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CB Radio Was HUGE in Britain... Then This Happened

Mason's Dad

9,809 views

Right, so back in the 1980s, CB Radio was absolutely everywhere in Britain. I mean everywhere — truckers, families, teenagers, the lot. Millions of people doing it. And then one day... it was just gone.
But here's the thing — the story of CB Radio in the UK isn't just a nostalgic trip. It's a tale of illegal rigs, government crackdowns, Trafalgar Square protests, and a law that millions of people simply ignored. And then, quietly, it came back.
In this video I take you through the full history — from the smuggled American rigs arriving through the ports in the late '60s, through the Convoy craze, the bizarre British FM decision, the explosion of November 1981, the long decline... and what I personally found when I picked one up again all these years later.
I'm just a beginner, guys — if I get anything wrong, please correct me in the comments. But this is the story of CB Radio in the UK. And I find it properly fascinating.

💬 Do you remember the CB Radio Golden Age? I'd love to hear your stories below!📻 New here? Start with the full CB Radio playlist: ALL Radio Videos

CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction & Hook
1:37 The Illegal Early Days (Late 1960s)
2:59 The Convoy Effect: America Changes Everything
3:57 CB Clubs, Rallies & A Nation Demands Access
4:38 The Government Responds
5:01 Why Britain Chose FM: The Technical Debate
6:38 The Failed 928 MHz Proposal
7:45 November 2nd, 1981: The Day CB Went Legal
8:21 Christmas 1981: A Nation Goes CB Mad
9:10 The Language, The Culture & The Quirks
10:16 The Decline: Mobile Phones Change Everything
11:00 The Internet Finishes It Off
12:10 2006: The License Is Quietly Abolished
12:41 2014: AM & SSB Finally Legal in the UK
13:20 CB Radio Today: What I Found
15:02 Why CB Radio Will Never Truly Die
15:34 Wrap Up

💬 Do you remember the CB Radio Golden Age? I'd love to hear your stories below!📻 New here? Start with the full CB Radio playlist: ALL Radio Videos

👉 []👍 If you enjoyed this, a like really does make a huge difference to a small channel like mine — I genuinely appreciate every single one.🔔 Subscribe — it's absolutely free:
👉 @masonsdad1 Suggestions or CB memories to share?
Email me: masonsdadyt@gmail.com

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#cb radio history #citizen band radio, cb radio 1980s

20 Comments

@masonsdad1 Creator 4 months ago Pinned

Right, I've got a question for you and I genuinely want to know... Were YOU around during the CB Radio golden age in the UK? Did you have a rig? What was your handle? 📻Or maybe you're brand new to all this like me — if so, drop a comment and let me know what brought you here! I read every single comment and I'll do my best to reply to as many as I can. Let's get a good old natter going — that's what this channel's all about. 😄👍 And if you like what you see, hit that subscribe button — it's absolutely free and I'll see you very, very soon in the next video. Take good care, guys!— Dave (Mason's Dad) 🎙

@Grassmonster3 4 months ago

I was on CB back in the late 70's and it was amazing. The local CB clubs organized channel 9 monitoring 24/7 - as one of life's owls, I monitored every night from midnight until 2:00 am and we had a sort of quiet understanding with the police who accepted that we were actually a great help. The local CB social life was like nothing before or since - at the weekend in my local town, people would be meeting up in the middle of the night and travelling in small convoys to the Birch service station for a coffee or plodding through the streets to meet up with other breakers. There were quiz nights on air, charity events, CB club Christmas parties, fancy dress parties - hundreds of people who otherwise would have never met were connected socially. There was always someone who would help if you needed a hand with something - couldn't move something heavy on your own or something was broken that you didn't know how to fix ? You'd put a shout out and someone would come and help. The breakers ranged in age from kids to pensioners and my little town had a community spirit that hasn't existed since.

@richardmillican7733 4 months ago

The days of the Government "listening to the wants of millions" are no more!!!

@ozzybiker1013 4 months ago

back in the early 80's as a teenager, I used be up all night talking to people, I also enjoyed making antenna to give me more range. It were a big part of my growing up.

@lashedtodeckklingon121 8 hours ago

I started my journey on the airwaves in 1982. A Cobra 21x with a DV27 with a ground plain. You needed a Licence, which I had. 4 Watts max and it was fun. I has an FM Rig, not AM. I went on to a President Lincoln which was amazing, Antron 99, and variable power 0.25 - 20 Watts. Am, Fm, Usb, Lsb, CW.
We really enjoyed ourselves in my area of the country.
In 2008 I left the air waves. I came back in 2018 with a new rig as the Lincoln died. I loved my new rig but it is all free now. No licence, nothing.
People are still on the air, you just have to listen.

Life is fun.

@lenpaget6706 4 months ago

Sold every bit of CB gear the day they announced they'd legalise it, I knew it was only a matter of time before the idiots ruined it. I sat my amateur radio exam a few months later and never looked back. I occasionally have a listen on 27Mhz and its as quite as a church mouse round here these days.

@Jor-d2i 4 months ago

The p.o investigators were nicknamed the 'busbies' due to the animated character featured in p.o adverts called busby and voiced by bernard cribbins

@Owen-3vans 4 months ago

You hit the nail on the head! people want to connect, CB has that physical feel to it unlike the digital world of the internet. Like walking into a pub (remember them?) and chatting to a random guy or girl at the bar, drunks around the pool table (CH19) some guy in the corner who only speaks French (555) and a bunch of your mates over by the jukebox (just pray no one puts a song on) Keep exploring mate Skips coming in loud into the NW get on USB ;)

@freedom_unite3845 2 weeks ago

I got on CB 27.781 Back in 1984 My mum n dad bought me an Amstrad Base Station and an original Antron 99 for a Christmas present which back then was immense
I remember my school mates came round asking what I'd got ( when they had all got the latest bikes etc ) I told them I'd got A CB Radio
They all laughed ( Muppets ) ha ha
That was one of if not the best Christmas I'd ever had which brought me years of laughs copies etc 😂😂😂

@Bigsmi-o2m 2 months ago

Brilliant days, club nights with the dodgy couple of guys in suits drinking half pints watching everyone , going up on the Pennines in the early hours and dxing into Europe. Trying covert antennas in the car but at least one person had a giant fire stick on a mag mount, good times

@JesterOutdoorAdventures 4 months ago

Great insight Dave, I never had a cb in the 80’s and only got into it back 2013 when I joined Charlie Tango DX group, transmitting on top of hilltops. I left it for many years after that, but am now slowly getting back into it, partly due to your videos 👍

@mickthemardy 3 weeks ago

I had a Sharp 27mhz set back in the golden age of CB. I was a teenager at the time, and I used it to speak to my mates late at night. I had a DV27 aerial attached to an old bit sheet of metal clamped onto the outside of my bedroom window. We didn't go in for handels, we just used our nicknames. I ran mine off an old car battery that I topped up every two weeks.

@vaughanellis7866 4 months ago

Convoy has to be the one time that a song spawned a film, it was the direct inspiration of the film of the same name.
They only real problem with the old AM sets was if you lives within 50 feet of one, and you owned a decent Stereo set up you could hear what was being said as the coils on the speakers and tape heads would pick up the AM signals and make the audible.
I still have a set of single channel FM Walkie Talkies, which are handy when the family is on canal holidays.

@AlfUckhamHall 4 months ago

One of the biggest dealers in the UK was selling CB's and the required equipment from a shop in a backstreet in Blackpool. The shop front was a double glazing company and operated in a back room. I visited a few times in the very early 1980's.

@CodyTheBeerBear 4 months ago (edited)

I was on it back in the 80's. CB Radio was always there but It only came back bigger is because of Covid. People who was CB enthusiasts back then the day. Couldn't go out in the present days of covid, So they took up the hobby again. I'm glad it did happen as I love CB/Ham Radio. I use SSb

@mickeyred 1 month ago

Started on AM, moved on to SSB and had a 3 element yagi on my roof. Dad was very supportive of my illegal hobby. About the time it was legalised I was guided to take my Ham licence by a ham at work. Still active.
Mick aka Belldog now G1BCP

@AW-Services 4 months ago

I was a trucker kid in the early 80s as my dad was a long distance lorry driver and CB was a staple of every tuck car and homebase. Remember the old cheap CB licencing prior to 28/81 and the incredible Midland AM rigs and powerful equipment and AM firestick antennas & 100w burners. I used to be able to memorise the 10 code. I still have my Amstrad 901 with annoying Roger bleep I brought in the 90s. Still used CB as it's a preparedness must. Brilliant video spitting facts and well made 👏

@Alan_Dawson 4 months ago

I had the Ham International Mk1 Jumbo with 6 banks of 40s in the house, and a Shakespeare 5/8-wave fibreglass antenna on the roof. Concorde 2 6 banks in the car and a Hygain V ( Yeah, that Roger Bleep was amazing!)

@stevegrew6758 1 month ago

Well I’m even stranger in that I rarely use the radios these days but have bought a little collection up since finding the set I bought on legal day.. I’ve now got nearly everything I wanted when I was a young boy (57 now) I love the rescue sets especially but it’s just the whole retro thing that I enjoy most.

@Shostadaredd 4 months ago (edited)

I had cb way back in the day, half a car bonnet in the loft with a mag mount, mics that made noises like woosh, poop, bleep, truckers hour on the radio, chatting all night, meet ups, beach parties, venues booked for parties ...then it went legal on the FM and the thrill died.