Survival Communications – The C.B. Radio
Filed under
Emergency Communication, Urban Posted by:
Rob Richardson
C.B Radios are once again gaining popularity among truck drivers, RVers and some survivalists. A properly tuned CB has a range of around 10-20 miles, but if illegally tweaked can transmit hundreds of miles.
While my choice of radios always falls towards a mulit-band ham radio, I do have the C.B. frequencies programmed into my radio so I can scan the local area during an emergency.
Citizen’ Band radio (better known as CB radio) is a short-distance radio communications that takes up 40 radio channels from 26.965 to 27.405 MHz.
CB FREQUENCY / CHANNEL INFORMATION
| CB Channel | Frequency | Frequency Use |
| Channel 1 | 26.965 MHz | |
| Channel 2 | 26.975 MHz | |
| Channel 3 | 26.985 MHz | |
| Channel 4 | 27.005 MHz | Used by many 4X4 clubs |
| Channel 5 | 27.015 MHz | |
| Channel 6 | 27.025 MHz | many operators using illegal high-power amplifiers |
| Channel 7 | 27.035 MHz | |
| Channel 8 | 27.055 MHz | |
| Channel 9 | 27.065 MHz | Channel 9 is the universal C.B. emergency channel |
| Channel 10 | 27.075 MHz | |
| Channel 11 | 27.085 MHz | |
| Channel 12 | 27.105 MHz | |
| Channel 13 | 27.115 MHz | Often used in some areas for marine use & recreational vehicles. |
| Channel 14 | 27.125 MHz | Frequency for many walkie-talkies |
| Channel 15 | 27.135 MHz | |
| Channel 16 | 27.155 MHz | Used by many 4X4 clubs |
| Channel 17 | 27.165 MHz | Used by truckers on the east-west roads in California |
| Channel 18 | 27.175 MHz | |
| Channel 19 | 27.185 MHz | unofficial Trucker channel |
| Channel 20 | 27.205 MHz | |
| Channel 21 | 27.215 MHz | Used by truckers for North-South routes in some areas of the country |
| Channel 22 | 27.225 MHz | |
| Channel 23 | 27.255 MHz | |
| Channel 24 | 27.235 MHz | |
| Channel 25 | 27.245 MHz | |
| Channel 26 | 27.265 MHz | |
| Channel 27 | 27.275 MHz | |
| Channel 28 | 27.285 MHz | |
| Channel 29 | 27.295 MHz | |
| Channel 30 | 27.305 MHz | 30 and up are often used for SSB operation |
| Channel 31 | 27.315 MHz | |
| Channel 32 | 27.325 MHz | |
| Channel 33 | 27.335 MHz | |
| Channel 34 | 27.345 MHz | |
| Channel 35 | 27.355 MHz | |
| Channel 36 | 27.365 MHz | |
| Channel 37 | 27.375 MHz | |
| Channel 38 | 27.385 MHz | unofficial SSB calling channel, LSB mode |
| Channel 39 | 27.395 MHz | |
| Channel 40 | 27.405 MHz |
CB Resources & Radios
- Cobra 29 WX NW ST 40-Channel Nightwatch CB Radio with SWR Calibration and 7 Weather Channels
- If you want to take it to the next step… Ham Radio for Dummies
Subscribe to our News Feed
CBs have become quite popular again. We use standard VHF while fishing though that is dying more and more as people now use cellphones to communicate, which often work pretty far offshore. Though it’s required to have by the coast guard in the charter industry, and always a good backup!
If one were to want to get their C.B. radio illegall tweaked
how would they go abou doing that?
They would go about doing that illegally, however it’s only illegal if you get caught;)
CB Radio is ok for a few miles. Then you HAVE to lean on a Ham Radio Operator to get any kind of distant communications… Tweaking a CB won’t help as well as a decent antenna. DR-DIPOLE.COM makes a great survival antenna for the Ham Radios and for CB. Spend your money on a GREAT Antenna, not 20 or 30 more watts that won’t get you an extra couple of miles… Good luck.
Go to any decent size Truckstop ,Many have a CB shop, Take your radio in and tell the guy what You want to do. Any good radio tech can do the work, works best with the better quality radios,if Your in an area with several truckstops there may be several shops in the area, get on the radio and ask the Drivers who does the best work, if You listen to channel 19 You can hear the difference between the stock radios and the ones that work real good
All fine and dandy IF you have electricity! Slar panels, car batteries, converters… make your own. Enough to run that radio. Search for it on youtube for a lot of DYI ideas for alt energy sources.
do you need a licence for a cb radio?
You may consider applying the survival triangle or triad concept to the situation of “comms” or communications. 1/3 of your comms would be spread out this way. a)Ham radio “long range”, b)CB or SSB for mid-range and c) GMR’s for short range. Just a thought friends.
Can you also transmit the CB frequencies on your ham radio and eliminating your CB radio?
“Tweaking” a CB radio is illegal if it allows the unit to transmit with more power and/or transmit outside of the defined channels.
Unless it’s a life, limb, or property emergency, transmitting outside of licensed ham bands is illegal when using ham equipment.
Also, avoid expecting GMRS (or FRS) radios to be able to attain their advertised distances unless you and the other person are on mountain tops. Average range for a “bubble pack” radio is probably 1 mile in the city, possibly 2 miles in a suburb barring any significant obstructions (hills, tree, buildings, etc). If you add an external antenna to the device (licensed GMRS only), you can extend that a bit further. Also, Motorola 355R (I think) can access repeaters and thereby extend their range significantly (like tens of miles). We ham radio operators use repeaters quite often to talk distances in the VHF/UHF ham bands. You can also purchase old commericial hand helds and mobil units that can be reprogrammed to operate in the GMRS bands and also use external antennas.
Well I do know this about RADIOS’s
using a modified CB (Citizen Band radio) is agenst the law
trasmitting on CB with a HAM radio is agenst the law (it is Evan on the test for HAM)
fmrs/gmrs I forget witch one is the licenced one but most who have them dont have a lenience for them.
The other thing is in a emergency ALL RADIO COMMUNICATION is leagal (Property and life)
FYI KF7KIP (Ham operator)
FYI adding a linear amplifer to a CB dramatically increases the radio range… but yes it is illegal…
items can be purchased at radio shack… or ham radio dealers
also check ebay and amazon
Better than CB radio is HAM radio. its the same thing but on a wider scale
Go to tenfourstore.com…. CB radios for way less then the cost of “radioshack….the dudes that work there are so young they dont even know what CB is …lol… i go to tenfourstore.com for all my CB needs … as in being prepared for the possible end of the world …LOL..i guess !!
Im gona get mah radio strong so i can get drunk and broadcast my stupidity to as many people as i can. This is mah neat toy. Who cares if it interferes with folks using other technologies like da internet. Da goverment cant tell me what to day out ta get meh. Go Wallmart!
Hey Bimjillyboob…stick to your hillbilly inbreeding partys and leave the surviving to those of us that matter
Two-way radios are good and depending on your needs will determine which type to get.
Citizen Band (CB) radios are legally limited to 4 watts output power.
The newer General Mobil Radio Service / Family Radio Service (GMRS/FRS) radios need to have a license for the 5-watt GMRS channels; technically the FRS channels have a lower power output limited to 500 milliwatts (half a watt) even on the same GMRS radio so if you only use the FRS channels, you do not need a license; but they are included in the same GMRS radio… so to ‘legally’ communicate on all of the channels you will still need a license from the FCC, currently costing $80 for five-years, no test.
Even the HAM hand held radios are mostly 5-watt power output, but they get to go further by going through local repeaters with increased power. Also, with the license, the HAM operator can legally increase the output of their hand held radio based on the frequency range the operate within.
The HAM radios in cars and home base stations will typically have the higher output and longer range on their own.
Since the FCC no longer requires the Morse Code for the HAM license, if you are technically savvy in electronics, there are practice tests and study services you can find online, so it might be worth your efforts to study and get your HAM license, if only to be the ‘communications expert’ in your extended family.
QRT
In my area, Chanel 15 @ 27.135 MHz is where mud ducks like to hang out ( people trying to make the most of running legal power ). If You are frustrated about not being heard without running a linear, this is the channel to listen to. Perhaps you could add a “legal power” comment to channel 15 on your list of channels, it would be nice if we could spread the word through out the country that there is a place where 4 watts can be heard. thanks, David aka KG2LI