Gipper

Working off of a gently-used Maxon I chose to repurpose and use for the time being. Have a tuned Firefly and yet thru all my travels on the interstate and it's all crickets. Recently, at an OHV park, I did not even receive any CH 04 traffic. So, the question is, CAN NOAA still be received crystal clear while any 40 channel are simply mute? Is this an indication of a fried unit or just a quiet day? And, again, Yes, I tuned it to near-perfection but still....unless Truckers are on FB nowadays and Lord knows what else. Any thoughts?

Seizer

I recently did a trip up interstate 70 in Colorado. Had my CB on the whole time scanning. There certainly was little to no radio chatter. I was quite shocked as well. Tons of tractor trailers running up and down I-70

Gipper

Well, I just learned from a neighbor who is an OTR trucker that CB is practically a thing of the past. The older drivers till use them occasionally, maybe a few of the rooks, but thanks to the widespread numbers of weirdoes having them it’s become obsolete for reliable (respectful) communication. Cell phones and apps is where it’s at for most nowadays. Yet another aspect of good old Americana spoiled by the way and manner of social media.

A couple related quotes taken from trucker forums: (1) “It’s a bit so/so. You tend to hear more radio traffic in the eastern part of the US.A lot of it is crap, especially within city limits. I have one and I keep it on when I am sent out, but I do my best to avoid talking on it, lest I get bombarded with, “hey, babydoll…”, “show us your tits”, “why aren’t you in the kitchen?”, or other such crap. The trash out there has rendered it almost - but not entirely- useless. Once in a while I’ll hear something useful on there. But not too often.” And this one: (2) “I started Trucking in 1980 , they were a must have if you were a road driver back then, now with all these kids and there toys out here , the onlY people on them are agitators trying to cause trouble, I will always have my cb on , I’m old Skool I don’t have all these new dangled devices that these new guys depend on I depend on maybe an occasional report on the cb , or my weather channels on the radio, the worst part if I’m near gross weight and I know there’s a state weigh station ahead , you ask whether the scale is open or closed and u get3 different answers ,these new guys think it’s funny , or a bear report they lie to you because they thinks it’s funny , but the best is when u come upon a traffic jam due to construction or an accident and they come flying up lockup there brakes and then turn on the cb hey what’s the .back up about we’ll if you had your cb on instead of depending on your gadgets you would have known, RANT OVER.”

So, sad to learn my CB is just fine. It’s just that people aren’t.

Dat

I have a President, McKinley radio, the weather channels will pick up even without an antenna hooked up, so I would think that it may be common to be able to pick up the noaa weather but not regular channels and still have an antenna or coax problem

Mark Doiron

While it's true that you hardly ever hear chatter over 19 anymore, when you approach a traffic tie up, you quickly learn that most truckers still have CBs. That's the best place to learn what off-ramp to take, what lane to be in, etc. And, occasionally as I'm driving along rocking to some tunes, I'll hear my CB pipe up, "Nice Jeep!" And conversation ensues.

Couple weeks ago, I-40 headed west to Amarillo, I bet every trucker I passed for the next hour was discussing the backing up and seriousness of this accident. It turned out to be a U-Haul truck towing a car had crossed the median, hitting an 18-wheeler, rolling that over on its side, and another 18-wheeler rammed into him. Two dead. Helicopter evacuations for others.

Erok

I will say that when my antenna was shorted out, I still easily got NOAA radio but my other channels didn't pick up at all. NOAA must broadcast with more power? Anyway I replaced the antenna cable and was able to get traffic and hear all the CB trolls, so I knew it was fixed

Machoo

I know a little off topic but I'll never forget about two years ago driving to Vegas. Massive backup. I get on CB, all the truckers are talking about it. Finally one gets close enough to tell the rest of us it is a standoff. All the sudden he starts yelling through the radio, "They shot em! They shot the bastard! He is dead in his car!"

I thought for sure it was not CB nonsense. Got up to the scene and nope. Dead guy bleeding out slumped over in his car, doors all open.

Gipper

Good info guys. Considering that my coax and antenna are new and tuned, it must be the 20-year old unit I thought would work forever. Time to upgrade I suppose, which will likely first mean a massive Yes-Ma'am chore list.......