CB's history

In 1947, an international conference was set to assign radio frequencies.

A physical phenomen appeared : on frequencies under 26 MHz, the wave was so long that it reflected in the air. These frequencies were given to ground-to-ground communications. Over 28 MHz, the wave was so short that it left into space. These high frequencies were given to spacial communications, like satellites.

But ont the 27 Mhz, nobody could say what would happen. This was the limit ; sometimes it reflected like longer waves, somtimes it vanished into the ether. That's why this band was let free ; it wasn't assigned anything.

In US, it is made 'Citizen Band', or CB ; everybody can use it freely.

Radio increased with train drivers. They had long work, often far from their families for weeks ; they bought and used old army radio sets (often soldiers' material for World War 2) to keep in touch with their wives and children. Then came the truckers, who had similar reasons to love radio, and who also find it useful to contact between them. Because a trucker could have problems, and radio allowed him to call another trucker in order to help and meet.

CB came in France in the early 60's, ten years after it started in US. The first CB association, the AFA (Association Française des Amateurs radio), was founded in 1967.

What's amazing is that CB wasn't allowed in France. It wasn't forbidden, but every radio emission needed an agreement from the Telecommunication Ministry.

In 1980, CB suddenly started to grow, to raise faster and faster, in spite of the 'interdiction'. The Giscard d'Estaing government decided to forbid every kind of radio emission on the 27 MHz band ! But there were already too much cibists. In the 24 hours-race in Le Mans, in 1980, they were about 15,000 dempnstrating their power.

In front of this little revolution, the governement was forced to allow CB. They allow it... On 22 channels, only on Frequency Modulation, and the power was limited to 2 Watts !

Cibists didn't agree and continue arguing. In 1981, the government changed, and one year later the rules were set to what they are today : fourty channels are allowed, in AM, FM and SSB (which is a special AM mode). The power is limited to four Watts. There are millions of cibists in France, thanks to governement's policy to limit speed on roads : most people buy a CB in order to know where cops are waiting them !

Today's rules :

In France : fourty channels are allowed, from 26.965 MHz to 27.405 MHz. The power is limited to 4 watts. And that's almost all for laws !

But CB rules are not in the laws. Cibists made other rules in order to tidy a little the mess CB was becoming.

The channel 9 is "forbidden", it is reserved for emergency cases. Some intelligent firemen are listening the 9th channel permanently, and this has already saved some lives.

The channel 19 is the trucks' channel. Truckers and people who go a long trip can discuss on this channel ; there are often pretty interesting informations about road, accidents, places where the cars are stopped and traffic jams... And sometimes about cop's radars.

The channel 27 is the local call channel. It is the normal channel to call somebody. But it is often forgotten by most people, who call almost everytime on the 19. Note that in the Diois the 27th channel is the most used, thanks to local CB clubs.

In Belgia, there are only 22 allowed channels and a 1W power. AM is forbidden. That explains why you may never have a QSO with a Belgian.

In Italia the situation is exatcly opposite. They're allowed to use 240 channels and aren't limited in power. The result is that, even here in France, we sometime hear more Italian than French !

(Non-)Respect of the rules :

The channel 9 is quite respected. The 27 is almost unknown in France, so the 19 is often used instead of it.

A normal CB set, in France, has at least 120 channels with 10 watts... A good set has about 240 channels (six bands) with 20W AM and near 40 W in SSB mode !

Near Valence, 120 to 200 channels are saturated, while 40 are allowed...

You want to know more about CB ? Read the excellent book of Stéfan Jaffrin, La tribu des Cibistes, at http://www.cybertribes.com/CB.html (in French)

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