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Citizens Band Radio and Geocaching


Klatch

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For a while now, the threads about power trails and the numbers game have had me thinking about the Citizens Band radio craze from back in the 70’s. I realize most of you following this thread aren’t even old enough to remember when folks other than truck drivers used CB radios.

When I obtained my first CB radio I had to apply and pay for a license to operate the radio. Everyone signed on and off with their FCC designated call sign. We asked permission to enter an existing conversation (“break”). We were a small, tight knit community. We had chat sessions with real chat! We even held events where we swapped stories about our adventures on the CB radio.

It wasn’t long before the hobby truly became a craze. New operators no longer bothered to obtain a license and the FCC did not have the manpower to enforce their rules. The license requirement was simply dropped. The channels soon became so crowded with users talking over top of each other that CB radio became virtually unusable. The early adopters quit in disgust and the noobs soon got bored with it and quit, too. How many people other than truckers still use CB radio?

I see parallels between CB and geocaching and sometimes wonder if geocaching is facing such an implosion from its own success. I hope not, give me reasons to think it won't.

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There is a large difference between CB and Geocaching. Geocaching isn't a more noob friendly version of some other activity like CB was to Amateur Radio. Those that where serious about the good old days of CB moved on and got there HAM radio license and moved up to a more advanced activity. I have no doubt that if Geocaching starts to devolve into the kind of mess that CB became that a new and more stringent version of the game will come to life. But we still have a very active and dedicated community here that is doing all they can to keep that sort of thing from happening. Your thread here is a good example of this.

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I don't think so. For instance, I never go to events, I rarely "team up" with anyone to go caching, and I'm only in the forums to gain some perspective and to while away the hours at work. For me, Geocaching is largely a solitary experience. I don't rely on other people doing things in a certain way for me to have fun doing it my way. If it reached such a saturation point that all of the current caches were archived, or I had already found, and all the new caches were of pretty low quality or constantly muggled, I might drop out. But that's sort of an end-of-times scenario. There are still tons of great caches out there for me to find, and I don't really need anyone else to participate in any way for me to do that, at least not for the forseeable future.

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There is a large difference between CB and Geocaching. Geocaching isn't a more noob friendly version of some other activity like CB was to Amateur Radio. Those that where serious about the good old days of CB moved on and got there HAM radio license and moved up to a more advanced activity. I have no doubt that if Geocaching starts to devolve into the kind of mess that CB became that a new and more stringent version of the game will come to life. But we still have a very active and dedicated community here that is doing all they can to keep that sort of thing from happening. Your thread here is a good example of this.

 

I see some parallels between the evolution and eventual demise of CB radio and a potential future of Geocaching. I think Geocaching certainly is a noob friendly activity with ties to more traditional outdoor activities. Many of us could return to those roots if the quality of the Geocaching experience was to degenerate into a sea of mundane caches.

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CB radios are still used quite a bit in my area. Most of the locals have certin channels that they operate on. Channel 19 is known as the business channel, and is only used when on the road, conversations are taken to other channels after contact is made. Most users are 11 meter outlaws using 500-2000k watts just to communicate 10 miles or less. Many operate on the 10 meter band. USB and LSB users are few. Nothing uncommon to see a Antron 99 sticking up about any place. Some Ham operators have antenna farms, but most operators use modifyed export radios. Galaxy, Rangers, Texas Star, Magnums, you name it. The Cobra 29 LTD and Uniden Pro 510 XL are the most common mobiles that are peaked and tweaked. Wilson seems to be the favorite over the K-40 mobile antennas. You think the forums are bad, turning on a CB radio in some neighborhoods are like lifting the lid off of a garbage can. But it is still not as boring as listing to the Ham operators. I guess that I'm still a little upset over the incident in Granada when the Ham operator let the world know that the US was invading.

I see geocaching the same way as CB radios were bak in the 1970's, it is just a growing fade. It will fade out, but not go away completly.

Edited by Manville Possum Hunters
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Back on topic, I've often wondered about the future in much the same way as my respected fellow Pennsylvanians Klatch and Ed Scott have posted about.

 

There is a large difference between CB and Geocaching. Geocaching isn't a more noob friendly version of some other activity like CB was to Amateur Radio. Those that where serious about the good old days of CB moved on and got there HAM radio license and moved up to a more advanced activity.

Here, I would analogize to smartphone geocachers being like newbie CB operators in the mid/late 1970's, and serious geocachers with DeLorme PN-60's being like Ham Radio licensees.

I have no doubt that if Geocaching starts to devolve into the kind of mess that CB became that a new and more stringent version of the game will come to life.

The analogy here would be Terracaching.com. That didn't work out so well, so perhaps we aren't that far along on Snoogans' Event Horizon after all.

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For a while now, the threads about power trails and the numbers game have had me thinking about the Citizens Band radio craze from back in the 70’s. I realize most of you following this thread aren’t even old enough to remember when folks other than truck drivers used CB radios.

When I obtained my first CB radio I had to apply and pay for a license to operate the radio. Everyone signed on and off with their FCC designated call sign. We asked permission to enter an existing conversation (“break”). We were a small, tight knit community. We had chat sessions with real chat! We even held events where we swapped stories about our adventures on the CB radio.

It wasn’t long before the hobby truly became a craze. New operators no longer bothered to obtain a license and the FCC did not have the manpower to enforce their rules. The license requirement was simply dropped. The channels soon became so crowded with users talking over top of each other that CB radio became virtually unusable. The early adopters quit in disgust and the noobs soon got bored with it and quit, too. How many people other than truckers still use CB radio?

I see parallels between CB and geocaching and sometimes wonder if geocaching is facing such an implosion from its own success. I hope not, give me reasons to think it won't.

 

I can only hope that your scenario plays out soon, and as quickly as possible so the rest of us can get back to "the good old days".

 

I still have a CB, and I paid for my license...but danged if I can remember my callsign.

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CB radios are still used quite a bit in my area. Most of the locals have certin channels that they operate on. Channel 19 is known as the business channel, and is only used when on the road, conversations are taken to other channels after contact is made. Most users are 11 meter outlaws using 500-2000k watts just to communicate 10 miles or less. Many operate on the 10 meter band. USB and LSB users are few. Nothing uncommon to see a Antron 99 sticking up about any place. Some Ham operators have antenna farms, but most operators use modifyed export radios. Galaxy, Rangers, Texas Star, Magnums, you name it. The Cobra 29 LTD and Uniden Pro 510 XL are the most common mobiles that are peaked and tweaked. Wilson seems to be the favorite over the K-40 mobile antennas. You think the forums are bad, turning on a CB radio in some neighborhoods are like lifting the lid off of a garbage can. But it is still not as boring as listing to the Ham operators. I guess that I'm still a little upset over the incident in Granada when the Ham operator let the world know that the US was invading.

 

Yeah, what he said :) I lost you after Channel 19. My radio is out in a cabinet in the garage, Every once in a while I plug it in, just to listen to the Interstate traffic. Never all that interesting cause no one is in range for more than a few minutes.

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Back on topic, I've often wondered about the future in much the same way as my respected fellow Pennsylvanians Klatch and Ed Scott have posted about.

 

There is a large difference between CB and Geocaching. Geocaching isn't a more noob friendly version of some other activity like CB was to Amateur Radio. Those that where serious about the good old days of CB moved on and got there HAM radio license and moved up to a more advanced activity.

Here, I would analogize to smartphone geocachers being like newbie CB operators in the mid/late 1970's, and serious geocachers with DeLorme PN-60's being like Ham Radio licensees.

I have no doubt that if Geocaching starts to devolve into the kind of mess that CB became that a new and more stringent version of the game will come to life.

The analogy here would be Terracaching.com. That didn't work out so well, so perhaps we aren't that far along on Snoogans' Event Horizon after all.

 

Hello Keystone,

I don't want this thread to go off topic. But as I understand the OP's question they compared CB radios and geocaching. I was a CB operator and I still use the 11 meter band. Many of us CB users moved on to become Ham operators when the Morse Code was dropped to get a tech operators permit. We moved to bigger things, but personally I got bored with all the formal things. Do you see geocaching going the same way? Like the OP states, the site got too big to be properly enforced by the FCC. I see the same thing happing with this site. No disrespect intended to you, so please don't take my post as a insult to you or the GC moderating team.

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2b468bf7-a1be-47ac-a8c8-986e65a6a705.jpg

 

In the Jeep which we use for 4x4 geocaching.

 

Rarely do I use it on the open roads these days unless our group is convoying to the trail head. The radio is generally until AROUND sundown then the cottonpickers "shooting skip" can be heard. In the mountains, they can be heard loud and clear and quite a few have very strong language. Back in the days, if somebody got on and used colorful language, the community would comment to them about it and that the radio is used by family members. Sound familiar?

For the most part, the interstate and hiway banter is quiet these days. Gone are the times when the radio was used for avoiding "smokey, the county mounty and the local yokel".

 

 

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Back on topic, I've often wondered about the future in much the same way as my respected fellow Pennsylvanians Klatch and Ed Scott have posted about.

 

There is a large difference between CB and Geocaching. Geocaching isn't a more noob friendly version of some other activity like CB was to Amateur Radio. Those that where serious about the good old days of CB moved on and got there HAM radio license and moved up to a more advanced activity.

Here, I would analogize to smartphone geocachers being like newbie CB operators in the mid/late 1970's, and serious geocachers with DeLorme PN-60's being like Ham Radio licensees.

I have no doubt that if Geocaching starts to devolve into the kind of mess that CB became that a new and more stringent version of the game will come to life.

The analogy here would be Terracaching.com. That didn't work out so well, so perhaps we aren't that far along on Snoogans' Event Horizon after all.

 

A very nice post Leprechauns, I agree. Except for Terracaching. That was started in late 2004, long before the smartphone Geocacher explosion. Forget Garmin, there's always Opencaching.us, which is only 5 months old. C'mon over and try it. There's even a "disclaimer" on the "add a log entry" page that tells you you should leave some feedback for the cache owner, and not just "TFTC". ;)

 

I'm 47, and admit to being one of those punk-arsed teenaged kids who helped ruin CB radio in the 70's. In my defense, I also went on to become a ham. But only with a two year Novice license that expired in like 1979. :o

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2b468bf7-a1be-47ac-a8c8-986e65a6a705.jpg

 

In the Jeep which we use for 4x4 geocaching.

 

Rarely do I use it on the open roads these days unless our group is convoying to the trail head. The radio is generally until AROUND sundown then the cottonpickers "shooting skip" can be heard. In the mountains, they can be heard loud and clear and quite a few have very strong language. Back in the days, if somebody got on and used colorful language, the community would comment to them about it and that the radio is used by family members. Sound familiar?

For the most part, the interstate and hiway banter is quiet these days. Gone are the times when the radio was used for avoiding "smokey, the county mounty and the local yokel".

 

 

We still have a CB in our truck, but in the ATV park where I have listed geocaches hidden we use the GMRS radios. Channel 3 is used to contact someone for help. One of our County mountys is a "good buddy". That is a CB term that has changed meanings scince 1970. These new little GMRS radios are also good for when we hike and geocache in the mountains where cell phones don't work.

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My friends and I used CB radios back in the early 90s when only one of us had a bag phone. We got pretty good range with them. We stopped using them once we went to college and more of us started getting cell phones. Had some good times with the CB back then.

 

I don't see geocaching going the same way. Overcrowding isn't so much of an issue. You don't have to hang antennas off of your vehicle. There still is the opportunity to PO truckers if you're caching near truck stops, I guess.

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In the Jeep which we use for 4x4 geocaching.

 

Rarely do I use it on the open roads these days unless our group is convoying to the trail head. The radio is generally until AROUND sundown then the cottonpickers "shooting skip" can be heard. In the mountains, they can be heard loud and clear and quite a few have very strong language.

 

I also had a few CB radios back in the 70's and can see some other parallels with geocaching.

 

One is that, like geocaching, there was a bit of variety in how one "played the game". There certainly were quite a few that ran large wattage amplifiers, and many that hung around on the busy AM channels and were essentially disruptive to much of the local communication. There was also a subset of the community the primarily hung out on the higher SSB channels and actually attempted to communicate with others and be part of of a community of like minded radio operators. Some people did a bit of both.

 

I also did quite a bit of "shooting skip" and see a parallel with the souvenirs aspect of the geocaching game. I made a few modifications to what was originally a 23 channel SSB radio so that it had a "few" extra channels beyond the "official" FCC CB radio channels. Those frequencies were less used (sort of like a remote geocache) and although it was actually illegal to transmit on those frequencies, those that used them typically were much better behaved than AM radio operations with large wattage amplifiers. The radio that I used was "close" to the legal wattage limit (maybe 15 watts on SSB) but I was able to talk to people all over the world because I built several high gain antennas. "Shooting Skip" is also illegal (you're not supposed to communicate with someone more than 150 miles away) on CB radio bands but extremely common (and legal) for ham radio operators. When making contact with someone from another region contact information was exchanged and operators would often exchange QSL card (sort of like a post card), a practice not that different from collecting geocaching souvenirs.

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Company I drive for uses channel guarded Buisiness Band radios, I can talk to the dispather from 40 miles away which is about the limit of our territory so I'm seldom out of touch. I've had CBs in the past and don't see them getting popular again with cell phones being so prevalent. I don't see Geocaching being in any danger of fading away in the forseeable future though, it is more likely to evolve over time than to die out.

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Dang, we got us here a convoy of opinions.

 

I was 11 when the CB craze hit, and I had to have one. I scrounged up an old base unit in which to change channels one had to change crystals. You had to have two crystals (which were either expensive or hard to find, I don't now remember and I only had about a dozen) one to broadcast and one to receive. I literally had to unplug two crystals, then plug in two more just to change channels. I thought I was hot stuff. I lived about a mile from a major interstate, so it wasn't to bad with my limited crystal supply. The majority of my broadcasting was the sentence "Breaker, breaker. Anyone out there got a 10-23? (the time, if I remember correctly)." What a dumb punk. Then too, I thought I was hot stuff. lol.

 

Not to derail the original topic.

I don't see Geocaching being overwhelmed like the CB fad. I have told dozens of people about my new hobby, and only one has taken much interest. The rest look at me as if I made it up or as if I am stupid for just wanting to look for a cache. They don't get it.

I hate to be a pessimist (well, no I don't), but caching involves physical activity. Too many look at that fact alone as a turn off. Talk about walking in the woods, or riding a bike somewhere, and no one is interested.

Talk about American Idol or Dancing With the Stars, and they are so excited that they can't shut up.

 

Ah, America.

Edited by skullsoup432
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Dang, we got us here a convoy of opinions.

 

<snip> The majority of my broadcasting was the sentence "Breaker, breaker. Anyone out there got a 10-23? (the time, if I remember correctly)." <snip>

 

Ah, America.

10-36 is the time of day code, ya jawjacker! :D:P;)

10-9? Sombody 10-5 for this Cotton-picker, I'm going 10-7 to go geocaching. See you on the flip side good buddy.

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Not to derail the original topic.

I don't see Geocaching being overwhelmed like the CB fad. I have told dozens of people about my new hobby, and only one has taken much interest. The rest look at me as if I made it up or as if I am stupid for just wanting to look for a cache. They don't get it.

I hate to be a pessimist (well, no I don't), but caching involves physical activity. To many look at that fact alone as a turn off. Talk about walking in the woods, or riding a bike somewhere, and no one is interested.

Talk about American Idol or Dancing With the Stars, and they are so excited that they can't shut up.

 

Ah, America.

 

I've seen that myself. I was talking to one of the Drivers at work about geocaching, and as soon as I implied exercise, he lost any and all interest.

 

This thread reminds me of Smokey and the Bandit (90% of my CB experience, though my dad is a Ham).

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Dang, we got us here a convoy of opinions.

 

<snip> The majority of my broadcasting was the sentence "Breaker, breaker. Anyone out there got a 10-23? (the time, if I remember correctly)." <snip>

 

Ah, America.

10-36 is the time of day code, ya jawjacker! :D:P;)

 

lol

 

Yep,10-36, that rings a bell.

I'll bet truckers wanted to ring my bell. Or neck.

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Dang, we got us here a convoy of opinions.

 

<snip> The majority of my broadcasting was the sentence "Breaker, breaker. Anyone out there got a 10-23? (the time, if I remember correctly)." <snip>

 

Ah, America.

10-36 is the time of day code, ya jawjacker! :D:P;)

10-9? Sombody 10-5 for this Cotton-picker, I'm going 10-7 to go geocaching. See you on the flip side good buddy.

 

 

I'm just glad my Geomate has a preloaded 10-20 for me. I do hate the 10-19s though, then I gotta log a DNF.

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I still have a CB, and I paid for my license...but danged if I can remember my callsign.

 

I can, KKC3442, known as "Cyclone". yep, dem were the days. :lol:

KSR5659

I can too. KBC2186 aka Stump Jumper. We CB'ers and geocachers both use hanldes to keep our ID's private. If I gave you my Ham call sign you could look me up on the internet, but I am a private person.

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Yeah, I can see similarities between CB radio and Geocaching.

 

Of course, I made the same connection between CB radio and the Internet so I wouldn't put much faith in my opinion. :laughing:

 

"Sure, the Internet is a fad, just like CB radio was in the 1970's. Sure, it's popular now but in a few years it will go back into the hands of the few people who actually need it." --Dan Overes, circa. 1995

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My CB experience was different than most and does in some ways mimic my geocaching experience. When I arrived at my duty station in Fairbanks in 1972 I was told to get a CB ASAP. Almost everyone had one in their vehicle and many had units in their homes. No one, and I mean no one, had a license and most of the units were "overclocked" to use today's computer parlance. In general, the principal purpose of these units was survival (yes, youngsters, there was a time before cell phones.) There was a sense of community, of looking out for one another. If you were going on a trip (and a trip of 5 miles in winter could be an adventure) you checked in with one of your CB buddies and maybe several more as you traveled along. If you had a mishap, you could count on someone hearing your call and coming for you themselves or sending help. The local authorities also monitored the common contact channel. The FCC went after some egregious violators whose signal would walk all over everybody but they were the exception. Of course the radios were also social media and personal news and events information were exchanged (politely, no foul language.) When I got back to the lower 48 a few years later, I encountered the Smokey and the Bandit mentality and never used the rig again.

 

The similarities with geocaching here in south Jersey involve that sense of community. I casually know many of my local geocachers and have come to know that most of them are good people that enjoy the game. The game brings us together socially at times. We tend to watch out for each other (the Wharton tract has some vehicle eating areas) and maintain an informal rescue network. In addition, we look out for each others caches and most help out with maintenance without a lot of NM logs getting published. As long as that sense of community, mixed with enough recognition that we all play the game a little differently, continues, I'll be geocaching for a long time.

 

I wonder if the CB still has that special place in the lives of central Alaskans?

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My CB experience was different than most and does in some ways mimic my geocaching experience. When I arrived at my duty station in Fairbanks in 1972 I was told to get a CB ASAP. Almost everyone had one in their vehicle and many had units in their homes. No one, and I mean no one, had a license and most of the units were "overclocked" to use today's computer parlance. In general, the principal purpose of these units was survival (yes, youngsters, there was a time before cell phones.) There was a sense of community, of looking out for one another. If you were going on a trip (and a trip of 5 miles in winter could be an adventure) you checked in with one of your CB buddies and maybe several more as you traveled along. If you had a mishap, you could count on someone hearing your call and coming for you themselves or sending help. The local authorities also monitored the common contact channel. The FCC went after some egregious violators whose signal would walk all over everybody but they were the exception. Of course the radios were also social media and personal news and events information were exchanged (politely, no foul language.) When I got back to the lower 48 a few years later, I encountered the Smokey and the Bandit mentality and never used the rig again.

 

The similarities with geocaching here in south Jersey involve that sense of community. I casually know many of my local geocachers and have come to know that most of them are good people that enjoy the game. The game brings us together socially at times. We tend to watch out for each other (the Wharton tract has some vehicle eating areas) and maintain an informal rescue network. In addition, we look out for each others caches and most help out with maintenance without a lot of NM logs getting published. As long as that sense of community, mixed with enough recognition that we all play the game a little differently, continues, I'll be geocaching for a long time.

 

I wonder if the CB still has that special place in the lives of central Alaskans?

We still use CB as a means of contact here in the Coal fields of Virginia. Geocaching is little known here. When I shot skip most of it came from South of the US, and winter was the best time to communicate just after sundown. Sometimes when a big cold front would come in we could communicate with Canada, but seldom. My friends in Mexico still have a village CB. I do not think they know about geocaching. I see some caches listed in Mexico City and around some of the tourist resorts.

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I don't think so. For instance, I never go to events, I rarely "team up" with anyone to go caching, and I'm only in the forums to gain some perspective and to while away the hours at work.

 

+1 Almost exactly. I get all the social interaction that I need in other areas of my life. While my wife will occasionally join me and I love it when she does, for the most part it's just me....

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I see few parallels between geocaching and radio.

 

I see more of a relationship between the internet and particularly in forums and radio.

 

As CB grew through the '60s it became the first real opportunity that most Americans had to communicate anonymously. When CBs were allowed to be sold at retail with no ownership tracking or license enforcement we had suddenly a tool that allowed behavior which theretofore would not have been possible. That freedom unleashed anarchy as FCC control of the airwaves failed. Racism that usually lurked just below the visible public surface burst into the light of day. Race baiting and hate speech was uncontrollable in an anonymous environment, and it remains beyond control on today's CB airwaves. Tiny little pantywaists with poor self-esteem who would never dream of allowing themselves to get into a fist fight could insult and inflame no-neck muscle-bound truckers with no fear that they'd get pounded into the ground. This brought out the 'little man' complex in an unfortunate number of individuals which led to an aura on the airwaves of constantly looking to pick a fight. In this way anonymity led a few, and I stress few, to ruin the pleasure of CB radio for the many.

 

CB radio, however, flourishes. It remains a wonderful widely used communications medium for many purposes. In fact the cesspool atmosphere of CB is soon lost once you leave the interstates in urban centers behind. The perception that CB has become useless is incorrect. If there is a nexus between CB and geocaching it perhaps lies with this misconception. The few 'bad guys' of CB have unfairly colored the public's perception of CB and the bad guys of geocaching could affect the image of geocaching in the same way. Good behavior doesn't sell newspapers, as it were.

 

Anyone who didn't see that same but on a larger scale coming with the anonymous internet wasn't thinking it through. The vast majority of the ills of the internet are directly attributable to anonymity and lack of moderation. Anyone who has anything of value to add to the internet takes ownership of and responsibility for their contributions; thus, despite the dreck quality information prevails, particularly when attribution and moderation are provided.

 

Which leads us to this forum. Though our user names give us a degree of anonymity from one another Groundspeak knows who we are, or at least has control of our accounts. Our speech is moderated by an established set of rules which are enforced by Moderators, thus ensuring a civil environment. This forum then works for the very reasons that CB does not.

 

Extending that metaphor to the game of geocaching itself we do as players have anonymity and lack moderation (oversight) in our daily geocaching activities. As in CB we have a small population behaving badly which is an irritant to the many while having a majority who police themselves. As with CBers the geocacher ranks are filled with good people doing good things. Our mission must be to continue to police the game for bad actors and never let them become the public image of the game. Continue to emphasize and publish the good of the game and a positive public perception will overcome any negatives.

 

73 de W4AGA

Edited by TheAlabamaRambler
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I am a geocacher who also owns a CB in my truck...the difference in this day I find is that noone uses CB anymore.....on a rare occasion I will come across a conversation, but my antenna is lite because I do not drive a big rig, and its just for personal use....I find I use the NOAA weather band switch on my CB more often than the channels, which I use when geocaching particularly if I dont want to get caught in the 'middle of no where looking for a tupperware box in the rain'...at least the NOAA band helps me pack my bag correctly....on the CB note, I live in Rhode Island....One time I was driving north into Massachusetts to catch RT 90 to New York when an accident caused miles of traffic.... the CB was useful to know what lane to be in, and what and whereabouts the incident occured.... Besides that one instance, only when I drive down south do I find people still using the CB, and usually get some crazed drunk sounding trucker singing with his echo box and his 20ft tall antenna to blast out anyone else.....I figure Ch. 9 is still used for emergency, but it is a dying form of communication with cellphones around and about... and for the record, Im in my late 20's..... I grew up with a Household CB where my dad was 'the Galloping Gourmet' in Waterboro Maine, back when you knew everyone in town....

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I see few parallels between geocaching and radio.

 

I see more of a relationship between the internet and particularly in forums and radio.

 

As CB grew through the '60s it became the first real opportunity that most Americans had to communicate anonymously. When CBs were allowed to be sold at retail with no ownership tracking or license enforcement we had suddenly a tool that allowed behavior which theretofore would not have been possible. That freedom unleashed anarchy as FCC control of the airwaves failed. Racism that usually lurked just below the visible public surface burst into the light of day. Race baiting and hate speech was uncontrollable in an anonymous environment, and it remains beyond control on today's CB airwaves. Tiny little pantywaists with poor self-esteem who would never dream of allowing themselves to get into a fist fight could insult and inflame no-neck muscle-bound truckers with no fear that they'd get pounded into the ground. This brought out the 'little man' complex in an unfortunate number of individuals which led to an aura on the airwaves of constantly looking to pick a fight. In this way anonymity led a few, and I stress few, to ruin the pleasure of CB radio for the many.

 

Breaker 1-9 this is Candy Cane. Rusty Nail are you out there? :ph34r::ph34r::ph34r::D

 

This is like some kinda prehistoric Internet

 

When I was 14, I got a 40 channel Craig base station for christmas, had it tuned up to 16 watts or so, and met quite a few other kids. However the next door neighbor started complaining that I was coming through his Marantz stereo system, and an old guy started stalking a bunch of us because he thought we were throwing dead carriers on him, and he eventually called the FCC. We also got into a fight with another kid, so he started to tape record us and replay it as if it was us, so we snuck over to his house and switched his phone lines with his next door neighbor's as a joke. There was also a creepy dude in his 20s that wanted to hang out with us. Yeah it's a bit like the internet. :D

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OMG, Rusty Nail was one of my CB friends bach in the day. It is kinda like the internet but more up close and personal. We used to do dumb things just to make other users mad. Back in the day when we used transistors I would make a type of dead key device out of a baby food jar and some batterys and drop it off close to someones 10-20 just to plug their ears. We had alot of fun making each other mad. My base antenna even took some enemy fire that blew off a drooper. We used to host "Coffee Breaks" kinda like geocache events now days just to attract attention. Thing is, our CB's only so far........ and sooner or later we all knew each other. Now days with the internet you have no idea who the users are.

Maybe that is a good thing, nobody really gets hurt.

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OMG, Rusty Nail was one of my CB friends bach in the day. It is kinda like the internet but more up close and personal. We used to do dumb things just to make other users mad. Back in the day when we used transistors I would make a type of dead key device out of a baby food jar and some batterys and drop it off close to someones 10-20 just to plug their ears. We had alot of fun making each other mad. My base antenna even took some enemy fire that blew off a drooper. We used to host "Coffee Breaks" kinda like geocache events now days just to attract attention. Thing is, our CB's only so far........ and sooner or later we all knew each other. Now days with the internet you have no idea who the users are.

Maybe that is a good thing, nobody really gets hurt.

 

"Rusty Nail" was from Joy Ride which is where the quote was from, and I cant believe it's been out 10 years already.

My handle used to be Barracuda.

Edited by 4wheelin_fool
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You'd be surprised how many of us 4 wheelers (cars in CB lingo) have radios. Just the last time I was on the turnpike I saw at last a dozen pickup trucks and a few sedans with antennas. When I go out caching, I roll with a CB radio in my car as well as a handheld. I can't imagine NOT having a CB when on major interstates. You get to hear where the cops are sitting as well as weather and traffic reports directly from the truckers in the middle of it. Of course when we go to our own operations (car to mobile) we don't walk all over ch 19, we switch to 15 which is relatively unused. It's an EXTREMELY useful tool when with a group, especially if one of the people is prone to saying "Well, I'm not doing THIS one, I'll wait in the car.", you have a communications line with them, which allows parking to be a little more liberal (if the car needs to be moved, they can move it and inform you)

 

Outside of truckers, hobbyists CB'ers are clearly still out there. When the skip rolls in, every channel is packed, especially 6 which I understand is the high-power (illegal but they do it) calling channel. Under normal conditions, you won't hear much outside of 19, sometimes 17.

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I made contact with another CB operator today. There seems to be less users now than there were three years ago when I used my base unit. Even 40 and 80 meters seem to be used less. Channel 6 is still ruled by 11 meter outlaws, those are some of the ONLY operators that I can recieve from North of my location. I do wonder where geocaching will be in twenty years. Most of my geofriends are middle aged adults.

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Ah, breaker one-nine, this here's the Rubber Duck. You gotta copy on me, Pig Pen, c'mon? Ah, yeah, 10-4, Pig Pen, fer shure, fer shure. By golly, it's clean clear to Flag Town, c'mon. Yeah, that's a big 10-4 there, Pig Pen, yeah, we definitely got the front door, good buddy. Mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy...

 

Was the dark of the moon on the sixth of June

In a Kenworth pullin' logs

Cab-over Pete with a reefer on

And a Jimmy haulin' hogs

We is headin' for bear on I-one-oh

'Bout a mile outta Shaky Town

I says, "Pig Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck.

"And I'm about to put the hammer down."

 

Ah, breaker, Pig Pen, this here's the Duck. And, you wanna back off them hogs? Yeah, 10-4, 'bout five mile or so. Ten, roger. Them hogs is gettin' in-tense up here.

 

By the time we got into Tulsa Town,

We had eighty-five trucks in all.

But they's a roadblock up on the cloverleaf,

And them bears was wall-to-wall.

Yeah, them smokies is thick as bugs on a bumper;

They even had a bear in the air!

I says, "Callin' all trucks, this here's the Duck.

"We about to go a-huntin' bear."

 

Ah, you wanna give me a 10-9 on that, Pig Pen? Negatory, Pig Pen; you're still too close. Yeah, them hogs is startin' to close up my sinuses. Mercy sakes, you better back off another ten.

 

Well, we rolled up Interstate 44

Like a rocket sled on rails.

We tore up all of our swindle sheets,

And left 'em settin' on the scales.

By the time we hit that Chi-town,

Them bears was a-gettin' smart:

They'd brought up some reinforcements

From the Illinois National Guard.

There's armored cars, and tanks, and jeeps,

And rigs of ev'ry size.

Yeah, them chicken coops was full'a bears

And choppers filled the skies.

Well, we shot the line and we went for broke

With a thousand screamin' trucks

An' eleven long-haired Friends a' Jesus

In a chartreuse micra-bus.

 

Ah, Rubber Duck to Sodbuster, come over. Yeah, 10-4, Sodbuster? Lissen, you wanna put that micra-bus in behind that suicide jockey? Yeah, he's haulin' dynamite, and he needs all the help he can get.

 

Well, we laid a strip for the Jersey shore

And prepared to cross the line

I could see the bridge was lined with bears

But I didn't have a dog-goned dime.

I says, "Pig Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck.

"We just ain't a-gonna pay no toll."

So we crashed the gate doing ninety-eight

I says "Let them truckers roll, 10-4."

 

Ah, 10-4, Pig Pen, what's your twenty?

OMAHA? Well, they oughta know what to do with them hogs out there fer shure. Well, mercy

sakes, good buddy, we gonna back on outta here, so keep the bugs off your glass and the bears off your...

tail. We'll catch you on the flip-flop. This here's the Rubber Duck on the side. We gone. 'Bye,'bye.

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