C.B. Radios in procars

Kurt Halverson

Kurt Halverson

PCS Northland Chapter President
I was curious to know if people used to run c.b.radios in procars while they were in service? I remember a scene in Smokey and the Bandit where a man was driving a hearse during a funeral procession and talking on the c.b. Now I know that Smokey and the Bandit is not, I repeat, not a historical documentery, but it got me wondering if people in fact did have these radios in hearses or ambulances.
Kurt
 
My 1977 Mercury hearse has a Ford factory CB in it. Though that particular car is a station wagon conversion, not a commercial chassis car, so it was available as an option on the wagon.
 
It was common in rural places like New Hampshire back in the day, because they didn't have base stations, and even the local police departments many times didn't have their own stations, but shared a common one with many other local communities.
I know where my first CB license is, because I put in the back of my college dictionary.. I just don't know where I put the dictionary... :eek:
 
Paul Steinberg said:
It was common in rural places like New Hampshire back in the day, because they didn't have base stations, and even the local police departments many times didn't have their own stations, but shared a common one with many other local communities.
I know where my first CB license is, because I put in the back of my college dictionary.. I just don't know where I put the dictionary... :eek:
Click to expand...

Paul, they're probably both in your garage...so they probably both will be well preserved when you find them 30 years from now. :D
 
cbs were common used in all types of businesses before the rage in the 70's made it imposable to use for anything but BS and they opened up some of the uhf for business ban
 
EF Johnson CB'S

I believe that i've mentioned this in another post.We used ef johnson cb's as our first radio systems when we started Professional Ambulance back in 1971.Had them modified to put out 30 watts.used them for a year or so,then went to vhf lowband 45.92 mhz.
 
Believe it or not, we still use Special Industrial Low Band (43.06 and 43.04) as back-up on remote jobsites and wildland fires out of Repeater Range on our Primary 800mg System. The CA CHP is still on Low Band too. Although they would probably like to change it would be many-many millions of dollars to do so.
 
cb radios

yes, simple answer. we used them here as a way to get info or help when you needed it. not uncommon to make a 25 mile run(one way) and needed eitheir directions or help and a cb'er could take the ball and run, if you will, and you could get help. before mutual help from city to city radio if you were in the boonies and needed help you could always get help from a cb'er. example, made a run to barrett station from humble and and needed help badly. 2 patients at a rig were welding had led to a small explosion and needed help badly. a trucker on i-10 received my call and relayed to everybody he could get and 15 minutes later we had pickups and trucks lined up to help. 2 badly injured welders and a helper were burnt and suffering from effects of tank explosion. was all we could do to try and keep em alive and did not have sufficient manpower for anything else. they all lived but only because we got a lot of willing help. those guys owed there lives to cb'ers. were very helpfull addition to our ambulances. also we had went to diffrent high freq. radios and the units still had whip antennas and with a little xtra power (not legal) you could talk where our high gains wouldnt. people come from anywhere to help if you need it. nothing like being in the middle of nowhere and all of a sudden help comes a runnin. and, sherrif's unit might be 20 miles away and did not respond to ambulance calls unless shooting or such and you still might have to wait an hour or more. one time called downtown to radio mike to request backup at a bad situation and still took an hour. they were not done shooting when we arrived but cb'ers with shotguns were a welcome sight.
 
My '94 still has the antennae base on the fender and coax plugs still in it from Fisher Funeral Home in Holdenville, OK.
 
Actually Smokey and the Bandit is a great tool to teach younger people about Cb radios. The whole movie is made around CB and they use every 10 code and slang term there was.
 
Actually around the time of smokey and the bandit the Ontario Provincial Police put CB's in the major highway units and would monitor truckers channels,this helped get highway calls faster,(no cell phones,or call boxes) on our 400 series highways,and going to collisions on these highways we always had a clear run thanks to big rigs,and their CB's:applause:
 
Appropriate video referring to some of the "10 code slang" and handles used back in the day!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI5eT4UmyFY[/ame]
 
The OSHP still monitors CB CH 9 for emergencies. When I started out in 74 we were already using vhf and at the fire station we were on low band. I think they switched to uhf about 12 years ago.
 
Great in police cars for many reasons

It was great to hear truckers talk about spotting us in our hiding places, but a great help when they came across a wreck or other problem.
 
Just think of what their "HANDLE" might be?? anyone got a cool cb name?
Like maybe this is gravedigger here good buddy, com on kkkkk.
 
A funny CB story, from about 1996. When I was driving my Criterion ambulance to TN to deliver it to the guy who bought it from me years ago (two owners before Richard), I was cruising down I-66 in rural northwestern Virginia. I had the CB on, and I started to hear talk of a crash on the highway. One of the truckers called and said, "It's OK guys, I've got the ambulance right in front of me." I thought he meant the EMS ambulance, but then I realized it was the rig behind me and he was talking about me. I got to the wreck well before EMS did, and put the one patient (minor injuries) in the back of my Criterion, bandged his wounds, and stayed with him until EMS arrived.

Even more ironic was, that was a Monday. I flew home, and on Thursday, I attended a class at the EMS Today conference in Baltimore. I went to a session that started with an "ice breaker", where you had to go around the room asking people different questions, "Have you been camping in the Rockies?", "Have you driven a motorcycle?" etc., that sort of thing. One of the questions was, "Did you run calls in a Cadillac ambulance?" Not only did I answer "Yes...", but I added, "...this Monday!" :eek:
 
Without a word of lie,years ago in stormy weather our old radio system was subject to crossovers with an animal hospital in New York state,one such night I was tending to a sweet older lady when the radio piped up and said "if that old sow doesn't look like shes gonna make it best leave her for dead stock removal".:eek::eek::eek: apologized all the way to the hospital,and then some....
 
skip could be a wounderful thing especly during the sun spot cycle. but then again it's normaly foder for the bar stool. that's a good one. suprising how clear the signal is when it get a good bounce.
 
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