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How many truckers are running VHF ? Is CB dying ?

nobody123

Member
Feb 26, 2012
11
5
11
I know VHF isn't CB, but I suspect that some truckers hang out here, so I'll ask it here.

How many truckers are running VHF instead of or in addition to CB ? How many are not running CB at all ?

I ask because I was recently on a long night trip in bad and very bad weather.

I was frequently politely calling out to oncoming trucks for weather and road condition information. The reply rate was about 1 truck in 10. I expected higher.

What gives ?

Thanks
 
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Being a driver I can honestly say CB isn't what it used to be as like whiskey said with cell phones,GPS,etc.....most truckers leave them off unless they come up on a traffic jam or when near scale house's.Mine is on as long as I'm in the truck but not many do the same.
 
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Driving across the US several times, I can say that having/using a CB was absolutely indispensable. Had a great time chatting away with the truckers. Makes the journey easier and much safer too. Those truckers really know the roads, will warn about speed traps, and every best place to eat too. Wouldn't drive that far without a CB. No way.
 
Out here in Ca there is plenty of CB traffic on ca 99, I 5, I 580 ....lots in fact.
They run ch 17, 15 or 19 depending on were you are in the state.
Just about anytime day or night you can find drivers on the air around the major freeways.


73
Jeff
 
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I drive locally (less than 200 miles from home) and run both CB and an HF ham rig.
The CB is for talking to equipment operators at rock crushers and the scale houses.
And also on the job sites too. We build oil and gas well drill sites and it is necessary
to have a CB, especially when there are 30 or 40 trucks running in and out of a jobsite.
The HF rig, I use when I'm sitting in line waiting to load or unload. It's fun to work DX or even a few states away and is a nice diversion. Cellphones are nice, but, reception can be iffy in some areas and GPS is not used in our line of work at all.
So, as far as I can see, CB use by truckers is not dying out. And I have rarely heard any truckers on VHF, except a few that were hams. I have worked several truckers on HF, especially on 40 meters during the day. That is fun too. 7.195 during the day is a good place to find other truckers that are hams.
trucker
 
I wish the truckers would pick another channel to use since every dipstick around now uses 19 for tuning, rag-chewing, music playing, etc.

Oh wait, never mind. They would just move to the new "Truckers Channel" to play on.

Dumb idea, I apologize for dreaming again. :D
 
Being a driver I can honestly say CB isn't what it used to be as like whiskey said with cell phones,GPS,etc.....most truckers leave them off unless they come up on a traffic jam or when near scale house's.Mine is on as long as I'm in the truck but not many do the same.



It will get "worse" when the price of fuel jumps...

I can tell you when most of the CB traffic went away...2008, when the price of fuel hit $4 a gallon. The reason: most of the drivers had their trucks governed to at ot below the posted limits for "fuel savings"...if they can't speed, no reason to listen to the CB.

I was traveling between PA and WA...going out was pre-fuel spike and lots of traffic, coming back was about two weeks after the fuel spike and the radio was practically dead for the entire trip. It was actually really weird not listening to radio chatter. After a while guys started chatting again, but most often the discussion was fuel prices, speed limiters, and O/Os out of business.
 
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I live fairly close to a industral park and hear the guards giving direction to truckers all the time. But the other day a trucker came into a local store asking what gate to enter and looked at me like I was stupid for telling him radio the guard shack. He had no radio at all in his truck.
 
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i bet he'll buy a cb now eh?

In my area of the midwest, the cb is still alive. I travel from missouri, iowa, nebraska, and south through Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

Always someone to talk to on cb.
 
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what VHF service are these truckers switching too?

There is a VHF band in Canada for truckers.Here in the States I suppose some might use MURS.I have never heard anything on the MURS frequencies except the businesses that were there before MURS.
 
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There is a VHF band in Canada for truckers.Here in the States I suppose some might use MURS.I have never heard anything on the MURS frequencies except the businesses that were there before MURS.

yeah like Walmart, I think they're the ones that petitioned the FCC to create MURS
 
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