Breaker! Breaker!

 

Citizens band radios. The CB. They were the cell phones of the 70's. You could talk to your friends all over the place with no monthly bill! Just install one under the dash of your car, add an antenae, and BAM! You were on the air! 

CBers had their own language back then. Everyone was your "good buddy" and "10-4" was not fourteen and "3's and 8's" meant "have a great day!" You never said "is ... on air." You said "You got your ears on?" Ahhh the life we lived in the 70's! 

In our family we had several cars and therefore several radios. In addition, I owned a Navaho base station from a mystical place called "Radio Shack" where you could buy all types of radio equipment! Mom ("Cactus Flower") had one in her car, which surprised me to no end, because she never struck me as the type person who would talk on the cb. I believe she had it to keep track of me and my brother ("Card King"). I was known across the airwaves as "Saddle Tramp". I have no idea how I came up with that handle. That's what you called your self on air. Kinda like a vocalized avitar or user name.

We spent our nights breaking 1-9 and checking to see who had their ears on. We talked to each other while the world listened in. There was a group of us in our little town. Red Rider, Green Machine, Baby Blue Eyes. (We were nothing if not "colorful"!) Card King, Little Wet Back, and Little Biscuit Burner, Chocolate Chip... and me. There were many more but time and chance, as it does with all men according to the bible, has happened to me and I cannot recall the rest. 

Later in my life I discovered the joys of the "SSB", the single side band. This was a whole new world for me! I purchased a new ssb from a customer of mine who had "modified" it, shall we say. I installed it in the bobtail delivery truck I drove for a local propane company and suddenly going to work became great fun! I was a kid again! I talked to all 50 states and 8 foreign countries on that radio using the side band. I really enjoyed talking to the guys in Jamaica. There was a taxi driver there who had a big time set-up in his car. I talked to him quite a bit. 

But... as with all good things, the days of me talking on the cb and ssb had to end. It had been a blast. 

Then,,, I discovered HAM radio! 

The story goes on...