Walkie Talkies can be very useful

[Mark_K5LXP]

I think you have too many letters there: The pattern I remember was 3 letters and 4 numbers.

My brother's license in the 70's was 4x4. I think once the smokey and the bandit movie came out they ran out of the 3x4's. I know a lot of hams came into the hobby via CB but when I listened to my brother's radio it was a sea of heterodynes, echo mic's and cursing at that point. Ham radio was tranquil and polite by comparison.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[CharlesinGA]

Since this has degenerated into a ham and CB fest, I'll throw in a pic of my dad in front of his ham equipment in the early 1930's. The table in the pic is sitting right next to me now, it was hand made from a walnut tree, and he refinished it in the mid 1980's for me to use as a computer/printer table.

 

[Larry N.]

but when I listened to my brother's radio it was a sea of heterodynes, echo mic's and cursing at that point. Ham radio was tranquil and polite by comparison.

Yep, after the truckers took it over. I'd not paid attention to it much after that, so I wasn't aware they'd changed to four letters before dropping the requirement. Thanks.

 

[Alan_Hepburn]

My brother's license in the 70's was 4x4.

I got my CB license in the mid-70s and it's a 3X4 (KFG2616).

 

[Tulecreeper]

My brother's license in the 70's was 4x4. I think once the smokey and the bandit movie came out they ran out of the 3x4's. I know a lot of hams came into the hobby via CB but when I listened to my brother's radio it was a sea of heterodynes, echo mic's and cursing at that point. Ham radio was tranquil and polite by comparison.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

My license in the mid-70's was also 3x4. I don't remember what it was.

 

[Ray-IN]

Yep, after the truckers took it over. I'd not paid attention to it much after that, so I wasn't aware they'd changed to four letters before dropping the requirement. Thanks.

Truckers didn't take over CB, actually the road channel 10 was taken over by-I use the term lightly, CBers. This resulted in truckers moving to channel 19, but alas it too was taken over by CBers.
Today most truckers use cell phones to communicate with others. This is the most current CB channels used: 5 Common CB Channel For Truckers~Effective channels in 2023 - The CB Radio
Canada truckers have their own channels that are different from U.S.A. usage.
When I'm traveling with other rigs, we switch to CH 22 for general chatting, and occasionally switch to 19 to monitor traffic conditions ahead when we notice heavier congestion or slower speeds. Many times monitoring road conditions has saved me from being caught in a traffic jam and informed me of how to bypass a road blockage.

 

[John From Detroit]

While I have nothing against CBers save that the FCC said "To **** with it" and stopped issuing licenses just let the service take care of itself (They do still enforce a few things like power limits)

Here is a story from last week's AT&T mess up.

Poor guy had AT&T Phone/Internet bundle and AT&T's "Let's try it and see" software testing method took em' both out so no way to call.. NOTE These new I phones won't go Sat mode if they are connected to a tower.. EVEN if the tower is not working right. (They think they have cell service)

Well there was a medical emergency... Thankfully he was a ham radio operator and that still worked since it did not rely on phone service.. someone other than an AT&T customer took the request. Made the 9-1-1 call and ambulance arrived promptly.

CB would have done as well in it's hayday but I'm not as sure today. (NOTE not as sure means just that since I don't have a CB in the car I don't know how much activity there is.)