing an episode of Conan O'Brian, which had James Earl Jones (voice of Darth Vader) as his guest. Jones told the story of driving across the midwest back when CB's were popular. He went by the handle of "Darth" and would speak in the Darth Vader voice. He'd then stop in at the truck stops and talk to the other truckers in a high pitched voice and ask if anyone heard that guy "Darth" earlier in the evening.

"Back in the days when CB radios were big, I used ‘Darth’ as my handle, and driving through Kansas or somewhere, going across country, I would freak people out. I stopped doing that."
 
I grew up with them. My dad's construction co. couldn't survive without them. There would be jobsites spread out 100 miles apart or more and sometimes my brother and I would be the ones to relay messages. Most of the time it was my mom though. My dad's handle was "Sawdust" and going to the "big city" (Topeka, Manhattan, Licoln or Omaha) to pick up materials was a great time listening to all the traffic. We had a huge antenea on the house as well as at the shop and all the trucks had cb's as well.
 
I had a CB way back when I was a teenager. I was "the Lion Tamer" KBGJ-7305. years later I kept a CB in my van when I was a road photographer (traveling for a living, not photographing Roads...), When I was doing that job my handle was 'Mr Photographer', around that time was when the 'decline' started in the trucking industry which also caused the CB to become of less and less utility to the general public. Truckers still use it for road contact... usually when they're approaching a sea of red taillights ahead of them, which is pretty much what I'd use it for if I were out on the interstate again these days. Also, there are many times when a trucker will need a CB to contact the shipping office at a vendor they're picking up/dropping off at.
 
I was a salesman for Hilti back in the days CB's were popular. A bunch of us salesmen had radios. Some of the handles were hammerdrill, screwgun, anchorman,.. can't remember the rest. Mine was Gunrunner.
 
There may be a little more to hooking up your CB than your aware of...do you have an SWR meter to match the cable & antenna to the radio? If not you may want to find someone that does to help you match them. KQG5341 out.

I'm guessing you didn't notice the SWR meter in the photo Rob posted. Also, since Rob was in the SA Army Signal Corps, I suspect he's researched how to tune the antenna. ;)

I remember seeing an episode of Conan O'Brian, which had James Earl Jones (voice of Darth Vader) as his guest. Jones told the story of driving across the midwest back when CB's were popular. He went by the handle of "Darth" and would speak in the Darth Vader voice. He'd then stop in at the truck stops and talk to the other truckers in a high pitched voice and ask if anyone heard that guy "Darth" earlier in the evening.

"Back in the days when CB radios were big, I used ‘Darth’ as my handle, and driving through Kansas or somewhere, going across country, I would freak people out. I stopped doing that."

That would be a riot. :D

On more than one occasion, I've passed a semi on the Interstate (or blown its doors off, to be more accurate) and heard the trucker get on the radio and comment about that "cute little blonde seat cover in the Bronco". When that has happened, I've responded in a nice low voice that the "cute little blond" has a mustache. I've gotten some humorous apologies from embarrassed truckers that way. :rofl:
 
Worst time ever was helping a buddy with his '63 Ford F150 with west coast mirrors on it so he put dual antennas on it. Getting those babies together was a hassle. Guy at the stereo store a couple of days later made it look easy! I had a K40 antenna on my '63 GMC step side and a little one on the back of my Javelin AMX on the trunk.
 
Rob's attachment shows an error message when I click it.

I got into the CB craze in the late 60s and into the 80s. Never really drove fast enough to be much of a target but it was one of those things you just had to have! It was always interesting to watch and listen to other folks along the road. My philosophy for road trips was to map out a route, base travel times on reasonable speeds and schedule stops so my ex and our three girls could take care of business. It was normal for us to see people go screaming by us on the Interstate, then see the same vehicle scream by us two hours later. On a trip from eastern Oklahoma to far western Oklahoma one year, one car zoomed by us three times on IH40 and the four people in it seemed to be having a good time!!! Kinda figgered they were going so fast and so nervous about LEOs that they had to stop frequently to drain off their "nervousness". :eek:
 
I got a Galaxy 88 I'm blowing the dust off and installing in my car for the trip up north to Baltimore. Trying to find the longer whip for my wilson antenna.

I sure miss the setup I had in my Jeep Cherokee. Daul Batteries and dual alternators.

Best talking cb I ever had was a superstar 3900. From My base I had in Harford county Md you could talk to Norma in the mobile while she was in Washington DC 50 plus miles away. The needle wouldn't move but she sure was LOUD!
 
Oh boy does this go back...Stacey and I were just talking about this a few days ago...Spiderman KPL-4477. All time fav was my Cobra 89XLR base with a D-104 power mike. Had a 50w linear running through a 40' Big Stick. The car rig was a Cobra 148 GTL SSB with a slider tweaked to 5w with a 10w linear in the trunk and a K40 mag on the roof. We'd shoot skip everywhere with those rigs...something like "Skipland, skipland, skipland...CQ, CQ, CQDX....Spiderman on the C coast blowin' smoke anywhere that talks back...CQ, CQ, CQDX"
Now I just use a ham, Yaesu VX-5, KJ6DCS.
 
Well I am glad i brought back a few memories to you guys. Have not had the chance to wire it up this morning was too much of a mad dash to the whale watch place.

Bart trust me i could write a thesis on radio transmission and SWR and ground planes etc. LOL if only you knew the things i have been up to in the past. Have to dig out some old pics sometime.

Try tuning a 1KW Racal transceiver that has been mounted in an old landrover ambulance truck and fitted with pump up clark mast and dummy load. Wanna see sparks fly and fluorescent tubes light up. :)

I still have a huge list to catch up. Still got to get me some reenactment gear. I would like to build one of them Kentucky Rifle kits and fire it, someday. Frank Fusco you listening. :) Have to get the rules necessary for Canada first but working at it. :) My list goes on an on. :)
 
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