Coventry CB Radio Community

Was just remembering some handles (the usernames back in the 70's and 80's) for people in the Coventry CB community. CB Radio in United Kingdom - Wikipedia. The one's I can think of: 'Lawman'- later 'Perfect Man' (Cheylesmore) 'Angel' (Cheylesmore) 'Lady Tenderfoot' (Cheylesmore) 'Space-Man' (Cheylesmore) 'Charterhouse' (St. Michael's) 'WonderWoman' (Binley) And then some Coventry Handles I saw mentioned online: -'Dry Martini' -'StarFire' -'LittleLady' -'MisterMagoo' -'BushBaby' What was your Handle?

I never had a handle because I never had a CB. But like many, I got excited about getting one and being in the electrical/electronic business, I bought a little introductory book to learn all about it. I remember a few things like "your twenty", and what a kicker is/was (is CB still around - I presume mobiles have done away with CB...?). I'm fairly sure the said book was published by Fidelity, of "fur coat and no knickers products fame". I was so keen that I did learn the phonetic alphabet, a must when talking into a mic. I have used it ever since. When I go to places like Screwfix and they ask for my postcode, all the staff understand "Charlie victor three two five echo lima" (I'm quoting my boss's postcode here, not my own, for obvious reasons). It annoys me when people either say things like "s for sugar, f for Freddie" etc., and get it wrong. Or, even words, just saying the letter - so confusing because, especially if they mumble, b and v sound very similar, same with f and s etc. Using the phonetic alphabet removes any ambiguity. In similar vein, why do they teach schoolkids that the clock has two lots of twelve hours in a day? Completely wrong and ambiguous. Stupid too. There are 24 hours in the day period. I have used the 24-hour clock for many years. So the breakfast is at 0930.

Likewise I too use the phonetic alphabet, known as the NATO Phonetic Alphabet to aid clarity. Yip, 24 hours in a day, which I use and find increasingly people struggle to grasp the 24 hour concept. The sad fact was, I too was taught there are two lots of twelve hours in a day, and I'm passed state pension age! Correct use of the 24 hour clock was adopted by the military during the First World War, but I understand for civilian reasons, it was not pursued further. Why, I've no idea, nor do I comprehend any potential reasons why. Fidelity did make CB radios and like many others, did also put their name to CB books. I think the one you're referring to is "The Fidelity Guide to Legal CB" Tandy also produced a CB handbook, called the "Tandy CB Radio Guide". Often these CB handbooks would have pages at the rear where you could enter the names/handles of those you had contacted. I'm struggling to recall any handles I came across, probably because I've been asleep too many times since those days. But I do recall what was nicknamed those boomboxes. Basically they were power mics used to increase the audio power when transmitting. With the legal CB (FM) unlike the American CB (AM) they didn't serve a purpose other than distort the audio. I'll not go into the technical differences between FM and AM, those who understand those terms will know exactly what they are and how the work Another type of mic on CB was the reverb, which created variable amount of echo.... Two other organisations that were quite prevalent in the 1980's on CB •  REVCOM •  REACT A quick search on the web, both organisations seem to be still very active. CB radio is still used, but only on the 27 MHz frequencies. The 934 MHz frequencies were removed from use to enable the first generation of analogue mobile phones. The demise of CB will be primarily down to increased mobile phone use and greater reliability of establishing reliable communications. Mobile phones and modern tech have also had an impact on amateur radio use, though I understand there is still a lot of amateur data comms etc.