I can’t believe that hardly anyone still uses CB radio. Recently, my friend Wayne gave me a very nice mobile unit that was manufactured in 1977. I hooked it up to a 12-volt power supply, constructed a 1/2 wave dipole antenna out of speaker wire, and set it up here in my office. Even though she’s 35 years old, the old gal works great! Only problem is, there’s nobody to talk to. All 40 channels are empty most of the time. Even the truckers seem to have migrated to cell phones.
The Midland “882” was an extremely popular unit. My first radio was the 13-882C. It was identical to this one except that it was just 23 channels. When 40 channel CB radios became legal in 1977, I got a 77-882. The receiver is very sensitive. Transmit power and audio is about average for the time. The 882’s big feature was that both the 23 and 40 channel versions were extremely easy to modify for “extra” channels above and below the legal ones.
Back in the day, CB radios were so popular that it was often difficult to find an open channel to use. Now, it’s tough finding an occupied channel and someone to talk to!
East of the Rockies, there are many persons giving CB new life. The law says 4 Watts max going out the antenna, and about only way for makers to ensure is to limit transmitter chip to 4W. But due to the inefficiencies, of connectors, cabling, etc, less than 1W really goes out. With some cable/antenna matching, and checking actual wattage out the antenna, these new aficionados are getting much further range, using CB like HAM, sitting late into the evening discussing music, trucks, weather, crops, grain mixtures, etc. In some places unusual views and vulgarity are ruining it. Mobile-ized units are making a comeback too.
I just bought one of these Midland 77-882’s, sealed in its original package. I live in the mountains of AZ, and come snow time, we often lose landlines and power. With power down, the cel towers, which I can often reach by climbing to my mountain top, stop working, too. Some of us are working toward a revival of CB Channel 9 monitoring, so a call for help can summon a helicopter; A ways to go still.