subject: Cb Radio: The Story Of How It Came To Be [print this page] After WWII the FCC allocated the first frequencies to be used for personal radio services and called it Citizens Radio Service Frequency Band. This was a system of short distance radio communications between individuals on a selection of 40 channels within the 27MHz band and came to be called CB radio.
It is quite different from FRS, MURS, GMRS or (ham) radio as it can be used for both business and family communications as well as radio controlled models and doesn't require a license.Like many two way services Citizen Band channels are shared by many users, only one channel may transmit at any one time leaving all other stations listening and waiting for the shared channel to become available to them.
In 1948 the original or 'Class D' CB radios had to operate on the 460-470 MKz UHF band. There were two other classes of CB, 'Class A and B'. Class B radios had more simple technical requirements but were limited to a much smaller range of frequencies.
It was Al Gross the inventor of the Walkie Talkie, Telephone Pager etc that brought CB Radio to the public just after this when he started the Citizens Radio Corp to sell Class B handheld CB radio equipment to the general public. He sold more than 100,000 units of his system mostly to the US Coastguard and farmers.
UHF radio was neither affordable or practical for the man in the street and in 1958 'Class D' service was moved to 27MHz and became what we now know as CB Radio. At the time there were only 23 channels, the first 22 were taken from the amateur 11 meter band and channel 23 was shared by radio controlled devices.
Most of the 460-470MHz band was reassigned after that for business and Public Safety use. Class A is the ancestor of our General Mobile Radio service while Class B is a much more distant ancestor of the Family Radio Service. Another two way radio service is the Multi-Use Radio Service in the VHF high band and an unsuccessful petition was made in 1973 to create yet another class at 220MHz but this was opposed by amateur radio organizations.
In the 1960'sCB became popular with small business e.g. Carpenters, plumbers, electricians as well as radio hobbyists and of course truck drivers. By the late 1960's solid state electronics allowed the size,weight, and cost of the radios to reduce, this gave the public access to communications that had previously only been available to specialists.
CB clubs were formed and a special 'slang' language came into existence which was used alongside 10 codes similar to those used in the emergency services.
Following the 1973 oil crisis the US government imposed a 55mph speed limit and as rationing and fuel shortages were the norm, CB was widely used by truckers to locate supplies of gasoline, to warn other drivers of speed traps and to organize a strike protesting at the new speed limit.
Throughout both the 70's and the 80's CB continued to boom, it as people who never met spoke often to one another becoming friends in a strange way and the on air-culture continued to grow.
In the 1990's became a victim of it's own popularity. Users had jammed the airwaves during the late 70's into the 80's. Channels got incredibly noisy and communications began to be intolerable. Many CB users used their radios less and less and even not at all.
Many believed that CB radio would die out with the advent of the cellphone, but in fact the opposite is true.CB and ten meter radio are in the midst of a revival as many rediscover the advantages of two way conversation which does not depend on a network of complex towers and doesn't result in a monthly bill.
