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Old 03-14-2020, 09:07 PM
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Does anyone still use CB radio? Does anyone still use CB radio? Does anyone still use CB radio? Does anyone still use CB radio? Does anyone still use CB radio?  
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Default Does anyone still use CB radio?

Was going through some old junk today and found my old Midland 23 channel CB radio, forgot I had it. I bought it sometime in the mid-70s at the height of the "Breaker Breaker" craze, and had it in my Ford LTD for awhile (right next to my 8-track tape player). I didn't have much use for it and finally removed it after a few years. No idea if it works and don't care to find out.

Do truckers (or anyone else) still use them?

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Old 03-14-2020, 10:01 PM
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My dad had a Realistic CB radio that he bought in the late 70s. The truck I drive, his old truck, is wired up for for it. The bracket and the antenna are still there and everything is plug and go. I might look for it tomorrow.
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Old 03-14-2020, 10:01 PM
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I have one in my 4-wheeling Jeep. They are useful for communication on the trails
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Old 03-14-2020, 10:05 PM
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years ago before cell phones were common gun show guys used walkie talkies to stay in touch with their tables while shopping the show. Have not seen that in a long while.
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Old 03-14-2020, 10:07 PM
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My last CB radio was stolen out of my 63 Plymouth Valiant in the parking lot of JC Penney in 1973.

Since then I have graduated to HF/VHF/UHF.
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Old 03-14-2020, 10:17 PM
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I hardly ever use my CB too many foul mouthed idiots . The only time used is when I come up on a traffic jam , see someone I know and sometimes at customers shipping/receiving. Back in the 70's CB craze my dad hooked up a mobile radio/converter and antenna on the roof . Our house sit highest point Memphis could talk and receive for miles. I was the Peanut Butter Kid plus call letters you had to be registered, I would talk to truckers and locals people were lot more friendly back then

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Old 03-14-2020, 10:36 PM
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They're still in use

We use the CB on Run For The Wall (RFTW) for our comms, 500+ motorcycles spread out over a few miles going coast to coast. Pack leadership has a channel, participants are welcome to monitor (no speaky). Road Guards ('traffic control') monitor it & we have our own alt channel. We also talk with the truckers on 19, though more 18 wheelers are moving to 2 meter. We use GMR at the stops when we're away from our bikes.

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Old 03-14-2020, 11:03 PM
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We use them to communicate in the mines and when on the road going to a jobsite we tell the other drivers to call on the cell phone.
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Old 03-14-2020, 11:12 PM
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Mine is in the basement someplace.
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Old 03-14-2020, 11:38 PM
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Hunting buddies and I use walkie-talkies when hunting the mountains and the Cumberland Plateau here in Tennessee...lots of areas where there is no cell service.

Don
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Old 03-15-2020, 12:39 AM
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I have one in the RV, Cobra to talk with friends on a group trip. I normally stay off the trucker channels.
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Old 03-15-2020, 12:45 AM
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Occasionally! Primarily just to monitor traffic conditions, when towing our 5th wheel, in bad or snowy weather. I like to now about the traffic problems, before I’m part of the problem! memtb
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Old 03-15-2020, 06:17 AM
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In cleaning out the barn a couple years ago I found my dads old CB base station and my old Marine radio. I was going to pitch them both but then I thought "You know, if we ever get isolated because of a fabricated crisis I may need these to communicate."
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Old 03-15-2020, 06:35 AM
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I got my CB radio back in the middle 1960's. in the box was the form you had to send in to the FCC to get your "official" call sign. I sent it in but I don't recall anybody ever using it.

I suspect the truckers still use CB radios as they can't possibly know the cell numbers of every trucker that they want to talk when they pass them on the road
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Old 03-15-2020, 07:36 AM
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I have a 5 watt walkie talkie. I use when I go trout fishing in northern NH,you need one so you can tell when the logging trucks are going in and out of the logging roads.
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Old 03-15-2020, 10:03 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jbtrucker View Post
I hardly ever use my CB too many foul mouthed idiots.
That was one reason I removed my CB. With the wife and kids in the car, I didn't dare turn it on.
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Old 03-15-2020, 10:04 AM
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When my wife was still alive, we had one in the tow vehicle. It came in handy for traffic reports. Sometimes really important when you have a 21 foot truck pulling a 38 foot trailer.
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Old 03-15-2020, 10:24 AM
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I still have a 23 channel in my MCI bus conversion RV. It can be
handy to monitor traffic conditions etc. Can't remember what I
paid for the radio, bought it on sale at Montgomery Wards store
when they were introducing the 40 channel models.
Use to talk the skip at times.
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Old 03-15-2020, 10:25 AM
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My dad and my friends dad were both truckers.

My friends dad had a CB base station at home with a 1000 watt amp hooked up to it. His handle was the Kilowatt Kid.

It didn't last too long, before the FCC got him thou.
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Old 03-15-2020, 10:36 AM
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Quote:
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My dad and my friends dad were both truckers. My friends dad had a CB base station at home with a 1000 watt amp hooked up to it. His handle was the Kilowatt Kid.
It didn't last too long, before the FCC got him though.
I understood that back in the day, many truckers also had high output CB signal amplifiers in their trucks.
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Old 03-15-2020, 11:04 AM
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I stopped using my CB when I got my amateur radio license two meters has so much range with repeaters. N6DOA


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Old 03-15-2020, 11:14 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sistema1927 View Post
My last CB radio was stolen out of my 63 Plymouth Valiant in the parking lot of JC Penney in 1973.

Since then I have graduated to HF/VHF/UHF.
CQ CQ CQ DE W2JGA
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Old 03-15-2020, 11:33 AM
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CQ CQ CQ DX, Houston Tx.

I recently got back in to the Cb's when we were convoying four vehicles to far west tx and no cell phone coverage. Really worked well and not much radio traffic like the early days. With the addition of side band abilities, just adding to the radio's capabilities. No license required. Even went with a home fired unit dc/ac unit and a 40' external antenna and picked up truckers 6 miles away and this is in a fairly busy obstructed residential area. Maybe just a passing hobby or maybe not.
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Old 03-15-2020, 11:47 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Salty RI View Post
I have a 5 watt walkie talkie. I use when I go trout fishing in northern NH,you need one so you can tell when the logging trucks are going in and out of the logging roads.
The logging trucks here in the Hills still use CBs for communicating with each other on the logging roads and FS roads as many of these have tight blind corners and Hills and a single lane oŕ pair of ruts in soft ground.
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Old 03-15-2020, 11:54 AM
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Used to be a CB hobbyist when it was all the rage.
Still have one in my 30 y.o. Jeep Cherokee, but can't recall the last time I used it.
Also, that Jeep and my everyday driver F250 have a Marine VHF mounted inside. I live on an island, many friends fish inshore/offshore and I can sometimes keep up with them via that.
Also keep a marine VHF with an 8' antenna rigged as a base out in my shop building - same reasons.
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Old 03-15-2020, 01:17 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wood714 View Post
My dad and my friends dad were both truckers.

My friends dad had a CB base station at home with a 1000 watt amp hooked up to it. His handle was the Kilowatt Kid.

It didn't last too long, before the FCC got him thou.
Back in the 60's I had a Johnson black face, you changed out the power tube and took out one of the resisters, I forgot how many watts it put out, I had a friend who worked for the phone comp, he put a pole in my back yard, I had a four element beam on top, it could really reach out.

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Old 03-15-2020, 01:46 PM
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Quote:: Back in the 60's I had a Johnson black face, you changed out the power tube and took out one of the resisters, I forgot how many watts it put out, I had a friend who worked for the phone comp, he put a pole in my back yard, I had a four element beam on top, it could really reach out.::Quote

Back in the early 60s there was very little CB radio traffic and you could talk quite a way

Good grief..I not only used 'em I sold 'em installed antennas (on houses) and could modify them. You could really get some power out of the old tube types pretty easily. I also had a 1000 watt linear I used at home...mostly late at night..very occasionally. Didn't need the FCC coming to see me. Could talk 1000s of miles. I still have a 100 watt and 250 watt mobile linear down in the vault. Have a new in the box PDL2 out in the garage. Those beam antennas worked pretty well. May put all that stuff on ebay or something some day. Been a long time since I used any of the radios...which I still have. I used marine radios when I worked on the water on the Chesapeake Bay...but went to cell phones when they became good enough to get away from all the radio traffic. I was taking fishing parties and needed to know I was talking to REAL help in case of an emergency on the water.. Still have the same cell phone number that I got back in the late 80s I guess
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Old 03-15-2020, 02:05 PM
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I installed one on my '84 Pontiac Firebird SE, right after I bought it new. The picture below was taken after I took the car out of years of sedentary storage in 2018.

I also put up a base station in my home which was located higher up on a hillside; erected the antenna on our rear chain link fence and operated out of my den. In El Paso, it was good to check road conditions when it was snowing hard in the winter.

Breaker 19, 10-4 on that! Ya been talkin' to the Cocked Hammer - see ya on the flipper.... big 10-7 here. Keep the shiny side up and the greasy side down, hear?

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Old 03-15-2020, 02:08 PM
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I've still got a hand held unit in my car. A "walkie-talkie" if you will. All self contained in one unit, plugs into the cigarette lighter. I almost never use it, but have plugged it in a time or two while on the road at night. Not much to listen to out there these days. Some truckers still use them, especially in "out of town" areas it seems.

I used to have them in every vehicle, my boat and in the house. I was a "sidebander" mostly. CVA1100 (Centra Virginia (sideband clud) member number 1100.) Pronounced phonetically of course. Charlie Victor Alpha 1100...clear and standing by.
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Old 03-15-2020, 02:45 PM
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Interesting timing on this thread appearing. Earlier this week I was cleaning in the basement and I rediscovered an old Realistic Navajo base station, 1970's vintage 23 channel...and a Cobra 40 channel vehicle CB from the early 1980's plus its original K40 antenna. I have both the units and they are in working condition, but I don't have the accessories like cables and mounts...nor the know-how to get them up and running again. Do they still sell accessories for CB's?
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Old 03-15-2020, 02:59 PM
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The 'Right Channel Radios, outfit are real good to work with.
CB Radios & CB Antennas - Cobra, Uniden, Wilson, K40 & Firestik

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Old 03-15-2020, 03:42 PM
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I had a girlfriend in high school whose father was a long distance truck driver an into CB radios, I always knew when he was in town, because she seldom wanted to stay out late out, but when he was on the road, her Mama was very understanding.
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Old 03-15-2020, 03:58 PM
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Back when I had a CB installed in my car, I remember I had some instrument for "tuning" the antenna. A little box with a meter on it, and I think it went into the antenna cable. But I don't remember how it worked. Neither it nor the antenna was with the radio when I found it, I probably gave or threw them away.
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Old 03-15-2020, 04:05 PM
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Quote:
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Back when I had a CB installed in my car, I remember I had some instrument for "tuning" the antenna. A little box with a meter on it, and I think it went into the antenna cable. But I don't remember how it worked. Neither it nor the antenna was with the radio when I found it, I probably gave or threw them away.
That was for triming the antenna, before that we used to trim the coax and use the meter on the radio.

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Old 03-15-2020, 04:07 PM
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It was called a match box.

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Old 03-15-2020, 04:14 PM
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Known as a SWR meter for antenna tuning.
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Old 03-15-2020, 04:49 PM
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Yup, SWR (Standing Wave Ratio) meter. Used to adjust the combined length of the antenna and cable for the best transmission/reception.
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Old 03-15-2020, 05:10 PM
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They still sell cb accessories and you can still get just about everything you need. A lot of the larger truck stops have cb shops on the premises and you can get them repaired, souped up, or whatever you need. I'll stick my old Cobra in my pickup when I'm traveling back and forth to NC just to keep myself entertained during the drive.
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Old 03-15-2020, 05:44 PM
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in our radio shop we had a Bird thru-line watt meter. you would put it in line between the radio and the antenna. you would set the arrow on the crystal towards the antenna and key the transmitter. then reverse the crystal and key the transmitter again and that would tell you the reflected power. if the reflected power was under a certain level the coax cables and antenna were good to go. if it was over a certain level you started replacing coax cables and the antenna until the reflected power was in the good range. replacing this stuff could be a lot of work. there was different crystals to cover different frequency and power ranges.
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Old 03-15-2020, 06:15 PM
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On my base I had a D104 mic with a amp.

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Old 03-16-2020, 08:32 AM
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I installed a Cobra CB in my '77 Trans Am way back when. Undoubtedly the most irritating and useless accessory I've ever had in a car...rivaled only by the "inclinometer" that came factory installed on early Toyota 4Runners.
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Old 03-16-2020, 09:01 AM
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I've had them since the 70's, still have a mobile Cobra with a Wilson antenna for my truck, but seldom switch it on except on road trips and if there's a traffic jam on the interstate. As others have said, it may come in handy in certain situations. I bought the first one, a Midland 23 channel after sitting in a mess on the interstate for three hours one day.
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Old 03-16-2020, 09:07 AM
Mike, SC Hunter Mike, SC Hunter is offline
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We still us the truck mounted and portable when hunting to keep in touch.
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Old 03-16-2020, 09:24 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BC38 View Post
Yup, SWR (Standing Wave Ratio) meter. Used to adjust the combined length of the antenna and cable for the best transmission/reception.
Also more importantly to minimize signal feedback into the radio. All transmitters feed a little signal back in the radio. Even your cell phone does this. Can be detrimental to the components if too high.

SWR and signal transmission can be a complex issue.
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Old 03-16-2020, 02:09 PM
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Boy does this thread take me back. I was KCR6795 The Mongoose. See if some of this sounds familiar.

I was going down the super slab and was in "the rocking chair". The rig in front was "shakin' the trees" and the one behind was "rakin' the leaves".

I got hungry so I decide to take 10/7 and pulled over at the next "bean store". After lunch I took off after I got a
'smokey report" and all was "clean and green".

Some guy came on and called for a "10/36, Come back. told him it was time to go buy a watch. Made the rest of the trip ok and checked out a few "seat covers"

This is KCR6795 The Mongoose, I'm out.
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Old 03-16-2020, 03:30 PM
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Had one early on as well.and now still have one and a 2 meter ham radio in my PU. Mostly use the Cb when up in the wild woods of Maine . Waited until I was almost 80 before going after my Ham licence and now hold a General license. Only did it so as to have some communications should the fit hit the Shan in some national calamity.
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Old 03-16-2020, 05:47 PM
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I had a cobra CB back in the early 70s. Had an antenna that clipped on the rain gutter of my truck and wife’s car. Moved the radio from vehicle to vehicle. Have no idea where it went.
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Old 03-16-2020, 05:48 PM
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Default The reason I never had one......

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Old 12-05-2020, 04:31 PM
MyDads38 MyDads38 is offline
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Glad I found this thread, as I have some questions concerning hand held walkie talkies. Would Like some hand held units for emergency use and have been looking at Midland units. Would I be better off with hand held CB's as opposed to FRS hand held units? Used a CB back in the 80's when traveling back & forth to work. Not interested in needing FCC license.
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Old 12-05-2020, 04:37 PM
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Quote:
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Glad I found this thread, as I have some questions concerning hand held walkie talkies. Would Like some hand held units for emergency use and have been looking at Midland units. Would I be better off with hand held CB's as opposed to FRS hand held units? Used a CB back in the 80's when traveling back & forth to work. Not interested in needing FCC license.
What emergency use application are you considering?
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