Summary of this article: We discuss a bevy of interesting nuggets of citizens band radio history discovered during research or just things that have been taking up space in the noggin. Enjoy this trip down CB memory lane.

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In all the different articles we present here on citizens band radio, little nuggets of CB history and its past surface while doing research or writing articles. Sometimes we find something we’ve never run into before while other times it might be something we have completely forgotten about over the years.

Learn a little about the history of CB radio with some nuggets served up right here with NatCom, America’s Hobby Radio Magazine. | AI image created for National Communications Magazine

In an effort to corral some of these factoids, we’ve assembled a collection of historical gems to share. If you’ve been a CBer for many years, see how many of these facts you recall.

• $20 license: In the 1970s, a CB license (Class C for radio control or Class D for voice) originally cost $8 and covered your entire family or business. The Federal Communications Commission briefly jacked up the fee to $20 and dropped it to $4 in 1975 before making licenses free to encourage compliance during the massive mid-1970s CB boom. Processing millions of applications ended up burying the FCC in paper work, leading them to drop individual licensing altogether. Today, CB is “licensed by rule,” which means no actual license or call sign is required, although you still have to follow FCC Part 95, the rules governing CB.

• Class E: In 1973, the FCC proposed creating a “Class E” Citizens Radio Service on the 220 MHz band. It would have carved out frequencies from amateur radio, much like Class D was taken from the ham 11-meter band back in 1958. Heavy opposition from the American Radio Relay League and active hams killed the idea in 1977. Spectrum demands eventually were met decades later with the creation of the Family Radio Service on UHF and the Multi-User Radio Service on VHF.

  

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• Coast Guard on Channel 9: When CB usage exploded during the 1970s fuel shortages, plenty of boaters added CB rigs on their vessels. That prompted the U.S. Coast Guard to set up Motorola base stations at search-and-rescue stations to monitor Channel 9 for distress calls from mariners without VHF marine gear on board. The Coast Guard continued to monitor CB Channel 9 into the late 1980s before officially urging boaters to strictly use VHF Channel 16 (156.800 MHz) for assistance.

• Hidden channels: The original CB band had just 23 channels, but observant operators noticed a big frequency gap between Channels 22 and 23. Some modified or custom rigs allowed operation on these gaps — commonly called Channels “22A” and “22B” — which actually were allocated for business radio users. When the FCC expanded the service to 40 channels in 1977, those hidden frequencies officially became Channels 24 and 25.

• Not always emergencies: In the early days of CB, Channel 9 was designated as the primary “calling” channel. You monitored 9 to get a hold of another station and then moved to another channel to talk. As traffic grew, it shifted into a combined calling-and-emergency frequency before the FCC finally restricted it strictly to emergency calls and traveler assistance.

  

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• Canada’s CB: Canada established its CB equivalent — the General Radio Service, or GRS — in 1962, four years after the U.S. CB launch. Early on, Channels 1 through 3 were reserved for ham radio in Canada, while Channel 23 was tied up by paging services. Canadian authorities eventually aligned their rules with the United States, opening all 23 channels and then going to 40 channels shortly after the FCC made the change in 1977.

• Overseas highways: While truckers and highway travelers in North America stick mostly to Channel 19 (and Channel 17 on some north-south routes), other countries developed different habits. Australia settled on Channel 8 for its 27-MHz service, Russia uses Channel 15 AM and FM and Greece settled on Channel 13.

  

  Australia offers a UHF CB service that operates at 477 MHz. Here’s a GME TX3100 UHF CB radio used there. GME is now starting to sell GMRS UHF radios in the United States. | Photo from National Communications Magazine archives

• Australia’s UHF CB: Besides the standard 27-MHz channels, Australian operators also have access to a UHF CB service on 477 MHz. Unlike U.S. CB, Australia allows the use of repeaters on UHF CB to stretch mobile and handheld range. The service was later expanded from 40 to 80 channels by switching to 12.5-kHz narrowband spacing. It sounds a little like the General Mobile Radio Service, does it not?

• Radio control: The former Class C Citizens Radio Service (now called the Radio Control Radio Service) operates on tight interstitial frequencies tucked right between standard voice channels on 27 MHz. Before 75-MHz and modern 2.4-GHz digital gear took over, these 27 MHz slots were used by R/C airplanes, cars, boats and even some early garage door openers.

• Inter-station vs intra-station: Prior to 1975, FCC rules strictly governed who you could talk to depending on the channel. Channels 9 through 15 and 23 were set aside for “inter-station” calls for talking to other licensed operators). Channels 1 through 8 and 16 through 22 were strictly reserved for “intra-station” calls, or conversations between radios operating under the exact same family or business CB license.

• Measuring watts: Early CB power limits were specified as “5 watts DC input to the final amplifier stage,” a rule left over from vacuum tube days. As solid-state rigs took over in the 1970s, measuring DC input power became impractical. The FCC changed the rule to measure actual RF output at the rear connector: 4 watts on AM and 12 watts peak envelope power (PEP) for single sideband.

  

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• Co-phased: Truckers often run dual “co-phased” antennas on their mirror mounts to shape their signal — beaming it down the highway while cutting down on side signals. But basic physics says co-phased antennas need to be separated by at least a quarter wavelength (about 8.5 feet on 11 meters) to create a true directional pattern. On narrower pickup trucks or cars, dual antennas are mostly decorative and act like a single antenna. In other words, don’t waste your money!

• Kiddie-talkies: Most cheap 100-milliwatt (a tenth of a watt) walkie-talkies made for kids in the 1960s and 1970s came with crystals for Channel 11 or 14. Because they used simple, cheap receiver circuits, they weren’t selective at all and picked up almost every active CB channel in the area at the same time.

• GM radios: During the height of the 1970s CB craze, General Motors offered factory-installed CB options on Pontiacs and other models. These GM-branded E.F. Johnson Messenger units featured a receiver box hidden under the dash or trunk with a telephone-style handset mounted next to the console. GM even offered a matching base station to use in your house.

• 1977 cutoff: When the FCC expanded the band from 23 to 40 channels on Jan. 1, 1977, they put stricter rules in place to reduce harmonic interference. To clear out older gear that didn’t meet the new specs, the FCC banned dealers and manufacturers from selling new 23-channel radios after Dec. 31, 1977. However, existing 23-channel rigs remained completely legal to own and operate.

Write in

How many of these points of CB history do you remember? Even if you haven’t been involved with citizens band for a long time, have you heard any of this information before? Do you have some CB history to share with our readers? We want to hear from our readers. Send your comments via email to editor@NatComMag.com or use old-school snail mail by sending to: Chuck Gysi, N2DUP, Editor, National Communications Magazine, PO Box 1, Aledo IL 61231-0001 USA.

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— BTECH: Check out the latest in radios and accessories for the Family Radio Service | FRS, General Mobile Radio Service | GMRS, Multi-Use Radio Service | MURS, amateur radio and Part 90 for business and public safety use on BaofengTech’s BTECH website. If you are looking for a USA-based seller of FRS, GMRS, MURS, ham and Part 90 radios, check out BTECH’s website.

— BUYTWOWAYRADIOS.com: A wide variety of radios are available with this new vendor. Check out GMRS and MURS handhelds and mobiles, amateur and Part 90 radios and FRS and CB radios. BuyTwoWayRadios also offers antennas and many other accessories. Check our vendor page at the link above or go right to BuyTwoWayRadios.com and check out all the radios they sell.

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Summary of this article: The owner of a large regional linked GMRS repeater system has spoken out to its members about a notice of violation issued by the Federal Communications Commission. We discuss what the owner sees as options for the network at present and how he plans to address the FCC citation.

A linked repeater system operating in the Southeast that is the subject of legal action by the Federal Communications Commission has announced its plans in dealing with a notice of violation issued this month.

The owner of a large linked GMRS repeater network has messaged its members to discuss a notice of violation issued by the FCC. | AI image created for National Communications Magazine

A letter emailed this week to members of the North Georgia GMRS Network states that the organization has come up with a plan to address the FCC’s violation notice and has a timeline to shut down links. Read below for details on NCGMRS’ plans and how they plan to respond to the FCC’s notice.

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Summary of this article: The Federal Communications Commission has taken action against a regional GMRS linked repeater network, stating that the system violates FCC rules. The action seems to be the first against internet-linked systems that tie together repeaters in a region or nationwide.

A Georgia-based General Mobile Radio Service linked repeater system has been issued a notice of violation by the Federal Communications Commission and has 20 days to respond to the agency’s allegations.

The FCC has issued a notice of violation to a GMRS licensee for operating a linked repeater system. Details in our article below. | AI image created for National Communications Magazine

This action is the first taken against linked GMRS repeaters remaining on the air. The action is likely to have repercussions across the GMRS community, especially those that still have linked systems online. Read below to learn about the FCC’s new action and what the agency is seeking in its action.

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Summary of this article: We’ve been hearing from our readers — a lot lately! Here is a collection of letters to the editor we have received recently on various topics, especially articles from the past week on the history of monitoring and the use of FM CB. Join along as we let our readers tell their own stories about hobby radio.

Several of our recent articles have generated comments from our readers both in our email inbox as well as still coming in hot and heavy on our Facebook page.

Our readers have submitted many comments about recent articles. This is a compilation of some of those opinions. | AI image created for National Communications Magazine

Our article the other day discussing the in-roads that FM CB is making in its first five years since being approved for use in the United States as well as another article this week about the history of monitoring VHF and UHF and other recent scanning stories has sent our readers to their keyboards to tell us their thoughts. We really appreciate it, too, and we’re here to share.

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Summary of this article: It’s been almost five years since FM was approved for use on citizens band in the United States. Are CBers embracing FM CB? Are manufacturers making new FM CB radios? In this editorial, America’s Hobby Radio Magazine takes a look at how far we’ve come with FM CB.

Editor’s note: This is a free article. We provide at least one free…

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Summary of this article: If you’ve been in the scanner hobby for a long time, you might have started with a tunable receiver, migrated to crystal scanners, moved on to programmable scanners and now are using computers to program your scanners. Follow along below as the editor discusses where we’ve been and all the changes over the past 70 years.

The past seven decades has given me a front seat to an amazing ride in the scanner hobby. As I look back, it’s incredible to think about how far we’ve come — from tunable VHF receivers to plugging in individual quartz crystals, and finally arriving at today’s computer-programmable radios. Today’s modern scanners give us real-time intelligence and insight into local radio traffic that monitorists of decades past could only dream about. Come along below as we look back at where the hobby began and where it is today.

This is the VHF low band version of a tunable Hallicrafters receiver. It tuned 30-50 MHz with the dial. The VHF high band version tuned 152-173 MHz. It’s a tube receiver and drifted in frequency. As a child, the Hallicrafters S-94 Civic Patrol tunable VHF receiver allowed us to lock in on one frequency we wanted to monitor in our home. This is one way you could monitor VHF frequencies in the days before scanners. | National Communications Magazine archive photo

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Summary of this article: Two proposals before the Federal Communications Commission seek approval for transmitting data in the amateur and General Mobile Radio Service bands. Is there a potential for interference? We examine the issue in this article and tell you how to let the FCC know your opinion.

In two separate proposals brought to the Federal Communications Commission in June, amateur radio and General Mobile Radio Service frequencies are targeted for data communications.

Two proposals being considered by the FCC may result in interference to GMRS and amateur radio operators. Our article examines both plans and tells you how to let the FCC know your opinion. | AI image created for National Communications Magazine

In both requests, manufacturers have requested the use of the frequencies to send data signals that could cause possible interference because both would be in use on mobile devices, not at fixed locations. We take a look at both the plans and the potential for interference below.

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Summary of this article: Our nation’s 250th birthday celebration this year will play out in almost every town across the land. Your scanner will bring you in on the action if you prepare to monitor events in your community this week. America’s Hobby Radio Magazine tells you what to listen to and how you can be ready to hear all the behind-the-scenes act…

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Summary of this article: Several CB radio manufacturers in the 1970s produced rigs that looked like the stylish bulky VHF and UHF mobile telephones of the era — long before cellular phones took hold. Take a look back at a baker’s dozen citizens band radios that looked more like you could make a phone call from your car or desk than call home base over 27 megahertz.

Citizens band radio has produced some pretty cool looking radios over the years. CB’s heyday in the 1970s had radio manufacturers’ designers going nuts trying to outdo each other in an attempt to carve into the increasing market share every time “Convoy” played on radio stations across the land.

This E.F. Johnson Messenger 130A is the granddaddy of all CB radios designed to look like old mobile phones in the 1970s era. Imagine driving down the highway chatting on CB with a telephone handset to the side of your head! This was for real! Who knew if you really had a car phone or not?

No design was ever replicated more by CB manufacturers than that of the rig that looked like a car phone of the 1960s and 1970s. Back then, mobile phones had bulky control heads with rotary dials and switches that mounted underneath the dashboard with a big boxy transceiver in the vehicle’s trunk. Manufacturers decided everyone needed a car phone that actually was a CB radio. You won’t believe how many of these fake car-phone CB radios were sold. We’ve rounded up as many as we could so let’s take a trip down the turnpike and revisit these CB phones.

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Summary of this article: What’s the best license-free radio service? America’s Hobby Radio Magazine takes a dynamic look at CB radio, the Family Radio Service and the Multi-Use Radio Service in an attempt to determine the best option for personal and business communications. We also throw out an additional option that many may not consider, but might be worth checking out.

It’s not uncommon to see social media posts from radio hobbyists trying to figure out the best radio service to use without getting a radio license. The top candidates are citizens band at 27 MHz; the Multi-User Radio Service, or MURS, at 151 and 154 MHz; and the Family Radio Service, or FRS, at 462 and 467 MHz.

If you want to use license-free radios in the United States and its territories, there are just a handful of options for you to consider. We take a look at each one and offer the facts, range variables, radios available, antenna considerations and some tips for each radio service. Read below for all the details. | AI image created for National Communications Magazine

These three radio services range from HF to VHF to UHF, so each is distinct in its own offerings and characteristics, but the bottom line is that you are not required to obtain a license from the Federal Communications Commission in order to use these frequencies. For those trying to decide what band to use for their own purposes, we’ll take a look at each, but also throw out yet another band you can use without obtaining a license and you probably haven’t even thought about using. You might be surprised!

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Summary of this article: Canada’s time standard station on shortwave apparently is being shut down within the month, according to a brief notice on the Canadian government’s website. We detail the history of the station and tell you how to get a QSL card hopefully before it’s too late.

It’s hard to believe another shortwave station appears to be going silent. An official notice buried on a Canadian government website casts the obituary for CHU.

As a new shortwave listener in the early 1970s, this is the second QSL card received in the mail, shortly after a similar first QSL for U.S. time station WWV. The prized CHU QSL card verified a 1972 logging on 7.335 MHz on the author’s $40 Ross multiband receiver. | Photo from National Communications Magazine archives

The wording is short and to the point. The station that has been on the air since the previous millennium carrying official time signals across North America and the world is shutting down. Read below as we detail the closure, tell you how to get a QSL card before they go off the air and learn a little about the history of this station we all have tuned in.

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Summary of this article: This article discusses this weekend’s Hamvention, a large gathering of more than 30,000 radio hobbyists held annually in Ohio. We tell you about exhibitors of interest and provide booth numbers and brief descriptions of their offerings.

Editor’s note: This is a free article. We provide at least one free article each month for our…

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Do your walkie-talkies go the distance?

The range of Family Radio Service and General Mobile Radio Service handheld radios depends on several factors, including transmit power, antenna quality and environmental conditions. Things like buildings, rough terrain and signal interference make real-world coverage fall drastically short of the 30-plus-mile claims seen on packaging.

Here is Poclink’s POC-1 Ultra radio. If cell service goes down, your group can remain connected off-grid with a built-in FRS radio – if they are within a few block radius. Learn more about Poclink’s radios and network here.

Is there a better option? Would you believe there are handheld two-way radios that can reach across town or across the world? Yes, they can reach hundreds or thousands of miles. Read below as we tell you about these amazing radios and how they are used.

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Summary of this article: While the number of commercial AM and FM stations on the air continues to decline, according to new FCC data, there also has been an increase in low-power and educational FM stations coming online.

Editor’s note: This is a free article. We provide at least one free article each month for our “free” subscribers in the hope that yo…

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Summary of this article: As the weather starts to warm up, get ready for some long-haul VHF low-band skip or taking your scanner along to listen in on spring and summer activities. We talk about where to listen.

The sounds of summer are about to officially start hitting the airwaves on your scanner.

Use the VHF low band search function on many scanners to look for public safety skip signals throughout the summer. | Photo from National Communications Magazine photo archives

While cooler months often find us glued to our scanners for winter storm closures, treacherous road conditions or unfortunate house fires caused by space heaters, the warmer months bring a completely different energy to the hobby. When the sun stays out longer and the atmosphere starts to cook, the action on the radio heats up right along with it.

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Summary of this article: A Pennsylvania amateur radio operator and GMRS licensee has been cited by the Federal Communications Commission with using an import radio that caused interference to public safety communications in his city.

The Federal Communications Commission mailed a certified letter today to a Pennsylvania amateur radio operator, asking him to explain actions related to an interference complaint the agency investigated last year.

FCC agents tracked down a signal interfering with public safety communications to this Pennsylvania home where an amateur radio and GMRS licensee lives. The antennas on the porch roof apparently are a part of his station, as seen in October 2024. | Photo from Google Street View

The FCC said it was contacted by a public safety agency last summer regarding interference to one of its UHF 9-1-1 emergency channels. We have the details of the investigation and the complaint below.

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Summary of this article: Here are five things about citizens band radio that some CBers might not know, based on comments we saw on our recent social media posts. How many of these rules do you know? NatCom Editor Chuck Gysi and CB columnist Roger Dumont Jr. team up to present information to assist CBers on the air.

We recently reported on an enforcement action released by the Federal Communications Commission against a citizens band radio operator in Illinois. The FCC sent the CBer a letter asking him to explain to them his alleged broadcasting activity on Channel 19.

Mobile FCC agents had tracked his signal to where he lives and listened to him during an alleged broadcast last year. How he answers — or whether or not he answers — the notice mailed to him will determine what action the FCC may or may not take against him.

How many of these CB FCC rules do you know? Many CBers may not know all these five rules, based on comments we received on recent social media posts. | AI image created for National Communications Magazine

The story generated thousands of comments on our social media channels. What we learned more than not was how many CBers don’t understand many of the most important rules regulating the use of the 27-MHz band. So with that, we present five things that you may not know about the FCC’s CB radio rules, regardless of whether or not you agree with them.

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Summary of this article: An Illinois CBer has been cited by the FCC for broadcasting on CB Channel 19, causing interference for other operators.

An Illinois citizens band radio operator has been issued a notice of unlicensed operation by the Federal Communications Commission, claiming his broadcasts on Channel 19 are causing interference to other CBers.

This shows the garage-mounted antennas and tower used by a CB operator in the Chicago area who has been cited by the FCC for causing interference by broadcasting last summer. | Image from Google Street View

This isn’t the first time this CBer has drawn attention. He also was cited by the FCC eight years ago with unlicensed operation on amateur radio frequencies and he also faced sex charges more than two decades ago when he reportedly used CB radio to lure a 13-year-old girl he was talking with to meet him and then allegedly assaulted her. Details of his past problems and the problems he caused for Chicago area CBers are below.

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There have been hundreds of comments posted on our social media channels regarding our articles on encryption, broadcast pirates and a plan to create a new segment on VHF low band for General Mobile Radio Service licensees.

O…

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