CB Radio For Preppers pt. 2

[00:00:11] Welcome back into the Prepcoms podcast brought to you by me.

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[00:00:17] Yep, that's my wife and my, that's our business has been for over 25 years here in the upstate

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[00:00:23] We're a real store.

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[00:00:33] replacements.

[00:00:34] We have parks, we have accessories.

[00:00:36] Got this really cool water bottle that works as a Birky kind of filter thing that is not

[00:00:40] plastic and it's insulated.

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[00:00:43] I've all these sorts of things, travel sizes.

[00:00:46] You're familiar, right?

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[00:00:59] Hubcitymercantile.com.

[00:01:00] I'm Caleb K4CDN and this is the Prepcoms podcast.

[00:01:04] Yeah, Hubcitymercantile.

[00:01:05] That's me.

[00:01:06] And it's also the official show sponsor of this program.

[00:01:10] All right, so we're continuing to talk about CB radios and how they apply to the prepper

[00:01:16] or the preparedness end of life.

[00:01:20] Last show, we talked about how they came out of the World War II technology, how

[00:01:25] it was birth of necessity for a wireless communication source for our troops.

[00:01:30] They brought the stuff home, they started fooling with it and it became a crazy hobby back in

[00:01:35] the 70s.

[00:01:35] I was in the 80s.

[00:01:37] I started using them.

[00:01:40] Got my driver's license in 88 or 89 and immediately put a CB radio in the truck.

[00:01:45] Loved it by the way.

[00:01:46] My friends all had them.

[00:01:48] We drove all over town, all over the county.

[00:01:50] We would talk all the time.

[00:01:51] All the way to school, all the way home.

[00:01:53] All weekend.

[00:01:55] I mean it was...

[00:01:56] There were no cell phones so it was like our Facebook back in the day and I loved them

[00:02:02] and I still love them honestly.

[00:02:05] The utility is not there for me anymore because I'm an amateur radio operator and there's

[00:02:09] better things than a CB.

[00:02:11] Sarf that hurts your feelings.

[00:02:13] I'm not here to do that but there is stuff that works better but that doesn't

[00:02:16] mean that CB radio is a great option for preppers.

[00:02:20] It's maybe not the best but I can't leave it out.

[00:02:24] I can't not mention CB radio in regards to preppers and I think every prepper who has

[00:02:30] taken their preparedness seriously needs to have at least one CB radio.

[00:02:36] Now I've written an e-book.

[00:02:38] The link will be in the show notes.

[00:02:39] It says CB radios for preppers, how to get on the air before the apocalypse.

[00:02:43] It's about 100 pages long.

[00:02:45] It kind of goes through all of the how to's and why to's of a CB radio system,

[00:02:49] how to set it up and then how to use it, best practices and things like that.

[00:02:53] But one thing you got to know about CB radio that I did not know.

[00:02:57] I had no idea about this in the late 1980s, the early 1990s and then next

[00:03:03] tail.

[00:03:04] I didn't know how important an antenna was to my system.

[00:03:10] And it's not just CB radio that the antenna is very important to.

[00:03:13] It's every radio system can be made or broken by their antenna.

[00:03:20] And just to for instance, I didn't even want to go there but I will.

[00:03:22] So these little walkie talkies that you buy, the Balfings on Amazon for 20 bucks,

[00:03:27] the antenna is garbage, you need to check out Hope City Mercantile for a great

[00:03:30] replacement.

[00:03:31] But the thing is that it just works better with a different antenna.

[00:03:36] And so as a kid in the 80s, I didn't realize that my Echo mic,

[00:03:41] my Echo board, my tuned and peaked radio and my linear, I thought all

[00:03:47] that made the difference.

[00:03:48] I thought those were the things that were important and I would just have

[00:03:50] whatever antenna on the truck.

[00:03:52] Now I usually ran a K40 magnet mount antenna on the roof of the truck,

[00:03:55] which always worked very well.

[00:03:57] But I would experiment with some fire sticks and then I really had a lot

[00:04:00] of success with 102 inch steel whip back in the day as well.

[00:04:04] But the big picture here is it was just like aesthetically.

[00:04:07] Oh, I don't want a magnet antenna anymore.

[00:04:09] I'm just going to put this on the bumper.

[00:04:11] And that fire stick looks pretty cool.

[00:04:14] It's only about four feet tall.

[00:04:15] Oh, they make a smaller one?

[00:04:17] Oh, that would even look cooler.

[00:04:18] And it performed terribly.

[00:04:20] But I didn't know why.

[00:04:21] And the reason that it performed terribly was because it was of course

[00:04:25] interfering with my truck and blah, blah, blah.

[00:04:27] I didn't know any of this.

[00:04:28] So when it comes to CB radios, you've got to hear me.

[00:04:31] It doesn't really matter if you have the cheapest CB radio that you can buy.

[00:04:35] The oldest that your granddaddy gave you 100 years ago.

[00:04:37] Or maybe you buy a brand new galaxy and it's just a monster, a beast.

[00:04:42] And it lights up in whistles and beeps and all this stuff.

[00:04:46] Maybe. I don't know.

[00:04:47] It doesn't really matter if your antenna sucks.

[00:04:51] And that's just the truth of every radio, every frequency, every band.

[00:04:56] Your antenna is going to make or break what you end up with.

[00:04:58] But with CB radios, I'm telling you, it is the absolute most important thing

[00:05:03] in regards to utilizing those frequencies, those channels, the best.

[00:05:09] So we'll talk about antennas later, but just hear me there.

[00:05:12] Antennas are ridiculously important for your CB radio.

[00:05:16] So in the 1980s and the 1990s, CB radio kind of had a revival among the youth.

[00:05:22] I can't really explain to you why it could have been just a very localized thing.

[00:05:26] But everywhere I went back then, everybody had CB radios like it was the 1970s.

[00:05:31] Oh, man, it was so much fun.

[00:05:34] I actually had fluorescent light bulbs that would attach to my K40 antenna

[00:05:38] and with the power through the antenna when I keyed the microphone,

[00:05:42] the light would come on the roof of my truck.

[00:05:43] And anyway, I digress and I could go back and I want.

[00:05:48] But here's the thing.

[00:05:49] CB radios are very, very important, especially their great tool.

[00:05:53] If you're prepper, here's why they're cheap.

[00:05:56] They're very easily to access.

[00:05:58] And a lot of people already have them and with their low cost.

[00:06:02] I mean, they're not much more in some cases than those cheap little walkie talkies

[00:06:06] I mentioned a minute ago.

[00:06:07] They are a completely different type of frequency.

[00:06:11] So you can't use one antenna for the little walkie talkie

[00:06:15] and the same antenna for the CB and vice versa.

[00:06:17] But you can enhance both of those with an improved antenna.

[00:06:23] I didn't know that.

[00:06:24] I had no idea.

[00:06:26] I would set up a CB as a base station at our house with just a magnet on the roof

[00:06:29] and think, man, I want this thing.

[00:06:31] Talk out of the neighborhood.

[00:06:32] Well, we had no ground plane.

[00:06:33] And it just, we just didn't know.

[00:06:35] So let me help you make some good decisions in regards to CB radios for preppers.

[00:06:40] Now, a lot of this is my opinion, but at the same time, this is my experience.

[00:06:44] So I've been doing this for almost 45 years.

[00:06:47] I've had CB radios for almost 45 years.

[00:06:50] Sometimes I've used them on occasion and sometimes I've used them

[00:06:53] and they were a lifeline to my social life and all my buddies back in the day.

[00:06:58] Really, CB radio was the first one.

[00:07:00] What in the first Facebook?

[00:07:01] But for us as teens, it was how we stayed up with each other

[00:07:04] from different schools all over the county.

[00:07:07] We even met really cute girls back in the day on CBs.

[00:07:11] Yeah, that did happen a couple of times.

[00:07:13] So anyway, CB radios for preppers is a great tool.

[00:07:17] They're cheap.

[00:07:18] They're easy to get.

[00:07:19] Anybody can use one.

[00:07:21] I mean, seriously, all you have to have is power.

[00:07:23] To turn it on and an antenna to transmit your signal through.

[00:07:27] That's all it takes.

[00:07:28] The vast majority of CB radios operate on 12 volts direct current or 12 volts DC,

[00:07:34] just like your car.

[00:07:36] OK, so your car generates electricity and the direct current

[00:07:41] and your house uses alternating current, which is AC.

[00:07:45] So don't buy a CB radio and plug it into the wall of your house.

[00:07:49] You have to have something that takes the current in the house

[00:07:51] and changes it to a direct current.

[00:07:54] We call that a power supply.

[00:07:56] Some people call them inverters, but actually it kind of works opposite of that.

[00:08:00] But anyway, use a 12 volt power supply if you're powering your radio

[00:08:04] from your house as a base station or if you're in your you got a car

[00:08:07] depending on the radio, some of those can actually work

[00:08:10] through the old cigarette lighter plug.

[00:08:12] Now, I know Lord have mercy.

[00:08:14] Somebody heard me say that I'm not talking about a full power

[00:08:18] 50 watt ham radio mobile.

[00:08:20] I'm talking about one of these little radio oddity CBs that I have

[00:08:23] and they work really great, by the way.

[00:08:25] They come from the factory with a cigarette lighter plug adapter on it.

[00:08:29] They pull very little draw on the system and they work really well,

[00:08:33] like shockingly well.

[00:08:35] There'll be a link in the show notes.

[00:08:36] They blew me away.

[00:08:37] I'm just I'm telling you, AM and FM modes.

[00:08:40] I was completely shocked at the the usability of this teeny, tiny

[00:08:45] little CB radio works phenomenally.

[00:08:48] So they're cheap.

[00:08:50] They're easy.

[00:08:51] It doesn't take a lot to get one established and most people can use them

[00:08:54] without any experience.

[00:08:55] I mean, with a CB radio, a typical CB radio you have back in the day

[00:09:01] twenty three now forty channels.

[00:09:04] These channels are actually frequencies, but you don't really

[00:09:06] see the frequencies.

[00:09:07] You only see the channel and there are those channels have been

[00:09:10] assigned through the FCC for that particular frequency.

[00:09:13] And as you turn the dial on the CB radio,

[00:09:17] it's actually changing to a different frequency completely.

[00:09:20] It's not one or two steps up.

[00:09:22] It's not the next step up.

[00:09:23] They're different channelized frequencies.

[00:09:25] There's 40 of them.

[00:09:26] And for most CBs, the AM and FM versions that you get for

[00:09:32] watch on those 40 frequencies.

[00:09:34] If you have a single sideband CB radio, which we've talked

[00:09:38] single sideband back in the shortwave shows, same principle here,

[00:09:41] guys, you have the 40 channels that have been channelized.

[00:09:45] But you also have the lower sideband, which is 40 channels.

[00:09:51] And you have the upper sideband, which is 40 channels.

[00:09:54] So when you hear me say, if you're going to be serious as a

[00:09:57] prepper about a CB radio and that's going to be one of the

[00:10:00] the big parts of your preparedness plan is CB radio.

[00:10:05] You need to buy a single sideband.

[00:10:08] Does that sound like an echo?

[00:10:10] You need to buy a single sideband capable CB radio, at least

[00:10:14] for your base station in your house.

[00:10:17] Now the cars nowadays, there's no room to put anything in there.

[00:10:21] And these little tiny CB radios you can put in there.

[00:10:24] They're not single sideband capable, but they can still talk

[00:10:26] back to your house if you're not too far away and vice versa.

[00:10:29] If you're going to have a base station set up, like at

[00:10:32] your bug out location or whatever, you may really

[00:10:35] seriously want to consider one that has single sideband

[00:10:37] capabilities because that really opens up the radio literally.

[00:10:41] It gives you some extra power and it's a whole another landscape.

[00:10:47] It's a CB radio times three.

[00:10:49] That's the easiest way I can say it.

[00:10:50] So why would a prepper want a CB radio?

[00:10:53] Again, they're cheap.

[00:10:54] They're very easy to use.

[00:10:56] You can find them everywhere.

[00:10:58] I mean, let's just be honest.

[00:11:00] If it gets in the fan one day, CB radio is going to be busy.

[00:11:04] And that doesn't mean that it's going to be great and

[00:11:07] a lot of fun and so easy to talk to your grandma across,

[00:11:10] you know, the country or anything like that.

[00:11:13] But I mean, you can utilize CB radio even today as an

[00:11:17] information gathering source.

[00:11:18] I mean, that's really where the heyday of CB came in.

[00:11:22] Well, it was information gathering.

[00:11:23] There's a smokey down here next to 21 breaker saying so they've

[00:11:29] been used as a tactical advantage.

[00:11:30] They've been using CB radios in that regard for forever.

[00:11:34] Now, don't you think that if it ever went sideways and

[00:11:36] the trucks were still moving at some level that they're

[00:11:39] going to be talking about what they saw down the road or in

[00:11:42] the previous city they drove through or what they've heard

[00:11:45] while they've been on the road, it may be a bunch of crap.

[00:11:48] It may be a bunch of gossip.

[00:11:49] You don't know, but wouldn't you want to know as much as

[00:11:52] you can about what's going on around you?

[00:11:54] Of course you would.

[00:11:55] That's why every prepper who is serious about

[00:11:58] communications should have a CB radio.

[00:12:02] Now that doesn't mean that you have to go buy a

[00:12:03] $300 single sideband radio.

[00:12:05] I mean, these little ones from Amazon, these little

[00:12:07] radio oddities are amazing.

[00:12:10] At least get you one of those and have an antenna that

[00:12:13] will work with it, whether it's a magnet mount antenna

[00:12:16] to put on the roof of your car or maybe you can build an

[00:12:19] antenna.

[00:12:20] You can you can build an antenna for a CB radio to

[00:12:23] use like as a base station extremely inexpensively.

[00:12:27] I'll find some videos and put those in the show notes.

[00:12:30] They're very easy to make and you can like hang it up

[00:12:34] in a tree and talk.

[00:12:37] You would be shocked.

[00:12:38] Now if you if you want to get real serious, I always

[00:12:40] recommend either the A99 and I'll link these things.

[00:12:44] The A99 or the Starduster.

[00:12:45] Those have been around for forever.

[00:12:47] They're omni directional.

[00:12:48] They're the A99 is probably I don't know 12 or 15

[00:12:51] feet tall.

[00:12:52] The Starduster is a little shorter, but you can put

[00:12:54] these on a mast against your house or your chimney.

[00:12:57] Maybe like my stuff's in a barn.

[00:12:59] You could put it up at the barn and so I've got

[00:13:02] a CB radio up there and a CB radio antenna that can

[00:13:05] also work on other amateur radio operator bands.

[00:13:09] And I talk all over the world on that thing, not with CB,

[00:13:13] but other other radios.

[00:13:14] But they work great.

[00:13:16] This is an Antron A99.

[00:13:18] They maybe call a solar con now, but either way,

[00:13:20] the link will be in the show notes.

[00:13:21] That's a base station antenna.

[00:13:23] You'll need coaxial cable or coax and of course

[00:13:27] you need to buy it long enough to go from your

[00:13:29] radio to your antenna.

[00:13:30] In regards to CB radios and a lot of the lower

[00:13:33] frequencies that we'll talk about in amateur radio

[00:13:35] down the road, you don't have to spend a tremendous

[00:13:39] amount of money on the coax due to losses in

[00:13:41] the frequencies.

[00:13:43] The 10 meter band and ham radio and the 12

[00:13:47] meter band and ham radio are on either side of

[00:13:50] the 11 meter CB radio band.

[00:13:52] As a matter of fact, see the 11 meter band used

[00:13:55] to belong to amateur radio operators.

[00:13:57] And then the FCC back in the fifties gave it

[00:13:59] to CB radio, which is fine and they

[00:14:01] channelized it in whatever.

[00:14:03] But there's two bands on each side of that that

[00:14:06] belong to the amateur radio operators and their

[00:14:08] antennas can kind of go one way or the other.

[00:14:11] So if you have a 10 meter antenna, you can

[00:14:13] probably talk on 11.

[00:14:14] If you have an 11 meter antenna, you can

[00:14:15] probably talk on 10 meters.

[00:14:17] And either one of those doesn't require a

[00:14:20] great deal of money spent on coax cable.

[00:14:23] So if you're a prepper and you're wanting

[00:14:25] to get this thing figured out, we're going

[00:14:28] to talk some more the next program about the

[00:14:30] ins and outs.

[00:14:31] But here's the thing, CB radios are not the

[00:14:35] greatest communication device of all time, but

[00:14:38] they are cheap.

[00:14:39] They're very extremely.

[00:14:40] They're so easy to use.

[00:14:42] Once you have it connected to the power

[00:14:44] supply and to the antenna, you simply

[00:14:46] power the radio on.

[00:14:48] You turn the channel knob to the channel.

[00:14:51] You and your buddies have established as

[00:14:53] your go to channel.

[00:14:54] Make sure you've got it in the correct

[00:14:56] mode, AM, FM or single sideband.

[00:14:59] And then you just press the button on the

[00:15:01] microphone and call your buddy.

[00:15:03] I mean, it's so easy a kid can do it.

[00:15:05] And there's not a bunch of most of them

[00:15:08] don't have a lot of different buttons

[00:15:09] that you got a full with in this and that.

[00:15:11] I mean, there are some very complex

[00:15:12] radios. Don't misunderstand me, but by

[00:15:15] and large, these things will talk

[00:15:19] four to 12 miles.

[00:15:22] And maybe a lot further if you get crazy

[00:15:24] with it. We won't go there in this program,

[00:15:28] but it's a great tool.

[00:15:30] It really is a great tool and it's one

[00:15:31] that you should consider having in your

[00:15:33] toolbox for your preparedness communications.

[00:15:36] I'm going to go this time.

[00:15:37] Be back as we talk more about CB

[00:15:39] radios for preppers here on the Prep

[00:15:41] Coms podcast.

[00:15:42] I'm Caleb K4CDN.

[00:15:44] Don't forget to check us out at

[00:15:45] prepcoms.com.

[00:15:46] Thank you for sharing the show,

[00:15:48] telling your buddies about the show.

[00:15:49] You may not be the comms guy or gal

[00:15:51] in your group, but make sure your

[00:15:53] whole group's listening because this

[00:15:55] could be some great information for

[00:15:57] them as well.

[00:15:58] Always appreciate the great reviews.

[00:16:00] Appreciate you guys listening and we'll

[00:16:01] be back next time. 73 y'all.

[00:16:03] God bless.