40 Fun Facts About CB Radio

Which First Lady of the United States chatted on CB radio in the 1970s under the handle First Mama?

Betty Ford was summed up by The New York Times as a symbol of her times: wearing a mood ring, dancing the Bump along White House corridors and chatting on her CB.

Which small rounded car did 1970s truckers nickname a 'pregnant roller skate' in CB slang?

The Volkswagen Beetle had a second CB nickname as well: one with a man at the wheel was a 'dung beetle'.

Which ten-code, borrowed by CB users from police radio, means a message has been received and understood?

10-4 even has a reverse form: CB users ask 'four-ten?' to check that the other driver heard them or agrees.

Which cartoon voice actor chatted on CB radio around Los Angeles using Bugs or Daffy as his handle?

Mel Blanc often talked on the air in his character voices, and a 1978 NBC programme about CB showed him entertaining children from his home station.

Which toolbox staple do truckers jokingly call 'Alabama chrome' in CB slang?

Duct tape is the joke substitute for the real thing: in CB slang a rig dressed up with extra chrome and extra lights is admired as a fancy truck.

Which CB channel, officially reserved since 1969, does the FCC restrict to emergency calls and roadside assistance?

Channel 9 is wired into many radios as a preset switch, so a driver in trouble can jump straight to it without turning the dial.

Which two-word CB term for a friend on the airwaves became the stereotype of 1970s trucker talk?

Good buddy was the 1970s stereotype, while many truck drivers simply call each other 'hand' or use the name of the company they drive for.

Which 1970s event brought the national 55 mph limit that pushed American truckers onto CB radio?

The oil crisis of 1973 also brought fuel shortages, so drivers used CB to find service stations with supplies and to organise a 1974 strike against the new limit.

Which CB channel do most highway travelers and truckers in the United States keep their radios tuned to?

Channel 19 started as the highway channel west of the Mississippi, while eastern drivers used channel 10, before 19 won out across most of the country.

On CB radio, a driver asked for their 'twenty', shorthand for a ten-code, is being asked for what?

Location is what the full ten-code 10-20 reports, and CB talk clips it to a bare 'twenty' when asking where a driver or a third person is.

Which coin-based CB slang term describes a stretch of road with a 55 mph limit?

Double nickels reads the two fives of the limit as coins, and CB slang has a breezier cousin: a 45 mph zone is a 'flag in five-mile wind'.

Which CB phrase, now everyday slang, means driving flat out with the accelerator pressed to the floor?

Hammer down comes from 'hammer', CB slang for the gas pedal, which also names the passing lane: the 'hammer lane'.

In CB slang, which poultry-themed name do truckers give a highway weigh station?

Chicken coop also gave truckers the phrase 'flying the coop': rolling past the scales without stopping, which is illegal.

Which truck maker's rigs are called a 'Bulldog' in CB slang, after the mascot on the hood?

Mack owes the bulldog to British soldiers in World War I, whose nickname for its AC model became the company's trademark hood ornament.

In C. W. McCall's hit song Convoy, which CB handle belongs to the trucker leading the line?

Rubber Duck came back in a 1976 sequel song that sends him round the world, and again in a 1978 film built on the original hit.

In which TV series do cousins Bo and Luke share the CB handle Lost Sheep?

The Dukes of Hazzard ran the joke through the family: Uncle Jesse answered to 'Shepherd', for always rescuing his lost sheep from their mishaps.

In CB slang, which reptile names a long strip of shredded tire lying on the highway?

Alligator fits because, from a distance, the torn tread can look like one sunning itself on the road.

In CB slang, an officer running a speed trap is called which TV detective 'with a Kodak'?

Kojak with a Kodak cast the radar gun as a camera, and the joke ran on: an officer working radar from the median was said to be taking pictures.

CB slang named a police officer on a motorcycle after which celebrity famous on two wheels?

Evel Knievel was the popular motorcycle stuntman of the day, and CB slang raided television too: a pair of officers could be 'Starsky and Hutch'.

On CB radio, a trucker hauling a 'reefer' is pulling which kind of trailer?

Refrigerated trailers have an opposite number in trucker talk: a box trailer with no cooling unit or insulation is a 'dry van'.

In CB slang, which household term names the first truck in a group, watching for police ahead?

Front door has a partner at the rear, the back door, and the drivers in between sit in the 'rocking chair' because they can relax while the other two keep watch.

On CB radio, a trucker announcing a '10-100' is about to pull over for what?

A restroom break sits just ahead of a far more serious code on the trucker's list: 10-200 means police are needed at a given place.

Which Tennessee city do truckers call 'Guitar Town' in the CB slang for places?

Nashville also answers to a less flattering trucker name on the same list of places: 'Crashville'.

Which roadside stop do truckers call a 'cash box' in CB slang?

Toll booth slang reaches the road itself: a toll road such as the New Jersey Turnpike can be a 'green stamp', after its green route signs.

Which volunteer network, founded in Chicago in 1962, was set up to monitor CB radio for motorists in trouble?

REACT grew out of a sick infant, a disabled car on a freeway and a January blizzard, which gave founder Pete Kreer the idea of calling for help by CB.

The ten-codes heard on CB radio were devised from the late 1930s for state troopers in which US state?

Illinois communications director Charles Hopper put 'ten' before each code because the first syllable was often lost while an early transmitter reached full power.

Which country singer's 1976 recitation Teddy Bear tells of a disabled boy calling truckers on his CB radio?

Red Sovine's story ends with the truckers who heard the call lining up at the boy's home to give him rides, then taking up a collection for his mother.

In which Stephen King novel is Ralph Brentner's radio signal from Boulder, Colorado picked up over CB?

The Stand came out in 1978, when the CB craze was being written into films, television series, songs and books alike.

What is the maximum legal AM output power for a CB radio in the United States, measured at the antenna connector?

4 watts replaced an older rule of 5 watts measured as input power, a bigger-sounding figure some makers kept advertising long after the rule changed.

Which wavelength name do hobbyists still use for the CB band, inherited from an old amateur radio allocation?

11 meters was taken from radio amateurs in 1958, when 22 of the first 23 CB channels were carved out of their band.

What do CB operators call making long-distance contacts by bouncing signals off the ionosphere?

Shooting skip used to be against the rules in the United States, where contacts beyond 250 km were banned to keep CB a local service; the limit has since been dropped.

Which CB radio control mutes the speaker's background hiss until a strong enough signal comes in?

Squelch is set by ear: the operator turns the knob until noise is heard, then backs it off until the noise just stops.

Which instrument do CB installers use to check that an antenna and its cable are matched to the radio?

An SWR meter shows how much power a mismatched antenna is reflecting back toward the transmitter instead of sending out.

Which inventor, often credited with CB radio, also patented an early walkie-talkie and a telephone pager?

Al Gross adapted his two-way radios into a pager in 1949 and offered it to doctors, who were sceptical because they feared it would upset patients.

In which country is CB radio officially named the General Radio Service by the national regulator?

Canada uses the same frequencies and modes as its southern neighbour, so drivers can carry a CB set across the border with no special provisions.

Which country launched UHF CB on 477 MHz, with the first set designed and built there in 1977?

Australia later widened its UHF band from 40 channels to 80, and cheap handheld sets there drew users away from the older 27 MHz band.

Which director turned the CB novelty song Convoy into a 1978 film starring Kris Kristofferson?

Sam Peckinpah hired his long-time friend, the actor James Coburn, as second-unit director on the production.

Which instrumental group was founded by Chip Davis, co-writer of C. W. McCall's CB trucking hit Convoy?

Mannheim Steamroller's founder met his collaborator at an Omaha advertising agency, where Davis wrote jingles and the trucker character began in bread commercials.

Which roadside fixture do long-haul truckers call a 'yardstick' in CB slang?

Mile marker is one of several roadside renamings: a rest area is a 'nap trap' and a rumble strip is a 'noisy groove'.

Which CB slang term describes a semi-truck tractor driving along with no trailer attached?

Bobtail has a multi-trailer opposite in the same slang: a tractor pulling more than one trailer is a 'wiggle wagon'.