Cb Radios

While most of us tend to think that CB radios originated in the 70s, they actually have a much longer history and go back to the end of the Second World War. In 1945 the FCC created a radio band that was specifically reserved for public use. At this time the frequency used was the 460-470 MHz range of the UHF band. This band was all inclusive for communications radios for families, businesses and the fledgling radio control model industry. In the beginning there were Class A and Class B CB radios available with the class B limited to a smaller frequency range. These original CB radios were on average too large and too expensive for them to become popular with the general public and in 1958 a class D CB frequency was assigned, operating at 27 MHz. This is the same frequency we now use and think of as the CB radio frequency.

The equipment for this frequency was for the most part significantly much smaller and less expensive, finally bringing it into the realm of affordability for the average consumer. Initially there were 23 channels assigned for use with CB radios, 22 of which were originally a part of the 11 meter amateur radio band and the last one was shared with radio controlled models. In the early days these radios were popular with service and delivery related businesses to allow those employees on the road to stay in touch with their home base. As equipment got better and cost less more of the general public started to use them to stay in touch. It took the oil embargo of 1973 to bring CB radios to the forefront as people began to use them to let each other know which stations did or did not have gas.

When the US government imposed a 55 mph speed limit across the nation, the CB radio really came into its own. With the newly lowered speed limit the CB was the perfect medium for notifying others as to where the speed traps were set up. In 1977 due to massive loads of traffic that were jamming the airwave the number of channels was increased to 40 and licensing requirements were withdrawn allowing anyone to own and use a CB radio. Although CB radios were intended to be used for short range communications, this was not good enough for those who used them heavily, especially the over the road trucking industry. While limited by law to 4 watts of output power, many ingenious ways were created to allow for much higher output power ratings often in the hundreds of watts. At the time this was considered highly illegal and many radios were confiscated and fines levied despite people's best efforts to get around the laws. Today companies like Radio Active Radios have found legal ways to get the power you need of the same CB radios that still only generate 4 watts of output power out of the box. With these new modifications you will be able to communicate over much longer distances while staying within the laws of the land.