I recently bought a parts lot. In it was a nice CB radio and all the trimmings. It got me thinking…is there still an active communty of over-the-road folks that still use these. I remember back in 1978 it was all the rage. You could monitor where all the “smokies” were by having their “40”.
Truckers still use them, but only to BS. I used to use one when travelling (RVing), but it got so bad with all the crappy chatting that I quit; haven’t used it now for probably the past 10 years.
I know some of the kids still use them in their 4 x 4’s.
Had one back around 78. I was the “Silver Streak”.
Had one in late '70’s-early 80’s. Went by Stray Cat…
Had one in the 80’s as well, just used it for road trips and the late night entertainment was usually pretty good in the days before satalite radio.
A buddy of mine used the CB (still does) at his hunting camp for entertainment.
he was soooo peeed one night he kept calling the forence camp, and wondering why every time he did that the air traffic would abruptly die…
took another buddy to ask him why he was calling his own camp… 
Seems that the lot lizards at truck stops still find CB’s to be a pretty useful device… good buddy.
Wow, CB; haven’t listened to one of those in years. Used to be pretty active back in High School. Oh yeeeeaaaaaah, Cobra SSB base rig, D&A Phantom “leen-yar” with enough 6L6 sweep tubes to keep my room 5-10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house, big ol’ honkin’ “Super Penetrator 2” antenna…
snicker…DD said “Super Penetrator”…
I have one in a box somewhere in my garage. Casual user back in the late 70s.
It was the “Super Penetrator 2, an improved Penetrator! 22’, 9-1/2” vertical radiator (the “main shaft”, heh-heh) and four 9-1/2’ horizantal radiators. Shove about 450 watts from the D&A into that big ol’ hunk of aluminum, and you were going to be heard, period!" 
CB’s are still used here in South Carolina but mostly for hunting if I had to guess. Hunters that run deer with dogs fill the air wave every Saturday during hunting season.
Steven
A Super Penetrator? 
I still have a cobra set up out in the barn with a shakesphere antennae and 500 watt linear. Don’t use it like I used to and I did have on in my first cougar. All of us did back then. Now a lot of the diehards have went to ham but there are still quite a few on the CB. Truckers still use them but with cell phones not so much.
Who you callin’ a die-hard??? (I wouldn’t say anything, but I think the statute of limitations has run out on the antics of my ‘wild & wooly days’.)
K**BDP (Stars because I’m not quite sure on the Statute of Limitations… but it WAS over 20 years ago!)
Woah, 6L6 tubes in a transmitting amp?!? That’s funny to me. I have a box with a ton of 6L6’s in it. That’s the standard power tube used in almost every Fender guitar or bass amp since the 50’s and still today. Ampeg too, most of their amps are 6L6 based, going back to the 50’s as well.
Good tube, but I prefer EL34’s. 
Can I download an app that will show me where the speed traps are?
This was the real beauty of a CB radio. LMAO regarding your modern technology comment!
Yup, I eventually had “upgraded” the Phantom to 6L6GC’s; lost a little of the “top end”, but she’d “swing” better in the transition from lower to higher output as your voice went from soft to loud; due to the faster fluctuations out of the power supply with the configuration of the cathodes. 6L6’s were used by the millions in of TV’s as the horizontal output “sweep” tube; the GC’s faster transition made for less flicker on the screen. They were usually operating at 4.5Mhz in TV’s; both the audio frequencies and the 14-30 MHz radio frequencies were technically out of their bandwidth, but their inefficiencies were blown away by their low cost. Fender Bassman 50’s used two tubes, the Bassman 100’s used 4; there was a Bassman 75 for a while, but it didn’t sell so well after guys figured out that the 50 used the same power supply as the 75, and all the chassis locations were already punched to install another tube!
6L6’s were used A LOT in Amateur Radio transmitters (and amplifiers) - again, they were cheap - but they were a bear to keep from overdriving, especially at the higher frequencies. So manufacturer’s developed and started using tubes like the 6146 in transmitters, because they were designed to operate at 7MHz and above; they really didn’t work very well (if at all) down in the audio range.
Hold on to those 6L6’s! They’re the equivalent to a 427 FE engine - the ones that still work are very rare, and they just aren’t being made any more at all.
Actually the 6146 was used in one audio amp that’s pretty famous and that is the original SVT bass amp from 1969. I have one of these, first-year, blue-line graphics. Only musical instrument amp I’m aware of that used 6146’s. And they only used them for about a year. Then they switched to 6550/KT88’s and the SVT became the standard for bass amps, it’s pretty much the bass amp.
I used to have a '72 SVT and I had a '66 Bassman (50w) as well, but I sold them, along with a bunch of other amps, about a month ago. The money I got for all those amps is what paid for my Cougar. I think I’m down to about 15 amps now, give or take. But I’m up to 1 Cougar, which makes it all more than worthwhile!!