If you have looked at enough photos of “haiso” (high society) styled kaido racers, chances are you have noticed antennas mounted either to the rear end or the roof. First assumption is for a radio or even a television, but that isnt always the case.
CB (Citizen Band) radios peaked in popularity in the US between the mid-to-late 1970s, partly fueled by the 1973 oil crisis. Truck drivers used CB radios to communicate about fuel prices, locations of fuel stops, and speed traps, which caught on with the general public. Movies like Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and songs like C.W. McCall’s “Convoy” (1975) further popularized CB radios, creating a romanticized image of life on the road.
In Japan, their frequency bands are allocated differently than in the US. Illegal CB radios started popping up with truck drivers in Japan and some went even as far as increasing their range of them by supplying them with more power. They even had an appearance in the legendary dekotora movie “Truck Yaro“.
New laws were enacted by 1982 to try and combat these illegal radios with a push more into “personal radios” / パーソナル無線, which operated at a different frequency range and was very easy to apply for a license to use. Popularity started climbing in 1984 among the youth of this new way of communicating.
There were many brands of personal radios available, like the Pioneer Lonesome Car-boy version called “Flying Party”. The range on them varied between 4-8 miles depending on conditions and obstructions. There was also a few requirements for use of personal radios:
- The housing must not be easily opened, modified, and users cannot repair it.
- The antenna must have a max gain of 7.14 db and be omnidirectional.
- The channels cannot be set by frequency but by a 5-digit group number. Originally only 80 groups, but updated to 158 later on.
- The length of each transmission is limited to a maximum of five minutes.
When the personal radio came out it was at a time when there weren’t cell phones and you could only contact your friends via landlines. The early years of personal radios also had a limited amount of channels. When you wanted to use the channel, it might already be in use with other people. This formed “wireless clubs”, with fully formed organizational structures like President, Vice President, Secretary General, etc. The drama was also abundant in these clubs, with different clubs fighting each other. One minkara user recalled some of the history of these personal radio clubs in a blog post.
With the popularity, 158 groups wasn’t enough. Owners would have their units modified for around 5,000 yen.
By the 1990s, mobile phones started coming around and the need for personal radios declined. With the need for more frequency ranges, changes to the allocations were proposed in 2012. By 2021, all stations and licenses have expired.
These examples of cars shown with personal radio antennas have a lot of similar features. Around 1986-1987 there was a huge trend towards fully white cars. While not all of these cars are full “haiso” styled, many of them are. Sporting aero wheels and body kits, this was right at the start of the haiso movement. If you want to find your own antenna, both chopstick tv antenna or personal antenna, here is a basic Yahoo Auction search for them.
