C.B. Radio

[controlu]

I remember back in the day, '70's?, when the CB Radio was all the fad. Crusin' down the highway listining to truckers and others jabbering away. Hey, it passed the time and was interesting...sometimes. I got to thinking about that and thought maybe I'd put a CB unit on my goldwing. It's wired for it but never installed. So, I started poking around for the Honda parts and OMG!! That stuff is expensive!! The unit, the wiring, the antenna and who knows what else, it would be over $1,000. It then occured to me, "does anyone even use cb anymore?"

Does anyone here use it? Is there any chatter any more?

 

[Jake70]

I remember back in the day, '70's?, when the CB Radio was all the fad. Crusin' down the highway listining to truckers and others jabbering away. Hey, it passed the time and was interesting...sometimes. I got to thinking about that and thought maybe I'd put a CB unit on my goldwing. It's wired for it but never installed. So, I started poking around for the Honda parts and OMG!! That stuff is expensive!! The unit, the wiring, the antenna and who knows what else, it would be over $1,000. It then occured to me, "does anyone even use cb anymore?"

Does anyone here use it? Is there any chatter any more?

I used to up until too many undisciplined potty mouths and just plain idiots ruined it for me. Used to drive LPG tankers in the lower half of the US back in the 70's and I loved CB back then but not anymore.

 

[Sully]

When we ride in a group we use CB's. You could get a Handheld for less than $100.00 and use a Ram Mount. The radio already has a battery for power and an antenna. Your good to go.

 

[paws]

I remember back in the day, '70's?, when the CB Radio was all the fad. Crusin' down the highway listining to truckers and others jabbering away. Hey, it passed the time and was interesting...sometimes. I got to thinking about that and thought maybe I'd put a CB unit on my goldwing. It's wired for it but never installed. So, I started poking around for the Honda parts and OMG!! That stuff is expensive!! The unit, the wiring, the antenna and who knows what else, it would be over $1,000. It then occured to me, "does anyone even use cb anymore?"

Does anyone here use it? Is there any chatter any more?

I used it all the time on my bikes and Gold Wing trike.. mainly to talk with other riders in my group and we had a BLAST with them. But as you say many people have gotten away from them making it difficult to communicate within the group if needed.... like “hey captain...you missed that turn”.

I have just recently sold my Gold Wing trike with the OEM CB and will miss them greatly. All my helmets still have the cb headsets still installed... they were old anyway so ordered a new helmet.

I will be communicating via blue tooth with my new Spyder. Haven’t decided which gadget to purchase yet.

 

[cScjhb]

There are so few people using CBs today that it is, again, a good way for group communication. During the winters I ride with some friends using our CBs as our main communication means. Ten or more years ago we would get a lot of leather lung CB outlaws interfering with us by having over-powered transmitters. That is almost non-existent today.

When I had a CB-less Spyder I communicated using Sena/bluetooth. That was very superior in quality to CB. The down side is the Sena communicators all had to be paired with each other. So if you didn't invest in that technology, you didn't get to participate except the others talked about you. The CB technology for motorcycles is dying. I'm not aware of any new bikes (including Goldwings) that have it available. Good luck with whatever you decide..... Jim

 

[Phu Cat]

My last four EG's all had CBs from the factory. Turned em on to make sure they worked, then never used em again.

But, I installed a CB in our motorhome and everything was contained in the (slightly larger than normal) mic. Worked like a champ and was reasonable. But that was 15 years ago.

PC

 

[BKtrike]

There are so few people using CBs today that it is, again, a good way for group communication. During the winters I ride with some friends using our CBs as our main communication means. Ten or more years ago we would get a lot of leather lung CB outlaws interfering with us by having over-powered transmitters. That is almost non-existent today.

When I had a CB-less Spyder I communicated using Sena/bluetooth. That was very superior in quality to CB. The down side is the Sena communicators all had to be paired with each other. So if you didn't invest in that technology, you didn't get to participate except the others talked about you. The CB technology for motorcycles is dying. I'm not aware of any new bikes (including Goldwings) that have it available. Good luck with whatever you decide..... Jim

I think CB’s are a thing of the past. Those small FMRS radios work well, are handheld and have the range needed for riders. Cardo and Sean both make good communication units. My 2 cents. Be Safe BK

 

[Marc H]

I use mine for group rides.I think bluetooth is still evolving and right now is too much aggravation for a reasonable replacement. I have messed with the handhelds and never quite got them like I wanted.

I finally built a harness to use one through my sena and I think that will work fine if I ever group ride on my nomad.I picked up the factory cb setup for my old 1500 for $100.

 

[Pegasus1300]

I have CB radio on my 2012 Spyder. I used a Uniden handheld on a Ram mount, I had to buy an SR10 from motorcycledave.com This would allow me to send and receive and bluetooth to my helmet (20s evo). It works but does not have much range. I am going to add a real antenna to try and increase the range. If I had it to do all over again, I would bite the bullet and get the BRP CB unit made for my Spyder. After 2019 they are not offered. I would now buy the CB unit from J & M .

 

[rhino 2]

I stopped using CB's soon after they went from 23 channels to 40....Yep it was that long ago......I had a 100 W Kicker..[Linear].......

 

[controlu]

Thank you for the replies.

I see that the biggest reason is for inter-group discussion. I used to ride with a group for about ten years but I got too old for them I guess. I'm 78 now and they just quit notifying of rides. It's either that or my don't-give-a-shi##er has developed beyond their their ability to handle it. So, I ride pretty much alone now and thought the CB might bring in some chatter. Guess not, at least not for the price.

 

[Jake70]

I see that the biggest reason is for inter-group discussion. I used to ride with a group for about ten years but I got too old for them I guess. I'm 78 now and they just quit notifying of rides. It's either that or my don't-give-a-shi##er has developed beyond their their ability to handle it. So, I ride pretty much alone now and thought the CB might bring in some chatter. Guess not, at least not for the price.

I had a similar experience and suspect the same thing about the group. My age.

 

[Ne farmer]

You guys ever get close to me I will ride with you. I learned you can learn alot from people who are more experienced .

 

[Jake70]

..... I learned you can learn alot from people who are more experienced .

I too learned that as well. When I first got out of the Army way back when I earned my living shooting pool for big bucks and made a good living doing it. I made it a point when I was in the learning phase to only challenge the shooters that I knew were better, much better indeed than I was. It was costly. But I learned that if you shoot anyone you can beat then you'll learn nothing from them as they have nothing to show you. I figured out early on to play mainly those that you knew you couldn't beat because they were already doing what you wanted to do, to learn from those much better than you on how it it was done. That's what I called a costly education.

That part of the learning curve was expensive sure but in the long run it paid off in high dividends. It took me to Vegas for championship tournaments and while it it was tiresome work sometimes it was something I enjoyed very much and and I turned out to be very good at. But I had to learn from the best and followed up with lots of practice.

 

[rhino 2]

I too learned that as well. When I first got out of the Army way back when I earned my living shooting pool for big bucks and made a good living doing it. I made it a point when I was in the learning phase to only challenge the shooters that I knew were better, much better indeed than I was. It was costly. But I learned that if you shoot anyone you can beat then you'll learn nothing from them as they have nothing to show you. I figured out early on to play mainly those that you knew you couldn't beat because they were already doing what you wanted to do, to learn from those much better than you on how it it was done. That's what I called a costly education.

That part of the learning curve was expensive sure but in the long run it paid off in high dividends. It took me to Vegas for championship tournaments and while it it was tiresome work sometimes it was something I enjoyed very much and and I turned out to be very good at. But I had to learn from the best and followed up with lots of practice.

Competition improves both man and product..........

 

[Jake70]

Competition improves both man and product..........

Indeed it does and the right attitude.