CB radio is alive and well....we still use it....Guaranteed to work where cellphones won't work

I've been a CBer since the 70's. I'm also an amateur extra Ham, and have a GMRS license as well. When the balloon finally goes up, I'll be able to communicate with somebody using one of these types of radios. HAM and FRS/GMRS have had the CTCSS and DCS features almost from their inception. Given the enormous number of AM and AM/SSB radios out in the field, it's going to be hard to get all the truckers and CB hobbyists to switch to a new radio with these features. After all, it takes two radios with these features to make a contact. Right now, the only thing going for CB is the "no license required" feature. I have two FM capable CB radios. I haven't made a contact on FM since I bought them. If having the ability to talk to a specific group of people in a club or radio group is your requirement, there are no license, handheld FRS radios with the CTCSS and DCS features that have about the same range as CB. President radios with the automatic squelch control (ASC) are more than adequate to reduce the background noise and still be useful for over the road travel and making local contacts. It's going to take a while for more of the FM capable radios with CTCSS and DCS to be fielded before theses features have a practical use. Still, President radios are well made and worth the money. If you're just getting started in CB, the President Harrison FCC with all of these features is a solid investment. However, I just found out that the President Mckinley II now has AM/FM/SSB capabilities as well. It's just a matter of time before the CTCSS/DCS feature is added. It's a little more money, but you get everything is one radio. CB still has it's niche and is still a viable way to communicate with other stations in a group or with DX stations when propagation allows. It's just another tool in the bag.

@butterbean4195

10 ай бұрын

yep ill have all the modes of commo also to include short wave to listen to.

@toddcampbell5292

9 ай бұрын

Used to be a group of cb'ers in Ohio that talked on FM just below the CB band. Talked to them on skip on my HR2510.

Ctcss sounds like a great feature. I need to look into this further. Very cool.

Somebody needs to make one of these with SSB.

@cbradiomagazine

10 ай бұрын

The new President George II (export) has AM/FM/SSB as well as CTCSS and DCS and split freq operation so it can use 10 meter FM repeaters (if you have a ham license).

@waynemoate9401

10 ай бұрын

Can you review it ?

@Michigan_Tactical

10 ай бұрын

@@cbradiomagazine I'm aware but export radios are not really legal. I want a legal radio for am/fm/SSB so I can pretend I'm not operating "out of band".

@KC9RXP

10 ай бұрын

I keep saying that... we need a smaller lower powered version of the Lincoln.

@cariboooutlaw4852

10 ай бұрын

​@@Michigan_Tactical the new President McKinley ll is probably what you want then.

So, the CB radio (finally) meets 21st Century software and FM... A "locked" (legal) AM/FM/SSB radio is I hope in development. This will be important to the learning curve, with the tones being part of that curve and quite a nice addition ! It will enable one to learn much more, a path to GMRS and Amateur radio for those who are interested is obvious. Less stodgy Amateur Radio Operators should SERIOUSLY consider adding such a radio to their shack. This will allow larger numbers of the public to reach THEM via this unlicensed service. And? Then the Ham can pass emergency health and welfare traffic to and from larger covering nets, such as the National Tracfic System, and of course to each other. Quite a step up, little coordination required. I am of the opinion that the more radios in the hands of the public, the better. Well done design, with adequate heat sinking! SUPER BONUS POINTS for having the NWS system built in! Finally, as a kid? I would have loved to have own this radio. 73 DE W8LV BILL

Great to have you back, always well worth watching.🇮🇲

Another GREAT radio review. Thank you !

This is such a great info channel!

Good to see you still kicking there. Our company radios used to use fm radios going through a repeater but we've changed to a tablet that used the Verizon network plus we also clock in/out,do pretrip/post trip,and text/talk to dispatch and other drivers. Also,most circuit board repair people use heat guns and flux paste and microscopes to remove and replace small electronic components nowadays

Great video.

Love this

I love long videos

Great radio show its like a old 📞

CTCSS/DCS is used on FM mode. In the US, indeed Australia-NZ-Pacific context, you'd pick a clear channel, set the code of choice for both your base setup, and your mobile or handhelds. The radios then stay dead quite, even with squelch off, *unless* it receives a transmission with that embedded code. Great, for reducing noise that breaks squelch and disrupts family life on regular CB radios, you can have now, a more silent home! Rem, this is not encryption, so what you broadcast, is still heard by all other - in range CB radios, so keep that aspect in mind. CTCSS/DCS should not be used on 09/19, nor on any SSB Call Channel (38 in the US, or 35 outside the US), nor on other recognised road channels, such as 08 in Australia. Good to see the functions inclusion. It should be on ALL new CB radios going forward. Regards.

President mckinley am,ssb is what i have. Great radio

The Wouxun KG-S72C that came out last year also has FM & CTCSS/DCS tones.

@kerozin520

10 ай бұрын

This President looks like certified version of Anytone AT-500M

Does the manual or radio tell you what the actual ctcss tone is other then (code 1) (code2) ect. So you can tell others with different brand radios can match

The McKinley v.2 has FM + SSB. Seems this radio is for the European audience. President , build a base and they will come 😊

@cbradiomagazine

10 ай бұрын

There are actually three McKinley radios now. The original US version, the McKinley EU which had FM, echo, extra frequencies, and now the 2nd US version with FM. I’ll do a video showing all three shortly.

Would be nice if the microphone had a key pad on it so it would not take so long to go through the different settings and features.

I remember "President" radios back in the 80's. I always thought they were a line of Uniden radios. Made by Uniden. Now President appears to be solely their own company. Was this always the case? Am I confusing 2 different presidents?

Interesting. We had DCS/CTCSS and selective calling on (FM modulated) CB since 90s here in Europe. I thought it was a common thing on AM as well.

@Michigan_Tactical

10 ай бұрын

I've never heard of it on AM. As an amateur radio operator I've only seen ctcss on fm equipment.

I wish KZread had sideband

@JOHN27398

10 ай бұрын

10 4

dmr-ctss-dcs-dsp- automatic mode select am.fm.c4fm.,- asc automatic squelch control . - atomatic volume control with automute . tone scan . - skip scan - noise gate ... cb radio ... with a rf tx rx knob power level do we will have it in 2024 in a din and smaler size ?

I have a president harrison fcc and i don't get any weather alerts. Any idea what the problem is?

It is time that all processing in the TX/RX path is done using DSP processing which means a much lighter transceiver which can be updated every so often with new firmware.

So if your favorite local jerk has a large linear, are your weaker legal signals still going to be heard via your selected tones, or is the massive linear still going to over power your signals even though you won't hear the strong signal

@cbradiomagazine

10 ай бұрын

Good point, I didn’t test if the radio could ignore a ultra strong overpowering signal while letting the weaker signal through. I will do a test and let you know how the radio does.

@RICHat22

10 ай бұрын

@@cbradiomagazine I would be curious how sensitive the CTCSS reception or discrimi nation is (YT blocked full word). But the reality is if that weak signal makes it through with it's CTCSS, it's going to open the squelch of the receiver, then you would absolutely hear the overpowering signal with or above the weak signal. In FM mode you theoretically can not hear two signals at once, but the receiver can bounce between the two fast enough to understand both. With that said, remember that CTCSS is a continuous sub-audible (below 325 Hz I think) tone that can be interrupted by the larger station (if open or different code) and cut out the squelch of the correctly coded smaller station. Replying to @danny as well.

@uploadJ

10 ай бұрын

@@RICHat22 re: "In FM mode you theoretically can not hear two signals at once, but the receiver can bounce between the two fast enough to understand both" Um, that's not the way FM works. The strongest signal will predominate. It has to do with RSS - _Root Sum of the Squares_ mathematically in the FM limiter circuit.

@RICHat22

10 ай бұрын

@@uploadJ I understand that, but if the two become equal it can seem to bounce. Such as early mornings. Far away signals can overpower closer weaker ones. Or buildings can cause multipath and "block" a signal where you can hear another. I was just using that as an example to someone who may not understand radio as well.

@uploadJ

10 ай бұрын

@@RICHat22 re: "but if the two become equal it can seem to bounce" Let's go thru this again. The strongest signal predominates. Period. If one signal GETS STRONGER it dominates. If it gets weaker then the other signal the OTHER SIGNAL dominates. This really isn't rocket science.

CTCSS "PL" is used in Europe for FM repeater access. Not in the USA.

@Michigan_Tactical

10 ай бұрын

It's good for simplex too not just repeaters.

@matthewdavies2057

10 ай бұрын

@@Michigan_Tactical If you don't mind being talked over and not know it. K6XLR

@Michigan_Tactical

10 ай бұрын

@@matthewdavies2057 if I don't know it, how would I mind?

@jeremyh.pritchard5325

10 ай бұрын

​@@Michigan_Tactical- Inclusion of CTCSS/DCS and FM makes CB radio an even more legitimate comms backup for use when phone and net services are disrupted. Even fussy community townsfolk can buy the devices, install, and switched on, yet leave them alone all quite, only to come alive when those other services have failed. Absolutely workable. They can organise a channel and Code, well in advance, advertise it via local papers, cops etc. Ways and means.

Not true, the Radioddity CS-47 has been out for a while too and has it as well and is FCC Certified.

what about ssb

These radios need to be at Walmart shelves $49.99 . Other FCC limited models up to $100. The 10m models rule! These would be better then rubbish cobra 19 ultra models. No one using FM still to this day since it came out in Pittsburgh east area . But this is a nice compact radio for today's plastic cars. 😅

My ham radio was stolen out of my Jeep. I own a cobra cb still I really don’t know if people hear me. Only when I Jeep in trails they do.

Why would a CB radio need CTCSS and DCS coding abilities? Are there 11 meter repeaters for CB radio? What, no SSB? I use the CTCSS tones for the repeaters in our area but I'm a Ham radio operator. I have a Yaesu FT-991a that I had the MARS mod done so I could use it on 11 meters (27 KHz). Cheers & 73 from K9POW in eastern TN

@cbradiomagazine

8 ай бұрын

It can provide the ability to only hear other radios that are using the same codes. If you are in a high traffic area or are having issues with background skip breaking your squelch it provides a quieter user experience.

@davidjohnson-he9vw

4 ай бұрын

It is not exclusively for repeaters. It is also used in FRS ... it just keeps squelch closed so you don't hear chatter unless that chatter is transmitting the subaudible tone with it...

Wow

Is talkback loud?

@cbradiomagazine

10 ай бұрын

Talkback level is adjustable. Definitely can be loud but you might get feedback if you turn it up too much.

When does the Obama or Biden model come out?

Way less white noise on cobra 2000. Radio.

For $40 more I'd rather get something like the Qt40 or Qt60, which does CB and ham radio (and SSB).

Why is the US still messing around with 27Mhz? Sure it has it's place but if you're going FM then also go UHF like the rest of the world. Even backwardass stupid Australia has AM/SSB 27Mhz plus 477Mhz FM I just don't get FM on HF. Maybe it's just me.

@ericzerkle8486

10 ай бұрын

Let me guess, you're a ham..........

@mostlypostie1

10 ай бұрын

I'm from Australia, and we all WISH we had FM on 27Mhz. UHF is fine for car to car use, but for anything longer, or through rough terrain 27MHz is FAR better. UHF is line of sight only. 27MHz goes around hills and beyond line of sight. (and it's fun because of skip!). 27Mhz AM and SSB is legal here, but FM is not, which sucks! Trust me... You guys (EU / USA) don't know how good you have it with your FM 27MHz radios. And the old school USA AM operators need to wake up. FM is awesome, the rest of the world already knows this! HF + FM is great. Just ask the Hams on 10m.

@CathodeRayNipplez

10 ай бұрын

@@mostlypostie1 Good point 👍

Don't waste your money on buying them radios

And how many people running out and buying this new FM CB radios. Not many. Why you need a FM CB radio for. They made lots of CB radios with am and ssb. And most people just talking to one other in a car and am good enough. If the price to those FM CB radio come down to normal. And most FM CB radio cost more then most CB radios when new that can do ssb. And there are GRMS radios out there. There the thing buy a over prove FM CB radio or buy a normal price GRMS radio. Both get you talking over the air. Just most will buy the cheaper then the higher price one. And last sad thing most CB radio companys have stop making ssb radios and just making this FM CB radios. Now we push ssb out and just think about fm now on.

No SSB no = extra-long range, do not waste your time and money on a toy.

Please buy American 🇺🇸

@cbradiomagazine

8 ай бұрын

No cb radios have been made in the USA since the 1970s and even then it was a tiny percentage. 99% of all cb radios ever produced were made in Asia. President is a French company and offers better customer support than Cobra. So not sure I understand your comment.

Id definitely never buy a CB. I have one that was given to me and all I hear is nonsense.

Plastic junk 😅😅😅

They need to quit making the new president radios they are junk

@ericzerkle8486

10 ай бұрын

So what do YOU run for a radio? Let me guess, a Stryker.

@mattpace5982

10 ай бұрын

@@ericzerkle8486 no sir I run a rci 2950dx mobile it's been peaked and tuned and inlined it's barefoot and the antenna I use is a antron 99 50 foot up in the air

@mostlypostie1

10 ай бұрын

your ignorance is outstanding.