Worldwide Influence of the CB Craze of the 1970s
Dec 17, 2015 18:31:55 GMT -6
Mystic Wanderer, rickymouse, and 1 more like this
Post by Michigan Swamp Buck on Dec 17, 2015 18:31:55 GMT -6
Earlier today I decided to monitor the citizens band two-way radio and find out if the "skip" conditions were favorable. For those who don't know about CB skip, here is a quick explanation. Skip is radio waves traveling up and reflecting off the ionosphere and back down to earth at great distances. Skip, during average conditions, enables a CB operator in the U.S. to communicate all over the States as well as Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Skip conditions are primarily caused by sun spot activity and travel with the earth's rotation, appearing where the sun strikes the atmosphere. Skip can also occur at night when storms of cosmic rays from space excite the ionosphere. On rare occasions, early in the morning I can even hear CB transmissions from Spain and France.
Lately CB skip conditions have been pretty good and so I was monitoring CB channel 38 (27.385 MHZ) on the lower sideband. LSB Ch 38 is considered the national contact channel for CB sideband use. Single sideband on CB is transmitting an FM signal, as opposed to the traditional AM signal, and at a higher wattage of 12 watts vs the 4 watts of AM use. Sideband, with it's frequency modulation and higher wattage, works better than the normal AM CB for communicating during skip conditions.
So today, for the first time in the last two years since I've been monitoring the CB, I was clearly hearing transmissions from Great Britain. I've known for a while that CB was popular in the UK, but I really didn't know how popular it actually was. After hearing the British CBers, I decided to find out how many countries actually use the CB frequencies. Perhaps I could figure out which channels and times of day would be best for listening to other English speaking countries.
Well, after a little research I've come to the conclusion the CB "craze" of the 1970s has had a world wide impact, with Great Britain finally making our U.S. CBs legal for general license free use just last year. Although the Class D CB Service band in the U.S. started in 1958, it didn't become really popular until 1973 after the 55 MPH national speed limit came into effect. This is when truck driver's made CB use popular and country music began making songs about it. By 1976 popular songs like "Teddybear" by Red Sovine, "The White Knight" by Cledus Maggard, "C.B. Savage" by Rod Hart and especially "Convoy" by C.W. McCall and "East Bound and Down" by Jerry Reed, made CBs an American fad.
All the following quotes are from Wikipedia . . .
Here is a list of popular movies during the 70s and 80s that contributed to the CB craze.
1976 The Gumball Rally
1976 Cannonball
1977 Citizens Band
1977 Breaker! Breaker!
1977 Handle With Care
1977 Smokey and the Bandit
1978 Convoy
1980 Smokey and the Bandit II
1981 The Cannonball Run
1983 Smokey and the Bandit III
1984 Cannonball Run II
1977 saw a peak of CB movie classics and it seems that year was pivotal in many countries when adopting the use of U.S. CBs. Canada was one country that got on the CB band wagon in 1977.
It seems that Great Britain got hooked on CBs in 1978, apparently due to the CB cult film classic "Convoy". Here's a little history on CB use in the UK.
Here are the popular contact channels used in the UK.
In addition CB Channel 9 (the emergency calling channel) and Channel 19 (the truckers' channel) have been unofficially recognized for use within the U.K.
Australia was another English speaking country that caught CB fever by 1977 when, according to Wikipedia . . .
So it seems the U.S. got this CB craze started in the mid 70s and it is still having an effect throughout the world to this day. Explain that to the dedicated Ham radio operators and they will still come up with excuses why CBs suck. CB is still the king of two-way radio communications in my opinion and I think world history shows that.
Lately CB skip conditions have been pretty good and so I was monitoring CB channel 38 (27.385 MHZ) on the lower sideband. LSB Ch 38 is considered the national contact channel for CB sideband use. Single sideband on CB is transmitting an FM signal, as opposed to the traditional AM signal, and at a higher wattage of 12 watts vs the 4 watts of AM use. Sideband, with it's frequency modulation and higher wattage, works better than the normal AM CB for communicating during skip conditions.
So today, for the first time in the last two years since I've been monitoring the CB, I was clearly hearing transmissions from Great Britain. I've known for a while that CB was popular in the UK, but I really didn't know how popular it actually was. After hearing the British CBers, I decided to find out how many countries actually use the CB frequencies. Perhaps I could figure out which channels and times of day would be best for listening to other English speaking countries.
Well, after a little research I've come to the conclusion the CB "craze" of the 1970s has had a world wide impact, with Great Britain finally making our U.S. CBs legal for general license free use just last year. Although the Class D CB Service band in the U.S. started in 1958, it didn't become really popular until 1973 after the 55 MPH national speed limit came into effect. This is when truck driver's made CB use popular and country music began making songs about it. By 1976 popular songs like "Teddybear" by Red Sovine, "The White Knight" by Cledus Maggard, "C.B. Savage" by Rod Hart and especially "Convoy" by C.W. McCall and "East Bound and Down" by Jerry Reed, made CBs an American fad.
All the following quotes are from Wikipedia . . .
Convoy" is a 1975 novelty song performed by C. W. McCall (pseudonym of Bill Fries) that became a number-one song on both the country and pop charts in the U.S. Written by McCall and Chip Davis, the song spent six weeks at number one on the country charts and one week at number one on the pop charts. The song went to number one in Canada as well, hitting the top of the RPM Top Singles Chart on January 24, 1976. "Convoy" further peaked at number two in the UK. The song capitalized on the fad for citizens band (CB) radio. The song was the inspiration for the 1978 Sam Peckinpah film Convoy.
Here is a list of popular movies during the 70s and 80s that contributed to the CB craze.
1976 The Gumball Rally
1976 Cannonball
1977 Citizens Band
1977 Breaker! Breaker!
1977 Handle With Care
1977 Smokey and the Bandit
1978 Convoy
1980 Smokey and the Bandit II
1981 The Cannonball Run
1983 Smokey and the Bandit III
1984 Cannonball Run II
1977 saw a peak of CB movie classics and it seems that year was pivotal in many countries when adopting the use of U.S. CBs. Canada was one country that got on the CB band wagon in 1977.
In Canada, the General Radio Service uses the identical frequencies and modes as the United States citizens band, and no special provisions are required for either Canadians or Americans using CB gear while traveling across the border. The General Radio Service was authorized in 1962. Initially, CB channels 1 through 3 remained allocated to amateur radio and channel 23 was used by paging services. American CB licensees were initially required to apply for a temporary license to operate in Canada. In April 1977, the service was expanded to the same 40 channels as the American service.
It seems that Great Britain got hooked on CBs in 1978, apparently due to the CB cult film classic "Convoy". Here's a little history on CB use in the UK.
C.B. Radio was first introduced into the United Kingdom around 1972. Early use was known around the airports in the UK, particularly Stansted in 1973. As citizens band radio has been advertised in the U.S. since before 1962, it is possible that a number of these radios were brought into the U.K. and used illegally. In 1978, C.B. radio in Britain was much popularized by its use in the film Convoy and the usage of illegal C.B. radio peaked in 1980.
The UK channels that were legalized on 2 November 1981 were on two blocks of frequencies: 40 channels on the 27 MHZ band and 20 channels on the 934 MHZ band, both of which used FM (frequency modulation) and both unique to the UK . . . In 1987 40 additional frequencies were added, which were ironically the same as the U.S. allocation - but again using FM. This additional band is often referred to as the CEPT or EU band.
Following most other European countries, Ofcom proposed to adopt European Communication Committee Decision 031 in October 2013. This would permit the use of Single Sideband and AM operation on the CEPT CB radio band, and Ofcom proceeded with legislation to this effect on 27 June 2014.
After adopting the U.S. CB frequencies for unlicensed use, a cross forum - website vote took place and the following calling channels have been suggested:
AM - Calling Channel 14 (27.125Mhz)
SSB - Calling Channel 27 (27.275Mhz)
FM - Calling Channel 31 (27.315Mhz)
AM - Calling Channel 14 (27.125Mhz)
SSB - Calling Channel 27 (27.275Mhz)
FM - Calling Channel 31 (27.315Mhz)
In addition CB Channel 9 (the emergency calling channel) and Channel 19 (the truckers' channel) have been unofficially recognized for use within the U.K.
Australia was another English speaking country that caught CB fever by 1977 when, according to Wikipedia . . .
CB was legalized with an 18-channel band plan. In 1980, the American 40-channel band plan was adopted. From the outset, the government attempted to regulate CB radio with license fees and callsigns, but some years later abandoned this approach.
New Zealand has also adopted the Australian UHF-CB-System as well. Indonesia has the usual 40 channels at 27 MHZ, plus a unique 60-channel allocation from 142.050 MHz–143.525 MHZ.
So it seems the U.S. got this CB craze started in the mid 70s and it is still having an effect throughout the world to this day. Explain that to the dedicated Ham radio operators and they will still come up with excuses why CBs suck. CB is still the king of two-way radio communications in my opinion and I think world history shows that.
