CB Radio

Starting back in the mid 70s, CB radios became a big fad. Once pretty well confined to truckers, all sorts of people began buying radios for their cars, and some also got base stations for home use.

I remember one of my friends' fathers got one for his car and we'd sit out in his car, late into the night using it, until the old man chased us out, worrying that we'd wear down the car battery. At that time, I vowed to get one of my own, once I had a car.

After I went off to college, I finally got a CB. I had a great time with it, even though the range wasn't all that great. As I remember, it wasn't even as good as my hand-held police walkie-talkie in the 1980s -- on that on a good day, it could reach as much as thirty miles.

Nevertheless, the CB suited my purposes just fine. I met a lot of my one-night stands through the CB and I think I picked up women this way about as often as I did going to a bar and doing it the old-fashioned way. It was a wonderful tool that helped to speed up the process of getting laid regularly.

Back then, CB had a similar appeal that the internet does today. Instead of internet screen names, we had "handles". Mine was "William the Conqueror".

For other people, the CB filled the role that a cell phone does today, especially in families who had both base stations and car radios.

CB mania lasted no more than a decade or so. By the mid-80s, CB usage was once again pretty much the province of truckers and die-hard radio enthusiasts. I think my aunt was still using her base station in the late 80s, however.

How about you? Did any of you have a CB and, if so, what was your handle?