Citizens band radio

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Citizens band radio (sometimes called "CB radio") is a radio service. No license is required in the United States for the use of CB radio.

CB radio was a popular fad in the 1970s. Today, it is used primarily by truck drivers.

Contents

Frequencies and channels

CB radio frequencies run between 26.965 MHz and 27.405 MHz. They are organized into 40 "channels." Channel 9 is reserved for emergency communications and traveler's assistance.[1]

CB originally had 23 channels. At the height of the popularity of CB in the 1970s, the band was expanded to 40 channels, taking effect in 1977. The FCC dropped its requirement that CB operators be licensed in 1980, which was widely ignored anyway.

Channel 19 is the most popular channel among truck drivers, but there are exceptions in some geographic locations and highways (for example, channel 17 on Interstate 5 on the U.S. West Coast).

REACT

REACT (which originally stood for Radio Emergency Associated Citizens Teams), now known as REACT International with the C standing for Communications in place of Citizens, is an organization promoting the use of CB radio for emergency communications. REACT was founded in 1962. They pioneered the use of CB channel 9 as a special emergency-use-only channel, which was later officially adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in the early 1970's. Between 1969 and 1975, REACT was sponsored by the General Motors Research Labs. They reorganized as an independent nonprofit organization in 1975.[2]

Today, with the decline in the use of CB except by truck drivers, and the popularity of cellular telephones, REACT International although they still monitor CB channel 9 nowadays spends most of its effort on the emergency applications of amateur radio.

Illegal activity

Illegal activity is popular on CB. Modifications to CB radio transceivers are often done for purposes of increasing transmitting power beyond the legal limit.

"Skip shooting" refers to on-air conversations which make use of Sporadic-E "skip," a condition in the atmosphere which increases the range of transmissions on certain portions of the radio spectrum. According to FCC rules, one may only communicate with a station up to 250 kilometers (155.3 miles) away.[3]

"Freebanding" refers to transmitting on nearby frequencies outside of the official channels. This is done using illegally modified equipment.

CB radio is governed by Part 95 of the FCC regulations.

Popular culture fad

Three events in 1973-1974 brought CB radio into the public consciousness where it remained a fad for most of the rest of the 1970s:

  • The oil crisis in 1973 when the Arab members of OPEC staged an oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War.
  • The implementation of the federal 55 mile-per-hour speed limit in 1974.
  • A 1974 strike by truck drivers which was largely to protest the speed limit.

Truck drivers and regular motorists alike discovered CB as a way to keep each other informed about which gas stations were open, and where speed traps were located. Soon the media was running reports on the use of CB by truck drivers, and with the increased public interest in the lives of long-distance drivers (fed by the TV show Movin' On and the movie White Line Fever), the general public wanted in on CB too.

By 1976 CB had become one of the major fads of the decade, leading to the inevitable songs ("Convoy" by C.W. McCall, "The White Knight" by Cledus Maggard) and movies (Smokey and the Bandit, Citizen's Band) cashing in on the fad. The fad had largely run its course by 1979 when The Dukes of Hazzard debuted, but CB radio as a communications medium (as opposed to the popular culture fad) remained popular well into the late 1980's-early 1990's before being displaced by newer forms of communications, including cellular telephones, the Family Radio Service, and the Internet.

References

  1. ↑ "FCC Rules for CB Radio" on REACT Web site
  2. ↑ http://www.reactintl.org/react_histry.htm
  3. ↑ Ibid.

External links

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