CB's

[ziggy]

hey folks. i got my ol boat with a cb radio already in it. a fine 8 track tape player too. far out ay..... snicker....

is there any use for a cb radio on the water? i basicly thought not and was gonna nix it. but read in a chapmans handbook about the fact that cb's are used for casual chat on the water. ya'd start with contact on a vhf. then move to the casual chat on yer cb.....shrug......
i really want a vhf for river running safety. but that's not what i got already there. gonna have to do that seperately i think.

should i bother spending the time to hook this cb back up? it works, confirmed at my neighbors house hooked into his base cb stuff. dought the cb is if very high quality and is only has 23 channels. already got a hole in my deck for the cb antenna, it's not located such that i could use that mount point for a vhf as i want a 8' folding down type antenna for that. so i've got this complete cb set up, except for wiring it back in....wouldn't be that hard i don't reckon, but if it's worthless on the water, i don't want to bother.....

 

[Boatist]

Re: CB's

CB are used more than VHF on some inland lakes. They also have the advantage of being able to transmit farther over the horzion than VHF. Some Marina's have a CB and even some coast guard Stations. Disadvantage is the signal will skip off the ionsophere and someone 2000 miles away may drown out the boat 3 miles away. When condition are right you get so many signals that it is a constant squeal and noise. One other thing is most CB antenna's are quarter wave so will need to be tuned on the boat. Also need a ground plate. They do make half wave CB antennas that do not need a ground plane or tunning. Still I would check with a SWR bridge to be sure.

Ocean and river with ship and barge traffic then VHF is the only way to go. Meeting a ship in a narrow channel it would do you know good to call the ship on a CB and ask it he see you and which side he prefers you pass on (port to port). I live in a city where we have a port about 1 miles from my house but is 90 miles inland from the Sea. Channel is very narrow so you need to pass within 30 feet or less from the ship. If he does not know your there on you pass on the wrong side he will likely be right in the center of the channel. After you cross his bow wave and are along side the ship will suck most of the water and you might find yourself sitting high and dry on the shore with no water. This is very dangerous as boat sitting on a slope can turn over. The out drive could be stuck in the mud or you could be sitting on a tree fallen in or a bunch of rocks that can do a lot of damage. First time I meet a ship in the dreged ship channel it scared the Heck out of me. I use to fish the channel and shoot clay pigeon there. When a ship would go by you have abour 45 seconds to collect any missed clay pigeons or retreive fishing lures and gear alone the edges of the channel.

I use to have a Fixed VHF and carried a portable CB some areas the fishermen would use the CB's, Mostly Inland lakes. Offshore, San Francisco Bay and the inland ship channel VHF is the only way to go. I got so tired of the noise on CB that I have not put in on the boat in years. Only time I will take it is if I am trying to meet up with a friend that does not have VHF. That was common when you had to have a licence to have a VHF on board buy today anyone can carry a VHF.

Bottom line is if there is a lot of CB use in your area give it a try but get a VHF also. By rule VHF is for use in navigation and ship saftey but in reality if you stay on the right channels no one will bother you if your talking about where your fishing and how your doing. Actually in common Chit Chat. Do it on 16, 22A, 21, 83, 70 or 6 likely to get a warning from the Coast Guard. Interfeering with a Mayday or Saftey Message then they will try and find you and make you unhappy.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: CB's

i think the thing to do is contact the authorities where you are going to do most of your boating. find out what they monitor. vhf 16 is the emergency channel, and in our area 9 is a monitored channel, all our bridges montior 9 and 16, bridge request are prefered on 9., and you can reach your buddy on 9 and go to another channel. also having the weather feature on the vhf is great.

 

[JB]

Re: CB's

Back in the 80s I used CB around Ft. Lauderdale and in the Gulf Stream. The CGstation monitored ch-9.

I dropped it because it became like a chat room with no rules. Insults and threats were flying all the time, leaving no time for useful communication.

 

[danpemby]

Re: CB's

CB's - 8 track, man does that ever bring back some memoiries (I Think) o

 

[ziggy]

Re: CB's

thanks for the replies folks. guess it sounds like it might be usefull. what jb's talkin about is what i was afraid of. my neighbor has a cb base station and talks about nothing best i can tell.
boatist, thanks for the info. i have no idea what kinda antenna i have. quarter or half wave. this neighbor i'm talkin about seems to think that the water is the ground plane. i don't know. i got another buddy that's an electronic expert. perhaps i'll ask him about this. (but he'll just explain it in tech terms i may or may not understand) or perhaps i'll just punt and put it back where i found it, and see if it works. i guess i just feel that any contact might be better than no contact. it can be pretty lonely on the river at times. since it ain't gonna cost me nothing to hook it up. i got nothing to loose by trying.
i have no idea either as to weather anyone uses cb's on the inland lakes i visit or not. guess i will have to hook'er up to see if anyone does. i still want the vhf. if not for the weather report value of it alone that td is talking about...... thanks again.........

dp, yep, people be snickerin at me with my 8 track for sure. got me another buddy that was kind enough to offer the 2 8 tracks he has so i can be hip on the water...he thought that was funny, he's a car stero install guy. so he really appriciated the hummor in it. i can remember when my uncle got one in his new 68 ford ltd... it was way cool back then...guess i'm gettin old(er)......

 

[Silvertip]

Re: CB's

Eight track?? That's modern stuff. I once worked for a company that sold two and four track decks to a boat manufacturer. Things changed quickly -- that was 1964. By 1967 you could get an 8-track in any GM car. I still have an 8-track player/recorder. Tried to give it back to the manufacturer for their display case. Said "Nope - it's not old enough".

 

[Boatist]

Re: CB's

Chief by all means give it a try. It will work with out a ground plate. Aluminum hull do not need a ground plate and even fiberglass will work without it just get better distance with it. Many CB, FRS or GMRS radio today also have the weather channels.

The real reason to have VHF is Saftey. Put out a Mayday call on 16 and every boat following the rules close enough to help you will hear it. Coast Guard in range will here it and come to your aid.

 

[DJ]

Re: CB's

VHF is a must have. A CB can be useful if you fish with buddy's and want to communicate off of VHF.

JB is right, most of the stuff on CB is absolute trash. I've used mine on lakes that are somewhat distant from major highways, that helps.

As far as SW, you need to check it with a meter. It can be a challenge getting it right, on a boat.

 

[jurgenscraft]

Re: CB's

Godd evening all, here in ancient Africa old tecnology has its advantages. We have a marine band which gives us some band space on the 29Mhz band.This is known as a ski boat licence. namely: 29,9350 ( main calling frequency) as well as 29,7725 to 29,9725 Mhz which is basically a pay only licence, this is a informal radio spectrum segment and is great for ship to ship,( boat to boat) coms. and of course we also have the same VHF marine bands used internationally.The good aspect of thr 'ski' boat licence is that it allows almost all types of coms. relating to marine matters and a little more eg. Hot fishing spots,who is where,weather etc.etc. 29.9350 is our calling and emergency channel.If in the case of a general call ,we establish coms and then move off to a free channel, this is a little used part of the 10 meter amateur band and maybe you guys should speak to the FCC and see what happens. I am also fortunate enough to hold a amateur radio station licence as well so looks like I have most of the bases covered. The 29 Mhz band seems to be very much the same in performance and range. as a cb when it comes to ground wave with a advantage over sea water and then relying on sky wave propagation for long distances, so now you Hams and other guys know what the funny almost dutch like language is and where it comes from.,it is skip from Afrikaans speaking South African fishermen having a chat off the South African Coast. Kind regards or should I say "Totsiens en lekker slaap" Groete van huis tot huis" William Wright

 

[KRS]

Re: CB's

west marine (and possibly iboats) sells a copper grounding strap for providing a good ground plane in a boat.

Might be worth a try.