Okay, so I’ve been around the block once or twice and remember when CB radio manufacturers got the green light from the Federal Communications Commission in 1977 to add 17 more channels for a total of 40.
That was a big deal. Smokey and the Bandit was king and CB use, led by Burt Reynold's legendary character Bandit and his Snowman trucker sidekick, was booming. Surely all those folks could use 17 more channels.
My brothers and I certainly thought so. We had been sharing a 23-channel Cobra 29 LTD in Southern California and figured that rig would soon be obsolete. After all, who wouldn’t want access to all 40 channels?
And then something interesting happened. Channel 19, CBs' most popular channel where truckers, travelers and hobbyists alike would spend arguably most of their time—or at least start there and move on to another less-crowded channel to continue a conversation—kept its throne as king of all 40 channels and still does today.
Single-sideband didn’t change that, either. With 12 watts of transmission power, eight more than the measly four watts allowed by the FCC on the conventional AM side, you’d think that SSB would absolutely rock the CB world. It didn’t. Cobra, the nation’s largest CB manufacturer, no longer offers SSB on their radios though they did tell CCJ recently that they’re considering a comeback.
Of course, Cobra's return to SSB might hinge on the success of their new AM/FM radios. Cobra’s parent company, Cedar Electronics, led the FM petition effort at the FCC for four long years until the mode was finally approved in 2021.
