CB is required for TLCA events. And since 406 Cruisers is affiliated with TLCA... Plus CB is cheap. There has been talk of switching to GMRS for reasons already stated. But not everyone wants to buy a GMRS if they already have CB and HAM.
Seems like most of the 406 club runs have more HAMs that CB operators so the chatter ends up on HAM. A 50W mobile ham radio has a bigger range than CB, which is a huge bonus in the mountains. Plus, being able to hit a HAM repeater in an emergency is clutch.
Interestingly, at Cruise Moab this year, they passed out GMRS radios to everyone and didn't bother with CBs. My guess is that nobody likes CBs, and most CBs don't work well or are improperly tuned. The GMRS radio is idiot proof from that perspective. Handheld ones had short range and short battery life.
From my experience, HAM is king. I heard from a guy at Copper State Cruisers that their club was giving out Baofeng radios to members who passed their HAM tech license. It was a great way to get more folks on HAM.
Seems like most of the 406 club runs have more HAMs that CB operators so the chatter ends up on HAM. A 50W mobile ham radio has a bigger range than CB, which is a huge bonus in the mountains. Plus, being able to hit a HAM repeater in an emergency is clutch.
Interestingly, at Cruise Moab this year, they passed out GMRS radios to everyone and didn't bother with CBs. My guess is that nobody likes CBs, and most CBs don't work well or are improperly tuned. The GMRS radio is idiot proof from that perspective. Handheld ones had short range and short battery life.
From my experience, HAM is king. I heard from a guy at Copper State Cruisers that their club was giving out Baofeng radios to members who passed their HAM tech license. It was a great way to get more folks on HAM.