Post by BBB on Jul 14, 2013 12:20:12 GMT -5
Still working on the low budget CB collection and never owned a Cobra 148 so I picked up a homely looking Cobra 148 GTL Philly made radio off the bay for $50. I saw it had a hole in the side of the case but figured for that price it would be fun to try one of those radios. I read that the ones made in the Philippines are the better ones to have. Thicker PC main board, better components...I'm not exactly sure why older is better. This one is dated Apr 91.
When I opened it up, these wired little plastic wrapped packages rolled out
Turns out the hole was for an added echo board and it appears that they decided to move the echo adjustment knobs to the front of the radio in place of the SWR/ CAL knob. They left the old SWR pot taped up inside the radio with out the knobs of coarse. Since I use an outboard SWR meter I think I'll leave it. The only issue there is that the knobs don't match the original ones.
They added a rodger beep board on the CB/ PA switch and additional channels were added to the bright / dim and hi/ low switches. Now the extra channels are probably a welcome addition.
The first thing I had to do was loose the added talk back resistor as any desk mic would cause feedback. It was totally unusable as a base radio this way. I bet this is why the seller ditched it.
To my surprise the radio has great receive and transmit audio. I was skip shooting no problemo. There doesn't appear to be any major AMC mods/ snips other than the two copper coils in the back have been "expanded". I mean someone actually spread out these coils from their compact spring 1/2" roll to a larger 1.25" area. Not sure what this would net and I guess I could always wind them back up to their original shape. The tuning slugs still had wax in them.
The original final has been swapped out for a 2SC1944 instead of the factory 1969. I'm assuming that the 1969 would have a few more watts if I decided to put one back in. As it stands it DK's (3) watts and swings (11) on AM PEP. Side band it will swing to (20) watts PEP.
The face plate "Volume/ Squelch" text is worn off from use. Maybe I should just leave it As Is and call it a Cobra 148 GTL Philly "Trucker Special" instead of trying to get it back to original. I was hoping to try the HiFi mod but this radio has the echo board in there and I'm not sure if that would fly. I also could just find a newer face plate and call it a day...
When I opened it up, these wired little plastic wrapped packages rolled out
Turns out the hole was for an added echo board and it appears that they decided to move the echo adjustment knobs to the front of the radio in place of the SWR/ CAL knob. They left the old SWR pot taped up inside the radio with out the knobs of coarse. Since I use an outboard SWR meter I think I'll leave it. The only issue there is that the knobs don't match the original ones. They added a rodger beep board on the CB/ PA switch and additional channels were added to the bright / dim and hi/ low switches. Now the extra channels are probably a welcome addition.
The first thing I had to do was loose the added talk back resistor as any desk mic would cause feedback. It was totally unusable as a base radio this way. I bet this is why the seller ditched it.
To my surprise the radio has great receive and transmit audio. I was skip shooting no problemo. There doesn't appear to be any major AMC mods/ snips other than the two copper coils in the back have been "expanded". I mean someone actually spread out these coils from their compact spring 1/2" roll to a larger 1.25" area. Not sure what this would net and I guess I could always wind them back up to their original shape. The tuning slugs still had wax in them.
The original final has been swapped out for a 2SC1944 instead of the factory 1969. I'm assuming that the 1969 would have a few more watts if I decided to put one back in. As it stands it DK's (3) watts and swings (11) on AM PEP. Side band it will swing to (20) watts PEP.
The face plate "Volume/ Squelch" text is worn off from use. Maybe I should just leave it As Is and call it a Cobra 148 GTL Philly "Trucker Special" instead of trying to get it back to original. I was hoping to try the HiFi mod but this radio has the echo board in there and I'm not sure if that would fly. I also could just find a newer face plate and call it a day...
But if the price is right and you don't mind doing a little restorative work, it can be fun.
