Ever wondered how the brotherhood of truckers keeps rolling strong, even in a world dominated by high-tech communication? Tune in with me, Walter Gatlin, as we cruise through the significance of CB radio today, an era where touch screens and digital maps are ubiquitous. We'll decode the jargon and 10 codes essential for any driver looking to navigate the airwaves with the ease of a seasoned road warrior. Thanks to Smart Trucking, we'll not only talk the talk but also walk you through the reasons why this throwback piece of technology is still a lifeline in the cab, offering real-time traffic insights, weather updates, and companionship on those long stretches of highway.
Transforming frustration into fulfillment on the open road, this episode also shifts into the personal realm of trucking. It's no secret that the isolation of trucking can lead to heated moments on the CB, but we'll discuss how to channel that energy into finding happiness and inspiration behind the wheel. With a bit of wisdom and empathy, we can all contribute to a positive shift on the radio waves. So, whether you're in it for the long haul or just curious about the trucking lifestyle, join me in exploring how embracing kindness and celebrating each other's success can lead to more rewarding journeys across the miles.
Ever wondered how the brotherhood of truckers keeps rolling strong, even in a world dominated by high-tech communication? Tune in with me, Walter Gatlin, as we cruise through the significance of CB radio today, an era where touch screens and digital maps are ubiquitous. We'll decode the jargon and 10 codes essential for any driver looking to navigate the airwaves with the ease of a seasoned road warrior. Thanks to Smart Trucking, we'll not only talk the talk but also walk you through the reasons why this throwback piece of technology is still a lifeline in the cab, offering real-time traffic insights, weather updates, and companionship on those long stretches of highway.
Transforming frustration into fulfillment on the open road, this episode also shifts into the personal realm of trucking. It's no secret that the isolation of trucking can lead to heated moments on the CB, but we'll discuss how to channel that energy into finding happiness and inspiration behind the wheel. With a bit of wisdom and empathy, we can all contribute to a positive shift on the radio waves. So, whether you're in it for the long haul or just curious about the trucking lifestyle, join me in exploring how embracing kindness and celebrating each other's success can lead to more rewarding journeys across the miles.
Text me anytime with news, suggestions, and stories at (641) 990-5641. God bless, be safe, and keep it between the lines drivers.
Speaker 1:
Welcome to Rollin' 18 Podcast. This 40-year veteran is here for anyone wanting to stay up to date with the trucking world. Grab your coffee, hop on board and let's get on down the road with Walter Gatlin.
Speaker 2:
Well, hello drivers and welcome to my podcast. I appreciate you folks listening and or downloading my podcast. This is important to me. I've been driving out there a long time. I went local about three years ago, worked for a farm. Now I still drive about 500-600 miles a day, so I'm getting my miles in. I just get to be home every night and off on the weekends.
Speaker 2:
Every once in a while you run into a great guy on the road, or you run into him on the weekends. Every once in a while you run into a great guy on the road or you run into him on the internet, and I did just that. I ran into a place called Smart Trucking and it's a guy and his wife that put together a website and they do a bunch of videos on Facebook and they really teach us old dogs and new dogs new tricks about driving out on the road. Don't worry about remembering anything while you're driving down the road. You don't need to touch that phone because I will put links down below. Later on, when you're safely tucked into your parking spot, you can go ahead and click on those links and check out Smart Trucking. The guy is just amazing, but he put out a story about CBs and if you know anything about me, I have always advocated, even to this day, why it's so important to have a CB. He put out a story and he stated step into the world of truckers with our introduction to the CB radio slang. Now, it's not exactly the 10 code, but he did add the 10 codes on his story and I will also provide a link to that down below to let you guys see exactly what he had to say on that blog post. And it's really important to me to have a CB Number.
Speaker 2:
One years ago we didn't have the smartphones, we didn't have phones in our truck. We had to rely on other drivers going by If we were broke down. They would fly by and we'd get on the CB and say hey, when you get up to a pay phone, please call somebody for me, I need help out here. My truck has broke down. We would give them a small explanation as to what we thought was wrong with it. They would explain it on the phone and then they would send out either a tow truck or a repair truck to help us out there. Today you don't need all that stuff. Today all you need is your cell phone and your CB.
Speaker 2:
Now, a CB does come in handy of many, many purposes. Number one purpose today, I believe, in the day of technology where you can get a hold of anybody with your phone is what happens if your phone goes dead or if you want to talk to somebody about something without having the rest of the world listen. The only people listening are those between a mile and 10 miles away, and that's it. You get to have a valid conversation about something you truly believe in, and those that want to listen will listen. Those that don't will shut the CB off. Of course you want to go to a different channel If you're going to have a lengthy conversation. Channel 19 is for short broadcast. Only that way you can keep that channel open. You come up over a rise. Somebody says, hey, traffic's coming to a stop. Boom. You come to a stop, one of the many great ways to be accident free.
Speaker 2:
Now Smart Trucking's website is basically on the front of it. It says a trucker's guide to thriving in the trucking industry. He is not kidding. The advice that this man gives out is extremely valuable, especially to you know, those of you that are new to the trucking world. Yes, we are boomers, yes, we are old school and, yes, we have learned a lot and although some of our information may be irrelevant to you today, it is very, very important that you digest the rest of that information that is just as pertinent today as it was 40 years ago. Now, the story that he put out about the CB radio it's basically fun but it's also educational.
Speaker 2:
He gives you the slang language on CB about law enforcement and safety. Basically it says back door means behind your truck, somebody who's behind you like the police. A bear means cop. Chicken coop means way station. Clean shot means no cops around. Diesel bear, which is a DOT cop specializing specifically in trucks. Evil Knievel, that would be a cop on a motorcycle. And Wake Cop, which is DOT. And he also puts out the lingo for truck and equipment descriptions Chicken Lights, which is extra lights on a rig or trailer. Chicken Truck, owner-operator rig with lots of lights, chrome and cool accessories. A Comic Book, which would be the driver's logbook. Most people don't have that anymore either.
Speaker 2:
Four-wheeler cars and other vehicles. Large car it would be a tricked out fancy rig. Wiping her feet. Truck is slipping and sliding that would be great to explain that you're in basically a lot of water or a lot of ice. Now. Badass would mean very cool, driver would mean a trucker, just a getting it running fast and hard. Stay loaded, wish you well, make money. And that is cool because it cuts down on a lot of the talk. You just go out there and practice these slangs and then start using them out the road. You'll see the response that you get. On the road you can say you're blowing my doors off, which means the rig is going very fast. Wind her up and let her go. Come on, pick up the pace, let's move it. You're dragging behind. That's what that means. A southbound hammer down, traveling south, driving faster than the speed limit. Going to the barnyard, going to the company yard. I'm heading south on the old double nickel on highway 55, four-wheeler speeding up and when you pull out to pass a slower car and then they speed up so you can't get by them. So that's how you put that to perspective.
Speaker 2:
Now he writes on here that CB codes and trucker talk came into being. Back in the 60s and 70s, when the CB radio was popular, truckers developed a language on their own. There was a plain brown wrapper at the 56 yard stick, a bear in the air and a wreck on the 104. The coops were working hard on your side going east. Can you follow the CB lingo, he says. If you don't know what this means, stick around. You're obviously in need of some training talking like a true trucker. The CB radio, aka Citizens Band Radio, is one of the ways truck drivers communicate Some of the old great favorite trucking movies like Smokey and the Bandit. And here's an example here Breaker 1-9,. This is the Bandit. I'm looking for a westbounder on Highway 85. I need a smokey report and I need it bad son. I need it bad son. That was a great movie and here's the Foxy Lady answering the great one and only Bandit.
Speaker 1:
This is Foxy Lady Bandit. We heard you were coming by and we decided we'd take care of those bears for you.
Speaker 2:
Just some examples of what we got to listen to back in the 60s and 70s and through some of the movies. I've also gotten some albums over the years from the Truck Industry. It used to be when you filled up at a certain place you could get a free album to put on your record player, and I've got several of those from the 70s and 80s which I like playing every once in a while, and Dudley happens to be one of them. But he goes on to say Many say the radio is no longer used the way it was originally intended. Some drivers tell us they still use it from time to time to check on traffic and stay posted to any accidents blocking the highways.
Speaker 2:
The CB radio is really a part of the history of trucking industry. It's sad to see its dwindle and back in the day the rules were quite strict. Today we could certainly use some tougher enforcement. There's a lot of abusive garbage that serious truckers could do without, especially on Channel 19, the Trucker's Channel. If you're a new driver or have friends who drive 18-wheelers, here's some popular trucker lingo which I just mentioned. Some of it and he translated it to real English, the one thing I think it would be fun for all drivers to do is to learn the 10 Code, because the 10 Code is something you can still use today. Now, I have always said, and I'll constantly keep repeating it, that cb radio is the only thing left with free speech. Everything else is being monitored by god knows who. Try to understand the 10 code, try to understand how to communicate on the CB, and let's try and bring some of that nostalgia back.
Speaker 2:
Some of you might think, well, it's just not worth it, ain't no fun. Look, I know we spend a lot of hours in the truck driving down the road, and I know for a fact that over 80% of you folks are monitoring something that you should not be monitoring, such as watching your phone, texting while driving, watching videos while you're driving. You can't do that, you shouldn't do that, and the more that people get complacent in doing that, the higher the risk for a deadly accident. That's why I think we should get back into the CB radio I really do Because it would take our mind off of trying to use the things that we're not legally allowed to use. They tried for years and I mean they by referencing to DOT, the federal government, state governments to ban the CB because they didn't want us to have that advantage. But they realized that that CB was very important to help and keep us alive in a lot more cases than not. So they opted to back off of that threat.
Speaker 2:
But here are some of the 10 codes that he had put on there and I think that they're very important and it would be good to shorten the communication because technically when one's going east and one's going west or north or south, you're not going to have each other for very long. When you run together it's rare, and when you run together and talk for 50 to 75 miles, that's even rarer today. But when it happens it's a beautiful thing. I just got done with the long conversation with a gentleman from Des Moines, iowa, all the way to my exit in Grinnell, iowa, and I thought it was just an amazing time. It brought me back to the time where we all used to communicate on the CB.
Speaker 2:
Here are some of the 10 codes 10-1, I'm receiving poorly. 10-2, good reception. 10-4, message received. All okay, everybody knows the 10-4. 10-5, relay message. 10-6, stand by. 10-7, I'm out of service. 10-9, repeat message. 10-11, talking too fast. 10-12, visitors present. 10-13, advise on weather and road conditions.
Speaker 2:
Now the important ones are 10-33, which is emergency traffic. 10-35, confidential information. If we put out a 10-35, we would generally go to a split channel and if you don't know what that is, you could literally split a channel. If you wanted to pick a channel like number 10, and you went and you had your CB shop split that channel, you would go to that channel and then flip a switch and you would be halfway between one frequency and another and the only other person that could follow you on that frequency is somebody else with the same split channel. That was cool. That is your ultimate CB privacy app. That is your only real privacy that you have besides your regular channels. You're going to have some people listening on the regular channel, but a split channel is very rare, more than anybody going to that than the two of you speaking.
Speaker 2:
1033 is very important. It's emergency traffic and of course, like I said, the 1035, confidential. You want to go to a split channel. 1042, accident at location. 1043, traffic jam, traffic lockup, and it goes on and on, and I will put the link to Smart Trucking's story on the CB down below this podcast and I will also put a link to their website and I will try to put a link to their Facebook, because this gentleman puts out quite a few videos and they pop up all the time.
Speaker 2:
Because I became I follow him now, and every time he puts out a new video I get to see it. For the most part, it brings back nostalgia, because I know what he's talking about immediately, but also there are things he brings up that I've either forgotten or that I never knew, and I get to learn too, and that's the nice thing about technology is you could do those sorts of things. You can get involved with other people's lives, you can help new drivers, and it's imperative that we deal with stuff like that. So it is amazing how we can all work together and it's amazing how we can learn new things. What is truly amazing is to be able to save someone's life by giving them information that will keep them from making a fatal mistake. Drivers I love everybody. I really do, even the pricks, because I know there's a reason they're screaming. I never take anything personally anymore Because these people out there are so sad and I feel so much pity for them, because they're so unhappy with their job.
Speaker 2:
They think they don't have an avenue to go, but they do, and the more you listen to this podcast, and the more you listen to this podcast and the more you listen to other positive truckers like Smart Trucking, you will know and you will learn real quickly there are places you can go to be a trucker that will make you extremely happy.
Speaker 2:
Nobody really gets mad on the CB because they want to get mad. They get mad because they have a pathetic life and when you hear them get angry, other than the fact that you perturbed them with something stupid, which is acceptable, all the other stuff is irrelevant and it just means they have a sad, pathetic life and it means that we need to have pity on them, not get mad at them. But whatever it is that is sucking the happiness out of their life, they really need to just get a life and learn to be happy by other people's experiences of their happiness. And they can only do that by reading stories like Smart Trucking and listening to this podcast and realize there are better jobs out there, there is more money out there, there are better rigs that you can drive out there and there are more ways to find it than you will ever know in your life. So instead of being upset, try to hold your tongue, just say something nice and really piss everybody off. Thanks again, god bless, be safe and, as always, keep it between the lines. Driver.
Speaker 1:
Thank you for listening to Roland 18 Podcast. Please visit my website at mediaiowacom or the podcast page at roland18podcastcom.