Some CB radios have several controls on the front panel, while some have very few. They all share the same controls mostly, and some have digital numeric displays for channels and others don't. Some have signal meters using a needle and text background, while others use little LED's (Light emitting Diodes), and some using Liquid Crystal displays. Their is really a whole range, and this page is dedicated to explaining in great detail what each function does and what its purpose is. I hope this information is of benefit to the reader, as it's no real benefit to myself! I already know this stuff!

Volume: This controls the output volume of the speaker inside the CB. It would also control the volume of a speaker plugged into the back of the CB.

Squelch: When there is nobody transmitting on a channel all you hear is noise, to get rid of this noise you increase the squelch until it has cut off. However, you will still receive all other stations. If you turn up the squelch even more, distant stations will also be cut out, if you turn it up to maximum only very strong or local stations will be heard.

RF gain: This is similiar to squelch but it does not cut out the noise. The RF gain attenuates incoming signal. It only reduces the signal strength of which you are receiving them at, so very strong station will be slightly affected while distant stations will not be heard. This does not actually affect their output signal, it only affects the signal you receive.

Mic Gain: This controls the output loudness of your voice that other stations will hear. This is normally left at maximum, the more you reduce it the quieter you will be. It does not effect the carrier wave of the radio, only your speech. If you turn it to minimum you will not be heard, but your radio will still transmit and empty signal. On AM only your carrier wave will exist, on SSB however, there wont really be any evidence that you are transmitting at all.

ANL & NB: The ANL stands for Automatic Noise Limiter and that's exactly what it does. Your voice will be carried over the airwaves by a carrier wave if using AM/FM or similiar. However, in heavily populated areas a lot of noise is generated into the airwaves. This noise comes from power lines, machines, computers, cars & the earths atmosphere. Therefore, when trying to sift through noise and intelligeble signals the noise can be too strong. Therefore, the ANL will aid in reducing this noise to clarify incoming voice signals. It will filter out the audio frequencies that the noise can be heard at and leave the frequency area of voice communication open for use.

PA/CB: This switch simply switches the CB off when switched to PA and diverts all audio output to a loudspeaker plugged into the CB instead of transmitting it via airwaves. PA = Public Address. When it is switched to CB the radio will operate as per usual.

Clarifier or 'delta tune': This variable control alters the actual frequency of which you are receiving. This is only used on SSB mode. It will generally let you go 2.5kHz below or above the actual channel you are operating on. On SSB, the transmitted signals may drift slightly and the person you are receiving might not be exactly on 27.305MHz, but actually on 27.3049MHz. This is a fairly significant drift off the desired frequency, so you turn the clarifier until their voice is clear. Otherwise, their voice will either be high pitched and squeky, or deep/muffled.

CH9 or CH19 switch: This switch only makes the radio switch to channel 9 (Australia) or 19 (America) to quickly access the emergency channel/road channel.

Duplex: This button exists on UHF CB systems which simply puts the radio into the mode where it transmits on 20 channels higher than what it is receiving so you can speak through a repeater. (Repeater information in the UHF CB booklet section)