Unlicensed use: CB

  Ah, yes, the two letters that evoke fear and loathing from all hams: CB.

To many older hams, the world is divided between hams and "CBers". Even people that have no idea how a two-way radio works or that an antenna has a resonant frequency are lumped into the CBer camp. Because everyone wants to get on the radio, in these fools' minds.

CB radio is largely dead. There is something of a resurgence in rural areas, which I'll talk about, but that's an anomaly. It slowly died into the 80's, as newer vehicles didn't accommodate radios into their interior designs, and as fewer interesting people were to be found on the air. A sort of redneck air hung about the thing. Then, in the 90's, people began to be able to afford to cell phones. This was the death knell, as CB's major appeal was that motorists could reach other people in case of emergency, or just to let other people reach them. Those big antennae on people's homes became an eyesore; not a sign of being "in touch". Truckers started moving to cell phones, too, somewhat.

But the final nail in the coffin of CB was the immense increase in digital noise.

It was carried on the power lines into your home. New industrial sources sprang up quickly and ubiquitously. It was everywhere, except the rural areas, and it was loud and ugly. Your squelch couldn't deal with it any more. Nobody was going to listen to that for any length of time in order to get the putative "benefit" of CB radio.

You see, CB works on AM. I'm not going to get into the technical aspects of modulation here. Just turn on your AM radio. You'll hear a lot of noise. Now switch to FM. You'll hear none. Single -sideband (SSB) is a variant of AM, and the noise is somewhat reduced when using SSB CB, but it has a curious habit of making people sound like Donald Duck unless it is tuned in perfectly. That kind of constant knob-twiddling doesn't lend itself to mobile use. SSB radios are more expensive, and the people that used SSB were kind of "radio snobs" that don't waste their time on idle talk. And so the die was cast.

It had nothing to do with licensing. It was all very practical. People no longer wanted to drill holes in their car for a big, ugly antenna. There was no place to put the radio in the car even if they wanted to. And it just sat there, spewing out noise and idiocy, for the entire time it was on. Your cell phone didn't do that.

Ham radio had a big heydey in the 80's, as repeaters installed autopatches that let you make local phone calls from your vehicle over the radio. It wasn't private, but who cared? UHF repeaters were set up to take the load off the VHF repeaters. UHF had the appeal of smaller antennae, too, allowing people to set up unobtrusive home rigs as well as allowing vehicles to go without big whips. There were repeaters everywhere, allowing hams to reach much further than CB could ever hope to under the best conditions. Ham radio was booming as CB was dying a whimpering death.

And then cell phones became affordable. Now, ham radio uses FM - at least the local, repeater-based aspects of ham radio - and noise didn't impact it. You can have your VHF or UHF radio on in your car, and nobody would even know it was on until there was "traffic". In the 90's, as licensing restrictions eased - no Morse code requirement - it was too little, too late, though. Those autopatches weren't attractive, as you could now have private conversations on your cell phone, and non-hams could reach you in your car.

The interesting people dropped out, or maintained their licences without actually using them. What was left were sour, deadly-serious men with a quasi-military bent. Not a good thing for something that supposed to be a fun hobby. It was all about "emergencies", and patrolling the airwaves to keep out "the wrong sort". The relaxation of the licensing requirements brought out huge resentment among hams, and it was vented on each other in an endless one-upmanship as to who was the most "pure". Ham radio needed to be defended constantly, as there were always CBers lurking about - in the imaginations of these bozos, of course.

It became a "siege mentality" that still runs strongly today. People must be kept out, and those that use the ham radio frequencies are suspect until proven otherwise. Now that cheap Chinese radios are readily available, those fears are even stronger. Basically, until nobody is on the air - except for emergencies, mind you - ham radio will not be "safe" and hams can't afford idle chit-chat to distract them from their glorious mission to keep things "pure".

Meanwhile, CB remains an unlicensed alternative. GMRS was essentially destroyed by the introduction of FRS and by outrageous licensing fees. CB remains what it always was, at least in theory. Anybody can still get a CB radio and talk to anyone 8 to 10 miles away, without the use of repeaters and without getting a license. How pleasant that will be using AM, and the sort of person that you can talk to, is a different matter.

In the rural areas, however, there is beginning to be a resurgence of CB. Cheap used radios can be had for less than a new BaoFeng. There is much less interference and digital noise in the rural areas. Big antennae can be erected without creating hostility or legal entanglements with local governments. There are no surly geezers acting as guardians of the airwaves, and there is no criticism of violating petty protocols. Cell phone coverage may be spotty to begin with, and you can (in theory) reach a large number at once with your CB radio. It's not about how far you can reach, it's about the quality of the communication and the freedom that is afforded you. The "evil government" isn't listening to CB, especially out in the "sticks".

On another front, there has been the rise of "export radios" for over a decade. These are basically ham radios made for foreign countries, and they illegal for use here. They are bought and sold on a black market basis. They have higher power output, they have a wider frequency range (into the ham radio 10 meter band), and they have FM capability. Of those three characteristics, it is the higher power output that makes them desired, not the ability to talk on ham radio frequencies. FM would be a consideration, but nobody has FM CB radios for these people to talk to. And the higher power is generally sought out because of the need to overcome the noise. Since anyone can buy a 10 meter radio over the internet as easily as they can buy anything else, I've always wondered why so many hams see these "export radios" as a threat. I guess it just comes down to the shrill "It's illegal!!!" mindset permeating ham radio. It's odd to me that so many conservative hams, who oppose "the evil government" on so many levels, have placed themselves as advocates of the harshest possible control over the airwaves. How does someone, using a slightly higher-powered radio on frequencies designated for virtually anyone to use, create a problem? These aren't people competing with you in your silly contests, after all. Sure, someone using an illegal linear amplifier can create interference that goes outside of the CB frequencies, but that isn't the case here. It's a radio designed to handle transmission of a few extra watts.

So, the hams say that if these people want to use these kinds of radios - or CB at all, really - they should just get their amateur radio licenses. At which point, these same people would make these new arrivals feel unwelcome, because they haven't paid some mysterious and metaphorical "dues". And they should concentrate on "serious" stuff, like emergencies. After a decade or so - which is like a week to these geezers - they will become 'accepted' as potential competitors for stupid contests.

But, back on point: if you want to use CB in an urban area, you will be disappointed. There's nobody to talk to (or worth talking to), there's a lot of noise, and your range is limited to something similar to a ham hand-held (HT) with the included "rubber duck" antenna. Obviously, you have no access to repeaters, either.

If you live in (or spend a lot of time travelling through) a rural area, you might be surprised to find some CB activity. I wouldn't count on it, but it could happen.

If you want to get an illegal "export radio" and use FM, you are down to a "talking with your buddy" situation, because nobody else is going to be using FM.

It would seem to me to make a lot of sense for the FCC to turn CB into an FM service, or maybe designate a few channels for FM use. AM is really not practical in the modern RF environment, except possibly on VHF frequencies and higher. But, as fewer and fewer even have an interest in two-way radio these days, that seems unlikely. The obvious response would be for those people to use GMRS or get a ham radio licence. And, manufacturers would probably not be keen to make new radios for such a small market. Still, 5 watts on FM at those frequencies would be fairly comfortable. It's not significantly different from 10 meter FM - which requires a General Class ham licence, by the way. - except for the lack of repeaters. Obviously, hams would see this as the terrible situation of "getting something for nothing". It's a tiresome attitude that completely fails to reflect the realities of the post-cellphone age.

As with the other unlicensed services, if you aren't creating a problem the government will not hassle you. Operating without a licence is not "creating a problem". There's no reason for you to go on ham radio frequencies. There's nothing for you there. Nobody from the FCC is going to be aware that you are using ten watts instead of five, as long as you stay on the CB frequencies and don't splatter all over with your amp. That doesn't make it legal, of course.