CB Radio Explained. Freeband? Expo Kits? Uppers and Lowers?
As part of a new series that will get into some of the more advanced parts of CB radio, Today we will cover the once popular “freeband” experience and talk about the hows and whys this once took place.
We used to listen to the truckers on the CB on trips to PA with my dad as a kid, I always wondered if they still used that! Great video!
Back in the 80s I had a modified cobra148 gtl. I still have the radio but lost my chart.
Thanks for the video, Tel 26CT486 🙂
First time using CB ever, I recently purchased one new Cobra hh35 and one pre owned GE 5980A. Do I need to tune the stock antenna? Because I have not! And I can receive just fine but when I transmit no one responds. I tested both radios and both receive and transmit together. I did one radio check and one guy said it sounds like I am talking with a coat hanger. Are those people talking ignoring me?
Here in the greater Toronto area, CB is completely dead. Lower Sideband ch38 had bit of traffic in the past but has died off. Recently started getting 8 S-units of static on my base to further kill the Hobby.
I’m a licensed ham but will never get rid of my CB. Before I got my ham ticket I bought a Uniden PC 122 XL with upper and lower SSB. I had a tech in Buffalo, N. Y. add extra channels uppers and lowers to it and he peaked it up. with a power mic SSB does 30 watts and I talked all over the world on it.
Thank You
Very good informative video.. did you already have the CB giveaway yet???
Before the internet finding information on "funny" or extra channels was very tough and expensive. A lot of shade tree/truck stop tech’s made their living altering radios and they did not want you knowing how they did it. Old timers didn’t want new CBers on their quiet funny channels so they wouldn’t talk about the subject. Export radios were kept under the counter and out of sight at radio stores. Not to mention the very high price. There was even a popular series of technical books called Secret CB that shared the arcane ways of altering for more channels and higher output power. The internet changed all of that. There are dozens of How To web sites all about CB radios. Right when we don’t need to alter your radio…
Is that a Uniden 980 that is scanning the channels? If so, how do you like it? Thinking of getting one considering how dead the channels are, it would be nice to be able to scan.
Did the same thing back in the 90’s. If I remember right, channels above 40 were mostly for ssb and below channel 1 was mostly am. Quite a few of us operated on 27.400 in between channel 39 and 40 on lsb. Still technically illegal but it wasn’t out of band and we figured no one would get caught.
I know some that stayed "in between" when driving long trips, when it was a few trucks on the same load, back in the day.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!
how to i tune a 102 inch steel whip bought it on amazon i have a swr meter i previously had a fire stick with a adjustable tip any help would be appreciated
If I were to buy a 10 meter radio (if/when they become available on CE again) and have it modified to also run on 11 meter cb frequencies, would it have access to these freeband channels? I have been considering going this route to have CB that I can talk on but also be able to listen to the 10 meter frequencies. I plan on getting an amateur license once the covid restrictions are gone and he local ham clubs start meeting again. Also I want to have access to be able to listen in on as many frequencies as possible for in case a catastrophic event were to happen so that I can gather info and decide whether I am safe to stay put or if I need to bug out and also what routes are blocked between my current location and wherever my bug out location may be.
Here in SE Massachusetts and the region local cb talk is very close to stone cold dead. Skipland is 98.5 % of what I hear. My drives to and from NE North Carolina just might get 4 or 5 truckers briefly chatting, thats it.
I see trucks with antenna’s but the ratio of antenna’s to traffic is skewed greatly.
Have truckers by and large moved to freeband or elsewhere?
Which frequencies should I scan to hear truckers?
Cb is doing good Michigan.
PEOPLE STILL USE THE UPPER FREQUENCIES TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE UNITED KINGDOM AND BELOW CHANNEL 1 FOR GERMANY, AUSTRIA AND SO FORTH 27.5550 USB/LSB IS STILL POPULAR WORLD WIDE
What are the best ham radio taking a class to get my amateur liscence
Mine has 12 Bands of channels
I have a Cobra 142 base with 4 extra switch’s on the back. Never really messed with them though.
I have a Uniden PC 122 XL with upper and lowers added. Peaked up
Great explanation. I am really digging this channel.
I recall taking a early to mid 80’s Cobra 148 Gtl before the I.C. was revamped tapping off the 8+ pins that weren’t used and making that radio slide all over and in between 10 and 11 meters, the frequency availability was damn near endless.
One of the dumbest things that the FCC has ever done was to allocate a non licensed Citizen bandwidth in between 10 and 12 meter Ham bands, and to top it off, CB radios have non variable "Channels" that are locked on specific frequencies which in turn raised the curiosity factor with the CB operator to start "Modifying" their radios which in the eye of the FCC was illegal even though those people doing the modification were only accessing the frequencies by sliding a few kilohertz in between two locked channels that was still within the "Allocated 11m CB Bandwidth", does any of that make any sense besides the fact that I can’t explain what iam trying to say???…lol
Thanks for sharing your story!
Kind Regards, Eric Dee
Glad you’re still putting out cb content. You’re videos have really helped me sort out my dads old gear I inherited over the past year or so.
Nice to see your farm has 14k. Good work man
Great video ! The RCI is very easy to convert . Most of the older radios can take first set of lowers ./ uppers with a crystal swap . But many people that did these conversions had a stack of radios beside their bench / table because of the " Golden Screwdriver " effect . Plain & Simple if you have no idea what you are doing let someone with verifiable / reputable experience do the work or buy one that has already been done .
I really do enjoy yor videos! thank you for continuing sharing the knowledge that you have on the subject.
Hey Erik, this brings back memories! I was a member of a cb club in the late 70s called the United Sidebanders… formed in Stockton California. We all used to catch up “upstairs” band was crazy here in Australia then… and at one point we had 18 legal channels only…. we got the USA standard 40 in the late 70s I think. Take care mate cheers Anthony
I used CB a lot in the early 90’s and got back into it, mostly because of your channel, again about 2 years ago. I’ve tried emailing you several times with no response, so I’ll ask here. I’m looking for a used SSB CB and you’ve mentioned several times that you sell CBs online. Where can I see what you have for sale?
The sunspot cycle has really killed the mood for a lot of folks , and I do miss the days in the mid 90’s when they were 20 different local groups on various channels. For some it was a fad, to others who really enjoy it, like Joe Dirt says,,, "Keep On Keepin On" . Share what you know , learn from others who know more, and encourage the locals you know to get back on the air and form a local net . Good video Erik , have a good week and look forward to the next video .
I just returned a NEW defective CB to Effingham Radio on Ebay(AKA- CB RADIOSUPPLY.COM) Guy is a thief…wont return all of my money saying the mods are not refundable..
Very Interesting!
I missed dirty diaper 21 Saturday night again is he near you
What is a lescomm kit?
MCBRGA=Make CB Radio Great Again.
https://youtu.be/hBuQTz8HCtk
My uncle had a Uniden President Washington CB Base. It was modified with the free band channels. It stopped working I guess something inside burned out it would come on but would not transmit or receive. He gave the radio to me and I remember him saying it could be fixed but he just didn’t have the money. I kelp it for awhile never got it fixed I remember a switch or 2 on the back that was added. He told me if I got it fixed to be careful on the out of band channels and not get caught.
Thumbs up again
Treebeard up here deep in the forest of Ontario Canada. Got my CB coming in and when winter finally lets up( getting slammed again today} I will proceed with Antenna build. With that being said I got turned onto SDR radio. Have you seen this? If not I recommend checking it out. The cool factor is up there.
Still got three radios with uppers and lowers oh for the good old days that was good information for people that didn’t understand it
Hey Eric, really been enjoying your content. I noticed in this video you have an RCI-2950 gen 1 or 2. IMO THAT was what did away with “the switches”. I had that radio in 1991ish and that drove my local shop that had been around since the mid 70’s out of business and into the early days of online sales in 1998. When all that was involved was, move jumper 1 to slot 3 to expand the frequency range was all that was needed then the repair shops were on their way out. Btw, great rig and still keep it in-line. Sadly, trying to use it for 10m ham, as I am licensed is a nightmare because the majority of those radios seem to be 2kc’s off.
I recently ran across you channel and I have been enjoying your videos on cb radios. I’ve wanted to play with radios for years and my radio bug has been sparked again and I will be picking up a cobra 29 later this week. Years ago when I was a young teen I had taken a ham radio class but never passed the test, I think I’m going to go for it again and I hope to get into the radio community here soon. Thanks for the info in your videos its helpful. I’m still looking into figuring out options for a home base antenna.
It is more difficult to bring new people into CB, just as it is difficult to bring them into ham radio, due to the plethora of other distractions and communication opportunities. in some ways this is a positive as it keeps some of the less desirable off air. However, it does not help to see equipment being sold for multiple hundreds of dollars, even older low quality items, as this puts people off getting involved.
If we want to bring people back into CB we need to stop asking ridiculous prices for the equipment and start showing a positive of CB radio and CBers – ham radio operators do a good job of this so maybe CB operators should follow the example.
Have 2 Midlands (77-285) that are 40 channel radios with upper and lower. Never really had anybody on them as sideband was more popular.
27.555 Usb still gets use at times.
Just returning to CB. Is there much traffic on freeband radio anymore?
Wow! What Memories! Back in the late 70s I had an SBE mobile rig with side band and I got the plans for expanding it. I ordered the switches and other parts and when I was finished you could not tell it from stock because it had an ABCD switch or something. I never could figure out where I was!
Hi Erik – Greetings from the UK! Love your videos on CB radio – keep up the great work! Rob
Too easy now days to just buy an export radio thats had 11 meters (CB) opened up in it to worry about having to add channel kits to one.
Sir Eric, of Far poit Farms, Ambassador of CB Radio for the USA…. Thank you. My wife (Chipmunk/Michigan77) has been waitin on this video for months and I have also since I bought a cobra 38wxst on 03 Feb 2018
….. Sine then I bought that "Cobra 148F GTL DX +" and she is Already Understanding much better what free branding is… thanking about getting her a superstar for her mobile set up… that will be HUUUUGGGGGEEE, to the Midland 75-822 she runs now.! ID Say you should be proud of yourself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You and a select group of people on YouTube have the the ball rolling for people WANTING to be on radio Again!
GOD BLEES YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!!!!! Alien♤Cowboy/Michigan22 Waving Hi from The Middle of The Mitten, USA!!!!