C.B Radio

[gavin.k]

Ok how many of you remember the great days of am cb radio ? Mine started in Hull in 1982 with my very first pegasus 3 120 channel radio, an SWR meter, a power pack and an aerial stuck on the top of a biscuit tin. I was 15 years old and could not believe this world I had suddenly connected into. we would stay up all night just talking to each other about harrington jackets or fishtail parkas ?, mods and rockers, was boy george really a puff (gay was not in the vocabulary then) and who had the most powerful rig (those who were lucky enough to own a cobra 148GTLDX with roger bleep were to be looked up to) We all tended to own eyeball badges, mine had flashing red led's just to emphasise the fact i was a cb'er ! There i was 15 years old with my harrington jacket covered in secret affair, madness and the who badges, jeans so tight that my hairs must have been sticking through them, just a hint of lipstick and eyeliner and wedge haircut that covered my right eye so rendered me partially sighted, riding around on my raleigh grifter with a car battery strapped to it and my pegasus 3 blaring out "eyeball eyeball, 1 4 a copy and is anyone out there? " So that was me, Hound dog the cb'er. Those were the days. If by any chance any of you out there were in the Hull area and remember my "handle" you may also remember a lady breaker called polo cruncher who through the miracle of radio waves became (and still is) my wife I hope that this has broght some fond memories to some of you and I would love to hear some of your responses

[Ecky Thump]

I had a Commtron XII with a 5/8 Wave Silver Rod antenna (no burner).
120 channel AM/FM. Biggest piece of doo-doo around. To be fair it did the job, but it got bleedover so bad that people on the adjacent channels came over loud and clear as if they were on the same channel!!

I remember the Cobra 148 (drool). Mate of mine had one, very nice indeed - AM,FM,Upper and Lower Sidebands. In my mind that was the Rolls Royce of rigs.

Funny thing with AM on the mid band is that there were a lot of strange noises (hospital bleepers, pagers perhaps?).
When I lived in Edgbaston Birmingham, there was a constant noise on Channel 15 that was ALWAYS there (around the early/mid 80s). I think it was some kind of signal jammer maybe. Heh, when I had a paper round, I'd connect the rig to a plug-in timer switch and use Channel 15 Mid as my ghetto-rigged early wake up alarm clock

I'd spend countless hours on the CB til the sun came up, made a lot of friends from it too. To me CB is something like an audio version of internet chat rooms.

[Trace]

I didn;t have one - but I had a friend who did and we would all pile round his house and talk on it.

My handle was Pavement Princess (god knows how I thought that one up - I wasn;t a prossie - I promise).

His friend also had a Ford Capri that we all used to get in and go up the services on the M6 becuase they were open all night.

ahhh - those were the days.

[Aidan]

Friends of mine had them up to 10 yrs.ago - "Negatore on that one " was a handy way of saying 'no' ! First one I saw was my cousin's in his dad's MK2 Escort c.1980. Convoy & Smokey and the Bandit had a lot to answer for.
The CB of the 2000s ? We're on it now.

[poster342002]

Does anyone still use CB Radio anymore? It does feel a bit like it's been superseded by the internet.

[dondons69]

my husband has a CB in his wagon!

[leethev]

cb's

How spookey, i was just looking on ebay at cb radios (trying to relive my youth). In 1980 I used to have a tristar 747 sideband rig, the obligitory car battery by the bed, and an 18 foot starduster aeriel that i lashed on the roof of our house (didnt cheer me mum up much with it being illegal an all!),to the local cb ers it was known as the rocket pad. My handle was bongo and i used to transfer the rig from my bedroom to my first car, an austin maxi to meet up with other cb ers in the leicestershire area. There used to be a shop selling disco gear in burton on trent called loco soundsthat used to sell cb stuff, we used to spend hours in there, happy days.

[lonesome crow]

I use to have a cb about 15 years ago my handle was Motormouth. i had a cobra 148 for sideband and an audioline which i kept in the car.

The cb is still full of idiots playing music and mouthing off......thats why i gave it up!

[barry21]

Re: C.B Radio

I used to love my CB radio.
When I got rid of it there were alot of idiots on there that were just there to muck around.
It was a great way of chatting to people.

[rokerbloke]

Re: C.B Radio

it all went down hill when them fm legal ones come out i used to have an old cobra with upper and lower side band then went legal for awhile with a a rotel rvc 240 soon went back to the cobra though

[Tilly Jane]

Re: C.B Radio

Hi everyone, god do i remember CB's? Oh yes! My mum and dad were well into them, so of course i ended up on one all the time too. We had quite a few downstairs ( my dad ended up with about a dozen!!!!) and i had one in my room. Sadly my dad passed away, but i've kept one, a SAPPHIRE, he mostly used a MIDLAND HOMEBASE, but i know he really liked this sapphire thats why i kept this one, oh happy days!!!!!!

[scifi]

Re: C.B Radio

Hi i know its a bit late but just came accross this post, I remember them had good laughs back in the 80's/90's on them.
Just came back on in 2007 and if anyone is interested there is now a forum setup for cb users see the link below.

Citizens Band Radio

[Pensky]

Re: C.B Radio

I had a Harvard Good Buddy CB radio for my 12th birthday in 1982.

I must have driven the local ‘breakers’ mad by incessantly talking rubbish with my pals.

10-10 ‘till we do it again.

[frame]

Re: C.B Radio

I had a colt 320 black shadow sidebander (which I think was a bit naughty) I plugged it in a few years ago but could'nt find anything. My handle was Straycat

[daryn]

Re: C.B Radio

I have just sold a cobra 148 gtl dx but still have 2 left amongst other radios,i started at 14 with a colt 510 im 42 now but always loved them . ,we used to have a network on low band or grave yard as it was known then ,ahhhhhhhhh the good old days.