Survival Communications – The C.B. Radio

C.B Radios are once again gaining popularity among truck drivers, RVers and some survivalists. A properly tuned CB has a range of around 10-20 miles but is commonly illegally tweaked to transmit over hundreds of miles.
While my choice of radios always falls towards a mulit-band ham radio, I always have the C.B. frequencies programmed into my radio so I can scan the local area during an emergency.
Citizens’ Band radio (better known as CB radio) is a short-distance radio communications that takes up 40 radio channels from 26.965 to 27.405 MHz.

CB FREQUENCY / CHANNEL INFORMATION

CB Channel	Frequency	Frequency Use
Channel 1	26.965 MHz
Channel 2	26.975 MHz
Channel 3	26.985 MHz
Channel 4	27.005 MHz	Used by many 4X4 clubs
Channel 5	27.015 MHz
Channel 6	27.025 MHz	many operators using illegal high-power amplifiers
Channel 7	27.035 MHz
Channel 8	27.055 MHz
Channel 9	27.065 MHz	Channel 9 is the universal C.B. emergency channel
Channel 10	27.075 MHz
Channel 11	27.085 MHz
Channel 12	27.105 MHz
Channel 13	27.115 MHz	Often used in some areas for marine use & recreational vehicles.
Channel 14	27.125 MHz	Frequency for many walkie-talkies
Channel 15	27.135 MHz
Channel 16	27.155 MHz	Used by many 4X4 clubs
Channel 17	27.165 MHz	Used by truckers on the east-west roads in California
Channel 18	27.175 MHz
Channel 19	27.185 MHz	unofficial Trucker channel
Channel 20	27.205 MHz
Channel 21	27.215 MHz	Used by truckers for North-South routes in some areas of the country
Channel 22	27.225 MHz
Channel 23	27.255 MHz
Channel 24	27.235 MHz
Channel 25	27.245 MHz
Channel 26	27.265 MHz
Channel 27	27.275 MHz
Channel 28	27.285 MHz
Channel 29	27.295 MHz
Channel 30	27.305 MHz	30 and up are often used for SSB operation
Channel 31	27.315 MHz
Channel 32	27.325 MHz
Channel 33	27.335 MHz
Channel 34	27.345 MHz
Channel 35	27.355 MHz
Channel 36	27.365 MHz
Channel 37	27.375 MHz
Channel 38	27.385 MHz	unofficial SSB calling channel, LSB mode
Channel 39	27.395 MHz
Channel 40	27.405 MHz

CB Resources & Radios

• Cobra 29 WX NW ST 40-Channel Nightwatch CB Radio with SWR Calibration and 7 Weather Channels