Public..
While
Family Radio
Service
(FRS)
is
gaining
in
popularity,
in
some
respects
it is not as
useful
as the
venerable Citizens Band (CB) radio.
By
Allan
Tarvid
C
itizens Band (CB)
may be the
perfect public
radio
system
for
campers.
It
can be
used
in a
vehicle
on the way to
your campsite
to get
directions,
information
about road
and
weather conditions
ahead,
to
chat with other motorists,
or
summon help.
It is
espe-
cially
valuable
in
areas
with
no
cellular phone
coverage.
Almost
every
18-wheeler
on the
country's highway
system
has a CB
radio tuned
to
"highway" Channel
19,
and
many private vehicles sport
CB
antennas
in
rural
areas.
Law
enforcement
and
emergency service vehi-
cles
often carry them,
and
commercial campgrounds
and
marinas sometimes monitor certain
CB
channels.
Most
CB
radio
manufacturers
offer
models that
re-
ceive weather channels. Some
are
capable
of
warning
the
user when severe weather alerts
are
issued.
All
you
have
to do is
flip
a
switch
to get a
forecast
or
hear
the
weather warning details.
A
CB
radio
has 40
regular communication channels
to
choose
from.
Of
these,
Channel
9 is
reserved
for
54
CAMPING LIFE
Citizens
Band
(CB)
radios
fit
right
into
the
camping
lifestyle,
providing casual
and
emergency communication
for
all
members
of
your
group.
emergency
use,
and the
busy Channel
19 is
loaded with truckers. How-
ever,
a
quick scan
of the
other
38
channels should turn
up an
unused
channel
that
you can
select
for
camp use.
A
base
station
set up at the
campsite
can
maintain
contact
with exploring kids, hikers
or
fisher-
men
equipped with handheld radios. Portable
CB
radios
are
smaller
than
ever,
and
easily carried afield. They
can be
slipped into
a
daypack,
jacket pocket
or
worn
on a
belt clip.
An
extra
set of
batteries
in a
sealed
plastic
bag
should accompany
the
radio.
The
campsite
station
can be a
mobile
(designed
for
vehicle mount-
ing)
radio
in
your
car or
truck,
or a
similar model mounted
on a
home-
made
base.
Most
CB
radios aren't designed
for
outdoor
use and
must
be
protected
from
rain
and
dew.
A
deep-cycle
RV
battery
or one of the
new
portable power packs designed
for
emergency jump-starts
can
provide power.
BROADCAST
POWER
CB
radio broadcasts
are
line
of
sight, meaning that transmissions trav-
el
in a
straight line
from
one
antenna
to the
other. Range depends upon
the
number
and
composition
of
obstructions
between
the
antennas.
Short
antennas
on
magnetic-mount
bases
can be
moved
from
vehicle
to
vehicle,
but
won't have
the
range
of
longer whips.
An
8-foot
whip
an-
tenna
mounted
on a
vehicle bumper
or
jury-rigged
to a
picnic table
might
reach eight
to 10
miles over water
to a
boat with
a
similar anten-
na. If the
boater
used
a
handheld radio,
the
maximum range might
shrink
to
five
miles.
If
both parties used handheld radios
the
maxi-
mum
range might
be
only
two or
three miles.
The
range
is
usually
shorter
on
land where hills, rock formations
and
dense
foliage
may
restrict
the
signal.
The
maxi-
mum
range over land
is
impossible
to
predict,
but ex-
pect
it to be
between
two and
five
miles
in
open coun-
try and one
mile
or
less
in
hilly
or
heavily forested
terrain.
The
transmission signals will bounce, which
can
help
you get
around obstacles.
You
might
be
able
to
talk
to
someone
behind
a
hill,
for
instance,
if
another
hill
in the
area reflects your signal
to the
other antenna.
It's
not a
question
of
power. Both handheld
and
base
If
using
a
vehicle-mounted
CB for
your
base camp
radio isn't convenient,
a
simple
rig
like this will
work.
A
battery
box
pre-wired
with
fuses
and
receptacles
can be
found
in
marine outlets
or
mail-order catalogs.
(20 pages)
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