CB Radio

Those of you who are in your forties or older remember the CB, or Citizen Band, radio craze well.  This band, 11 meters, was designated by the Federal Communications Commission in 1958 as a place for private individuals to have access to radio communications.

Ham, or amateur, radio had been around forever; it was the beginning of radio communications.  CB required a license but it did not require proficiency testing like ham did.  I got involved in CB radio in the late 1960's and wound up with this license.

The licensing requirement was dropped sometime in the early 1970's and CB became so popular that it was a factory option for several years by the auto makers.  Truck drivers had been among the earliest users of these radios and they became the standard way of communicating between drivers.

CB became a place where profanity and filth prevailed.  I think this is what killed it with the average person.  I haven't owned or listened to CB in several years; I don't know whether it is still that way today or not.  I do know that there are an awful lot of former CBers who are hams now.