Good-buddy villagers spark CB radio revival

The Heckington and District Radio Group has more than 160 members

A village in Lincolnshire has seen a revival in the use of Citizens Band (CB) radio in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown.

The technology was popular in the late 1970s and early 80s following the success of films such as Convoy, which showed US truck drivers using it and popularised slang such as "10-4" and "good buddy".

It was legalised in the UK in 1981 and saw a boom in users until it fizzled out with the rise of the internet in the 90s.

Now a newly established CB radio club in Heckington has more than 160 members.

Organiser Andy Mellett-Brown said the club began as a response to the pandemic.

"During lockdown people were very isolated," he said.

"So I think there was a germ of an idea that if we could all talk to each other – if there was a way of meaning that neighbours and friends and people in a village like Heckington could talk to each other – lockdown wouldn’t be as unbearable as it proved to be."

Andy Mellett-Brown organised the group in response to the Covid lockdown

Club members can borrow equipment, with some dusting off old sets from lofts that have been unused since the 80s.

One new recruit is Carl Whitney, who rekindled his childhood love of CB radio when he moved to the village last year.

"My father was a lorry driver back in the late 70s early 80s," Mr Whitney said.

"I was a little teenager and I used to jump in his cab and speak to lorry drivers and people in cars etc.

"I progressed from there and my dad bought me my first rig that was in what we call a shack – a shed if you like.

"I used to speak to local people because there was a lot of it around at the time."

Carl Whitney was an avid CB radio enthusiast as a teenager

As well as holding sessions over the airways, the club has regular meetings and members attend shows and events in the area.

Mr Mellett-Brown described CB radio as the social media of its day.

"What you have to remember, of course, it was a time when there was no internet," he said. "It was the Facebook of its day.

"All my friends at school, all my family, everybody in the street, everybody was on CB radio."

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