Just thought I would open this up for discussion

As I enter my 42nd year on this planet Eeek  :Crying: I think back to a simpler time before the interweb,wi fi,mobile phones and sky tv.

I bring you........

CB Radio          

For those of you too young to remember there was once a upon a time that Mobile Telephones did not exist  

You were considered flash if you had a cordless home telephone  

Home Telephones looked like this and the man from the GPO fitted them and you couldn't unplug them either  

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And Cordless Telephones looked like this  

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If you were away from home your mobile phone looked like this!

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Anyway back in the 1958 in the good old US of A.........

The Class D CB service was created by "The Godfather of CB" Al gross on 27 MHz.

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This band became what is popularly known today as CB. There were only 23 channels at the time; the first 22 were taken from the former Amateur Radio Service 11-meter band, and channel 23 was shared with radio-controlled devices.

During the 1960s, the service was popular among small businesses (e.g., electricians, plumbers, carpenters), truck drivers and radio hobbyists. By the late 1960s advances in solid-state electronics allowed the weight, size, and cost of the radios to fall, giving the public access to a communications medium previously only available to specialists.[7] CB clubs were formed; a CB slang language evolved alongside 10-codes, similar to those used in emergency services.
1970s popularity

After the 1973 oil crisis the U.S. government imposed a nationwide 55 mph speed limit, and fuel shortages and rationing were widespread. CB radio was used (especially by truckers) to locate service stations with better supplies of fuel, to notify other drivers of speed traps, and to organize blockades and convoys in a 1974 strike protesting the new speed limit and other trucking regulations. The radios were crucial for independent truckers; many were paid by the mile, which meant their productivity was impacted by the 55-mph speed limit.[7] The use of CB radios in 1970s films such as Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and Convoy (1978), popular novelty songs such as C.W. McCall's "Convoy" (1975) and on television series such as Movin' On (debuted 1974) and The Dukes of Hazzard (debuted 1979) established CB radio as a nationwide craze in the USA in the mid- to late 1970s

Originally, there were 23 CB channels in the U.S.; the 40-channel band plan was implemented in 1977. Channel 9 was officially reserved for emergency use by the FCC in 1969.[11] Channel 10 was originally often used for highway communications east of the Mississippi River, and channel 19 west of the Mississippi; channel 19 then became the preferred highway channel in most areas, as it did not have adjacent-channel interference problems with channel 9. Many CB'ers called channel 19 "the trucker's channel". Channel 11 was originally restricted by the FCC for use as the calling channel

Towards the end of the 70's the Cb craze had saturated the United States so much to the point where dealers had sets piled high to the ceilings and everybody already had several and they simply couldn't sell them  

CB in the UK

As early as the 60's small groups had started to bring cb radios back from their holidays albeit in simple walkie talkie form  

During the early 70s 23 channel sets started to appear mainly adopted by the custom car movement to communicate on their way to shows and to be able to warn each other of police presence and they put their foot down in their powerful hot rods  

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The prominence of CB radio grew in Britain partly due to the popularity of novelty songs like CW McCall's "Convoy" and Laurie Lingo & The Dipsticks' "Convoy GB" in 1976 (both of which were Top 5 hits) and the film Convoy in 1978. By 1980, CB radio was becoming a popular pastime in Britain; as late as the summer of 1981 the British government was still saying that CB would never be legalized on 27 MHz AM

People often started with a basic 40 channel AM set like this

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Before moving onto either an 80 or 120 Channel so they could take it HI or LO

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Then there was SSB or single side band

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The problem was the home office were trying their very best to outlaw and prosecute illegal Cb users but they were closing the gate way after the horses had bolted  

They proposed a UHF service around 860 MHz called "Open Channel" instead. However, in early 1981 (after high-profile public demonstrations) 40 frequencies unique to the UK, known as the 27/81 Bandplan using FM were anounced at 27 MHz plus 20 channels on 934 MHz (934.0125 to 934.9625 MHz with 50-kHz-spacing).

In the meantime multimode radios covering Hi and Hi Hi bands had started making their way here too and operators had realised they could Pirate the new legal channels ahead of the launch  

Channel 33 HI = the new 19 Legal FM and so forth

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At the point there were already millions of illegal users who were not going to stop using whatever frequencies they felt like and their feelings are quite apparent in these videos

If you were into CB at that time these will bring back memories if not it will give you an idea of how big it all was  
(Please excuse the poor quality at the start)

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On November 2nd 1981 the home office still refusing to legalise CB on 27mhz AM gave us Legal CB (after high-profile public demonstrations) 40 frequencies unique to the UK, known as the 27/81 Band plan using FM were allocated at 27 MHz plus 20 channels on 934 MHz (934.0125 to 934.9625 MHz with 50-kHz-spacing). CB inventor, Al Gross, made the ceremonial first legal British CB call from Trafalgar Square in London.

Al Gross also bought the first ever UK CB license to mark the occasion,and whilst he did a traffic warden posted a ticket on his car outside the post office  

We then got Radios like these on 27 mhz FM

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And these on UHF 934 mhz

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The maximum power allowable on the MPT 1320 27/81 system was 4 watts (in common with the American system), although initially radios were equipped to reduce output power by 10 dB (to 0.4 watts) if the antenna was mounted more than 7 metres above ground level. The power-reduction switch is also useful in reducing TV interference. MPT 1320 also restricted antennas to a maximum length of 1.5 metres, with base loading being the only type permitted for 27 MHz operation. Over the next several years antenna regulations were relaxed, with antenna length increasing to 1.65 metres and centre- or top-loading of the main radiating element permitted. On 1 September 1987 the UK added the usual 40 frequencies (26.965–27.405 MHz) used worldwide but on FM only, for a total of 80 channels at 27 MHz; antenna regulations were further relaxed, and the 934 MHz band was withdrawn in 1998 and the UHF frequencies sold to mobile phone networks.

And Mobile phones along with the internet were the last nails in the coffin for CB  

Or where they?

Cb is still around today new CB radios are often sold to green laners,car enthusiasts to chat in convoy on route to shows but the new generation of CB equipment is often poorly made Chinese rubbish  

There are a few of us including myself keep our hands in the hobby though instead of the millions there once were on channel its often small clusters around the country of dedicated breakers  

And now after 30 odd years last year the remaining users got a shock  

On the 29th Of October 2012, the UK Telecoms regulator OFCOM announced that AM and SSB will be made legal, in the UK by the end of 2013

It seems owing to the fact we have been part of Europe since 1973 they had no right to stop us from using AM/SSB  

On the 27th June 2014 so 40+ years after small amounts of cb radios started getting smuggled into the UK operating on the U.S. FCC band Amplitude Modulation along with Single Sideband was legalised

With a Power output of 4 Watts AM and 12 Peak Envelope Power on Single Sideband between 26.965-27.405 mhz  

So I do hope you enjoyed reading this and if you were a cb'er please share your stories photos etc and if you or any friends living close by have any old Cb equipment dig it out because its coming back  

Over to you to for your thoughts and CB tales...................

Jodie