Look gang, I have to admit... I just don't get it.

I was never interested in CB. I went from being an SWL straight to a Novice ticket, circa 1972. This was right before the Independent Trucker's Strike that was the spark for the explosion in CB use. By the time the popularity began it's metoric rise... I mean, really, it just didn't make sense - for me.

I still remember the Sunday evening in college I returned the frat house (yes, I was dumb enough to join a frat, never mind that now), to find about a dozen brothers clustered around a little black box with a 23 channel knob on it. "Look! Look! See! We can talk to people across town! Even into Bellefonte!" (town about 10 miles or so up the highway from PSU). Was I impressed? Well... no. Considering that I'd just helped put in a 48 hour effort at K3CR for ARRL DX SSB. I mean, really... after working the world, literally, on an S-Line, an SB-220, and a TH6DXX, how can you get excited about a little 5 watt rig on a cheap 1/4 wave ground plane that can barely talk half-way around the county?

That all said... I've seen CB in use, and I can see where, when properly used, it's a great tool. My former in-laws used it down on their farm, and it was a fantastic tool for everyone to stay in touch, be it from the house to the barn or tractor, or to the truck when a supply run was ongoing. To say nothing of staying in touch with the closest neighbors, all of whom were at least a half mile or more away. And FRS & GMRS, which morphed from the old Class A & Class B CB's services, have really come into their own.

But for me? I just don't get it. Maybe I never will.