What happened to radio courtesy? A slippery slope?

When someone asks for a break on your channel do you say “Go ahead breaker” and yield the channel?

Our local channel here on AM is channel 10. For the most part the people on the channel are just your average CB’ers, but there are one or two really bad apples. These operators don’t obey basic radio courtesy. The don’t even obey the basic laws of human nature. They swear, they degrade all the other people on the radio, they get in yelling matches, they lay down a deadkey for hours on end, etc…etc..etc..

But this is nothing new, I’ve seen this for years and I know it happens all across the country.

What disturbs me is that lately the behavior of these people seems to be rubbing off on a larger scale. People who used to be regular friendly operators are turning to the dark side. They now are playing music, swearing at people, harassing truck drivers and being generally bad operators.

What’s going on?

It seems like people get annoyed at the bad operators out there and instead of trying to continue to set a good example, or at the least just ignoring them, they now have started using the same bad behavior.

Good CBer’s gone bad?

It’s really bizarre. Especially since I can recall that some of these people were the ones who used to complain about the behavior of the other folks.

I finally came to this conclusion – Just as it’s easier to steal food than to grow your own, it’s easier to be a asshole on the radio with total disregard for others than it is to be a respectful CB operator.

Being a nice courteous operator takes initiative; you actually have to put a little effort out there.

– You have to listen to others

– You have to put your ego aside and yield the floor when others want to use the channel

– You have to let insults and other CB trash happen without lowering yourself to their level

– You have to know when things get out of control and to just turn off the radio

The other night I recall two individuals spending a good two hours yelling and swearing about how they were going to kick each other’s asses and throwing back insult after insult. The final result was multiple deadkeys and music being played for a number of hours until the channel was such a mess that everyone else gave up even trying to talk.

Now seriously – I know kindergartners that can get along better.

Radio courtesy isn’t just about being nice, it’s about preserving our hobby. People buy a CB radio to talk to others who own CB radios.

If everyone on the CB radio forgets the courtesy aspect then we end up with a jungle on the airwaves. A place where there aren’t any real CB conversations, only swearing, yelling and a bunch of monkeys trying to play king of the hill.

Now I’ve had arguments with people on the radio, and in my haste I’ve even thrown a deadkey or two (in my youth). But we all need to remember that we need to lead by example, even if our example is just changing the channel.

There are less and less people on the radio these days. Lets not scare away the rest of them.