FM Mode Breathes New Life Into CB Radio Communications
by Jeffrey Reed, Editor, LondonOntarioSports.com

This week, the biggest change to Citizen Band (CB) Radio use in North America – that is, since the expansion from 23 to 40 channels in 1977 – came into effect with CB communication in the U.S. now including FM mode.

But here in Canada, we’ll have to wait and see if our federal government follows suit.

Twitter may be the strongest social media mode today, but during the 1970s, CB radio communication was, in fact, the original social media. Of course, the advent of computer technology saw millions of users in Canada and the U.S. put their radios on the shelf for good.

However, in recent years, despite instant messaging provided on a myriad of high-tech devices, CB use has seen a resurgence. In addition to professional drivers hauling goods along our network of highways, four-wheel motorists have rediscovered the mode of communication as a good way to receive instant information about highway conditions. And with numerous new features – including scanning, Bluetooth technology, national weather broadcasts and hands-free use – rejuvenating CB use, even the hobbyist population has grown, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when we’re all searching for activities to pass the time.

Now, enter FM mode. It’s not new – manufacturers including President Electronics already offer CB radios with FM (as well as AM and Single Sideband – SSB) – to the European market. But a recent decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the U.S. now sees the use of CB radios with FM capability legally permitted.

FM CB Radio Brings Clarity

President Electronic’s President Taylor IV AM-FM mobile CB radio

Prompted by a petition from Cobra Electronics Corporation, one of the few remaining manufacturers of CB radios, and supported by President Electronics USA, a subsidiary of Groupe President Electronics, a leading supplier of CB radios with AM and FM mode in Europe, the FCC made the decision this past week to permit FM mode in the U.S.

The FCC’s Petitions for Reconsideration of Part 95 Personal Radio Services Report and Order, Memorandum Opinion and Order on Reconsideration – WT Docket No. 10-119, is available in its entirety here. This document preceded the FCC’s 21-90 document, available here, outlining the legal use of FM mode within the CB frequencies.

FM mode provides a cleaner, clearer communications mode than AM. SSB CB is an entirely different animal compared to simple AM mode operation, yet they are communications cousins. They share the same 11 meter radio spectrum and channels, but that’s where the similarities end. SSB CB can provide twice as much range as AM under identical conditions, and can provide up to 12 watts legal peak power versus 4 watts for AM. Voice quality is crystal clear compared to sometimes static-filled AM. The secret lies in additional circuitry.

With AM transmissions, the power is distributed across the carrier in upper and lower side bands. SSB is much more efficient, however, using only one of the side bands to get your message across. Because there is no carrier, unless you speak into a keyed microphone, the operator at the other end will hear nothing and see no signal on his S-meter.

SSB also boasts less noise and interference than AM. Forget about heterodyne whistles when two or more AM CB operators transmit at the same time. However, if you’re conversing via SSB (channels 31 through 40 are typically preferred for SSB, with different communities using their favourite channels), you will occasionally hear heterodyne interference from AM operators in the same channel. AM operators may also hear interference from SSB operators which can sound a little like Donald Duck yapping in the background.

CB Radio History

Before SSB became available, the FCC issued the first licence for CB radio, or Class “D” 27 MHz band, in early 1948 to Al Gross. He communicated with licence 19W0001 of the Citizens Radio Service. By the 1960s, truckers, small business operators and radio hobbyists were using CB transceivers on a daily basis. Then it hit with hurricane force.

When the U.S. government imposed a 55 mph speed limit during the Arab oil embargo of 1973, and concurrently with a gas shortage, much media coverage was given to truck drivers who were communicating via CB radios to locate gas and to warn others of police speed traps. The CB craze was born.

Add C.W. McCall’s 1976 song, Convoy, and a movie by the same title in 1978, and you had a communications phenomenon that would not be surpassed until the Internet was born. CB was so popular, you could walk to the corner store, purchase a mobile CB transceiver and antenna for as little as $75 and, after a quick installation, join in on the fun – if you could get a word in edgewise. With the original 23 channels clogged, the FCC allowed 40 channels in 1977 and that’s where things remain today.

Higher-end CBs boast both AM and SSB, effectively providing 120 channels. Under normal atmospheric conditions and using properly installed antennas, two home – or base – SSB CB operators can communicate over a distance of up to 40 miles.

SSB CB equipment has been available since 1964. In Tom Kneitel’s book, Tomcat’s Big CB Handbook, the founding editor of the now-defunct Popular Communications wrote: “The first commercially-produced CB side band rig was a result of a project in early 1963. Mark Products, a division of Dynascan, hired Gil Kowols to design a CB side band transceiver.”

Galaxy DX2547 – one of few base CB radios available today

Kneitel, who passed away in August 2008, also wrote: “Manufacturers such as Tram, Browning, Stoner, CPI, Cobra and others produced side band transceivers that live on in both legend and also in actual current use.”

In 1967, E.F. Johnson Company released the SSB CB radio and helped fuel SSB popularity, but it wasn’t until the 1970s when combined AM-SSB radios hit the market that SSB soared to enormous heights.

FM Offers Change

Now, FM mode legally enters the U.S. market. Clarity will greatly improve communications, in particular during short-range communication – no worrying about atmospheric conditions hammering local chit-chat with skip rolling in from across the country.

But users with AM-only radios will not have the option to tune out interference from FM communications, or to listen in and/or join those conversations. And with CB radio popularity not even in the same universe as the 1970s, there won’t be any backlash in response to the FCC’s decision.

Of course, Cobra recognized a new marketing opportunity in the addition to FM-capable CB radios in North America. And with FM the new kid on the block, expect CB popularity to rise.

More background: By 1978, both the FCC and Canada’s Department of Communications (DOC) – later, Industry Canada, and today Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) – had no longer required General Radio Service (GRS) licenses for CB use. Licenses were inexpensive – there were hundreds of thousands of unlicensed CB operators – and government on both sides of the 49th Parallel decided it was no longer cost effective to license Citizen’s Band users.

It’s nearly impossible to estimate how many CB radios are now in use across the U.S. and Canada, let alone the rest of the world – including in the UK where CB use is on the rise. Today, we have FRS, GMRS, MURS and 900 MHz FHSS alternatives, not to mention 10 meter radios and all other radios used by ham radio operators. But nowhere else is there such a unique and useful mode of communicating as CB radio.

Case in point: During a recent Ontario winter, a vicious winter storm caused havoc along Highway 401 southwest of Toronto. A 75-vehicle pileup during a whiteout stemming from Lake Huron caused panic on one of the busiest stretches of highway in North America. What was the first point of contact for motorists heading in that direction? CB radio.

With FM-capable CB radios soon to be made more readily available – and legal for use – in the U.S., ISED is taking a wait-and-see attitude. LondonOntarioSports.com contacted ISED, and received the following response:

• “In the cases of radios in the Citizen Band (CB), equipment that uses these frequencies is subject to ISED’s Radio Specification Standard (RSS) 236 – General Radio Service Equipment Operating in the Band 26.960 to 27.140 MHz (Citizens Band). ISED periodically reviews and updates technical equipment standards in order to modernize them and incorporate changes to the technical requirements.”

• “Changes related to allowing FM modulation in the CB bands is a technical change that would be considered when RSS-236 is next revised. The timing of such a revision cannot be specified, and depends on the various priorities of ISED and the Canadian market.”

Toronto-based Radioworld, Canada’s largest communications-industry retailer, told LondonOntarioSports, “At this time, ISED has not indicated that they will allow (FM CB radio use) in Canada, but we all know that they are likely to follow.”

“It would be a cost benefit to (CB manufacturers) to not have to have a second line for North America, although some … think it is a money grab to get what they call a ‘stale CB market’ going again.”

Jason Davidson is CB specialist with Walcott Radio, one of North America’s leading CB experts and stationed in Walcott, Iowa, across from the World’s Largest Truckstop along I-80. Davidson said he’ll be closely watching the FM-mode CB evolution materialize, and said right now it’s unclear as to how U.S. consumers will respond.

“This is hard to predict. There are many good reasons to be excited about CB radios adding FM mode. However, it’s hard to tell exactly how the average user will see things. Most of our customers, like people and tech in general, tend to use their devices without regard to how they work – they just need them to work,” said Davidson.

“Adding a feature like FM requires a bit more understanding of the nature of radio, radio waves, propagation, etc. The average CB user isn’t particularly aware of how modes affect radio operation. They just need a tool to communicate. The spin/marketing that radio manufacturers place on FM will ultimately determine how quickly consumer adoption and excitement will be.”

“Personally I’m happy to see any improvement within the radio spectrum for non-licensed users,” Davidson added. “FM has the potential to change the way that people see and use CB radios. There is the advantage of added clarity, and the potential for reduced interference. This has the potential to make CBs more like their GMRS counterparts.”

More Changes

Along with its new rules allowing CB FM communication, the FCC will now allow for automatic or periodic location and data transmission on all GMRS and FRS radios. After a Motorola petition sought this allowance with these short-range two-way radios – used by everyone from small business owners to parents keeping track of their children in the shopping mall, and often by hiking, fishing, hunting and camping enthusiasts – the FCC sided with Motorola’s thinking.

In its petition, again posted here, Motorola stated that automatic location transmissions will “provide tracking capabilities for individuals in remote areas where these expanded capabilities will aid search and rescue missions. For example, improved tracking will aid skiers, backpackers, and hunters who may become lost. This clearly will enhance public safety, particularly where commercial wireless network coverage is lacking. Individuals tracking the location of another member of their party will not be burdened by the need to manually request location, but rather the information simply will be available on their device.”

Of course, some chatter has focused on the fact that with location transmission capability, Big Brother could again be watching our every step.

In a world where instant communication is at our fingertips, it’s interesting to see how two-way radio communications is again getting a new life. Amateur radio operators around the globe have kept that mode of communication alive and well. Indeed, it will be interesting to see how the FM mode helps popularize CB Radio use.

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Long-time, award-winning journalist Jeffrey Reed is a life-long radio communications hobbyist. The LondonOntarioSports.com publisher and editor wrote columns on CB Radio for Popular Communications, the world’s leading communications magazine. Reach him at jeff@londonontariosports.com.