CB Radio with police scanner

[xtreemman]

hi im lookin to get a cb radio, a handheld one just for fun, and i was wondering if there is one on the market that has a police scanner function built in. please help with any information you all have with web sites or products. thanks for your help

[sitlet]

ive never seen any handheld ones with a cb and a scanner. i have both a handheld scanner and handheld cb that i usually keep in the car.

[stiltman]

The still make CB radios? I thought they died in the late 80s

[gitreel]

You can still buy new ones. You can walk into rat shack and buy one anytime you want.

[stiltman]

Huh....I never see the antenas on cars anymore. who can you talk to? What's the range now?

[gitreel]

I wish I knew. I haven't used a cb in years.

[sterno]

I still see CB antennas, but they're not common in cities anymore (I think they're only slightly more common than ham operator license plates around here). Wal-Mart still sells both handheld and in-dash CBs (and scanners), they'd be cheaper than Radio Shack. It sticks in mind that there are scanners that can listen in on CB frequencies, but I don't know of any that can broadcast. I think when I looked the cheapest one I saw that could scan CB also cost more than my CB and scanner combined did.

I think the main users of CB now are truckers and school bus drivers.

[rallynavvie]

Keep in mind that most urban police departments no longer use unencrypted radio for chatter. Most departments in larger urban areas use digital band transmissions and I think the equipment to listen in on those is pretty expensive. They're also encrypted signals. Only smaller police forces and some emergency services still use the old airwaves that you can pick up on a scanner.

[Capmaster]

I think cell phones spelled doom for CB.

[devinemi83]

I know a neighbor of mine had one that she could hear our local police(small town outside main city) chatter on. Although most city, state, federal agencies use encryption because if you can easily buy one so can a criminal and they could hear where the police are and what they are planning. It became a safety hazard for them. Some small towns may be like mine and still not encrypt but most now do.


They can be fun though, you here the gossip before most others do

[enstg8er]

the range of cb's remains the same. fcc rules regulate frequency and transmitting power.

[Doramius]

CB is still around, but very limited. I think the FCC is going to update, clear away or loosen a lot of the laws around CBs because of how little it's used anymore. I know they are going to keep power and transmission distance limited, but for higher levels and longer distances. New 2-way radios are becoming the big 'IN' for general use. The 2-way cell phones are becoming more popular, as well. I think motorola is working on the 2-way video/chat cell. I know in Japan there are a couple that are in production, but very poor video quality as they are still new. Video/chat phones are available for regular LAN lines already, just not widely as there are only handfuls of people who use them. They aren't too bad to use and are without choppy, out-of-sync video like using video web confrencing on some computers, just a bit pricey though.

[xtreemman]

does anyone still have one they use or does anyone know of a certain model they can recommend?

[Capmaster]

I don't know about models anymore but Cobra always made a decent CB for the money.

[Doramius]

I used Cobra, too. But that's because that's what my father got and he gave it to me. Still I had no complaints about it. Hey, you can also go the FCC online and put in an application for a license or permit to get your personalized handle and be able to boost power and distance.