CB Radios

Some truckers use ham. Just need to know what frequency they are on. CB has 40 channels. Ham has, depending on your license level, equipment, antennas, hundreds...

As for weather reports. Ham has dedicated channel for 24/7 government weather reports that are localized. Usually just push a button on the radio to get there.

Bear in mind CB is stupid easy. Ham for a novice is more complicated to setup.

 

Just have to wonder how many Hams there are out there vs. CB's. Can't argue that its very cool to talk to someone many miles (States) away, but that ain't much help when you need something.
Just my opinion, but I'll take practical and common over cool.

 

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A friend just got his ham license and loves it ... something to think about ... do they still require morse code for a basic license ?

 

Morse code is no longer required. I've had my license for a couple of years and even back when I took my test I didn't have to mess with morse code.

 

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...^^^... Cool ... I might go for it then ... I don't want to have to do so many words of code ... which license is best to start ... 2 meter, ?? meter or what? ..... Thanks

 

Still a lot of CBs, while we convert the HAMs. If you are talking about actually getting help from someone not on your trail, then a lot more HAMs within reach.

So I have HAM on my rig, so does everyone I roll with. Three weeks ago I blew up my 3rd member 35 miles into a forest trail with 2 feet of snow and a storm a few days away. No cell service. No one within shot of my CB. But my buddy was in constant communication with two people in Quincy, CA via a repeater on his HAM. So if things got bad and I couldn't limp out, we had people that knew where we were and what the problem was. Worst case I could have had someone bring a new third to wheel out.

Another story. At slickrock in CA, we had a camp on one end. A group went to run the trail, at the end of the trail one of them broke a driveshaft. One of the members of the group had a $34 baofeng handheld with a Nagoya antenna upgrade. I was able to talk to him clearly from over 2 miles away with HAM with one being on a 8 watt handheld. Try that with CB.

So my CB was useless, but being able to talk to people many miles with only 8-50 watts of transmit was pretty cool. And this is why my CB is getting removed. In Norcal it is mostly still old crusty Jeepers that swear my CB now anyway.

But your area may be different. You don't want to be the only one with HAM when someone camping earshot away is using CB.

 

Tech is all you need, and 2 meter will do everyone fine on the trail. You can go nuts from there, but for trail coms the basic is better than good enough.

 

I think I agree with you, I just read through the License study guide and well, it might as well be written in greek.

 

Most of us Ham operators have CB as well.. I like Ham because I know there are half a dozen radio club members listening to the local repeater at any time during the day.. CB is fun entertainment but it depends on who is driving by at the moment.

 

Just start at the first level and get your Technician license. That will get you access to 2 meter & 70cm frequencies.

 

Thanks guys for the info ... I used to build electronic kits as a kid ... this seems like fun and a good fit.

 

Been a ham for almost 10 years. I have both in my Tacoma. With that said 99.9% of everyone here who wants just trail comms should just stick with CB.

Ham is generally a pretty nerdy hobby and the ratio of cb vs ham operators on the trails is so one sided.

 

X2

Most people have a CB in their rig, even if they also have a HAM license.

As a third option, there is GMRS license. Pay a fee, no test. [Link to FCC]The license also covers, not only you, but every member of your family. Not immediate family, your entire family. I currently use a boefang dual band hand held unit. It covers both GMRS/FRS and MURS (No license required for MURS). Put a nice antenna on the vehicle and you can get a few miles down the road with crystal clear clarity. (Just FYI, Walmart uses MURS frequencies for employee radios.)

I make sure I stay on the pre-programmed frequencies (used a program called Chirp to program the radio), so I don't interfere with actual HAM operators.

Whatever you decide, invest your money in the antenna, not the radio. You will get more bang for the buck. A $300 CB and a $40 CB are both limited to 5 watts (yes you can "peak & tweak" but that isn't exactly legal, though you won't get into trouble for doing it). Some have some cooler bells and whistles, but in the end, it's the antenna that will make the most difference.

 

can a GMRS radio communicate on the 40 standard cb channels?

 

No.

GMRS, FRS, MURS are all on the UHF (Ultra high frequency) band. CB is in the HF (high frequency) band.

Just get yourself a CB and you'll be able to talk to about 99% of offroaders when trail riding and the other probably don't have a radio installed at all.

 

Very true. People who go off-road, they almost always install a CB, even if they are licensed for more. No license required. Low cost of equipment. Easy to install. Good reliability.

 

Hell. If I'm stuck someplace and the only guy I can reach is a hundred miles away... at least someone can call 911 for me if I need it. CB's have such a short range chances are you won't raise anyone unless you're on a highway and truckers are passing by.

To make HAM work though you need to plan in advance. Find the local repeators, tune them in, and hope you don't need them.

 

Forest service trucks used to have CB's in them, but mostly run on MURS using commercial radios these days. A local club I was in when I lived in Colorado had all of there frequencies and privacy codes for emergencies. The designated "group leader" had a hand held for emergencies. They don't like to give out that info to keep people from interfering with them, but this group had a way to get it, and they wouldn't give out the the info, but it was nice knowing there was at least one person in the group that could make an emergency call.

 

Here in Western Canada the resource industry uses their own road channels.
With a HAM at least you can listen and hear trucks calling km markers and get off the road before you meet..