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Comment on Why don't cars have a way to contact nearby cars like fictional spaceships do?

Because they’re fucking everywhere, something like 90% of the US population lives within 10 miles of one.

It’s basically shorthand for “this is a common and readily available thing that you can acquire anywhere in the country for cheap even if megacorps have driven all of the local specialty retailers out of business in your areas”

As opposed to something like a HF ham radio which is a specialty item that no big retailers like walmart, to the best of my knowledge, carry, and so you’re probably not going to be able to find it locally.

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Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
I get that it’s short hand for that --but I still don’t think it’s good to push people forward to stores with so many moral and economic issues like walmart as the first suggestion.

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- Fondots@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  A “truckers” (CB) radio is exactly what I was suggesting FRS radios as an alternative to.
  
  I suggested them because they are much simpler to use. With a mobile base station you need to figure out where to mount it in your car, where to mount an antenna, tune that antenna, how to hard-wire it into your car’s power (or splice an adapter onto it to power it from the cigarette lighter), whereas with a walkie talkie you just need to turn it on, put it on the right channel and push a button.
  
  (Handheld CBs do exist. I’ve very rarely seen them for sale in a brick and mortar store)
  
  It’s probably gonna depend on where in the country you are, but CB radio equipment is in fact not commonly available at gas stations and truck stops around me. It’s something I actually actively look for and take notice of because I’m a bit of a radio geek. In fact, if I needed to tell someone where to get a CB locally, their best bet for that would probably also be the-store-whose-name-you-seem-too-think-that-no-one-should-say-like-its-fucking-voldemort-or-something, and even that would be hit or miss, some TSWNYSTTTNOSSLIFVOSes don’t actually seem to carry them, but every TSWNYSTTTNOSSLIFVOS I’ve ever been in absolutely has at least one set of FRS radios for sale.
  
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  - Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    
    the-store-whose-name-you-seem-too-think-that-no-one-should-say-like-its-fucking-voldemort-or-something,
    
    Believe it or not. Shopping at unethical companies is unethical
    
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SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
But I can buy that thing on eBay for 3X more plus shipping!

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