HOBBY RADIO DAILY
HOME - PHOTOS - MORE
005
05-09-2025 - Good Morning! It's Friday. We've had pretty good afternoon and evening band conditions this week. Let's see how things hold up over the weekend. At 5:30 AM, the band is still asleep.
05-08-2025 - There is more of that truckstop advertising on Channel 19 today. It's not like they're doing it continuously, so it's not really a problem. How many truckers and others stop and mention that they heard the ad on Channel 19? Maybe they should run "CB Radio Only" specials that way they'd know if their marketing efforts are paying off. Or, maybe they shouldn't!
05-08-2025 - Good Morning! It's Thursday, whatever that means to you. At 6:00 AM there are already a few local truckers chatting it up. The truckers passing through town are keeping their presence a secret. In a way, that's good news because it means there are no obstacles in tbeir way.
05-07-2025 - I don't hear the Local Group on the radio this evening. I don't know if they took the night off or if they don't feel like battling the strong skip traffic. I think it's the skip traffic because it's powerful right now. UPDATE: The band got quiet and a few locals showed up on the channel.
05-07-2025 - Lately, I've heard that truckstop ad on CB Radio Channel 19. It might be near Amarillo, Texas, but I could be wrong. In my hometown, a truck wash/chrome shop used to advertise on Channel 19, with one of the employees, maybe the manager, singing a ditty over the radio. That was about a decade ago.
05-07-2025 - At 12:15 PM, the band is crazy with signals flying from one end of the country to the other. They're traveling farther than that, but I can report only what I hear. Get a radio and join the fun!
05-07-2025 - There's a guy with a booming signal on Channel 11, but he needs to turn down that echo a little. I don't need to hear every word twice. I've never understood the attraction of echo, but what do I know?
05-07-2025 - FEMA Daily Operations Briefing - National Current Ops / Monitoring – May 6–7, 2025 New Significant Incidents / Ongoing Ops: • No new significant incidents / Operations Hazard Monitoring: • Excessive Rainfall / Flash Flooding – Southern Plains to Southeast • Severe Weather – Southern Plains to Lower Mississippi Valley Disaster Declaration Activity: • No new declaration activity Event Monitoring: • No new significant events
05-07-2025 - At 7:45 AM, the band continues to improve in North Texas. I hear clear traffic on 10 out of the 40 channels. Let's see what the afternoon brings.
05-07-2025 - I had plenty of fun with CB Radio at Fort Hood in 1972. For about 6 months, I was one of my unit's permanent CQ (Charge of Quarters) guys. On my duty nights, I would sometimes, after all the "rank" had left the area, set up my CB Radio, power supply, and filing cabinet-mounted mag-mount antenna. I was in business, and there were plenty of people to chat with in the Killeen - Fort Hood area. I can still hear "A Horse With No Name" by America, coming from my "good times" radio nearby. I remember one married couple who re-enlisted and used their bonuses to buy more CB Radio equipment. It would have been a cruel Army joke if one or both of them had been transferred to a country where CB Radio use was illegal. By the way, that regular CQ schedule allowed me to obtain my Private Pilot Certificate at what was then Killeen Municipal Airport. The school was Four Winds Aviation. I learned in a Cessna 150. The plane was rented for $12 an hour, and the instructor was $6 an hour. Wow!
05-07-2025 - The ringtone on my phone is "CQ" in Morse code. It turns a few heads now and then. Some years ago, it went off at Walmart, and an older gentleman near me smiled. He knew what it was. Yes, hamsters, some of us CB'ers pound brass! Or in my case, a tiny Putikeeg!
05-07-2025 - I was reviewing some 1960s issues of S9 Magazine - the Citizens Band Radio Journal. Most copies have a section on FCC enforcement actions. There were a lot of fines handed out for "Non-Substantive Communications." Just what is that? Does that mean talking about things that have nothing to do with radio? Talking too much about business? Not talking enough about business? Or does it simply mean agitating, stirring up trouble, and/or making silly noises on the radio? The FCC would have a "field day" with such a charge these days!
05-07-2025 - Good Morning! It's 5:00 AM Wednesday, and the CB Radio band is alive! Weak, but alive. Or, it never shut down overnight. Either way, I'll take it! My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready. I'll take some of that, too!
05-06-2025 - At 7:30 PM, CB Radio is active from one end of the band to the other. Some people are "rag-chewing," some are looking for long-distance contacts, and one guy is ghost-talking. Maybe the ghosts are listening. It's a good time to be a skip shooter! Skip shooters have their days like today; sometimes, the local talkers have all the fun. Each operator brings their personal touch to the hobby. A few disrupters sometimes try to disrupt, but they never have the impact they think they do.
05-06-2025 - I just wrote check # 8297. Only a CB Radio-talking boomer could perform such a feat! It ain't easy, but someone has to do it! Speaking of CB Radio, the band is coming alive at 3:00 PM in North Texas. I was listening to a guy on Channel 7, but I knew it wouldn't last long. Sure enough, someone on Channel 6, the "superbowl" of CB Radio, wiped him out. I don't care how much power you run but take pride in the purity of your signal. At least it wasn't the Sultan of Splatter. That guy can take out the whole band.
05-06-2025 - At 2:00 PM, another oversized load, working on Channel 19, is making its way through town. Is it a giant wind turbine blade or some other monstrosity? I do not know.
05-06-2025 - FEMA National Watch Center - National Current Ops / Monitoring for May 5-6, 2025
New Significant Incidents / Ongoing Ops:
• No new significant incidents/operations
Hazard Monitoring:
• Severe thunderstorms – Southern Plains to Lower Mississippi Valley
• Excessive rainfall/flash flooding – Central Plains to Southeast
Disaster Declaration Activity:
• Request: Major Disaster Declaration – AR
Event Monitoring:
• No significant events
05-06-2025 - I just heard a trucker on Channel 19 giving polite (not) instructions to the driver of a 4-wheeler about driving—at sub-trucker speeds—in the left lane on the highway. I doubt the message recipient was CB Radio-equipped, but I'm guessing they got the message via their rear-view mirror.
05-06-2025 - I've been on the CB Radio since 1964, and I can't remember ever hearing the term "good buddy" on the radio. I feel deprived!
05-06-2025 - Good Morning! It's Tuesday, and I'm hoping the CB Radio will be as busy as it was yesterday. The 27 MHz band, though quiet during the day, came alive in the late afternoon and evening. Planet Earth was talking it up on most of the 40 channels. This morning, at 6:00 AM, the band is still asleep and there's no local trucking radio traffic. My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready!