Back in the 1970s, NUMBERS were all the rage! At least on sideband. "Handles," like 10-codes, were for the children on AM. But on SSB we Serious Radio Operators, and used Numbers, Q-codes, and your real first name.
And which number you had was so important. There were people giving out numbers only if you knew someone and were cool enough. In California, the coolest of the cool were the "Charlie Alphas." They handed out "CA" numbers, and when you heard something like "Charlie Alpha 23" everyone unkeyed for a while and let them talk. Or if you went to a break and saw someone with a CA badge you went over and kissed his ass to get a recommendation for a number.
After they hit 99, in order to to keep the ultimate exclusivity of the CAs, they decided to change their numbering scheme and started issuing 3-digit "Charlie Alpha Lima" (CAL) numbers. Sadly I was not quite cool enough to get in on the original core group, but after a lot of schmoozing I did manage to snag "CAL 434."
"Charlie Alpha" and "Cal" numbers were local to SoCal and only used on low band, meaning Ch.16, and anything from 27.255 up to around 27.400 (remember, this was 23 Ch. days). Above 27.400, you left your low band number behind and adopted a nationwide high frequency number. And the coolest around was "Hi Freq" or "HF." I'm not sure exactly how they ran their numbering scheme, but I managed to meet someone at local break who assigned me "C 923." Of course I had to get a badge to show everyone that I was "HF Charlie Nine Twenty Three."
Speaking of breaks, back then CB Radio was an extremely social hobby. In case you're not familiar with the term, a "Channel Break" or just "Break" was a gathering of people who basically hung out on one particular channel, although all were usually welcome. In fact we used to regularly go to other channel's breaks just to socialize and meet people.
I guess they probably started out informally with a few people meeting up at a restaurant or bar. But by the mid-70s they were full blown parties!!! The organizers would rent out an auditorium, women's center, or VFW hall and hundreds of people would show up!! There was usually a few dollar charge to get in, but commonly you'd find live entertainment, food, and sometimes booze. And of course, vendors with engraving machines to carve your official numbers into even more cool badges to hang on your vest.
And yes, believe it or not, a vest so loaded down with pins it looked like it would collapse on the floor was cool. Seriously. Those stupid pins were like chick magnets. That, and a crocheted hat made with Budweiser cans was just about guaranteed to get you laid at a break. Sometimes right in the parking lot. Remember back then there wasn't AIDS, or even herpes to worry about. The worst you could pick up was the clap or a case of the crabs, which were both easily curable.
Around here the local channel 8 crowd threw a pretty good break -
While not that big, for some reason a lot of girls hung out on ch. 8, and I used to do very well there. Thinking back I'm still astonished at the amount of tail I used to score on CB. Much better than at nightclubs, discos, or bars.
One of the biggest in the San Fernando Valley was "Tower Control" -
Live band on stage, tons of food, and a huge bar. Tower Control breaks used to go into the wee hours of the night. They were so notorious that other channels started to organize "Hangover Breaks" for the next morning with a coffee and sometimes a full pancake breakfast:
I'd drag myself to the Sunday morning hangover break and see many of the same people that were at the other break the night before, some wearing the same clothes. And, as you can see by the badges, no matter where you went you got a new number that you could use. It's all about the numbers. Like I said, hundreds of people used to show up to these events.
To tell you the truth it's kind of sad to see what's happened to CB today. Back then your plans for Saturday night was to get in your mobile and drive around talking on the radio until you found out where the action was. By yourself, with a buddy, or even a date, there was always something happening. People meeting at this restaurant, a party over at that guys house, gathering at a local bar, etc.
Passengers would switch mobiles, maybe ride with someone who got lucky and left with a girl. No problem, a call over someone's mobile would get them a ride home. Other times new people would be looking for something to do, so they'd "talk you in" to their house and you pick 'em up and let them ride along with you to the gathering spot. We used to meet on hilltops with cases of beer and try to shoot skip.
These days I dug my old radios out of the garage, threw up an antenna and got nothing. Just one dead channel after another. It was so dead I first thought the problem was me, so I pulled down my old ground plane antenna and threw up a new PT-99. Still nothing. Wow, maybe my old Cobra 138 is toast, so I bought a new Galaxy 959 and hooked it up. Still nothing but static. And the occasional DX noise. But that's about it. Too bad, because at one time CB radio was a whole lot of fun. I mean a lot of fun!
But those days are gone. So I guess that means I can stop wearing my ALERT badge now -
