Bring Back ... CB Radios

REPORT ABUSE

CB Radio was first introduced into the United Kingdom around 1972. These dates are hard to confirm accurately; certainly early use was known around the airports in the UK, particularly Stansted in 1973. Some claim that a few illegal CBs were in use in the 1960s. These early adopters used CB radios imported from the United States that were illegal to own and use. The usage of illegal CB radio peaked in 1980 and the UK Government was forced to legalise CB Radio. CB became legal in the United Kingdom on November 2, 1981; hence the logo stamped on all type approved radios of this era CB27/81 or CB934/81. As of 8 December 2006, no licence is required to own or operate a CB Radio providing it meets the original legal specifications for UK usage: FM only, 4 watts power output and operating on either of the UK allowed 27 MHz bands. http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ifi/licensing/classes/citizen/

In the run up to legalisation, some people wanted the old VHF bomber frequency around 220 MHz (unused since WW2) for UK CB. This would have offered much better conditions for CB: nice clear channels without the chronic overseas interference there is on 27 MHz. This interference is often so severe, it even stops local contacts from being made. However, the vast majority of users were not technically minded enough to realise what a bad slot 27 MHz was, and had already purchased American-sourced equipment, so the preferred option for legalisation was the U.S. 27 MHz AM system. While technically this was one of the poorest possible choices for a short range person-to-person radio system, and was already allocated for other services, the CB community lobbied vociferously for it. The final legalised service was a compromise - a band at 27 MHz was allocated but using FM and offset channel frequencies 27.60125 - 27.99125 MHz which were incompatible with the U.S. system.[1]