Breaker, Breaker Is There Anyone Out There?
Since the beginning of motor vehicle travel, people have been looking for good ways to communicate between vehicles while traveling. Driving alongside each other and yelling out the window has its limitations. The US military was one of the first to start using radio communications to speak to troops in moving ships, aircraft, and vehicles. The original equipment was big and bulky, but it worked much better than yelling out the window! Radio communication made its way to civilian use in 1945 when the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) created the Citizen’s Radio Service. The early CB (Citizen Band) radios were UHF around 460 MHz. In 1948 the FCC reallocated the 27 MHz band for citizen use, making it easier and more affordable for individuals to use. The original CBs started out with only 23 channels, and you needed a license operate them. By 1977 the FCC expanded CBs to 40 channels and dropped the need for a license for operation. Welcome to the “Smokey and the Bandit” era when it seemed like everyone had a CB in their vehicle and every big rig in the country was using them daily. It was also the era when 10 codes, that law enforcement first developed in 1939, started to make their way into citizen radio communications to have some fun and communicate a thought quickly and easily. Most of us know what 10-4 means (Message understood), but do you know some of the other common 10 codes?
Common 10 Codes
- 10-1Receiving poorly or the signal is weak or unclear.
- 10-4 Message received or OK.
- 10-7 Out of service or off the air.
- 10-8 In service or back on the air.
- 10-9 Please repeat your message.
- 10-10 Standing by but not signing off.
- 10-11 Talking too fast.
- 10-13 Weather or road conditions.
- 10-20 What is your location? Sometimes stated as “What’s your 20?”
- 10-21 Call by telephone.
- 10-22 Disregard the last message.
- 10-23 Stand by.
- 10-27 I am moving to channel ___.
- 10-36 What’s the current time?
- 10-45 Animal carcass in the road.
- 10-54 Livestock on the highway.
- 10-100 I need to pee!
I purchased my first truck in 1989. It was a 1978 ¾ ton Chevy pick-up. It was rusty, somewhat trusty, and I thought it was amazing! One of my first modifications was to add a CB radio. It already had an 8-track player, so no upgrades were needed there. It was great fun to chat with my buddies as we gallivanted across the countryside. We were so cool in our own eyes! As with all poorly set-up CBs, the range was limited, and the voices were not super clear. It did get better over time as we eventually learned about quality radios and how to properly set up and tune the antenna to match the radio. What a big difference a properly tuned antenna makes! Suddenly your range is better, and you can understand the person on the other end. CBs continued to be our go-to choice for mobile communications for many years. Throughout the 1990s, many of the people I knew still had CBs in their everyday vehicles. There were many summer nights that we would drive around town playing “Cat and Rat” until the wee hours of the morning. For those of you not familiar with Cat and Rat, it is a game of hide and seek using vehicles and with a city-wide area to hide. The person hiding would call out clues on their CB of things they can see from their hiding spot, like water towers, buildings, or landmarks. The seekers would drive around and try to locate the person hiding. With a quality CB, the seeker could use the RF gain and squelch to zero in on the person hiding. It really was, and is, a great game to pass the time!
One more story from the 90s. It was the winter of 1994, and the snow was vast and deep in Southern Minnesota. It was an epic year for blizzards and blowing snow. I was heading home, driving from Albert Lea to Easton. It was late, dark, and cold with full-on blizzard conditions. I was traveling West on County Road 46 in my 1984 Ford Bronco II. (Similar to the picture above but black with an orange stripe.) The road was severely drifted over. I was traveling at about 40 MPH in four-wheel drive, so I had enough momentum to pop through the 3’ drifts on the South side of the road. One of those uneven drifts caused my Bronco to shift sideways as I passed through it, causing me to contact the pavement at an angle on the other side. My little Bronco spun like a ballerina as I careened into the ditch, taking out a road sign in the process. When the snow settled and the vehicle flopped back down on four tires, I found that I was good and stuck. I was hung up on the remaining signpost and one tire was off the rim. This little event took place years before I had a cell phone. Thankfully I did have the appropriate winter gear with me and the vehicle still ran, so I had heat. At that point I had two choices, suit up and hoof my way to a local farm and hope someone answers the door at midnight or try the CB and see if I can reach anyone. I was eight miles or so from Albert Lea, so it was questionable whether I would have any luck reaching anyone. Thankfully, I had a great Cobra CB with a 102”, properly tuned, whip antenna mounted on the center of my light bar on top of the Bronco. It looked like an RC car but it had great range and reception! Fortunately for me someone was out driving around in town, and they heard my transmission. Not long after, a few friends showed up driving two vehicles. We pulled the Bronco back up on the pavement and they blocked the road, with their flashers on, while I installed my spare tire. It was dark and brutally cold with the blowing snow, but I got the tire installed. Then, we convoyed back to Albert Lea together chatting on the CBs in the warmth of our heated cabs.
As time went on, the use of cell phones became more prevalent, and the use of CBs started to fade away. Truckers and farmers still used them regularly but less so with the general public. My friends and I still had them in our trail vehicles throughout the 2000s, but fewer of the other people we encountered on the trail had them. Some of that was due to the noise level of heavily modified trail vehicles, and some of it was the lack of buddies that used them. A CB isn’t much fun when you are talking to yourself. What people don’t realize is how much fun it can be to “encourage” your fellow wheelers while you’re out on the trail. It also adds a level of safety when you can clearly communicate with a whole group of people at the same time. I truly enjoy just the experience of driving and exploring off-road trails, but it adds to the adventure when you can share that experience with the yahoos traveling along with you. It makes the whole grand adventure much more memorable.
For a little while, due to the decline of CB use, it seemed like there was going to be a shift back to yelling out the windows and hand signals for trail communications or relying on spotty cell phone coverage. Thankfully, that was not the case. In 2007, Greg Cottrell started the Rugged Radios company because he saw the need for better, clearer communications in and out of off-road racing vehicles. They developed intercom systems and portable communication systems designed to handle the rigors of off-road racing. They gained a reputation for reliability and quality during events like the Baja 1000 and King of the Hammers. Most of the race band radios operate in the VHF (Very High Frequency) 150-156 MHz range and do require an FCC license. Most off-road racers live to wheel and a few races a year are not enough to keep their skills sharp and scratch the itch, so they hit the dirt every chance they get. Naturally, communications between the pit crew, friends, and family continue when they are having fun too. This opened the market for clear and reliable trail communications to a whole other segment of people. Development in technology and reduced cost of equipment also played a key roll in the transition from CB use to VHF/UHF band radio use. One company that caused a significant ripple in the amateur radio space time continuum was the Chinese company Baofeng with the release of the UV-5R handheld VHF/UHF radio in 2012. The UV-5R radio can be purchased for about $30, has 5 watts of power, can transmit and receive on 144-148 MHz VHF and 420-450 MHz UHF bands, and they are programmable. An FCC license is still needed to transmit on those frequencies, but the low cost of the handhelds encouraged many people to purchase them anyway. Going to races and being able to tune into your favorite team’s frequently can add to the overall experience.
Recently there has been yet another shift in the go-to communications for general off-roading and overlanding to GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) band radios. They operate in the 462-467 MHz UHF (Ultra High Frequency) range. GMRS band radios have been used for long time in the mobile “walkie-talkie” market for FRS (Family Radio Service) radios. Think of the little, low power, walkie-talkies that the kids have been getting for Christmas for years. Their transmitting power is limited to ½ watt to 2 watts, depending on the channel. You don’t need an FCC license to use them because of the limited range of the low transmitting power. Two recent changes by the FCC have increased the versatility of GMRS radios. First, in 2017 the FCC opened up GMRS channels 15-22 to allow 50 watts of transmitting power and the use of repeaters. A repeater is a device that can extend the range of a mobile radio from 1-5 miles to 20-30 miles. Repeaters are base unit stations with fixed antennas set up high on hills, buildings, or mountains and work by receiving a signal from one frequency then boosting and retransmitting (or “repeating”) the same signal on a frequency 5 MHz less than the original frequency. For example, let’s say the repeater frequency is 467.550 MHz. You set your radio to transmit on 467.550 MHz and receive on 462.550 MHz. The next big change was in 2021, when they reduced the cost to hold a GMRS license from $70 to $35, extended it to be valid for 10 years, and your license covers your whole family. Suddenly, you can get clear transmissions that are less susceptible to interference, with line-of-sight range, from a low-cost handheld radio. Bump up to a mobile unit with more power and your range and clarity will increase accordingly. Fun to be had by all.
Well, if you’re still with me to this point, I’m impressed. Radio communication between people while traveling has been going on almost since the development of the automobile. It is a fun hobby and a wonderful way to add another layer of fun to the adventure! It’s a great way to stay connected with your buddies, and it increases the safety factor because everyone can know what’s going on from a distance. It can be used to keep the group informed, alert, and consistently moving down the trail. You can use it to call for help if needed, get additional information or direction, and to properly heckle your traveling buddies. Don’t overlook the value of quality harassment of your friends! It just adds richness to the campfire stories! Radio communication is a vast subject, and I just scratched the surface of the amount of information that is available out there. Currently, I’m using GMRS radios as my go-to for vehicle-to-vehicle communication because the transmissions are clear, and I can understand them easily. I have several handhelds and one mobile (vehicle mounted) unit, in my Jeep, all programmed with the frequencies that we commonly use while traveling. I like handheld radios because they’re simple to set the frequency, hand them out to our traveling companions, and not have to worry if they have compatible equipment or if it’s set up correctly. Most of the time we travel fairly close together, so the limited range is not an issue. Don’t get me wrong, I still like and appreciate a properly set up CB. They have that old school feel to them, and are a lot of fun to use. I prefer CBs while playing Cat and Rat because they are analog with more control of the squelch and RF gain. Which aids in zeroing in on “The Rat”. Hey, don’t knock it, it’s a great game that the whole family can enjoy! Grab some buddies, a few radios, and give it a try. You will thank me later. Have fun out there! This is Midnight with
Aaron Bjorklund
