The future of 11m radios.

[Kobo]

I had a discussion yesterday with a friend about the future of 11m cb radio. My opinion is that in 20 years time the radios will be pretty much worthless! . I am basing this on the average age of users on 11m Ssb. I am 48 years old and the bulk of people I talk to are of a similar age to me ( basically like myself the kids who had them 35 years ago.) In 20 years time will we all still be buying Cb radios.??

[Mojo666]

Looks like everyone is selling up now. And the prices of radios at the moment is unbelievable. I won't be buying anymore that's for sure. 'Well for now anyway ' still be using them though even if it's just local radio chat. I don't think there will be much future interest as it's a dying hobby.

[paulears]

The sad thing, and it applies to the hams too, is that radio isn't interesting any longer to younger people. The CB fraternity had to work very hard to get those distant contacts - waiting for the right conditions, making sure the aerial system was as good as location allowed and having endless patience to talk to people in foreign countries. Limited channels, limited power for most too. Eventually that elusive voice pops up and you have a chat before it fades away again. For local stuff - you talk to a few strangers, but mostly your mates.

The kids look at this, pick up their phone, and say they can do all this and without breaking a sweat, and more reliably and with a much wider audience. They can see them too if they like, and they look at the radio hobby and it looks as interesting as chasing a hoop down the street poking it with a stick!

A large number of younger people do enter the hobby - but many have issues. People on the autistic spectrum, or those with disorders of one kind or the other often take up radio, which is nice, but not really representative of young people in general. If you look at Facebook, or the net in general for pictures of CB and Ham clubs, the older faces are the most common, and the younger folk in the pictures are not the typical young people you see out and about. The radio hobby has always been for people with slightly unusual personalities (me included) but the shift in interest is becoming too obvious.

Sadly, I think your 20 year prediction might be too long. I wonder if in ten years, your own interest will have waned? At that point, the kit itself becomes valueless if no newcomers are coming along. I seem to remember that the people in the 70s who first imported CBs were also the people who loved their cars - so there was a kind of fraternity thing, that worked as they all grew up. Social media seems to have taken that all away now - the kids with the boy racer cars don't do radio, so it's a bedroom activity for the young people who do take it up, but most of them seem to not really be interested in how the radios work, how to connect them and tune the aerials - they get others to kind of get them a package that works, that they then don't tinker with.

Radio of any kind - CB, PMR446 and Ham I predict will simply cease to be a hobby by 2025. Technology does the communication thing better now, so it's borrowed time, I think, with an inevitable outcome.

[Tim]

To get the younger generation interested in radio communication they need to be exposed to it in its purest form, teach them the history and demonstrate its use, that's the only way to secure future operators. It's the fascination of being able to talk to someone, even on a local basis, without the use of modern technology that sparks the interest and if the person at the other end is in another Country then that interest and fascination increases. As for the propagation cycles we are now heading for the lowest point, 2019, so after that point it will or should begin to rise again on the next 11 year cycle. There are a lot of younger people in my area that are showing an interest and like to just sit and listen to all us 'locals' talking to each other, all we have to do is to let them participate in handing them the microphone.

[Kobo]

Yes I agree what you are saying about getting the younger generation interested. My young son was doing something about Finland at school. I arranged for him to talk to a guy over there! He couldn't believe it!!! He is totally hooked now especially when a parcel arrived from Finland with a load of stuff for him to rake into school.

[mercury888]

I tried to get our boys interested to no avail. When they were old enough there was too much school work, and now university work leave no time. I also tried to get the GB4FUN (?) lot interested in demonstrating at their school - never had a reply.

[dt307]

Yep it's allready died the Internet seen to that ,
Just waiting for the final nails in the coffin.
11m CB used to talk to local friends and strangers around the world some times.
You can do this online easy any time of the day or night free for any kids using the house Internet.
So why would they spend a lot of money on a radio,psu,coax,ugly massive antenna all the people in the street will hate.
I don't have the answer to my own kids let alone any one else.
When I started on CB it was social network
And there was nothing else only the home phone .
Times have changed. CB is bottom of people list. So far down the list most don't know it is there

[Tim]

In my area there seem to be a lot coming back into the hobby after years of absence from it, I myself only came back into it after a 26 year absence and more are doing the same here. Within a 45 mile radius of me there are about 28 of us that regularly chat to each other, 7 or 8 on an almost daily basis and the number is continually increasing, we have one that has just 'joined up' who used to be the official radio operator for the British Antarctic Survey Station in the South Atlantic. I went into a local travel agents this morning to the Foreign Exchange booth for a handful of single US Dollar Bills for DXpedition and special activation QSL contributions, the very nice lady asked out of curiosity what I wanted them for and after telling her she told me that she used to be on the CB some years ago and was most interested so I don't think the interest in the hobby is dead, it just needs re-igniting.

[Mudslinger]

Quite a few have come back on air around here as well.

There must still be plenty of interest in the hobby otherwise old sets wouldn't be so sought after. It can't all be nostalgia.

[Tim]

And obviously, if it is nostalgia, then nostalgia comes at a price! But then, what hobby doesn't?

[Admiral]

Sadly a lot of the above is true from my experience, 11m and the ham bands are slowly but surely dying a death. HF has gone data so as someone sets up their computer to send signals all day while they're at work and number crunch the results in Excel when they get a spare 10 minutes in the evening.
VHF/UHF is on its arse other than digital modes, and to the point, 11m is an old mans play thing because they did it 30+ years ago.

Amateur/CB/Freeband has had its day and is now tapering off, just like Atari enthusiasts, there will always be someone out there, but not too many.

[Buick Mackane]

according to admiral the hobby is dead and we're all doomed, but fear not, theres still time left to learn a new hobby.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_dance

[Kobo]

I would agree there are a few people who have come on especially since midband Ssb was legalised. There are a lot of hams who don't like tx ing around. High band (27.555) . They will regularly come on for a chat. I think we are lucky as most of the operators on Ssb Cb are good genuine enthusiasts. As the propagation is poor at the moment the midweek nets on a Wednesday are a good excuse to come on .i am based up near York and can on a weekly basis talk to the guys on the southern nets.

[paulears]

I think dt307 spotted it - CB IS social media - just to a smaller group of people, and I wonder if this is the problem. Lots of people do (did) radio for chatting purposes, and the kids have a real problem with speech - how many young people are confident talking? They always text. Radio appeals to the smaller group who like talking - they're the only future radio has. Maybe it's a big sunspot cycle, and speech will become popular again. Until it does ..... we're doomed.

[Admiral]

according to admiral the hobby is dead and we're all doomed, but fear not, theres still time left to learn a new hobby.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_dance

Just saying as I sees Buick.

There is a thriving 11m community in South Yorkshire where I get to visit very regularly, and I make sure I always take my radio gear with me when I visit (another week there next week). But round here it's just white noise so I have got to the point where I don't even bother listening now, and for some time. When the pulse is gone for a certain length of time you have to just stop and let it go.