Groovy. You bet.

I come from a generation that had phones that were stuck on walls, and the idea of a cell phone was a science fiction adventure on Star Trek. In fact, our house had a rotary dial phone that was stuck on the wall in the kitchen.

It was yellow.

It fit in the orange decour with the olive colored refrigerator, and stove, and the red countertops.

Back in those days, I didn’t use the phone often. My sister was the one hogging up the phone all the time.

Oh, did she have a gift for chatting away. It got to be so bad that my father bought an extra one for her to use so that “she would get out of our hair” in the kitchen all the time.

She treated the telephone as her own private kingdom. Outside our local township, the phone rates were extremely enormous (this was before the breakup of “Ma Bell”) and to call a girlfriend in Pittsburgh (around a 2-hour drive away) would cost me more than what I could make a week in the mines and the grocery store combined.

So it was special.

Indeed, the two most important items in the household were the telephone and the television.

We got five channels on the television!

We were fortunate.

In Pittsburgh, my grandparents were lucky to get two. Or course, as a growing boy, the refrigerator and microwave fought for those top spots.

I must have eaten my weight in food many times a week. I was always scrounging in the ‘fridge for some leftover pot roast to make up a sandwich with cheese and microwave it in the “microwave oven” as we called it then.

Then later, when I was around 16 years old or so, I discovered girls, FM music, cars and alcohol.

Not all at once, mind you, but all within months of each other. (Truth be told, I had an interest in the old throwaway Playboy magazines that I scrounged in the garbage cans since I was five years old, but it wasn’t until when I hit 16 did everything “come together”.)

My life has never been the same since.

You know, or should rightfully assume, I was a pretty groovy guy.

I had bell bottom pants, a choker necklace, a MIA braclet, and a big belt buckle with my astrological sign on the front. I had longish hair, and rockstar shoes.

Anyways, if we wanted to place a telephone call from outside our home, we would use these tiny little rooms called “phone booths”.

And they would frequently have this big yellow book inside. Where you could find the telephone numbers of everyone in the city that you were calling from.

And if you were attending college, or were in a Navy barracks, you would use the line-up of phones at the end of the hallway.

Privacy was obtained by these little foot-sized dividers to provide the illusion of privacy.

They didn’t do anything more than that and often had graffiti on them colored by bored college students.

Times came and went. I began my teens with “muscle cars” and boy oh boy do I miss my GTO, but things merged in the haze of the 1970s.

We still drove those cars around, but we were starting to complain about the high cost of gas, and we were all afraid that it would break the $1 gallon ceiling.

Ah… When cars were cars!

It was a time when people would take off all their clothes and go a “streaking” in public areas. It was a time whenpeople asked if President Jimmy Carter dropped acid, and if the cost of coffee would go back to being five cents a cup.

As time moved on, my GTO was replaced by an AMC Pacer (due to finances) and then that too was replaced with a 1974 Dodge tradesman minivan. I was so hip and so cool.

My van was carpeted in lime green shag carpeting, and had a couple of sky roofs. I was proud of my pumped up shocks on it, and the state-of-the-art cassette player with FM radio!

No phone though.

I had a CB.

CB Radios

Mention ‘CB Radio’ to most people and they will instantly mime holding a mic and spew phrases like ‘breaker-breaker-9’, ‘big 10-4 rubber duck’ in a bad US accent or even start singing the theme tune to ‘Convoy’. Interestingly for a craze that burned out over 30 years ago, the social and linguistic paraphernalia of the CB world continues to live on strongly even today.

• The CB radio was invented in 1945 by Al Gross, the inventor of the walkie-talkie and owner of the Citizens Radio Corporation.

The radio became popular with small businesses and blue collar workers like carpenters, plumbers, and electricians who used the radio as a tool to communicate with coworkers.

• By 1960, the costs to produce the 23 channel radio were low enough that everyday Joes could afford to buy one.
• By 1973, coinciding with the onset of the oil crisis, the CB Radio craze erupted.

FCC opens up CB radio channels to the public

When Al Gross invented the CB radio in 1945, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) quickly opened up radio services for personal users of the radio.

Most countries have similar radio services. In the United States, Citizen’s Band Radios operate on the 27-Mhz band whereas in Canada it is known as General Radio Services and operates on the 26 Mhz and 28 Mhz bands.

Unlike amateur radio, CB radio does not require a license (although at one time, they did require a license to operate). CB radio channels are shared by many users at the same time and other stations must listen and wait for the shared channel to be available.

By the 1960’s, the CB radio was popular with businesses and radio hobbyists. By the late 1960’s, advancements in solid state electronics allowed the size of the radio to be greatly reduced as well as the cost.

Suddenly, the general public had access to a communications medium that previously had only been available to specialists. CB radio clubs were formed and hobbyists developed their own unique CB slang language along with 10-codes similar to the codes used by emergency services.

The CB Radio Craze

By 1973, the oil crisis caused the cost of gasoline to skyrocket and shortages quickly developed. In response, the United States government issued a 55 MPH nationwide speed limit.

This caused an angry fury in the ‘States. “How dare the government tell us how to drive!”.

Drivers quickly learned that CB radios could be used to communicate with other drivers to inform them of gas stations that had gas and to notify speeders where police (smokeys) had speed traps set up.

The CB radio became so popular, by 1977 additional channels were opened up and 40 channel radios were introduced to the market.

Newsworthy events related to CB radios further added to the excitement. Truck drivers used the radios to organize convoys ( huge lines of trucks that travelled down the nation’s highways).

In several instances, blockades were organized using CB Radios where trucks would fill all available highway lanes in protest of the high gas prices and new trucking regulations.

CB Radios began to play prominent roles in movies such as Smokey and the Bandit and Movin’ On. Novelty songs about the new electronic toy, such as CW McCall’s Convoy and Cletus Maggard’s White Knight (see lyrics below), were played regularly on the radio.

During the CB radio craze, citizens of Great Britain began illegally using American made CBs.

We deserve to live like Americans they demanded! The British government told its citizens that the CB radio would never be legalized on the 27 Mhz wavelength and instead, proposed a different technology on the 860 Mhz “open channel” instead.

The citizens of the United Kingdom took to the streets in high profile public demonstrations and UK government officials bent to the will of the people. Al Gross made the first British ceremonial CB radio call from Trafalgar Square in London.

Later the United Kingdom added more than 40 channels giving UK citizens 80 CB radio channels to work with.

Handles

Years prior, CB radios required a licensed to operate. The license cost about $20 in the early 1970’s and was reduced to $4 in the late 1970’s.

In addition, there were many rules and regulations concerning antenna height, distance restrictions, allowable transmitter power, and call sign rules. People ignored the laws and to hide their identity, developed “handles” or fake names to identify themselves on the radio.

After the FCC started receiving over 1,000,000 license applications a month, the license requirement was dropped entirely but as the culture had already developed, people continued using handles such as “Big Mama” or “Timberwolf” to identify themselves while on the air. Some famous celebrity handles include:

• Betty Ford, a former First Lady of the United States, whose CB handle was “First Mama”.
• Voice actor Mel Blanc , an active CB Radio operator, often used the CB handles Bugs or Daffy and talked over the air in the Los Angeles area using his many voices.

Channels

Channels evolved to fill specific purposes. For instance, channel 9 was kept open for emergency use and channel 19 was used for highway communication west of the Mississippi River.

Eventually channel 19 became the “trucker’s channel” and was used for highway communication all over the United States.

In the early days of the CB radio craze, channel 11 was used solely for the purpose of initiating communications (after which the two radio callers switched to a mutually agreed upon channel).

Towns that were close together often adopted a specific channel as their “home” channel so that they could communicate with each other.

Talking the Talk

CD etiquette developed and evolved during the craze. CB radios were intended to be used to warn other drivers of Smokeys up the road or to report roadside emergencies.

Chit chatting with other CB radio users is ok but it is not considered courteous to hold up a channel for more than a few minutes. Cursing is also frowned upon. It is common for CB radio operators to use hidden code or unique slang to communicate.

For instance, when giving a warning that a police officer is running a hidden speedtrap, they might say “smokey in the bush” or to warn truckers to watch out for a broken down school bus they might say “watch out for the kiddy car at mile marker 200″.

Many of the CB slang from the 1970’s hung around and became slang that continued to be used outside the realm of CB radio communications. Below is a large list of CB radio slang used during the 1970’s CB radio craze.

CD Radio slang from a to z

• ACE – an important or well known CB radio operator
• Apple – a person who is addicted to the CB radio
• AF -Audio Frequency
• Afterburner – Linear amplifier
• ALERT – Affiliated League of Emergency Radio Teams
• All the good numbers –  good luck and best wishes to all
• Alligator – shredded tread from the tires of an 18 wheeler truck
• Amigo – friend or good buddy
• ANL – Automatic noise limiter
• Ankle biter- a little kid
• Antenna Farm- a CB radio ase station with many antennas strung up in the air
• Antler Alley – an area known for deer crossings
• Appliance Operator – degrading term for a non-technical person who barely knows how to turn on their radio
• AM -Amplitude Modulation
• Ancient Mariner –  someone who uses AM radio
• Baby Bear – a rookie police officer
• Backdoor – vehicle behind the one who is ahead of it.
• Backdoor closed – the rear of a convey with trucks stacked across the lanes to keep the Smokeys out
• Back em up – slow down or reduce speed
• Back off the hammer – slow down or reduce speed
• Backslide – return trip from a trucker’s run
• Bad scene – a crowded CB radio channel
• Ballet Dancer – a CB radio antenna that sways and bends in the wind
• Base Station – a CB radio installed at a fixed location such as a house
• Beast  -a very good CB radio rig
• Beam – Directional Antenna
• Bean House Bull –  trucker conversation carried on at a truck stop
• Bear Bait – a speeding car
• Bear Cage- police station or jail cell
• Bear Cave – police station
• Bearmobile – police car
• Bear Trap – stationary police car running a radar trap
• Bear in the air- police in their helicopter
• Bear – police officer
• Beat the bushes – driving ahead of the other truckers in an effort to draw the police out of hiding
• Beaver – good looking female
• Beaver Bear – female police officer
• Beaver Fever – missing the wife or girlfriend
• Beaver Palace – a club or bar known for loose female patrons
• Beaver Patrol – looking for a good looking woman to spend time with
• Big Charlie or Big Daddy – the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
• Big Mack – Mack truck
• Big Slab – freeway or highway
• Big 10-4-  hearty agreement.
• Bit on the seat of the britches – pulled over and issued a speeding ticket
• Black and White – police car
• Black Ice – patch of iced over blacktop road
• Bleeding/Bleedover – strong signals from a base station on another channel that interferes with another channel’s reception
• Blew my doors off – car passed by at high speed
• Blue Slip- speeding ticket
• Boast Toastie – CB expert
• Boat Anchor – an old, broken radio that can no longer be repaired
• Bodacious- Awesome
• Boy Scouts – State Police
• Box -Tractor Trailer
• Break (or breaker, break for) – request to use the channel
• Breaking Up – CB radio reception is poor
• Breaking the “˜ol needle – very strong CB radio signal
• Bring it back – answer the question that was posed
• Brown paper bag – unmarked Police car
• Bubble gum machine- police car with flashing lights
• Bucket Mouth – obnoxious radio operator or someone who cusses a lot on the air
• Bug Out – signing off or leaving the radio channel
• Bumper Lane – the left most passing lane
• Button Pusher – another CB radio operator who is trying to breakup your communication with another station by keying the microphone
• Camera -police radar
• Candy Man – Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
• Casa – house
• Cash Register – toll booth
• Catch you on the flip-flop – will talk to you on my return trip
• Channel 25 – the telephone
• Charlie – Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
• Chew and choke – Restaurant or truck stop eatery
• Checking My Eyelinds For Pin Holes – I am tired or sleepy
• Check the seatcovers – look at that passengers in the passing car
• Chicken Coup – weigh station
• Chicken Coup is Clean – weigh station is closed.
• Chicken Inspector – weigh station inspector
• Chopped Top- a very short antenna
• Christmas Card – speeding ticket
• Chrome Dome – a mobile radio with a dome antenna on top of the car
• Clean Cat – a unmodified CB radio
• Clean Shot – the road ahead is free of obstructions, construction, and police
• Cleaner channel – CB radio channel with less traffic on it
• Clear – Final transmission “This is 505 and I’m clear”
• Clear after you  – you are ending transmission after the other person finishes signing off
• Coffee Bean – Waiter or waitress
• Cold Rig – 18-wheeler pulling a refrigerated trailer
• Collect Call – call for a specific CB radio operator
• Colorado Kool Aid – beer
• Come again – repeat your last transmission
• Come Back – answer my call
• Comic Book  -truckers log book
• Coming in Loud ‘n Proud – loud and clear signal
• Concrete Blonde – prostitute
• Convoy – 2 or more vehicles traveling the same route in a row
• Cooking – driving
• Cooking Good – reached desired speed.
• Copy – receiving a message
• Copying the mail – listening to the communications on the channel
• County Mountie – county police or sheriff
• Covered Up – transmission was blocked by interference
• Crack ’em Up – traffic accident
• Cradle Baby – radio operator who is afraid to ask someone to stand by
• Cup of Mud – cup of coffee
• Cut Out – leaving the channel
• Cut Some Z’s – get some sleep
• Cut The Coax – turn off the radio
• Daddy-O – Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
• Dead Pedal – slow moving car or truck
• Dead Key – keying the mike without talking
• Decoy – empty or unmanned police car
• Diesel Digit – cchannel 19
• Diesel Juice – truck fuel
• Dime Channel – channel 10
• Dirty Side – Eastern Seaboard
• Dixie Cup-  female operator with southern accent
• Doing the Five-Five- traveling at 55mph
• Doin’ it to it – Full speed
• Doing our thing in the left-hand lane – full speed in the passing or left-hand lane
• Do it to me – answer back
• Do you copy? – Do you understand?
• Don’t Tense – calm down
• Don’t Feed The Bears – don’t get a ticket
• Double key – two radio operators talking at the same time
• Double L – telephone call
• Double Nickel – 55mph (the speed limit during the 1970’s CB radio craze)
• Down “˜n Out or Down and gone – signing off
• Down and on the side – through talking but will continue listening
• Drag Your Feet – wait a few seconds before transmitting to see if someone else wants to break in
• Dream Weaver – sleepy driver who is weaving across the lanes
• Dress For Sale – prostitute or dressed like a prostitute
• Drop Out – fading signal
• Drop Stop Destination – where freight will be dropped off
• Drop the Hammer – drive fast
• Dropped it off the shoulder – ran off the shoulder of the road
• Dusted your britches – keyed up at the same time
• Dusted my britches – passed me very fast
• Dusted Your Ears- transmission interrupted
• DX – Long Distance
• Eager beaver – anxious young woman
• Ears ON – CB radio turned ON
• Eights or Eighty-eights – love and kisses
• Eights and other good numbers – love and kisses, and best wishes
• Eighty-eight’s around the house – good luck and best wishes to you and yours
• Eyeball- Personal meeting
• Everybody must be walking the dog – all channels are busy
• Evil Knievel – motorcycle policeman
• Fake brake – driver riding with his foot on the brake
• Fat load – overweight or big truck load
• Feed The Bears – paying a speeding fine
• Fender bender – traffic accident
• Fifty Dollar Lane – passing lane
• First Sargent – wife
• Flag waver – highway repair crew
• Flaps down – slow down
• Flappers -ears
• Flip flop – return trip
• Flip-Flopping Bears – police reversing direction or turning around
• Flop it – turn around
• Flop box – motel or room in truck stop
• FM – Frequency Modulation
• Follow the stripes home – have a safe trip
• Footwarmer – Linear amplifier
• Forty weight – coffee
• Four Wheeler – cCar
• Four lane parking lot – highway with traffic backed up
• Four legged go-go dancers – ugly women
• Fox – pretty female
• Fox Charile Charlie – FCC
• Fox hunt – FCC hunting for illegal operators
• Fox jaws – Ffemale with nice voice, but not necessarily a body to match
• Free Ride – prostitute
• Freight Box – trailer for the truck
• Friendly Candy Company – FCC
• Front Door – the lead in a convoy
• Full of vitamins – running all out
• Full Bore – driving fast as you can
• Full Throttle – driving fast as the truck will let you
• Funny Candy Company – FCC
• Funny channels – channels that are outside the legal band
• Gallon – 1000 watts of power
• Garbage – too much small talk on a channel
• Gas Jockey – gas station attendant
• Gear – overnight bag or supplies
• Get horizontal – go to sleep
• Get Trucking – start driving
• Girlie Bear – female police officer
• Give me a shout – call me on the radio
• Glory Card – Class D License
• Go Breaker – OK to go ahead and break into the channel
• Go Ahead – your turn to talk or reply
• Go Juice – truck fuel
• Go to channel 41 – a joke to get someone off the radio (there is no channel 41)
• Going Horizontal – going to sleep
• Gone – leaving the channel
• Gone 10-7 – permanently dead
• Good Buddy – friend (modern day means homosexual)
• Goon Squad – persons who do not share the channel
• Got my shoes on – Switched the linear ON
• Got your ears on? – are you listening on this channel
• Got my eyeballs peeled – looking hard
• Got my foot in it – speeding up
• Go to 100 – go to the bathroom
• Green Stamps – cash money
• Green Stamp Collector – police with radar
• Green Stamp lane – passing lane
• Green Stamp Road – toll road.
• Grease monkey – mechanic
• Greasy Spoon – restaurant with bad food
• Ground Clouds – fFog
• Gypsy – trucker who drives for an independent company
• Hack – taxi cab
• Hag Feast – group of female CB radio operators on the channel
• Haircut palace – bridge or overpass with low clearance
• Hairpin – sharp curve
• Hamburger helper – Linear Amp
• Hammer – gas pedal
• Hammer Off – slow down
• Hammer Down – speed up
• Hang it in your ear – that was a stupid comment
• Handle – CB radio code name
• Hay Shaker – truck transporting a mobile home
• Heading for a hole – about to head into a low spot where radio transmission may not be possible
• Heater – Linear amplifier
• Hell bent for leather – driving fast
• Hiding in the grass – police parked on a median strip
• Hiding in the bushes, sitting under the leaves – hidden police car
• Highball – drive non-stop to the destination
• High Rise – large bridge or overpass
• Hippie Chippie – female hitchhiker
• Hip Pocket – glove box
• Hit the cobblestones – hit the road
• Hog – Harley Davidson
• Home Twenty – location of your home
• How tall are you? – How tall is your truck?
• Hundred mile coffee – very strong coffee
• Ice Box – Refrigerated trailer.
• Idiot Box – TV set
• In a short – soon
• In a short-short – very soon
• In the mud – noise on the channel
• In the Pokey with Smokey – arrested
• Jack – good friend
• Jack Rabbit – police officers
• Jam – deliberately interfere with another station.
• Japanese toy – CB
• Jargon – CB lingo
• Jaw Jacking – talking, talking needlessly
• Jewelry – lights on a rig
• Jingle – call on the telephone
• Johnny Law – police officer
• Juke Joint – small or out-of-the-way place to eat
• Jump Down – switch to a lower channel
• Jump Up – switch to a higher channel
• Keep “˜em Between the Ditches – have a safe trip
• Keep the shiny side up and the greasy side down – drive safely
• Keep the wheels spinning – drive safely
• Keep your noise between the ditches and smokey out of your britches – drive carefully, lookout for police
• Keying the mike – activating the microphone without speaking
• Kicker – Linear amplifier
• Kiddie car – school bus
• Knock the stack out – speed up
• Knuckle Buster – fight
• Kojak – police officer
• Kojak with a Kodak – policeman with a radar
• Lady Bear – female police officer
• Lady Breaker – Ffemale CB operator asking for a break.
• Lame – broken down vehicle
• Land Line – telephone
• Land Yacht – mobile home or camper
• Lane Flipper – car or truck that keeps changing lanes
• Lane Lover – driver who will not get out of the lane
• Latrine Lips – radio operator who cusses
• Let the channel roll – it’s ok to break in and request use of the channel
• Legal Beagle – person who always follows the rules
• Lettuce – money
• Lights green, bring on the machine – road is clear of police and other slowdowns
• Linear – RF amplifier
• Little Bear – local police officer
• Little Beaver – daughter
• Little Bit – prostitute
• Little Brother – friend
• Local Bear – local police officer
• Local Yokel – small town police officer
• Log some Z’s – get some sleep
• Loot Limo – armored car
• M20 – place to meet
• Magic Mile – the end of a trip
• Mama – girlfriend or wife
• Mama Bear – female police officer
• Man in White – doctor
• Mashing the mike – keying the mike (usually without talking)
• Meatwagon – ambulance.
• Modulate – talk
• Modulating – talking
• Money Bus – armored truck
• Motion Lotion – fuel
• Motorcycle Mama – woman riding on a motorcycle
• Muck Truck – cement truck
• Nap Trap – hotel or other place to sleep
• Negative – no
• Negative Copy – did not hear
• Neon, Freon, Ion Jockey – truck driver with many lights on his rig
• Nightcrawlers – many police in the area
• Niner – channel 9
• Ninety Weight – alcohol
• Oil burner – diesel truck
• On the by or on the standby – listening but not talking.
• One foot on the floor, one hanging out the door, and she just won’t do no more – driving as fast as I can
• Other Half – girlfriend or wife
• Out – through transmitting
• Over – your turn to transmit
• Over modulation – talking so loud that audio is distorted
• Pack it in – ending transmission
• Pair of sevens – no contact or answer
• Papa Bear – state trooper with CB radio
• Paper hanger – police giving ticket
• Parking Lot – traffic jam
• Pavement Princess – prostitute
• Peanut butter in his ears – is not listening
• Pedal to the metal – drive fast
• Peeling Off – getting of the freeway
• Plain Wrapper – unmarked police car
• Play Dead – stand by
• Picture taking machine – radar
• Pit Stop – stop for a bathroom break
• Popcorn – hal
• Porcupine – cr with a lot of antennas on it
• Pounding the pavement – waking
• Press some sheets – slep
• Pull the hammer back – slow down
• Pull the plug – signoff and turn the radio off
• Put an eyeball on him – saw or see
• Put it on the floor and looking for some more – trying to drive as fast as possible
• QSL Card – Personalized postcard sent to confirm a conversation
• QSK – break
• QRM – nise or interference
• Q-R-Mary – nose or interference
• QSY – changing channels/frequency.
• QRT – signing off
• QRX – wait
• QSB – nise
• QSO – conversation
• QTH – location
• Quasar – female
• Radio Runt – child breaking in on a channel.
• Rain Locker – shower
• Rake the leaves – last vehicle in a convoy
• Ratchet-Jaw – non-stop talker
• REACT – Radio Emergency Associated Citizens Teams
• Rebound – return trip
• Red Lighted – pulled over by police
• REST – Radio Emergency Safety Teams
• RF – Radio Frequency
• Road Jockey – truck driver
• Road Ranger – police officer
• Rock – slang for crystal
• Rockin’ chair – car in the middle of a convoy
• Roger – O.K.
• Roller Skate – car
• Rolling – driving
• Rolling Bears – police officers driving
• Rugrats – children
• Rubberneckers – onlookers
• Running Barefoot – using a radio at the legal output
• Running on rags – driving a vehicle with little to no tread on the tires.
• Running Shotgun – driving partner
• San Quentin Jailbait – under age female hitch hiker
• Seatcover – good looking female
• Shaking the windows – loud and clear reception
• Shim – illegally amplified transmitter
• Shoot the breeze – casual conversation
• Shovelling coal – speeding up
• Show-off lane – passing lane
• Skip – atmospheric conditions that cause signals to travel much farther than they normally would
• Skippers – radio operators talking long distance
• Sidedoor – oassing lane
• Sitting in the saddle – middle truck in a convoy
• “S” Meter – meter on your radio which which indicates the signal strength
• Smokey – State Police
• Smokey Bear – State Police
• Smokey report – police location report
• Smokey Dozing – police sitting in a parked car
• Smokey’s thick – police are everywhere
• Smokey with a camera – police with radar
• Smokey with ears – policeman with CB radio in their car
• Somebody stepped on you – someone transmitted while you were talking
• Splatter – bleedover from another channel
• Squelch – control on radio which silences the speaker until a signal of a certain strength breaks through it
• Three’s and eights – signing off, best wishes
• Thin – very weak signal
• Twelves – I have company present
• Twenty – Location
• Two Stool beaver – very fat woman
• Uncle Charlie – FCC
• Walking on you – someone talking over you
• Wall-to-wall and treetop tall – strong, clear signal
• Wall-to-wall and ten feet tall – strong clear signal
• Warden – girlfriend or wife
• Watch the pavement – drive safely
• Water hole – truck stop
• Wear your bumper out – following too close
• Wearing socks – has linear amplifier
• What am I putting on you? – how strong is my signal
• What’s your twenty? – what is your location
• Whip – long cb antenna
• Who do you pull for? – who do you work for?
• Wooly Bear – female
• Z’s – Sleep

In addition to CB radio slang, CB radio operators used a series of “10 codes” similar to the codes used by emergency radio operators.

The Complete CB 10 codes

• 10-1 Receiving Poorly
• 10-2 Receiving Well
• 10-3 Stop Transmitting
• 10-4 Ok, Message Received
• 10-5 Relay Message
• 10-6 Busy, Stand By
• 10-7 Out of Service, Leaving Air
• 10-8 In Service, subject to call
• 10-9 Repeat Message
• 10-10 Transmission Completed, Standing By
• 10-11 Talking too Rapidly
• 10-12 Visitors Present
• 10-13 Advise weather/road conditions
• 10-16 Make Pickup at…
• 10-17 Urgent Business
• 10-18 Anything for us?
• 10-19 Nothing for you, return to base
• 10-20 My Location is ……… or What’s your Location?
• 10-21 Call by Telephone
• 10-22 Report in Person too ……
• 10-23 Stand by
• 10-24 Completed last assignment
• 10-25 Can you Contact …….
• 10-26 Disregard Last Information/Cancel Last Message/Ignore
• 10-27 I am moving to Channel ……
• 10-28 Identify your station
• 10-29 Time is up for contact
• 10-30 Does not conform to FCC Rules
• 10-32 I will give you a radio check
• 10-33 Emergency Traffic at this station
• 10-34 Trouble at this station, help needed
• 10-35 Confidential Information
• 10-36 Correct Time is ………
• 10-38 Ambulance needed at ………
• 10-39 Your message delivered
• 10-41 Please tune to channel ……..
• 10-42 Traffic Accident at ……….
• 10-43 Traffic tie-up at ………
• 10-44 I have a message for you
• 10-45 All units within range please report
• 10-50 Break Channel
• 10-62 Unable to copy, use phone
• 10-62sl unable to copy on AM, use Sideband – Lower (not an official code)
• 10-62su unable to copy on AM, use Sideband – Upper (not an official code)
• 10-65 Awaiting your next message/assignment
• 10-67 All units comply
• 10-70 Fire at …….
• 10-73 Speed Trap at …………
• 10-75 You are causing interference
• 10-77 Negative Contact
• 10-84 My telephone number is ………
• 10-85 My address is ………..
• 10-91 Talk closer to the mike
• 10-92 Your transmitter is out of adjustment
• 10-93 Check my frequency on this channel
• 10-94 Please give me a long count
• 10-95 Transmit dead carrier for 5 sec.
• 10-99 Mission completed, all units secure
• 10-100 Need to take a break
• 10-200 Police needed at ……….

How to operate a CB radio

There it an etiquette that CB radio operators follow in order to be “polite” and courteous to the other CB radio users.  The following rules should always be followed.

• When two or more people are talking on a channel they are said to “own the channel”.  FCC regulations require they give other users an opportunity to use the channel so they should not hold the channel hostage for more than several minutes.
• CB radio users should not “step on” other units.  “Step on” means to transmit at the same time another radio operator is transmitting.  They should also never key over someone else.
• If you hear one unit break for another unit, give some time for the unit to respond before you say anything yourself.  It may take a radio user time to grab the mic or get from the kitchen to the living room radio unit.
• After your break has been acknowledged, keep the next transmission short.  For example, a break might go something like this: “Break one-nine for Super Trooper.  Super Trooper, do you have your ears on?”.  if Super Trooper does not answer after a minute or so, it is nice to acknowledge that you are finished by saying something like “thanks for the break”.
• If you are carrying on a conversation and someone “walks over” you, you have one of two options.  You can ask the person you were speaking to to repeat.  For example, “10-9, you were stepped on.  Please repeat”.  Alternatively, you can hand the channel over to the breaker.
• If your break is not acknowledged, wait several minutes before attempting to contact them again.

Enough of the CB craze in the 1970s in the USA…

Of course, today is quite different. There are all sorts of systems competing for our telecommunication needs. They vary from Skype to zoom, and everything in between.

But I live in China, and EVERYONE uses WeChat.

Man oh man! 

WeChat is far more than I ever realized it was, and I have to tell you all that I am just blown away by some of the many features and functions that it has. And you all must realize that I have been using it for many, many years.

Over a decade.

So whether you have the APP, or are considering the APP, check out this “discovery tour” of WeChat.

First off, it’s a handy communication platform.

Duh! In fact, I will tell you that it is an all-in-one phone, instant messaging, video conference, and teleconference package.

All for free.

No costs to use.

You see, in China, the government has decreed that communication is a basic right and need. It should not be part of a for-profit model.

Sure, in the “old days” you used to have to pay for landlines, and maintenance, but now, since the infrastructure is in place, the costs to use this (and other applications) this APP is free to communicate with.

While my cell-phone certainly has telephony (telephone access), I find that it is often far easier to just  communicate back and forth with people using WeChat.

You just select your contact… and you can call, text, video immediately with zero charges anywhere in the world…

But it’s more than that. You see you can have family, business, or friends groupings.

And while I am sure that it is available on other APP platforms, it’s just so deliciously easy to use on WeChat. You set up a group call, a group chat, a group message board, or a group video. Oh, and did I say that it’s all free?

Now, these two aspects of the entire WeChat platform are reason enough to have it on your phone. If that’s all that you ever use your phone for, then it is most certainly worth it.

But there’s so much more.

You see, there’s all kinds of things that you can do when you are chatting on the phone using WeChat. It’s more than just chatting away.

You can text while chatting, video while chatting, translate things while chatting, read a text in Icelandic and have it instantly translated into English.

You can point your phone at a strange road sign in Afghanistan and have it instantly translated, and if you are unable to see the translation, it will read the translation out to you in English for you.

Translate Text

Sometimes you will get messages in Chinese and, unless you can read Chinese characters fluently, this can be a problem.

So, WeChat has added this feature that will translate messages for you. Press and hold on the message you want to translate and then select the right arrow and then press ‘Translate’ and it will automatically translate the message.

So there’s a message.

You click on it, and select translate.

And low and behold, it will translate to your assigned default language on your phone. Pretty cool. I will tell you that living inside of China, I use this feature extensively. But also when I travel to Thailand, Japan, Korea, or Saudi Arabia it most certainly comes in handy.

Scan

One of the most used applications inside of China is the scan function. You scan for everything. You scan to enter buildings.

You scan to pay.

You scan to get information.

You scan to visit internet and government websites. All you need to is go to the top of the APP and click on Scan QR Code…

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And then scan the code. It’s just like this…

Now…

Here’s a power tip.

Scan and Translate

Can’t read the instructions or menus in China?

China’s most popular social platform offers AR-based real-time translation.

This feature can be accessed from the scan feature in the upright corner, which is regularly used to scan QR codes.

To use the real-time translator, simply capture an image of anything with either Chinese or English text in it, operating on a point and translate model.

First, go to the + sign > Scan > Translate, Then take a photo to translate or select a photo from your gallery. Finally, wait for the text to be translated and understand the text in English.

The default is on the lower left. It will scan the QR code. However, if you click on “Translate”, something else happens… [1] You are prompted to take a photo.

Currently, WeChat Translate only supports Chinese and English, it works similarly to the Waygo App, which was designed to help non-Chinese speakers translate food menus and signs. An indication that WeChat wants to appeal to foreign users and tourists living in China.

WeChat’s trend of taking successful features from apps and integrating the technology into their platform shows their ambition to grow and compete with US tech giants: Google, Snapchat and Instagram.

However, WeChat still has a long way to go to reach the levels of Google Translate augmented reality feature, which now supports 30 languages.

Translate Image Text

“Translate Image Text” is another cool hidden feature that you will want to know. Instead of scanning and translating, you can now choose any image that you have in either your phone gallery or chat and long-press until the menu appears with the option of translate image to text. [1] Pull up the image. [2] Long press until the menu comes up. [3] Translate. Now, all this is really cool, but that all isn’t the really great stuff. Let’s get to some of the really cool things…

Voice messages to text

I use this all the time. It’s a dictation feature on the text messaging section of WeChat. You just click on the button and dictate. What you speak is automatically converted from voice to text, and you can send the message so easily. It sure beats the singular thumb method of typing on a little screen.

This voice input function allows users to speak into WeChat and immediately convert their words into text. All you have to do is to long-press the voice message button, say what you want to be translated to text and just before letting go, swipe up and right and let go when you reach the bubble on the right side. 

Shazam

Want to find the name for that TV show you’re watching? Under the Shake feature you can also select ‘TV show’ and, when you shake, WeChat will act like Shazam and tell you the name of the TV show you’re watching.

It is also useful for Douxing videos, music and many other things. This is a great way to identify music you like on a video. Because when the answer comes up, a link is provided to the QQ application that allows you to put that particular song in your play list.

More, more and MORE!

There is so much more that you can do. From sharing videos to creating facebook like environments, to group collaborating to dressing up and editing presentations.

It’s an all inclusive complete platform. But I am really not up to go through all the nuiances of it. Others have, and they have been doing a better job than I.

Let me just say that time has changes, and the advances in technology are truly wonderful.

Let’s appreciate what they are and use them to the fullest, so that we can benefit from their use.

Becuase sooner or later they will go away and be replaced with something different. And you will long for the days that you have RIGHT NOW.

Enjoy what you have and eat it all up!

It’s a new world

As some of these meme’s attest to… Great cat, by the way. Some of these are just funny… I suppose there are many more… As I said. Some are really spot on…

Well all this talk about communicaiton makes me hungry…

Maybe something simple delicious and easy to make. Maybe something a little bit like this…

It’s better than fast food, I’ll tell you what. However, if you really are in the mood, why not make a home made pizza? It’s not all that hard, and it’s cheap. If you make the dough from scratch a entire pizza is only a few dollars tops. Maybe something like this…

Of course, while you are a smunching, you can go forth and invite some friends over to your porch and “shoot the breeze”… you know, talk a bit. It doesn’t matter what you talk about. Just chat. Everyone has things to say. Just listen. Maybe you can impress them with your local knowledge. Maybe something like this… .

Maybe if they are some neighborhood kids, you can teach them how to whittle, or something similiar.

Most kids these days need some real uncle-like behaviors in their neighborhoods.

Don’t wait for others to take action.

You go ahead and do it yourself. Whittle.

Just take the time and make friends.

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And you know, it doesn’t hurt to smoke a cigarette, drink a beer, or share a pizza with some neighborhood friends.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Happiness Index here… Life & Happiness .

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