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Radio News: FCC allowing FM frequencies on CB radios
Commercial Carrier Journal reports about how the Federal Communications Commission's expansion of citizens band radio from AM and single-sideband to include FM frequencies will impact truckers and others who use CB radios. Currently the 40 channels on CB radios are on the 11 meter band, from 26.965 MHz to 27.405 MHz, considered AM radio. Upper and lower single-sideband modes can be selected on higher-end CBs among those 40 channels to provide improved AM transmissions with greater power and range. The FM frequencies being added will come in clearer. The Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley says that FM frequencies will provide an “improved signal to noise ratio (about 25dB) with regards to man-made interference” over the current AM frequencies. “This is going to bring a lot of good things for professional users of the CB radio band like truckers because a lot times when the skip’s really rolling and the [solar] cycle is at its peak, sometimes it can interfere with truckers communicating up and down the highways. FM is really going to cut that down,” amateur radio expert Matt Kaskavitch. FM signals won't travel as far, but will be much clearer. “[FM] is going to provide for better clarity of signal and better short-range communication without having to worry about people from all over the country and really all over the world when the cycle is at its peak interfering as you’re trying to talk a few miles up and down the interstate,” Kaskavitch said. Read the full story in the Commercial Carrier Journal.