History Main / HollywoodCB

Named for the most common culprit, the Citizens' Band (CB) radio. This appears to be entering ForgottenTrope territory with the advent of smartphones and the Internet.

Named for the most common culprit, the Citizens' Band (CB) radio.

In HollywoodScience, when you talk into the radio, the radio has at least as much range as you need, the person you want is on the line--and just them, unless [[PlotDrivenBreakdown the plot requires someone to eavesdrop]]. You can interrupt conversations, talk over someone else, and everybody hears you just fine. Sometimes two people can be heard at once. Except for a little well-timed WalkieTalkieStatic, everything is perfectly clear.

** Relatively justified since in the CB heydey channel 19 was a ''de facto'' standard for truckers on the interstate; there were exceptions for specific routes but they were pretty well known. Maybe they simply stayed on 19, or changed to 19 when they wanted to talk to a trucker.

* Your radio in ''{{Bioshock}}'' is automatically tuned to Atlas' radio frequency the second you pick it up, and other people (Like Sander Cohen or Andrew Ryan) can easily tune in, jam your connection and talk to you.

-> ''"This here's the Rubber Duck on the side--We gone, Bye, Bye..."''

*** 19 was the de facto calling channel, 14 was suggested at the time for base-to-base. So staying on 19 would be logical. Bandit and Snowman also were seen to be working out an agile-comms plan just after the Trans-Am was driven out of Snowman's trailer before they set off towards Texas.

-> ''"This here's the Rubber Duck on the side--We gone, Bye, Bye..."''

Anybody who has used a two-way radio, or even a walkie talkie, knows that there are certain rules. You need to wait until the other person is finished talking (thus the reason for the oft-lampooned "Over"). There are range limits. Two people talking at once sounds like garbage. While there are plenty of frequencies, and you need to coordinate which one you'll be on, other people use them too. Sometimes people aren't sitting right next to the radio, or don't have it turned on, so they won't reply immediately.

In HollywoodScience, when you talk into the radio, the radio has at least as much range as you need, the person you want is on the line--and just them, unless [[PlotDrivenBreakdown the plot requires someone to eavesdrop]]. You can interrupt conversations, talk over someone else, and everybody hears you just fine. Sometimes two people can be heard at once. Except for a little well-timed WalkieTalkieStatic, everything is perfectly clear.

*** MGS2 DOES make it clear that switching to nano-communication involves lip-movement only, what they say is inaudible to observers, as demonstrated by Ocelot's surveillance of Raiden and Ames.

[[AC:{{Movies}}]]

** In ''Live Free Or Die Hard'', [=McClane=] uses the bad guy's CB's to contact the FBI. Partially justified in that he knew the correct frequency and had a world-class amateur hacker working for him InAWorld where hacking can do goddamn everything.

* In the first ''{{Tremors}}'' movie, the people of Perfection use a CB radio to warn the Gummers of impending Bad Things possibly coming their way. Actually justified in this case, since it's made clear that they can't reach anyone outside their valley with their CBs, and it would make sense for everyone to use the same frequency.

* Dialed UpToEleven in VideoGame/MetalGearSolid - The "Codec" supposedly puts the sound straight into your earbones so only you hear the person talking to you (with ample opportunity for FridgeLogic, considering the speaker's own voice should still be very audible to their surroundings - this becomes particularly ridiculous in MetalGearSolid2, where characters standing barely two feet away from one another will decide to switch to nanocommunications for privacy). Plus, despite supposedly being an audio-only device, the HUD displays it almost like a videophone. On top of that, you have a number of people whose frequencies you have to find.
** The "speaker's own voice" issue could probably be HandWaved by invoking [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subvocalization subvocalization]] -- methods of turning it into audible speech have appeared in science fiction at least as far back as {{Neuromancer}}.

** Relatively justified since in the CB heydey channel 19 was a ''de facto'' standard for truckers on the interstate; there were exceptions for specific routes but they were pretty well known. Maybe they simply stayed on 19, or changed to 19 when they wanted to talk to a trucker.

* ''TheDukesOfHazzard'' -- Anybody could pick up his CB and call anyone, and that person was on that frequency.

* The walkie talkies on ''{{Lost}}'' -- The signal can travel long distances (even to a nearby island.)

* Your radio in ''{{Bioshock}}'' is automatically tuned to Atlas' radio frequency the second you pick it up, and other people (Like Sander Cohen or Andrew Ryan) can easily tune in, jam your connection and talk to you.
* Dialed UpToEleven in MetalGearSolid - The "Codec" supposedly puts the sound straight into your earbones so only you hear the person talking to you (with ample opportunity for FridgeLogic, considering the speaker's own voice should still be very audible to their surroundings - this becomes particularly ridiculous in MetalGearSolid2, where characters standing barely two feet away from one another will decide to switch to nanocommunications for privacy). Plus, despite supposedly being an audio-only device, the HUD displays it almost like a videophone. On top of that, you have a number of people whose frequencies you have to find.

*** MGS2 DOES make it clear that switching to nano-communication involves lip-movement only, what they say is inaudible to observers, as demonstrated by Ocelot's surveillance of Raiden and Ames.

[[AC:Music]]

-> ''"This here's the Rubber Duck on the side--We gone, Bye, Bye..."''

* ''DieHard'' -- Averts this. [=McClane=] gets a bad guy's walkie-talkie, and talks to Al the policeman, and it's made clear that the bad guys can hear everything he's saying, hence why he goes by "Roy" instead of using his real name.

* In ''{{Frequency}}'', John uses his father's old ham radio during the Aurora Borealis to talk to his dad, ''thirty years in the past''.

* In ''{{Film/Contact}}'', Ellie builds a small radio telescope for her elementary school science project, and uses it to talk to truckers over 1000 miles away. Partially justified in that Ellie presumably spent a lot of time working on it, and had a very understanding father.
** Unfortunately a radio telescope will do nothing useful for CB. The wavelengths are all wrong.
** I dunno where the troper got science project from. Her dad was a ham radio hobbyist and she used his set. Additionally, there's nothing to indicate the man she was talking to was a trucker...
*** Also she actually was using proper ham radio procedure.

* Your radio in ''{{Bioshock}}'' is automatically tuned to Atlas' radio frequency the second you pick it up, and other people (Like Sandor Cohen or Andrew Ryan) can easily tune in, jam your connection and talk to you. This is theoretically justified as all three control large parts of Rapture and probably have some sort of frequency scanning and jamming equipment.

* In the first ''{{Tremors}}'' movie, the people of Perfection use a CB radio to warn the Gummers of impending Bad Things possibly coming their way.

-->'''Convoy''', [=C.W. McCall=]

* The song "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convoy_(song) Convoy]]" and the film it spawned.

** I dunno where the troper got science project from. Her dad was a ham radio hobbiest and she used his set. Additionally, there's nothing to indicate the man she was talking to was a trucker...

Named for the most common culprit, the CB radio.