Did anyone have a CB radio when they were young?

[Asta19]

I was reading a thread about a teenager being up too late on their smartphone and it got me thinking how I spent many a night in my teens staying up too late on the CB! People talk like teenagers being able to chat until late in the night is a new thing but I was doing it in the 80s. I remember once being in huge trouble as I’d been chatting to a boy and, unknown to me, my dad had been listening in on his CB in the car! But I do have fond memories of using it. It was such a novelty being able to chat with friends with no parents moaning about the cost of phone calls!

I still want one - do they even exist and where would you buy one from? 😂

ha yes I did! I'm not telling you my handle though lol

I think they do still sell them but would anyone be on there or would you be met with radio silence? Its probably a niche hobby now. One where you couldn’t mention it on MN as it would be “outing”

Oh yes, my family had one but I flatly refused to talk on it. The rest of them loved it and talked all the time, even arranged to meet people - and now they have a meltdown if they think my DS is talking to anyone he doesn't know on his gaming console - a bit of double standards there, although as you mention back then everyone could listen in if they found the right channel you were on lol

Yes, we used to have one, used to spend hours talking on it. There were loads of local people who had them. I was Dangermouse.

I think you could find the active channels by signal strength. Some people if their signal was stronger than yours would 'overkey' you just to be annoying or to prove they had a bigger 'twig'

I had one! Kept me sane through a messy divorce and I loved it. Once I was driving along the M4 in a bit of a state and a lorry driver gave me a shout, chatted and told me to tuck my car in behind him and he would take me a short cut across London; he was so kind.

It was a real little community and I got addicted for a while, to the extent of buying a highly illegal set, sitting parked on top of a hill and talking to someone in Australia. I still have the card to prove it :)

I did!

It was so much fun! I certainly never had any problems with people being nasty or inappropriate.

I used to love my CB radio I was She-Devil and used to arrange meet ups with boys. I remember once going into town to finally meet a guy who sounded so nice to talk to but was butt ugly and I made my excuses really quickly and left. Think he was very hurt and I still feel bad about it. Ah those were the days

my brother and his chums had them, they'd have been 11 or 12! My mother was on tenterhooks that somehow they'd all be arrested, I don't think they were quite legal

anyway, no one really wanted to chat to 11 year old boys so I'd have to go on "10-4 for a copy" and then have a chat with some random older teen who would be really keen as he thought he'd found a girlfriend, and would make small talk with my brother on the off chance

it all went a bit quiet when the local postmistress caught her sons talking to god knows who about her husband being away, and that it was just her and the boys in the flat above the shop, and generally being very loose lipped about deliveries and money! I think the police went to the school with the precursor to " internet safety/stranger danger" speech!

We have one,DH has tuned it into the police and fire frequency’s. It’s fascinating knowing what is going on in the area.

I got one for my 13th birthday, had a mag mount aerial in the loft, it was a Fidelity 3000
My call sign was Blue Tiger, I'm 53 this year

yes, I did from being about 14, wasn't supposed to but used to sneak on a friends.
I had several handles one was Burning Lady

* On the side*
Yep we had them throughout my childhood.
I got my own CB and met my dp. We had an eyeball in about 1993 and after us both having a relationship with other cb mates (and a very brief relationship with each other at the start) we finally got together in 1999. 3 kids and 20 years later were still together!

19 a Roger!

Oh yes!!

Kids think they know it all but we were first

My friend and I used to meet up with people boys !!

My mates big brother (swoon) had one. He gave me a "handle" and let me speak to his mates once (double swoon)

I had one. Used to do fox hunting with it back in the 90s. All CBers would gather in a car park at 10pm on designated night. One would get half hour to go hide and then give a cryptic clue for area hidden. The rest would use their CB and follow the needle to find them!
My handle was Tigger.

Oh wow fox hunts, use to go on all night right through to nearly 6/7 am the good old days

Remember we parked up in a barn with the doors closed, and bales of hay to hide the brake lights/headlights which you has to flash on request

Did anyone else go on convoys at all

Yep. My friend had her one on the police frequency as well

I did - haven’t thought about it in years, yet my handle came right back into my mind. Probably about 35 years since I last did it too!

I’m loving all these stories. It was such a fun time for us back then. Glad I wasn’t the only one that used it to talk to boys!

I used to talk to boys too - only met one once. Such a disappointment!

I was @officegirl

We had them at school, I think they belonged to a teacher. No safeguarding issues in allowing teenage girls to talk to strangers at all in the 1980s, it's never been thought of.