4 Features To Look For In A Quality CB Radio
Citizens' Band Radio—or "CB radio"—is a form of radio communication available to individuals and businesses. It consists of a selection of signals in the 40-channel radio band in the 27 MHz band, and it is especially popular among truckers and other road-warriors. In fact, one could go as far as say that the CB radio is their life-blood.
However, when buying a new CB radio, it's often hard for a newbie to sort the junk from the nuggets of pure gold. Every CB radio, like those found at Western Midland Communications Ltd, features an on/off control, volume, channel-switcher, and squelch control (the squelch control edits out static and replaces it with silence between transmissions). However, there are some additional features that are rather necessary in CB radios—regardless if they're handheld radios or radio rentals. Read on to learn about 4 absolutely essential features to consider in your next CB radio.
1. Weather Reports
Some CB radios have the ability to access weather reports by accessing radar stations. This particular feature can save you time by forewarning you of inclement weather on your planned route.
2. Instant Emergency/Traffic Channels
The ability to automatically switch to channel 19 (traffic for most parts of the country) and Channel 17 (mainly for the West coast) is very handy to have. It's especially great for people with a particular concern for traffic conditions and safety on their routes. It's one of those features you don't know you've been missing out on until you have it.
3. RF-Gain and RF-Power
RF-gain is a frequently-seen feature in CB radios. RF-gain—or "radio frequency"—is a feature that controls the strength of incoming transmissions from other two-way radios. This is a great feature to have when communicating with stronger signals than your own; otherwise, you'll find that they'll often distort to the point of being difficult to understand. Likewise, Variable RF-Power is a great feature to prevent your radio from inflicting the same problem onto other two-way radio. While this feature is optional, it's still a great feature to have for users interested in communicating with other radios while saving power.
4. Backlight Display
Surprisingly this feature often doesn't come standard on modern CB radios—which is a shame, since it's a rather useful feature. However, one should be careful to only use it when in use, since the backlight often drains power rapidly if left idling for long periods. If you need to use the radio at night, this is a must-have feature.
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