CB protocol

[kowari]

Hi,
I'm intending getting a UHF radio (GME) for trips 'outback' etc and was wondering what you guy's did when making or recieving calls. I have used tow-way radios at work for many years, where you are required to use a call sign etc, but i've never used a CB before. I guess if you are in convoy you have a pre arranged call sign ?

I have been reading about 'Selcall' where you have an identifiing no., do clubs etc use this ?

It's not the sort of thing I would want to use generally, and I dont think I will be giving it the 'breaker-breaker' stuff to every passing 4x4, but It's a usefull thing to have isnt it ?.

Peter.

[100I]

rubber duckies went out with am. on UHF you just speak english.
just be polite & please don't swear, it gets irritating at best.
i usually just have it on 40 (truck) listening for & giving road reports, unless in a group situation & wanting a quiet channel.

[Captain_Rightfoot]

rubber duckies went out with am. on UHF you just speak english.
just be polite & please don't swear, it gets irritating at best.
i usually just have it on 40 (truck) listening for & giving road reports, unless in a group situation & wanting a quiet channel.

The swearing is so bad sometimes that I can't run it with the kids in the car :(

[p38arover]

The swearing is so bad sometimes that I can't run it with the kids in the car :(

That's most of the time. It's one of the reasons that when I hear adverts on radio purporting to be by truckies that I laugh. They sound nothing like the truckies I hear on UHF.

Ron

[waynep]

UHF is mostly used in local mode ( ie simplex ) for car to car comms up to 5km or so. Generally in the country you can find a channel between say Ch10-30 without too many dickheads on it and you can work uninterrupted. Occassionally a farmer will come on and ask you to move channels because they are using it for a farm channel. Ch10 is suppossed to be the 4WDers "calling" channel and Ch18 is generally used by caravanners. Ch40 is the truckies channel. Ch5 is reserved for emergencies. This is all unofficial although I read a post somewhere where on here some of these channels are now set aside for specific use.

It's when you get on to the repeater channels that you get the *******. The repeaters in the country are not too bad but the city ones are generally not useable because of the language.

You shouldn't use country repeater channels ( 1-8 duplex ) for car to car work if you can use simplex. Repeaters are good for making calls for assistance etc (Usually someone will be monitoring ), or if you want to talk to someone many k's away. You can tell if a repeater is available in the area by going duplex and switching through channels 1-8, giving a press of the PTT button on each one. If you hit a repeater you will get a squelch "tail" come back, sometimes it comes back with a voice or morse ident. for the repeater. Its a good idea if you are in a remote area to see if any repeaters are available, just in case you need help and the mobile phone doesn't work. Most of the repeaters are set up by volunteers so there is no guarantee it will be working when you want it.

[100I]

take a look at this http://www.tropinet.com/uhf-repeaters/

yes unfortunatley the channel most likely to have best road info also happens to get hailed with some pretty offensive stuff. I'm not a wowser but some of the vomit well it just gets plain old.
one of these days i will mount an external on the b pillar so SWMBO doesn't have to put up with it.

for selcall; AFAIK the sets have to be specifically programmed to each other so they basically act as two-ways.

[cookiesa]

If using in convoy a unit with group and open scanning is useful. You all pick a channel that is clear (although often you'll change on the move as you come across other traffic on the channel) then with your group scanning you can also monitor 40, most useful on the highway. You can scan all 40 but often there is enough chatter between the channels you can miss out on your convey message or calling you.

Have to agree on the swearing being a pain, and also those who wish to "share" their "taste" in music (or are they having trouble with their engines, could explain some of the noise!).

Has anyone else noticed the number of businesses' who are now using the channels (actually illegal, they are reserved frequencies for non commercial use)we had a courier company close to Adelaide get shirty because we were using "their" channel. Needless to say they were promptly reminded if they wish to use it for commercial purposes they needed to pay for their own unique frequencies. We would have been on there for less than a minute and weren't aware they we using it until then

[CraigE]

UHFs are open public radio channels and can not be dedicated to a particular use in the normal frequency band. Generally most people leave 5 alone as an emergency channel though. Some of the farmers think that they own the channel they use, but dont.
You can buy specific UHF or VHF frequncy licences for deicated communications and this should be done by most med-big business. Many mining companies scrimp and get upset when you are using the same channel and have a similar attitude to farmers. We as a company have our own dedicated frequencies to avoid this. Most of the time when someone tells me I am on a private channel on normal UHF I have a laugh and then tell them to naff off.
The swearing is a joke and means quite often I have to turn it down or off with kids in the car. We all make slips but repeated swearing is not called for.
Generally in convoy we try and run on a quiet channel.

[cookiesa]

With Ya. Same problem although not always just with the kids in the car. I'm no prude but sometimes the banter and language are rediculous.

I usually tell them it is not a "private" channel then change because we have better things to do. Hopefully if enough tell them they will get it.

I dug the old AM out the shed and am in the process of reinstalling it. Have a friend who is in to the whole radio scene and he was saying that a lot of the "idiots" have now left the AM and gone to UHF now it is cheaper than the AM's. Reckon's generally you get more of the enthusiasts using it again so thought I may as well fit again!

[FenianEel]

As everyone here said the losers and the language on UHF these days is ridiculous, and I am no puritan by any stretch of the imagination.
I don't have it on anymore with the little ones in the car, far too much.

There is no protocol on public channels anymore and very little respect either. Occassionally good craic but:p

For some old school radio comms lessons, I reccommend the following:
Aust. army training manual radio comms:D
The movies:
Smokey and the Bandit movies
Convoy
:D :D

Ok, Focker OUT

[CraigE]

Maybe we need to return to the days of licencing users, was not a big fee and you had a registered call sign. Fines were huge for those who broke protocol. And yes they did catch a lot, still remember the tracking vans that used to get around. And also remember a lot of idiots getting large ham radio sets confiscated for abuse.
There is having fun and there is being offensive. Quite often, especially in Adelaide we used to bait these idiots and send them on wild goose chases. Often it was only one radio being used by us with 2 or 3 different people changing the mike. Subtley would have them running all over town.
:D

[Mikems]

Hi, this is my first post so I hope it makes sense.
Regarding the problem of the nutters there is a feature on most UHF set called CTCSS [Continuous Coded Squelch System] This means everyone on channel can hear you but you only hear people with the same preselected code. This is handy in areas where there is bad language. It means you can scan the channels you choose & use the preselected channel for inter-vehicle coms.

[Bush65]

As well as the channels already mentioned, channels 22 and 23 have been allocated for data use only. These are used to remotely control pumps and the like in the country.

Also avoid using channels 31 to 38, as these are used with 1 to 8 to provide the duplex feature with repeaters.

In my experience selcall is not normally used with uhf cb, which is only used over short distances. It does not offer the advantages it does with HF.

[dobbo]

The phonetic Alphabet is good to learn, also dont talk over the top of others, I could ramble on all day but would probably just annoy you all.

[kowari]

Thanks for all the info guys, it's all usefull.
I bought a TX4600 in the end and fitted it on the weekend. As you say, some of the banter on there is not good. Some of the people uesing it down here in the city must lead some pretty sad lives.

[MacMan]

I was stuck in traffic hauling into town yesterday morning and flicked on the UHF to see if there was any chat about the problem. There wasn't, but I stumbled across a pair of einsteins:

E1) mate this traffic is ****ed.

E2) yep, ****ed.

E1) you'd be glad you brought that coffee this morning.

E2) mate I've finished it.

E1) that's ****ed.

Melbourne UHF traffic is always the same!

[Jamo]

CraigE is right, UHF is free to air and no-one can tell you to get off 'their' channel.

Unsing the duplex channels is common here, probably because few of the repeaters actually work. They're mostly set up by folks who need them for a specific purpose, but when that's over they're not maintained and fall into disrepair.

CH40 can be colourful. I wouldn't recommend anyone with kids spending too much time here, unless you want to pass a road train.

Ch18 can be very funny.

Some people here call up and ask if you are "on channel" to intiate a call.

What I can't stand is American RATEL. There's a few around here who say "anyone got a copy". Gives me the.....

[DiscoTDI]

What I cant stand is when you have conversations with wannabe truckies and they end conversations with roger that or copy that and your face to face with them.:mad:

[BMKal]

The best thing to know is when / where to turn the thing off. In the West, it's easy. I drive from Kalgoorlie to Perth regularly, and always have the set on 40.

Just before arriving in Perth, there's a big hill called Greenmount that you have to drive over - the radio gets turned off as I go over the top, and does not get turned on until I'm past the same point on the way back out. Whe I go across to Adelaide, it's about Virginia I think from memory, where the radio gets turned off. I would guess that regular travellers to all capital cities would know similar locations.

That's not to say that you don't get the idiots outside the capital cities - we get out fair share of them in Kalgoorlie. But at least in the country, everyone seems to know to just ignore tham and they soon go away.

[p38arover]

I remember years ago, my boss (who was a licenced amateur) commented on terminology used by CBers.

He asked "If negatory means no, does suppository mean 'I suppose so' ?" :D

Ron

[LandyAndy]

Hi BM
I turn mine off when I hit Bedfordale hill(Armadale).
Prefer CH40,if there are any trucks around travelling opposite directions you get all the updates for the next 100ks.Only gets annoying if you are in travelling range of trucks heading in the same direction,they can dribble on and on and on.
Always handy to know where the "blue bubble tops"are and where they are"hanging out the hair dryer"
Andrew

[easo]

What I cant stand is when you have conversations with wannabe truckies and they end conversations with roger that or copy that and your face to face with them.:mad:

Roger is a ligit Milatary term, Copy means get ready to write somthing down, positve or negitive is for D/Heads it's just yes or no.

[Blknight.aus]

ohhh Ratel....

4 years of sitting in an acv doing 18 hour pickets for the tankies support squadron....

how in depth do you want to go..

Roger, message recieved
Over, Ive stopped talking its your turn
Acknowlodge, Answer me damnit.
Acknowlodged, Yes. Can I get back to my coffee now?
Out, Thats the end of this conversation.
Wait, umm i forgot what i was going to say, nope this is it....

Wait, wait, wait out. I really forgot what the message was and im asking the duty officer what it was.

Timecheck. (if on todays freq) hey idiot why havent you called in yet
Timecheck. (on yesterdays freq) hey idiot change channels

Wilco, Will comply, after jaffle time, maybe.

fetch niner, you are an incompotent radio operator, get of the air and get your boss on air.

locstat, (sent to mobile units) Why arent you where I told you to be?
locstat, (sent tfrom mobile units) where are you again, I mucked up putting your x on the map

Say again, thats funny. I just went and got niner, he aint going to believe this unless he hears it first hand.

Say again slower. The duty officer cant write that fast.

Radio check, I know your out there talk to me damnit.

casevac, pretendy medical emergancy, log it ignore it

EMEFIX, or 2 bar 1, We broke the tank send the mechanics

NoDuff, send the medics, the crewies got tank lip again.

Noduff casevac, Sent the medics someone wants off the Ex.

NOTAM, All aircraft go away the tankies are shooting here abouts.

Maintdem, we want some stuff

Pridem, We want some stuff now.

OpDem, If we dont get this stuff we're putting the park brakes on and will annoy your radio operator till we get it.



the best radio conversation I EVER heard went along these lines......

A choko tankie section commander (LT) was giving his orders over the radio

call signs are always pronounced as individual numbers and phonetic lettering, eg 34a this is 3a would be transmitted as

3 4 Alpha this is 3 Alpha.

say it out loud while scrunching some newspaper at random for added realism

3a: all callsigns 31,32,33,34 this is 3a orders, prepare to copy over.

31, send over

31a, send over

31b, send over

31c send over

32, send over

32a, send over

32b, send over

32c send over

33, send over

33a, send over

33b, send over

33c send over

34, send over

34a, send over

34b, send over

34c send over


3a, acknowlodged all, orders. he then broke into about 7 minutes of uninterupted air time flowing forth a beautifully presented set of orders (which is bad ratel all transmission are ment to be not more than 15 seconds at a time) the replies


31, send over

31a, send over

31b, send over

31c send over

32, send over

32a, send over

32b, send over

32c send over

33, send over

33a, send over

33b, send over

33c send over

34, send over

34a, send over

34b, send over

3a this is 34c say again, all after acknowlodged all, orders, over.






At this point in time its worth mentioning that the charlie call signs almost invariabley had the full time staff of the sections in them.

[easo]

34c was probley half way through having a brew and a jaffle.

[longreach]

:angel:most bad language you hear on U H F channel 40,happens in the citys around aus,on the open high way, out side the citys, you don't get much in the way of really annoying bad language,some time you do,but not as bad as in the city......most truckie,hate the real dick heads,that use bad language all the time.........older truckie,turn there sets off in the citys,and only turn them on the open highway...I do,I travel about 5000,to 6000 km a week.....Brisbane is getting real bad,I turn it on sometimes get road reports on the gate way highway,or the Ipswich motorway,to see if the road is ok,then turn it off again there is to much bad language..I am not defending the truckie,I am one myself,we are not all angels........but some of us, use common sense on the radio:angel:

[scrubber]

the amount of crap that you here on the UHFs just puts me off using them. here in cairns on ch40 we have a resident "chicken man" squawks like a chicken for no apparent reason.....:mad: then just recently there is a guy/woman with a deep growly kind of reaper voice.. the radio is also polluted with the people who "can i have a radio check please" every freakin minute.

that's way all my family/freinds have our own frequency:D

[cookiesa]

We usually don't have any trouble with the language by Truckies, there might be the odd word here and there but you expect that.

The continual dribble of profane language and insults, stupidity etc seems to be more from, no doubt unemployed bored males who are regulalry either drunk or otherwise "happy" and actually think they are funny/or enjoy annoying others

[stevemc]

the radio is also polluted with the people who "can i have a radio check please" every freakin minute.




well give me a freakin radio check :p PLEASE

ive just fitted an am and uhf and trying to get some one to let me know if there working for three days now,with no response
thats more annoying than the swearing

[cookiesa]

well give me a freakin radio check :p PLEASE

ive just fitted an am and uhf and trying to get some one to let me know if there working for three days now,with no response
thats more annoying than the swearing

Maybe it doesn't work...... Can't say I've heard anyone asking for a radio check lately!

LOL

[tombraider]

Maybe we need to return to the days of licencing users, was not a big fee and you had a registered call sign. Fines were huge for those who broke protocol. And yes they did catch a lot, still remember the tracking vans that used to get around. And also remember a lot of idiots getting large ham radio sets confiscated for abuse.
There is having fun and there is being offensive. Quite often, especially in Adelaide we used to bait these idiots and send them on wild goose chases. Often it was only one radio being used by us with 2 or 3 different people changing the mike. Subtley would have them running all over town.
:D

Oh yes... I remember those days well....

Adelaide, and Spectrum :cool:

Mate... we use to set up at Mt Lofty (prior to that abomination being built) with a 3 element beam (with rotator) AND a 27meg Homebase antenna mounted on the CAR!

When were you in Adelaide and on 27 meg? What years?

[tombraider]

well give me a freakin radio check :p PLEASE

ive just fitted an am and uhf and trying to get some one to let me know if there working for three days now,with no response
thats more annoying than the swearing

Yeah mate... Sounds like a radio :p

[cookiesa]

Use to sit up at Sky with a few guys (and girls) with 27meg (All right as long as you don't chat on channels close together!

They were an interesting group, at one stage we use to regularly listen in on a group at windy point who were obviously racing up the hill..... Spotters below on the main routes in and up the top. It was always amusing when when the call went out for "cops" and listening to them scramble and re meet elsewhere.

Then the police must have got wise to what was going on....... Made it highly entertaining when they were "sprung" ! LOL

This would have been about 8ish years ago

[tombraider]

Use to sit up at Sky with a few guys (and girls) with 27meg (All right as long as you don't chat on channels close together!

They were an interesting group, at one stage we use to regularly listen in on a group at windy point who were obviously racing up the hill..... Spotters below on the main routes in and up the top. It was always amusing when when the call went out for "cops" and listening to them scramble and re meet elsewhere.

Then the police must have got wise to what was going on....... Made it highly entertaining when they were "sprung" ! LOL

This would have been about 8ish years ago

Mate, if you remember callsigns like:

Happy Harry Hard-On
Stargazer
F16 Falcon

That was around 10+ years ago.

[roverfj1200]

CH 5 and 35 are buy law emergency CH and fines do apply..

35 is the repeater....

But how do they catch ya:confused:

[p38arover]

:angel:most bad language you hear on U H F channel 40,happens in the citys around aus,on the open high way, out side the citys, you don't get much in the way of really annoying bad language,some time you do,but not as bad as in the city......most truckie,hate the real dick heads,that use bad language all the time.........


I agree truckies hate dickheads that get on air (and we've got a few here in the Blue Mountains west of Sinney) but I've yet to hear a truckie who can speak on air without using the F word.

Ron

[Roverray]

Yeah mate... Sounds like a radio :p
Another reply was

Sorry mate - no cheques, only do cash!

Ray

[CraigE]

Mike, about 81-82 as a kid of 14 on AM. Some friends had home base sets, so a bit of time on these. Then off and on again until present. Lived back there 90-91 so mainly around then. But often there on holidays as Murray Bridge is home and normally with a AM/USB/LSB or UHF CB in the car. Even in WA had a license for several years before it was abolished.
Now there are just tossers on it all the time that have no idea. Most get rather agressive now when you tell them to tone it down.

Oh yes... I remember those days well....

Adelaide, and Spectrum :cool:

Mate... we use to set up at Mt Lofty (prior to that abomination being built) with a 3 element beam (with rotator) AND a 27meg Homebase antenna mounted on the CAR!

When were you in Adelaide and on 27 meg? What years?

[BMKal]

I used to be in Adelaide on am and SSB late 70's / early 80's - mainly down south around Christies / Morphett Vale. Local radio inspector in those days was Arnie - Red Indian 109 - he wasn't a bad bloke. Used to be good fun in those days but eventually got over-run by the idiot brigade.

Last time I used am was when I had a Pilot Vehicle business about 10 years ago. Interesting to hear that the am's quietened down again now and a few more sensible people back on it. I've still got a couple of sets in the shed including an old Kraco - think I've got an aerial somewhere too. Might set one up in the shed and see what's going on out there now.

And as for sitting up on top of Mt Lofty with a yagi Tombraider - well that's bloody disgraceful ha ha. We only used to sit up on the hill above the cement works near Brighton with a 9 foot stainless whip and a linear amp in the car - wouldn't dream of doing anything illegal.

I'll never forget the day that a mate of my then girlfriend's (now wife's) brother drover under the tram lines at Jetty Rd / Brighton Rd in a Morris 1100 with a 9 foot stainless whip mounted on a roof rack in the centre of the car. Fried all the electrics in the car (lucky it didn't catch fire), held up traffic while they were "rescued", and then got charged by the cops - real winner he was.

[tombraider]

I used to be in Adelaide on am and SSB late 70's / early 80's - mainly down south around Christies / Morphett Vale. Local radio inspector in those days was Arnie - Red Indian 109 - he wasn't a bad bloke. Used to be good fun in those days but eventually got over-run by the idiot brigade.



Good old Arnie!

Some brilliant songs about him were written!

Then there was the "Little Black Duck" - John...
And a few others!

Certainly was a laugh back then!