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Post by jacobs132 on Dec 9, 2010 19:29:07 GMT -5
i picked up a trc-48 a few years ago, mint in the box, hell of a radio, nice receive and always get good audio reports, a friend of mine has the sears version, its a heavy little radio, hooked up a pal vfo to it , works good, been a while since i used it, going to have to put it inline again,,,,,,,,,,,,, jim
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Post by cbrown on Dec 10, 2010 11:06:28 GMT -5
Dunno if I can call it the 'best', but it was pretty darn good. I had a Browning Mark III that took a part of a lightning strike that put it out of commission. So I needed an AM/SSB base radio desperately. Went to my local CB/stereo shop and he had a Hy-gain 623 that I was able to acquire.
I got more complements with that rig. Great receiver with excellent adjacent channel rejection (lots of radio ops in my area at the time). Large, easily readable S-meter. Damn nice rig, still wish I had it.
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss 
Posts: 6,247 
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Post by Sandbagger on Dec 10, 2010 12:58:43 GMT -5
Dunno if I can call it the 'best', but it was pretty darn good. I had a Browning Mark III that took a part of a lightning strike that put it out of commission. So I needed an AM/SSB base radio desperately. Went to my local CB/stereo shop and he had a Hy-gain 623 that I was able to acquire. I got more complements with that rig. Great receiver with excellent adjacent channel rejection (lots of radio ops in my area at the time). Large, easily readable S-meter. d**n nice rig, still wish I had it. That's one of my all-time favorites as well. The S-meter is not only big, but it's fairly linear as well. 5-6db per S-unit, just like it's supposed to read. Not too many other rigs can claim that. And the transmit audio is as warm as any full tube rig. I had a 623 in the late 70's and sold it a few years later. Now I have another one. I won't make that mistake again.... |
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Post by cbrown on Dec 13, 2010 10:43:43 GMT -5
Ya, it was a great radio. Wish I never traded it away.
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Post by fatboy on Apr 15, 2011 0:42:27 GMT -5
Im proud to say i run my dads cobra 29 ltd classic that i got when he passed . This is better than all my radios put together . thanks Dad
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Post by ktmlc4 on Dec 13, 2011 22:29:08 GMT -5
For cb the Realistic TRC-451 has been a great radio to use. Always rock solid on ssb.
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Post by cbrown on Dec 14, 2011 10:26:49 GMT -5
I remember that radio, looked exactly like the TRC-450, but they changed the PLL, making it tougher to expand the range. Still, a good CB frequency radio.
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,247
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Post by Sandbagger on Dec 14, 2011 10:39:19 GMT -5
I remember that radio, looked exactly like the TRC-450, but they changed the PLL, making it tougher to expand the range. Still, a good CB frequency radio. The TRC-450 was a similar chassis to the Cobra 148. The TRC-451, was similar to the Cobra 146. As you stated, it was much harder to expand frequencies, but other than that, this was a stellar performing radio. Great receiver sensitivity, a very low noise floor, and great sounding audio on both AM and SSB. I have one and it's a great radio. Shame they never made a base version with this chassis...... |
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Post by Night Ranger on Dec 14, 2011 10:54:56 GMT -5
I remember that radio, looked exactly like the TRC-450, but they changed the PLL, making it tougher to expand the range. Still, a good CB frequency radio. The TRC-450 was a similar chassis to the Cobra 148. The TRC-451, was similar to the Cobra 146. As you stated, it was much harder to expand frequencies, but other than that, this was a stellar performing radio. Great receiver sensitivity, a very low noise floor, and great sounding audio on both AM and SSB. I have one and it's a great radio. Shame they never made a base version with this chassis...... The noise blanker in my Realistic TRC-451 is better than the noise blanker in my Kenwood TS-850sat, Kenwood TS-450sat, Drake TR-7, Drake R-4B receiver and every other CB I own. Even my Cobra 148 GTL re-issue does not have as good a noise blanker as my TRC-451. The only radio I own that has a noise blanker as effective as the one in my TRC-451 is my Tempo 2020, and the Tempo 2020 was made by Uniden. Unfortunately the Tempo 2020 receive is not so great on AM as it does not have a 6 kHz filter. It tries to listen to sideband through the sideband filter. Also the AM receive still passes through the balanced modulator on the Tempo 2020, so as soon as you tune the receiver directly on top of another AM signal's frequency their carrier disappears and only the sidebands are left. The sideband receive on the Tempo 2020 is killer though. The TRC-451 is still my favorite straight 40 channel AM/SSB CB of all time. Night Ranger |
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Post by sfi355 aka Billy Bob on Jan 3, 2012 4:30:00 GMT -5
1. Motorola system 555
2. Robyn SB-520
3. Ranger AR-3500 30/100 watts
4. president Madison/ Washington/Grant
5. Icom 706 MKIIG
6. Icom 7000
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Post by cbrown on Jan 3, 2012 9:44:31 GMT -5
Nice list, but some of those aren't CB radios.
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Post by vtex477 on Jan 14, 2014 20:50:30 GMT -5
2 soup cans and a peace of string
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Post by wd8nia on Feb 19, 2014 23:46:19 GMT -5
Haha....to quote Dave, "Another old moldy post brought back from the precipice of oblivion." Also like him, I've had so many over the past 40+ years I'm currently dazed and confused. A lot of them were "bests:" and, I'd have to categorize based on reasons. First, based on pure sentimentality: E. F. Johnson Messenger Two Twenty-Three, my first base circa 1973 Next, based on how long I've had it and pure joy derived from operation: Tram D201HW Mobile Rigs: My first (sentimentality) E. F. Johnson Messenger 123A For pleasure it's a toss-up between an RCI-2970 and a President AR144 Recently, my bluemarble.net ftp host suddenly dropped services and I've so far been unable to retrieve close to a gigabyte of images from the Globalscape (Cute FTP) provider. Fortunately, the images were backed up on my desktop, an auxiliary hard drive, and and IDE hard drive salvaged from a previous computer. I'm in the spare time process of uploading them to a alternate FTP site and if anyone is interested in seeing some of the equipment and following my salvage progress, here is the link: Equipment Photos |
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Post by MonkeyMan on Feb 20, 2014 10:07:11 GMT -5
Hands down my (almost) classic Galaxy Pluto. I purchased it new in 1992 and it's served both mobile and base station duties. It has all the features I could ask for, it's never "broken down" and aside from a couple of cold solder joints I've never had an issue with it. Darn thing even took a lightning hit and never skipped a beat. See just behind blue cap...  Other radios have come and gone, but this one is a keeper. And with a date code of 10/91 we're under 3 years until it's an "official" classic.  |
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,247
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Post by Sandbagger on Feb 20, 2014 10:29:06 GMT -5
Hands down my (almost) classic Galaxy Pluto. I purchased it new in 1992 and it's served both mobile and base station duties. It has all the features I could ask for, it's never "broken down" and aside from a couple of cold solder joints I've never had an issue with it. Darn thing even took a lightning hit and never skipped a beat. See just behind blue cap... Other radios have come and gone, but this one is a keeper. And with a date code of 10/91 we're under 3 years until it's an "official" classic. Shame shame, I see you turned that AM mod pot to the max.............  |
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Post by MonkeyMan on Feb 20, 2014 11:22:31 GMT -5
Shame shame, I see you turned that AM mod pot to the max............. Oh, umm I though that adjusted the squelch...  |
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,247
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Post by Sandbagger on Feb 20, 2014 12:31:22 GMT -5
Shame shame, I see you turned that AM mod pot to the max............. Oh, umm I though that adjusted the squelch... Yea, that makes sense..... especially when the pot is clearly marked "AM MOD". But I hear "AM MOD" really means squelch in the ancient Ubangi language......  |
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Post by MonkeyMan on Feb 20, 2014 13:09:35 GMT -5
OH!! I see now, yeah AM MOD. That stands for " Adjustable Manual Mute On Demand" a.k.a. "squelch". Geesh Bagger, maybe you were absent that day? |
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,247
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Post by Sandbagger on Feb 20, 2014 20:02:33 GMT -5
OH!! I see now, yeah AM MOD. That stands for " Adjustable Manual Mute On Demand" a.k.a. "squelch". Geesh Bagger, maybe you were absent that day? And here I thought it meant Acronym Means Monkey's On Drugs.....  |
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Post by unit399 on May 21, 2014 23:44:15 GMT -5
My favorites:
23 Chan Tube - Demco Super Satellite
40 Chan Tube - Sonar FS2340
23 Chan solid State - SBE Super Console (14CB)
40 Chan Solid State - Realistic TRC 457/458 (or any Uniden 858SSB Chassis rig)
Still have the Demco and the Realistics, but like a DA, I sold the SBE and the Sonar.
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Post by BladeRunner now OLD FLASH!!!!! on May 22, 2014 8:43:15 GMT -5
Cobra 132 mobile. I use to talk skip/ssb for hours on end when I worked on the road.
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Post by BBB on May 23, 2014 19:32:47 GMT -5
Figured I'd chime in, but have only been collecting for a few years and hopefully I'll get to try more of these fine rigs listed so far. I usually run the Stryker 955HPC as my base. Seems to get good audio reports like "Is that a tube rig?" Also the 955 has very good receive with good noise reduction if needed. The Stryker 497HPC works really well for AM in the mobile too. In the classic tube radio department, I like the Browning Mark III & IVa, the Tram D201 and D201a along with the Cybernet and FT101E hybrid tube rigs. Heck, just put me down down as digging all tube CB radios period, check check In the "gee wiz wow look at that" section, I like the DX2995, DX2990 and variants. Luke..... it's hard to resist the Dark Side of the Black Faced Radios  Maybe my best radio is yet to come? Just sitting in there in a state of dis-repair waiting for some bench time and a few Jackson$$ to be tossed at it. I picked up a clean General Radiotelephone Super MC-11A rig at the last ham fest that needs some tlc, hmmm. Update 2017... stay away from the Stryker 955HPC in a base station setting. The cheap MOSFETS they use do not hold up well over time. I have been running the Stryker 497HPC which uses a 2sc2290 bipolar transistor final and they have held up for 5+ years without incident. Cheap MOSFETS Suck. |
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bigt
Mudduck
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Post by bigt on Feb 27, 2015 22:44:09 GMT -5
My first mobile was a cheap Teaberry, Mighty T I think, and my first base was a Realistic Navaho 23 ch with a Turner Super Sidekick and an Avanti Astroplane and everyone thought I was running a linear because it was so loud and clean sounding. My favorite mobile was a Uniden SSB back in the 80s. Now I use a Galaxy 99v for a base and a President AR-144 with an Antron 99 for my antenna. Sometimes I think The President works as good as the Galaxy or better on SSB. Got to try a different antenna one of these days to see if can get out better yet. Still a believer in the good old radios.
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Post by bill on Feb 28, 2015 8:26:30 GMT -5
For me, it's still the Tram D201A I bought New in the Box in 1978, for $795.00  The Radio was one of the Last Ones to leave the Assembly Line, as Electrically it differs from most D201A's... The Differences are Factory changes that are NOT shown on the Schematic... The Radio has the Crystal Selector Switch UPGRADE to the " Grey " Plastic Housing that contains the Inner Workings of the Switch... The " Black " Switches were often Problematic... Some of them failing with a few turns of the Dial when New... Tram scrambled to have another Switch from another Manufacturer made... I attached a Photo of it here... It was NOT a Direct Replacement and was rather Labor Intensive to replace... Most recently, I came upon a Fellow who asked a Question related to his discovery, that there was a " Skinny " Grey Switch ( As in the Photo ) and another Grey Switch that was " More Thick ", like the Factory Black one... My D201A has a Grey Switch which is as Wide as the Black Switch, not a Thinner Grey Switch... SO... MORE TRAM D201A HISTORY may have been Discovered, as I had never Read such a discussion of the Grey Switches before... I have NOW SEEN BOTH SWITCHES AS DESCRIBED  My understanding is this... The " Skinny " Switch was a "Quick Fix ", until the Switch Manufacturer then Designed the " Direct Replacement Switch ", as found in My D201A... Another ' Feature " of my Radio which causes me to say, One of the Last Ones to Leave the Assembly Line... The FCC was cracking-down on Manufacturers in the Booming CB Market... Tram had to do away with the " Hinged Top Cover ", as the FCC wished to Limit easy access to Electronics which could be altered by the Owner... The FCC I believe was also responsible for the change of the Final Tube from a 6L6GC to a 6DG6  I believe the FCC also caused Tram to Redesign the Audio Stage too, as the BA Board in My Radio differs from most other D201A Radios and it is NOT shown on the Schematic... It has been referred to having to do with " Fixed-Bias " of the Audio Tube... Plug my BA Board into any D201 / A not designed to Accept it, and the Radio goes Up In Smoke I have had others tell me there were " Better " Radios out there from that Era and have named a few... I had Operated very FEW Radios... The Tram D201A was " IT " ... I happen to like Vacuum Tube Type Equipment... Attachments:
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Post by candy0420 on Nov 30, 2016 1:11:52 GMT -5
I think the best radio is DMR radios which I have used.
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Post by BBB on Dec 2, 2016 18:20:51 GMT -5
Welcome to Grumpy's radio forum Candy0420! More than a few folks on here are amateur radio operators. Some with the old boat anchors and some with the newest equipment. I would like to try an SDR but hear some other hams concerned about their SDR not being "supported" by the manufacturer after some time. I guess when they get one that's based on a USB dongle (or similar interface) that will handle a high RF environment for under a few hundred bucks, I would be tempted |
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Post by Captain Jack on Dec 11, 2016 1:06:34 GMT -5
That would be my first radio, bought used 40 years ago this month. Lafayette Comstat 25B. No mods no extra channels just a D104 and a Hi Gain Super Penetrator. I don't know if it was the times or the people but I had more fun with that radio than any since. I now am a extra class ham and have a lot of very expensive gear, but that little Comstat still sits on my shelf.
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,247
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Post by Sandbagger on Dec 11, 2016 14:58:57 GMT -5
That would be my first radio, bought used 40 years ago this month. Lafayette Comstat 25B. No mods no extra channels just a D104 and a Hi Gain Super Penetrator. I don't know if it was the times or the people but I had more fun with that radio than any since. I now am a extra class ham and have a lot of very expensive gear, but that little Comstat still sits on my shelf. Those Comstats were good design radios. My first base was a Comstat 25 (with the "A" and "B" channels), and I had a ton of fun with that radio. But I think it had more to do with the times, the people, and my age than it did the radio. But I still have that radio as well.   |
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Post by sfi355 aka Billy Bob on Mar 6, 2017 16:29:27 GMT -5
Motorola System 500 CB555 AM/SSB Base Radio, and like a duffs I sold it a long time ago,
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Post by SIX-SHOOTER on May 8, 2017 18:04:37 GMT -5
i picked up a trc-48 a few years ago, mint in the box, hell of a radio, nice receive and always get good audio reports, a friend of mine has the sears version, its a heavy little radio, hooked up a pal vfo to it , works good, been a while since i used it, going to have to put it inline again,,,,,,,,,,,,, jim I have two of the TRC-48 radio & a TRC-46 which looks almost like the same radio.It was the 1st SSB radio I ever owned back in the early 70's. Six-Shooter |
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My understanding is this... The " Skinny " Switch was a "Quick Fix ", until the Switch Manufacturer then Designed the " Direct Replacement Switch ", as found in My D201A... Another ' Feature " of my Radio which causes me to say, One of the Last Ones to Leave the Assembly Line... 
I believe the FCC also caused Tram to Redesign the Audio Stage too, as the BA Board in My Radio differs from most other D201A Radios and it is NOT shown on the Schematic... It has been referred to having to do with " Fixed-Bias " of the Audio Tube... Plug my BA Board into any D201 / A not designed to Accept it, and the Radio goes Up In Smoke 
