I use to be on ch 17 back in 1994-1997 in miami area up in hollywood,florida on trc492 my call sign use to be mrweatherman back in the day on a basestation.CB is dead down here except for the occasional trucker or tourist looking for directions. We use it to communicate from our house to our boat when cell phone service is spotty - a big problem down here when you're on a boat. When using CB, we can pick whatever channel we want.
To my surprise, it is also almost dead up the road in Miami, the big city, where years ago every single channel was clogged up 24/7. I drove through there yesterday with the radio auto-scanning and could not pick up a single station.
Respectable is one thing. Dead is another.
CB Radio has always been respectable, it is the operators who ruined it.
Way back when some of us formed "React Rescue Groups" and we did actually perform public service. I was "Rescue 555" and kept that as my skip numbers for SSB. Still use those numbers on CB skip. If you hear the "North Central Kentucky 555" it could be me.
I do believe but I am not positive that it was Lady Bird Johnson. She was the reason that they did away with the license. There was a photo and a big front-page news spread where she showed up at the FCC and her license was issued to her on the spot. People raised such hell because there was a month to two months waiting. Sometimes. And that I believe is why they did away with the CB license.1 of our presidents wives had 1. bet the body guards wished she didnt use a cb...
Some of you guys must be around my age to remember about Lady Bird and Betty Ford and their CB handles.