- Saturday, 10 January 2009
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People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like - Abraham Lincoln
CB radio goes Bluetooth
CB RADIO has received an upgrade after years of providing truckers with a reason to talk bollocks across the airwaves.
In the mid-seventies every kid and his puppy were chatting in CB talk after the popular beat combo artist C.W. McCall had a hit with a number called " Convoy".
Teachers in school worried about the death of the English language while seven year olds ran around shouting "breaker, breaker" and 10-4ing rubber ducks.
According to the Seattle Times, more than 800,000 CB radios are sold in the US and recently Cobra's CB which makes a fair chunk of the market has decided to go for an upgrade.
Its latest model features a Bluetooth wireless connection so truckers can integrate a mobile phone into the CB radio.
This means that calls are routed through the The Cobra 29 LTD BT CB radio, which can help truck drivers conform to hands-free driving laws.
Why customers need a CB radio in the era of mobile phones is still not questioned. While everyone might have a mobile they don't know the number of the people next to them on the highway. ยต
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"They even had a bear in the air" "Pigpen got yo ears on" Obscure, I hope not.
CB style chatting (or even standard 2 way calling) over a Bluetooth connection on mobiles would be cool (100m BT2.0 would be best). No cost to use, and the ability to chat to people around you just by searching for them on the phone. Although, the only benefit I can think off, so far, is to chat to someone in the car in the lane next to you. Or in another room in the house.
"You have a smoky on your tail!" The best part of CB is you can warn everyone at once.
Why do truckers still need CB when cell phones exist? There are alot of reasons, one major one: cell phones don't work everywhere in the US. There are large stretches of road out there where cell service is marginal at the best of times. Europeans take for granted how ubiquitous cell coverage is in the "old world"
"10-4 that smoky report, but heck... we got ourselves a convoy!"
Dianese (Italian company) make helmets with bluetooth built in. So do Nolan, also Italian. You can also buy an attachable bluetooth headset which fits almost any motorcycle helmet. I think the Dianese will reach 300m, and possibly further. When riding in a group they allow riders to communicate with each other.
There has been a product on the market for over 15 months that provides a BT interface between any type of 2-way radio (CB or HAM) and its operator. TalkSafe is a plug & play system. It utilises standard off-the-shelf BT headsets to provide PTT instead of using a hand-mic. This makes driving so much safer and offers compliance to any hands-free laws! Check it out at www.rpf-comms.com