CB

Breaker 1-9, 1-9 for a Copy. Is anyone out there…..?

No. Nope. Nada. No-one and nothing is out there! Frankly, a disastrous purchase. I beg all of you to rush out and buy a ‘rig’ just so we can have some free chatting whilst adventuring. Aside from a couple of mental Gloucestershire farmers and the odd Polish trucker, we have not picked up anything on our little Cobra 19 DX IV EU Citizens Band (CB, for those in the know) radio.

My idea of 1970’s ‘Convoy’ style Rubber Duck action has been dashed by the mobile phone. I even had a special steel bracket made that fits behind the spare wheel of the Freelander to hold the antenna (let me know if you want one, they can be made to order for a very reasonable price). To make this work, I had to attach an Artificial Ground Plane which can be purchased online. It looks very cool and when you go to car parks with low ceilings, the antenna sparks like a dodgem!

2021 Update: We have tested all the CB’s (we now have 4 in total – those being a Midland Alan 78 Plus Multi, a Midland Alan 42 Multi handheld, the original Cobra 19 DX IV EU and a Thunderpole T-800), and they all work fine. We are using the Thunderpole rig as a Base Station at home, as being near the M1, we hope to pick up some trucking chatter! In the meantime, we are always listening out on channel 19 should you care to make contact. I will also be doing a larger piece on this long forgotten communication medium as I think it deserves a resurgence!

2023 Update: I have given the Cobra away to an American friend of mine who lives locally for his Pick-Up Truck. I had also acquired a Thunderpole T-3000 which we had used in the Discovery Sport whilst travelling around Scotland in 2021. This set is now in the Freelander. The Midland Alan 78 is now in the Transit Van, and the portable goes with us in whichever vehicle we are in.

2024 Update: The van has gone so the Midland Alan 78 is now spare. I also acquired a Thunderpole portable rig, so we now have two portables, which kind of makes more sense. I also had several conversations whilst the van was alive, so people are using them again!

Posted 25th May 2017