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frankiesays
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Are any of the members (or guests) ex-CB radio enthusiasts? It was a big craze back in the mid to late 70's. they were excellent for having a chat similar to what goes on here but talking instead of typing to one another . The hobby was spoiled somewhat by some of the young (and not so young) hooligans but it was generally a very enjoyable hobby and an excellent way to get to know people without actually knowing who they are if you see what I mean.
Can anybody remember Silver Knight's Friday night CB quiz where you had to stay awake until about three in the morning to find out who won?
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Boatbuilder
John
Administrator
Lowestoft Online Addict
Gender: 
Posts: 4714
I've learnt to take everything life throws at me!!
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I used to have a CB radio when it became legal which was not until November 1981, but not in this part of the country. My elder daughter actually met her husband over the CB radio when we lived in Cheshire in the mid/late 1980's. As you say, it was spoilt by some who just could not accept the code-of-practice that existed to make it an enjoyable hobby.
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 An Oyster 575 |
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nikkai
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As you say, it was spoilt by some who just could not accept the code-of-practice that existed to make it an enjoyable hobby.
10/4
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There are NO strangers HERE ! Only Friends who have not yet met....
One cannot think well, sleep well,live well if one has not dinned well "virginia woolf"
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frankiesays
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It was a great way to get to know somebody without any pre-conceived ideas or hang-up about what people should look like. You ended up getting to like people for what they were and not what they looked like.
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Dave01
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BREAKER 1 9 I THINK WE'VE GOT OURSELVES A CONVOY (sorry - couldn't resist it)
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funkychick
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It was a great way to get to know somebody without any pre-conceived ideas or hang-up about what people should look like. You ended up getting to like people for what they were and not what they looked like.
Bit like here then
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nikkai
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Think I may still have my Midland, whip and the 65w boots
I may have been a little naughty in that my rig was AM FM with the FM changed to run on the legal frequencies but found that the AM was better for chat as the distance covered was far greater than FM and with boots on I could talk to like rigged people many many miles away
no chance for an eyeball
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There are NO strangers HERE ! Only Friends who have not yet met....
One cannot think well, sleep well,live well if one has not dinned well "virginia woolf"
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George27
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Ok, ok...I admit to owning a AM CB radio. But it was a long time ago, and I was young back then!
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ATHEISM IS A NON-PROPHET ORGANIZATION
cyclelowestoft.blogspot.com
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Aussie K
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I had a CB in the car and it was great fun but it's long gone, I do have a radio scanner that I still use mainly to listen to late night programs on the TV I wear ear phones because my hearing is not so good and I get perfect reception with those on.
My main worry at the moment is that when the TV goes digital will I be able to receive a digital broadcast on my scanner or is it to be just scrap.
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frankiesays
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Does anybody want to admit to what their "handle" was back in those days? One of my jobs entailed driving a river bus back then and I had my Realistic 40 channel Am set fitted in the boat. My handle was 50-footer. I spent many a happy hour talking to "mad crane" at Richards shipyard whilst up the river. I also used to speak to a lady with the handle "Snowdrop" on several occasions -any relation?
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Dave01
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A Realistic 40, that'll be from the Tandy shop then;-)
I was in London way back then and CB never caught on locally. I can see how it would've been great fun on a boat for example.
BTW What happened to Tandy Shops (aka Radio Shack)..?
Perhaps we can re-introduce CB popularity to Lowestoft?
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CybertraxUK
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Radio Shack still exists in America. Tandy bought them out and then changed the company name to Radio Shack so the Tandy name in America ceased to exist. Having said that, brand names such as Realistic and InterTAN owned by them carry on.
In the UK, Tandy shops were bought out by Carphone Warehouse.... who promptly shut them down. They only wanted the mailing list, and so half the shops they converted to Carphone Warehouse stores, and the rest like the one in Lowestoft they shut down (Lowestoft one is now where Game is). I visited Tandy in Lowestoft by chance on their last day open, where they were selling everything dirt cheap.
In Australia, the Tandy name lives on, owned by the Woolworths supermarket (a bit like Tesco over here). Having said that, I heard that they are considering merging the business with a similar one they also own called Dick Smith Electronics, and losing the Tandy name.
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nikkai
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Fenderman (AM)
or
Spannerman (FM)
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There are NO strangers HERE ! Only Friends who have not yet met....
One cannot think well, sleep well,live well if one has not dinned well "virginia woolf"
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frankiesays
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I think Maplins have taken over where Tandy left off.
Can anybody remember Silver Knight? I think his name was John Easter who used to have the trophy engraving shop in Kirkley. He was a popular CB user.
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malcolm
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He is in Bevan Street now.
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Forever Yellow
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Spiderbob
Junior Member
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Thinking about CB Radio in Lowestoft, hard to believe it was 30 years ago, what great times though. I got my first rig, a Bristol 40 channel while I worked at SLP in 1979. It was smuggled into the country by "Rio Grande", with a Twig (antenna)\ it cost about £80 00. There were not many people to talk to at that time, people were very wary of new breakers, (might be a GPO spy). "Rebel 7" a truck driver at SLP got me into The Ness Point CB Club to meet other breakers, my membership No was 38 and most of them were out of town truckers. Who would have thought that in such a short time there would be so many people taking to the airways, and to the social activities. I remember bneing a member of The Ness point CB Club, Jolly Breakers, Rising Sun and eventually got into The 100 Club (only 100 members). That was only in Lowestoft, I used to go to Beccles Breakers on a Tuesday and Great Yarmouth Breakers on some fridays. What with Muttley's Tea stand on the old market place and of course "The Super Slap" next to the coastguard lookout there was always someone to talk to. It's a shame but like all fashions the come and go, some carried on to the bitter end, Ness Point was the last club to fold I think in late 82 or early 83. Glad I took loads of photos at the time, but do I dare publish them though and risk embarrassing people with their antics from their younger days. My Handle in those long ago days was "Spiderman"
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Growing old is unavoidable, growing up is optional
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paulears
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If you use your scanner to listen to analogue TV, then when it's switched off, then sadly that will be that - scanners can hear the digital broadcasts, but they sound like a nasty jangling buzz that makes your teeth twitch. Decoding this isn't going to be possible. If you tune around the TV bands, you'll hear the digital noise in between the things you are currently trying to listen to.
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Paul Johnson
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vinnyboy33
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I loved the CB and remember the quiz nights they were great.I also met a lot of interesting people.The cb died in this country due to the mobile phone however truckers still use them on the motorways etc i always used to chat to them warning them about police or smokies and fender benders (road accident) oh by the way a lot of people knew me i was popular lol when i was young i was brown owl and then my handle was known as burger.Those were the days.
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paulears
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CB in the UK died not from any of the above reasons - it died because it became cheap. The first illegal CBs brought into the country were expensive - far dearer than the real cost in the US, once everyone who shifted them added on their own small cut. The result was a rather exclusive group of people, and it was in like this in 1977 when the movie came out. The interesting thing was that people using them became friends across the social divide. It didn't matter if you lived in a posh expensive house, or a tiny council house on a dodgy estate - there was a common interest, and people really helped each other, because it was a secret. For some people, CB was a shock - they had bought some handheld radios - remember Skippy? The kids talked to each other on radios (which were CBs) - in the UK we'd never heard of it. The skippy callsigns if you remember, were XMY557A for Apple calling XMY557 B for Bear (why I remember this I don't know). I had a couple of these and were at the Santa Pod raceway, watching drag racing, and was talking to a friend on them when another voice suddenly appeared, and that was my introduction to CB, complete with the rather non-British American Jargon - i.e rodger-doger good buddy, and all the silly phrases introduced over here by the film.
Many CB'ers didn't like CB, they liked the idea of communicating with strangers over great distances, and moved to Amateur Radio, where it was legit - but you had to study and take an exam, including, at that time, Morse Code, if you wanted to talk to America and other distant places.
CB went downhill as soon as they were cheap enough to give to kids as Christmas presents. Serious users dropped out and silly behaviour crept in - the enthusiasts tending to become radio hams and have a child and sillyness free hobby.
Oddly - there is now a bit of a craze with the cheap PMR446 radios, where people discover they can chat to strangers, but again, the kids and idiots ruin it. Amateur Radio as a hobby also suffers the same problems as it's now much more simple to get a license, and morse code has been abolished as a requirement for the long distance stuff.
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Paul Johnson
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Blue Eyes.
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I remember John Easter AKA (Silver Knight) he use to record Talking Newspapers for the blind.
I was in the Jolly Breakers i think my number was 178, I had a Ham Concord with all the side bands, it was in my attic up till about four years ago I sold it on Ebay for more than I originally paid for it. I got it of a guy called High Flyer.
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Spiderbob
Junior Member
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A question for you Frankiesays, when you were known as 50 footer and piloting a river bus, was it a Waveney River Tours boat?. I ask because in this small world this six degrees of seperation seems to be true, I did maintence work on their boats in the 60's and 70's and fitted out the Waveney Princess. Did you ever get to meet Mad Crane or Snowdrop, if not I have photos if you want to put a face to a voice.
Spiderbob
aka Spiderman
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Growing old is unavoidable, growing up is optional
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PoisoN
Junior Member
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Im still on the radio here in great yarmouth,
My handles PoisoN been into radio since i was 13 years old. Although im origionally from south yorkshire ive lived here 11 years, My fathers from great yarmouth. Should be able to get people in lowestoft just fine. Although ive got a new antenna going up in a few weeks, just got mine layed in the loft at the moment. We could start radio off again theres a few of us here. Im also mobile i have a CB in the car.
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JollyJapes
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I used to be known as the Falcon. Spent many hours between 1991 and 1996 on various rigs; had a handheld, a mobile rig with transformer, and had an unusual one with all controls built into a handset style. It all died out when mobile phones became popular. I last went on in 2003, but all I got were farmers talking about the crops they were planting in their tractors!
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frankiesays
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Hi Spiderbob, I've replied once to your post but it seems to have disappeared into cyberspace so I'll reply again and hope they don't both appear together. No, I used to pilot the riverbus that ran from Broadland Chalets at the other end of the Broad next to Knight's Creek before it was sold to Putford Enterprises. I used to go a lot further than Waveney River Tours and made weekly visits to Reedham, Beccles and Surlingham/Rockland Broads.
The boat was made of steel so I used to get out well on the old DV27 mag mount and could usuallu get LT from Beccles and up as far as Reedham. I live over 300 miles away now but Mad Crane is still my best mate. I spoke to snowdrop and her daughter on occasions but can't recall if I met either of them, I think they had spendlove's farm in Carlton?
I have fond memories of taking regularly to Winchester, Purdy and especially Pony tail. I remember hearing your handle being called on channel 14 regularly but don't recall speaking to you. If you worked at SLP you'll probably have known my uncle - Alan Bagge - the guy with one arm.
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PoisoN
Junior Member
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I happen to think radio became less used due to the internet, Its more interactive you can have conversation by speech or text email even live video, Compared to a cb radio its alot more reliable especially if your talking to somone across the world.
There are areas such as were im from (Rotherham) were the cb radio is still very much alive and kicking, compared to yarmouth which was a total shock for me when i first setup and switch on here, Its just dead! apart from the occasional tractor driver and trucker. I still love radio though just wish more people were on. As new generations come about radio will eventually be dead unfortunatly, unless we get people into it again but it just isnt that attractive compared to a pc. Theres no hassle with antennas etc.
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frankiesays
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The end of the 70's and early 80's were the most popular times for CB as I recall. the young kids and weirdos keying the mic all day and night spoiled it as there weren't enough channels to go around and get away from them. Most of us had the old US 20 channel Am sets to start with but ended up going legal in the end on FM. I don't think I knew anybody who had a licence though - that would be taking the fun out of it. many people had the old Dv27 mounted on a dustbin lid in the loft or on the bin in the back garden but as people got braver the GP's and stardusters started to go up. Suffolk Aerials used to be one of the best places for bits which was run by El Sid.
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PoisoN
Junior Member
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I started on the radio scene in 1989 i was 13 im 34 now. So i never really got to know the AM days.
It will end with me too cos my kids wont use cb radios not with todays current technology who knows what will be out when they are older?
Even the goverment is killing radio off with digital.
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nikkai
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120 channel midland AM side band with 80w boots on par with the now #hams# but it was fun and then came down to FM ? legal next door with numpty's and 'roger beep mics' end of the line for me have the doctored rig and twig but never set it up
May do one day to see what is on the air?
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There are NO strangers HERE ! Only Friends who have not yet met....
One cannot think well, sleep well,live well if one has not dinned well "virginia woolf"
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Spiderbob
Junior Member
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to go back to a question on the original post, does anyone remember Silver Knight's quiz, I have had a look through my photos and found this pic. If I remember right it was a qiiz prize presentation night at The Victoria Hotel. In the photo John has just been presented with something to help him through the long nights stuck at the mic. Sorry about the picture but I only had a point and press 110 at the time.
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Growing old is unavoidable, growing up is optional
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