Midland releases another low performance CB radio

[Night Ranger]

In the mid to late 1970s Midland CB's were one of the bread and butter CB brands in North America. Unfortunately the specifications of their radios have been on a downward spiral since the 1980s. In particular the selectivity on their radios has been one of the worst when compared to their Uniden counterparts. My interest was peaked when I saw a new CB appear on the Midland web page. It looks to be comparable to the Uniden PC-78xl until you get to the selectivity specifications. Unfortunately it has a pitiful 45db selectivity at 10 kHz. This radio will get co-channeled to death. Their other radios are about as bad. You can' t help but wonder what the mentality at Midland is when they fill the CB's face plate with buttons, but send the receiver performance through the floor.

Midland 9001z
www.midlandradio.com/CB-Radio.WYQ/9001z

Midland 9001z owner's manual with specifications.
www.midlandradio.com/Resource_/OwnerManual/208/9001z%20Manual%209-30-11.pdf

Technical Specifications

GENERAL
Frequency Range ................................................26.965-27.405 MHz
Frequency Control.............................................Phase Lock Loop (PLL)
Channels ...............................................................40
Modulation Type .................................................AM
Antenna Connector ..........................................SO-239
Antenna Impedance............................................50 Ohm
PA Speaker ...........................................................8-Ohm, 5 Watts
Microphone .........................................................1000 ohm Electret
Power Supply ......................................................13.8 VDC
Size ........................................................................10(D) x 2.25(H) x 7.25(W) in.
Unit Weight...........................................................3 lbs.

RECEIVER
Sensitivity...............................................................0.7 uV for 10dB s/n
Selectivity .............................................................45 dB + 10 kHz
Squelch Range .....................................................Adjustable less than 1 uV
Audio Output Power ........................................4 Watts
Distortion at 1000 mV .....................................3%
Audio Frequency Response ............................400-2400 Hz
Intermediate Frequency ...................................I° 10.695 MHz II° 455 kHz
Spurious Response ............................................more than 45 dB

TRANSMITTER
RF Output Power ..............................................4 Watts
Frequency Tolerance .........................................0.005%
Harmonic Suppression .....................................More than 60 dB
Modulation ..........................................................AM 90%( ± 5%)›

Night Ranger

[cbrown]

A lot of CB users are going the way of the '10 Meter' radios. That is cutting deeply into the regular CB radio market.

[Night Ranger]

Nov 30, 2011 10:12:52 GMT -5 cbrown said:

A lot of CB users are going the way of the '10 Meter' radios. That is cutting deeply into the regular CB radio market.

I had a Midland 13-853 23 channel mobile on a power supply back in 1977. I liked the radio. See the video below.

Midland 13-853 on a Radio Shack 12 volt regulated power supply;
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEC2azY9Yi8

The selectivity on that radio was around 55 or 60 db @ 10kHz, and the sensitivity was the typical 0.5 uv for 10db S/N ratio. I bought a Midland 79-892 40 channel sideband mobile in 1979. It's selectivity was also respectable. Then I made the mistake of buying another Midland 40 channel sideband mobile around 1985. It was deaf. My Realistic TRC-451 blew it away. I wound up selling it. I don't remember the model number, but the receiver performance was a big disappointment. I think it was one of the "Precision Series" radios. They should have called it the "Deaf Series".

Night Ranger

[Sandbagger]

Nov 30, 2011 9:12:28 GMT -5 Night Ranger said:

In the mid to late 1970s Midland CB's were one of the bread and butter CB brands in North America. Unfortunately the specifications of their radios have been on a downward spiral since the 1980s. In particular the selectivity on their radios has been one of the worst when compared to their Uniden counterparts. My interest was peaked when I saw a new CB appear on the Midland web page. It looks to be comparable to the Uniden PC-78xl until you get to the selectivity specifications. Unfortunately it has a pitiful 45db selectivity at 10 kHz. This radio will get co-channeled to death. Their other radios are about as bad. You can' t help but wonder what the mentality at Midland is when they fill the CB's face plate with buttons, but send the receiver performance through the floor.

Midland 9001z
www.midlandradio.com/CB-Radio.WYQ/9001z

Midland 9001z owner's manual with specifications.
www.midlandradio.com/Resource_/OwnerManual/208/9001z%20Manual%209-30-11.pdf

Technical Specifications

GENERAL
Frequency Range ................................................26.965-27.405 MHz
Frequency Control.............................................Phase Lock Loop (PLL)
Channels ...............................................................40
Modulation Type .................................................AM
Antenna Connector ..........................................SO-239
Antenna Impedance............................................50 Ohm
PA Speaker ...........................................................8-Ohm, 5 Watts
Microphone .........................................................1000 ohm Electret
Power Supply ......................................................13.8 VDC
Size ........................................................................10(D) x 2.25(H) x 7.25(W) in.
Unit Weight...........................................................3 lbs.

RECEIVER
Sensitivity...............................................................0.7 uV for 10dB s/n
Selectivity .............................................................45 dB + 10 kHz
Squelch Range .....................................................Adjustable less than 1 uV
Audio Output Power ........................................4 Watts
Distortion at 1000 mV .....................................3%
Audio Frequency Response ............................400-2400 Hz
Intermediate Frequency ...................................I° 10.695 MHz II° 455 kHz
Spurious Response ............................................more than 45 dB

TRANSMITTER
RF Output Power ..............................................4 Watts
Frequency Tolerance .........................................0.005%
Harmonic Suppression .....................................More than 60 dB
Modulation ..........................................................AM 90%( ± 5%)›

Night Ranger

You can't always judge a receiver's performance by the rote numbers. I've had radios that were rated for 45db of adjacent channel rejection, perform worlds better than another radio rated for 55 or 60db. Simply because even though those radios were rated higher in adjacent channel rejection, they suffered from RF overload or IMD products. Early Uniden 23 channel radios were typical of this. My Pearce Simpson Simba, while otherwise a fine performer gets hammered by intermod (A strong station on another channel can be heard once someone on your channel keys up).

Mid 70's Midlands were typically made by Cybernet. They seemed to be a little less exciting in the transmitter performance area, but their receivers were decent, except for that adjacent channel number. But they seemed to fair a little better in the IMD and overload areas.

[Sandbagger]

Nov 30, 2011 10:42:41 GMT -5 Night Ranger said:

Nov 30, 2011 10:12:52 GMT -5 cbrown said:

A lot of CB users are going the way of the '10 Meter' radios. That is cutting deeply into the regular CB radio market.

I had a Midland 13-853 23 channel mobile on a power supply back in 1977. I liked the radio. See the video below.

Midland 13-853 on a Radio Shack 12 volt regulated power supply;
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEC2azY9Yi8

The selectivity on that radio was around 55 or 60 db @ 10kHz, and the sensitivity was the typical 0.5 uv for 10db S/N ratio. I bought a Midland 79-892 40 channel sideband mobile in 1979. It's selectivity was also respectable. Then I made the mistake of buying another Midland 40 channel sideband mobile around 1985. It was deaf. My Realistic TRC-451 blew it away. I wound up selling it. I don't remember the model number, but the receiver performance was a big disappointment. I think it was one of the "Precision Series" radios. They should have called it the "Deaf Series".

Night Ranger

Judging from the style of the meter and the knobs, I'd say that radio looks to be Uniden-made. Midland did have a few Uniden's in its stable. 13-893 and 895 were 2 right off the top of my head (same chassis as the Cobra 138/139).

[Night Ranger]

Nov 30, 2011 18:44:04 GMT -5 Sandbagger said:

My Pearce Simpson Simba, while otherwise a fine performer gets hammered by intermod (A strong station on another channel can be heard once someone on your channel keys up).

Some of those Pearce Simpson (and Regency) radios did not have a fixed first IF frequency according to some CBC information I read. Apparently the first IF frequency varied, and only the second IF was fixed. As a result the selectivity was not as good since no sharp IF filtering was possible at the first IF frequency. See the pdf link below for a more detailed explanation.

www.cbcintl.com/XTALS/AM%2037600-10180-10635.pdf

A Channel Guard filter could improve the selectivity on the Midland 9001z, but my experience with the Channel Guard filters has been while they improve the selectivity they disable the noise blanker as the duration of the noise pulse gets lengthened as it passes through the additional filter.

Night Ranger

[Sandbagger]

Nov 30, 2011 23:32:18 GMT -5 Night Ranger said:

Nov 30, 2011 18:44:04 GMT -5 Sandbagger said:

My Pearce Simpson Simba, while otherwise a fine performer gets hammered by intermod (A strong station on another channel can be heard once someone on your channel keys up).

Some of those Pearce Simpsons (and Regency) radios did not have a fixed first IF frequency according to some CBC information I read. Apparently the first IF frequency varied, and only the second IF was fixed. As a result the selectivity was not as good since no sharp IF filtering was possible at the first IF frequency. See the pdf link below for a more detailed explanation.

www.cbcintl.com/XTALS/AM%2037600-10180-10635.pdf

A Channel Guard filter could improve the selectivity on the Midland 9001z, but my experience with the Channel Guard filters has been while they improve the selectivity they disable the noise blanker as the duration of the noise pulse gets lengthened as it passes through the additional filter.

Night Ranger

That's interesting, as I can't recall any radio I've ever worked on having a "variable" I.F.. It sort of defeats the purpose of an I.F. in the first place, which is to have a high gain/high selectivity fixed tuned receive which would not have to be retuned when frequencies change. It would also be hard to have a variable I.F. at the same time you have an SSB crystal filter in the mix. The Simba is a dual conversion design which uses a crystal filter on SSB and a mechanical 455 Khz filter on AM. It seems like a solid design, but it suffers from intermod (even with the Blanker off).

As for the channel guard filter killing Noise Blanker performance, that is a matter of additional group delay in the I.F. Adding those extra filters in the chain delays the signal ever so much that the blanker's pulse arrives a microsecond (or so) too soon and "misses" the noise pulse. In order to keep the NB working, you have to "slow down" the NB pulse the same amount of time as the added filters in the channel guard, thereby realigning the NB pulse with the noise spike. As can be imagined, this is probably not an easy task, and one which will require a pulse generator and a dual trace oscilloscope. Placing different value inductors in the pulse trigger line would probably do the trick.....

[Night Ranger]

Dec 1, 2011 7:41:49 GMT -5 Sandbagger said:

Nov 30, 2011 23:32:18 GMT -5 Night Ranger said:

Some of those Pearce Simpsons (and Regency) radios did not have a fixed first IF frequency according to some CBC information I read. Apparently the first IF frequency varied, and only the second IF was fixed. As a result the selectivity was not as good since no sharp IF filtering was possible at the first IF frequency. See the pdf link below for a more detailed explanation.

www.cbcintl.com/XTALS/AM%2037600-10180-10635.pdf

A Channel Guard filter could improve the selectivity on the Midland 9001z, but my experience with the Channel Guard filters has been while they improve the selectivity they disable the noise blanker as the duration of the noise pulse gets lengthened as it passes through the additional filter.

Night Ranger

That's interesting, as I can't recall any radio I've ever worked on having a "variable" I.F.. It sort of defeats the purpose of an I.F. in the first place, which is to have a high gain/high selectivity fixed tuned receive which would not have to be retuned when frequencies change. It would also be hard to have a variable I.F. at the same time you have an SSB crystal filter in the mix. The Simba is a dual conversion design which uses a crystal filter on SSB and a mechanical 455 Khz filter on AM. It seems like a solid design, but it suffers from intermod (even with the Blanker off).

As for the channel guard filter killing Noise Blanker performance, that is a matter of additional group delay in the I.F. Adding those extra filters in the chain delays the signal ever so much that the blanker's pulse arrives a microsecond (or so) too soon and "misses" the noise pulse. In order to keep the NB working, you have to "slow down" the NB pulse the same amount of time as the added filters in the channel guard, thereby realigning the NB pulse with the noise spike. As can be imagined, this is probably not an easy task, and one which will require a pulse generator and a dual trace oscilloscope. Placing different value inductors in the pulse trigger line would probably do the trick.....

I inherited a Regency CR-230 in 1978, which has the variable first IF frequency, after a local shade tree tech toasted my Midland 13-853 while trying to add extra channels. He gave me the Regency CR-230 as a replacement. Although the Regency had more buttons and a bigger meter than my deceased Midland 13-853, the receiver on the Midland was much better. The excessive bleed over on the Regency CR-230 was annoying and caused me unnecessary irritation at another nearby CB'er using a Siltronix 1011c. I would have still received co-channeling with the Midland 13-853, but not near as much. I was too naive of radio theory at the time to know the problem was on my end.

The co-channel king of all radios I ever used was a 23 channel Morse CB-2000. Oh my gosh that radio was awful!

www.shadowstorm.com/cb/Morse_Mobile_CB_Radios.html

Night Ranger

[Sandbagger]

Dec 1, 2011 9:37:43 GMT -5 Night Ranger said:

Dec 1, 2011 7:41:49 GMT -5 Sandbagger said:

That's interesting, as I can't recall any radio I've ever worked on having a "variable" I.F.. It sort of defeats the purpose of an I.F. in the first place, which is to have a high gain/high selectivity fixed tuned receive which would not have to be retuned when frequencies change. It would also be hard to have a variable I.F. at the same time you have an SSB crystal filter in the mix. The Simba is a dual conversion design which uses a crystal filter on SSB and a mechanical 455 Khz filter on AM. It seems like a solid design, but it suffers from intermod (even with the Blanker off).

As for the channel guard filter killing Noise Blanker performance, that is a matter of additional group delay in the I.F. Adding those extra filters in the chain delays the signal ever so much that the blanker's pulse arrives a microsecond (or so) too soon and "misses" the noise pulse. In order to keep the NB working, you have to "slow down" the NB pulse the same amount of time as the added filters in the channel guard, thereby realigning the NB pulse with the noise spike. As can be imagined, this is probably not an easy task, and one which will require a pulse generator and a dual trace oscilloscope. Placing different value inductors in the pulse trigger line would probably do the trick.....

I inherited a Regency CR-230 in 1978, which has the variable first IF frequency, after a local shade tree tech toasted my Midland 13-853 while trying to add extra channels. He gave me the Regency CR-230 as a replacement. Although the Regency had more buttons and a bigger meter than my deceased Midland 13-853, the receiver on the Midland was much better. The excessive bleed over on the Regency CR-230 was annoying and caused me unnecessary irritation at another nearby CB'er using a Siltronix 1011c. I would have still received co-channeling with the Midland 13-853, but not near as much. I was too naive of radio theory at the time to know the problem was on my end.

The co-channel king of all radios I ever used was a 23 channel Morse CB-2000. Oh my gosh that radio was awful!

www.shadowstorm.com/cb/Morse_Mobile_CB_Radios.html

Night Ranger

Those radios that used the 37 and 10 Mhz crystals, I always considered single conversion, but after looking at a couple of schematics, I guess they do qualify as dual conversion, although they feed the output of the 1st mixer right into the 2nd mixer without any sort of filtering.

That Regency CR-230 was an example of the early uniden 23 channel AM rigs that really stunk when it came to all types of bleedover. I had a neighbor about 7 or 8 doors down from me back in the mid 70's who bought a Realistic TRC-52 (another radio with that chassis). I used to completely shut down his receive the second I keyed up. I was running a Lafayette Comstat 25 at the time, and he hardly scratched at me after 3 channels away. I had that 5W/100mW switch on the back of the set and I still bled him all 23 (just didn't shut his receive completely down) when I was running 100mW! His radio was a real bleed box. Most Pearce Simpson, Regency, and many Cobra radios used those chassis, and not surprisingly, they were noted for getting tons of bleed as well. The best solid state rigs back then for bleed rejection were the Royces, and the Toshiba-based radios (Cobra 132/135 Tram D40/D60 and Browning SST/LTD), and the hybrid Hy-Gain 623. Also not surprisingly, tube rigs were far better at rejecting IMD and RF overload (desense) type bleedover, even if some of them were a little looser on the +/- 10 khz adjacent channel stuff.

[Night Ranger]

Dec 1, 2011 15:06:28 GMT -5 Sandbagger said:

Those radios that used the 37 and 10 Mhz crystals, I always considered single conversion, but after looking at a couple of schematics, I guess they do qualify as dual conversion, although they feed the output of the 1st mixer right into the 2nd mixer without any sort of filtering.

That Regency CR-230 was an example of the early uniden 23 channel AM rigs that really stunk when it came to all types of bleedover. I had a neighbor about 7 or 8 doors down from me back in the mid 70's who bought a Realistic TRC-52 (another radio with that chassis). I used to completely shut down his receive the second I keyed up. I was running a Lafayette Comstat 25 at the time, and he hardly scratched at me after 3 channels away. I had that 5W/100mW switch on the back of the set and I still bled him all 23 (just didn't shut his receive completely down) when I was running 100mW! His radio was a real bleed box. Most Pearce Simpson, Regency, and many Cobra radios used those chassis, and not surprisingly, they were noted for getting tons of bleed as well. The best solid state rigs back then for bleed rejection were the Royces, and the Toshiba-based radios (Cobra 132/135 Tram D40/D60 and Browning SST/LTD), and the hybrid Hy-Gain 623. Also not surprisingly, tube rigs were far better at rejecting IMD and RF overload (desense) type bleedover, even if some of them were a little looser on the +/- 10 khz adjacent channel stuff.

Even though my Regency CR-230 received too much co-channeling, I am still a little nostalgic about it. It is actually a rare radio on Ebay. I have only seen two new in the box Regency CR-230 radios appear on Ebay since I started watching Ebay around 2003. I snagged one of them, and I still have not taken it out of the box for a test run. I used mine from 1978 until about 1981. It is the radio I was talking on when another CB'ers recorded The Devil and Lounger arguing with each other on Christmas Eve of 1981.

I specifically remember talking to "Desert Flower" around late 1977 and early 1978 on the Regency CR-230. She was 18 and I was 14. She called me up one Friday evening after seeing me talking to one of her friends at the local skating rink the week before. I was so naive at age 14 I thought she just wanted to talk. She met me at the skating rink that night, bought us a six pack of Miller High Life, and took me parking in her car. It was not until we were parked in the moon light at the end of a dead end road that I realized she wanted more than conversation. I was not ready for an 18 year old girl at age 14, but I did my best. She was nice looking, and she was actually a nicer and more emotionally stable person than some of the adult women I dated later in life. Despite my young age at the time I have no regrets about the encounter. If it was November of 1977 again on that Friday evening she called I would still accept her invitation. We only had the one encounter. She wanted to continue seeing me, but at age 14 I was still under my parents thumb. Getting away from their watchful eye was a problem, and they would have had a problem with an 18 year old girl dating their 14 year old son.

As far as Royce CBs and their selectivity in the 1970s, I checked the owner's manual for one of my Royce 1-612 23 channel CBs from 1975 or 1976. Surprisingly the selectivity is listed as 70 db @ + or - 10 kHz. The sensitivity is listed as 0.7 uv. It does not list the image rejection specification. I'll post a video of the Royce 1-612 and possibly the Regency CR-230 later this week.

Night Ranger

[Sandbagger]

Dec 1, 2011 22:44:11 GMT -5 Night Ranger said:

Dec 1, 2011 15:06:28 GMT -5 Sandbagger said:

Those radios that used the 37 and 10 Mhz crystals, I always considered single conversion, but after looking at a couple of schematics, I guess they do qualify as dual conversion, although they feed the output of the 1st mixer right into the 2nd mixer without any sort of filtering.

That Regency CR-230 was an example of the early uniden 23 channel AM rigs that really stunk when it came to all types of bleedover. I had a neighbor about 7 or 8 doors down from me back in the mid 70's who bought a Realistic TRC-52 (another radio with that chassis). I used to completely shut down his receive the second I keyed up. I was running a Lafayette Comstat 25 at the time, and he hardly scratched at me after 3 channels away. I had that 5W/100mW switch on the back of the set and I still bled him all 23 (just didn't shut his receive completely down) when I was running 100mW! His radio was a real bleed box. Most Pearce Simpson, Regency, and many Cobra radios used those chassis, and not surprisingly, they were noted for getting tons of bleed as well. The best solid state rigs back then for bleed rejection were the Royces, and the Toshiba-based radios (Cobra 132/135 Tram D40/D60 and Browning SST/LTD), and the hybrid Hy-Gain 623. Also not surprisingly, tube rigs were far better at rejecting IMD and RF overload (desense) type bleedover, even if some of them were a little looser on the +/- 10 khz adjacent channel stuff.

Even though my Regency CR-230 received too much co-channeling, I am still a little nostalgic about it. It is actually a rare radio on Ebay. I have only seen two new in the box Regency CR-230 radios appear on Ebay since I started watching Ebay around 2003. I snagged one of them, and I still have not taken it out of the box for a test run. I used mine from 1978 until about 1981. It is the radio I was talking on when another CB'ers recorded The Devil and Lounger arguing with each other on Christmas Eve of 1981.

I specifically remember talking to "Desert Flower" around late 1977 and early 1978 on the Regency CR-230. She was 18 and I was 14. She called me up one Friday evening after seeing me talking to one of her friends at the local skating rink the week before. I was so naive at age 14 I thought she just wanted to talk. She met me at the skating rink that night, bought us a six pack of Miller High Life, and took me parking in her car. It was not until we were parked in the moon light at the end of a dead end road that I realized she wanted more than conversation. I was not ready for an 18 year old girl at age 14, but I did my best. She was nice looking, and she was actually a nicer and more emotionally stable person than some of the adult women I dated later in life. Despite my young age at the time I have no regrets about the encounter. If it was November of 1977 again on that Friday evening she called I would still accept her invitation. We only had the one encounter. She wanted to continue seeing me, but at age 14 I was still under my parents thumb. Getting away from their watchful eye was a problem, and they would have had a problem with an 18 year old girl dating their 14 year old son.

As far as Royce CBs and their selectivity in the 1970s, I checked the owner's manual for one of my Royce 1-612 23 channel CBs from 1975 or 1976. Surprisingly the selectivity is listed as 70 db @ + or - 10 kHz. The sensitivity is listed as 0.7 uv. It does not list the image rejection specification. I'll post a video of the Royce 1-612 and possibly the Regency CR-230 later this week.

Night Ranger

See, that's what makes the difference for me as well. The radios I am most interested in collecting are those which bring back specific memories for me. I'm fortunate that I still have my original Comstat 25 and Midland 13-885. But I've added those radios that I either drooled over (but had no way to afford), or were owned by good friends and which I had a chance to guest operate (or I worked on) on occasion.

And having an 18 year old girl (who didn't weigh 250 Lbs) who wanted to do more than just "talk", at the age of 14, is the subject of many fantasies. You were lucky.

[Night Ranger]

Dec 2, 2011 7:15:50 GMT -5 Sandbagger said:

Dec 1, 2011 22:44:11 GMT -5 Night Ranger said:

See, that's what makes the difference for me as well. The radios I am most interested in collecting are those which bring back specific memories for me. I'm fortunate that I still have my original Comstat 25 and Midland 13-885. But I've added those radios that I either drooled over (but had no way to afford), or were owned by good friends and which I had a chance to guest operate (or I worked on) on occasion.

And having an 18 year old girl (who didn't weigh 250 Lbs) who wanted to do more than just "talk", at the age of 14, is the subject of many fantasies. You were lucky.

Unfortunately my original CB's did not survive. I did not begin to understand radio theory until I decided to "out smart" a friend on the CB band. His father was buying his radio equipment, but as I was still in school I did not have any money. I had heard the saying that knowledge is power, so if I could not out buy my friend I was going to have to out smart him. I went to the library and found the ARRL handbooks. Before then I was just as clueless as every other CB'er that only knows how to turn a knob and push a button. As a result I did not know how to fix my CB's when they broke until later in life.

My old CB's and related equipment met the following fate;

1) My brother lost my first set of walkie talkies (True Tone)
2) I used my Archer Space Patrol walkie talkies for parts.
3) I wore out my Realistic TRC-27 walkie talkie from carrying it around all over the place. It was eventually thrown away.
4) The previously mentioned shade tree tech broke and then lost my Midland 13-853 23 channel mobile.
5) I threw my original Regency CR-230 away after the voltage regulator in my Radio Shack power supply shorted and put 36 volts DC in to the radio and blew a capacitor and no telling what else.
6) I sold my Midland 79-892 40 channel sideband for some money to take out my very hot new girlfriend. She dumped me a few weeks later.
7) I sold my Royce 609 after I bought my Realistic TRC-451.
8) I traded my original TRC-451 for another TRC-451 that was in better working condition. The original TRC-451 developed class C scratchy audio on sideband, and at the time I did not know how to fix it. The person I traded it to did not plan to use it on sideband, so he did not care about the scratchy audio on sideband.
9) I still have the second TRC-451. It got baked in the Phoenix, Arizona 115 degree desert heat while in my car. The meter stopped working and the radio died. I did revive this radio as my understanding of radio theory and radio troubleshooting skills improved.
10) The oldest original radio I own is my Drake TR-7 set which I bought used in 1986. I have repaired it several times over the years.
11) My first linear was a D&A Hornet. I used it for several years until I upgraded to a Palomar 300a. Later I let Butterfly borrow the Hornet. She decided to play music over the air for over an hour, and she completely cooked the transformer. She called me up to tell me the amp smelled funny. It did not just smell funny. It stunk up the whole room. The transformer had gotten so hot it had burned the paint on the chassis around it. I threw it away, and tried not to be too angry with Butterfly.
12) I sold the Palomar 300a after I bought a Drake L-4B.
13) I wore out my first D-104. Not only had my hand worn off all the chrome paint off the back side of the vertical shaft behind the key bar, but I wore off the metal plating underneath to reveal the bare metal. I think I gave it or sold it to someone else for next to nothing.

Night Ranger

[homerbb]

No, you can not borrow my radio.

[Sandbagger]

Dec 2, 2011 9:20:29 GMT -5 Night Ranger said:

Dec 2, 2011 7:15:50 GMT -5 Sandbagger said:

Dec 1, 2011 22:44:11 GMT -5 Night Ranger said:

See, that's what makes the difference for me as well. The radios I am most interested in collecting are those which bring back specific memories for me. I'm fortunate that I still have my original Comstat 25 and Midland 13-885. But I've added those radios that I either drooled over (but had no way to afford), or were owned by good friends and which I had a chance to guest operate (or I worked on) on occasion.

And having an 18 year old girl (who didn't weigh 250 Lbs) who wanted to do more than just "talk", at the age of 14, is the subject of many fantasies. You were lucky.

Unfortunately my original CB's did not survive. I did not begin to understand radio theory until I decided to "out smart" a friend on the CB band. His father was buying his radio equipment, but as I was still in school I did not have any money. I had heard the saying that knowledge is power, so if I could not out buy my friend I was going to have to out smart him. I went to the library and found the ARRL handbooks. Before then I was just as clueless as every other CB'er that only knows how to turn a knob and push a button. As a result I did not know how to fix my CB's when they broke until later in life.

My old CB's and related equipment met the following fate;

1) My brother lost my first set of walkie talkies (True Tone)
2) I used my Archer Space Patrol walkie talkies for parts.
3) I wore out my Realistic TRC-27 walkie talkie from carrying it around all over the place. It was eventually thrown away.
4) The previously mentioned shade tree tech broke and then lost my Midland 13-853 23 channel mobile.
5) I threw my original Regency CR-230 away after the voltage regulator in my Radio Shack power supply shorted and put 36 volts DC in to the radio and blew a capacitor and no telling what else.
6) I sold my Midland 79-892 40 channel sideband for some money to take out my very hot new girlfriend. She dumped me a few weeks later.
7) I sold my Royce 609 after I bought my Realistic TRC-451.
8) I traded my original TRC-451 for another TRC-451 that was in better working condition. The original TRC-451 developed class C scratchy audio on sideband, and at the time I did not know how to fix it. The person I traded it to did not plan to use it on sideband, so he did not care about the scratchy audio on sideband.
9) I still have the second TRC-451. It got baked in the Phoenix, Arizona 115 degree desert heat while in my car. The meter stopped working and the radio died. I did revive this radio as my understanding of radio theory and radio troubleshooting skills improved.
10) The oldest original radio I own is my Drake TR-7 set which I bought used in 1986. I have repaired it several times over the years.
11) My first linear was a D&A Hornet. I used it for several years until I upgraded to a Palomar 300a. Later I let Butterfly borrow the Hornet. She decided to play music over the air for over an hour, and she completely cooked the transformer. She called me up to tell me the amp smelled funny. It did not just smell funny. It stunk up the whole room. The transformer had gotten so hot it had burned the paint on the chassis around it. I threw it away, and tried not to be too angry with Butterfly.
12) I sold the Palomar 300a after I bought a Drake L-4B.
13) I wore out my first D-104. Not only had my hand worn off all the chrome paint off the back side of the vertical shaft behind the key bar, but I wore off the metal plating underneath to reveal the bare metal. I think I gave it or sold it to someone else for next to nothing.

Night Ranger

That's why we get along so well, we've gone through the same sort of scenarios on CB radio in the beginning. I too, had a major cash flow problem, and had to deal with home brewed antennas, power supplies, bottom of the line and 2nd (or 3rd) hand radios etc. Yea, like you, it used to piss me off (out of pure jealousy) when a couple of my friends had parents who financed their radio stable. Having friends running brand new Cobra CAM 89's and Royce 1-640's, while I had a 10 year old (at that time) Comstat 25, pushed me into learning all that I could about the in's and out's of radio. Eventually, it worked in my favor when I started making money off of those who wanted their radios tuned up or "channel 22A" put into the blank spot, or numerous other repair opportunities. I too, have a "bone pile" list of old radios. Some, I still have, others are in that radio graveyard in the sky (or the local landfill)...

1. My original Sears 100mW "TransTalk" base station. I modified the heck out of that radio with a channel selector switch and other stuff. When I finally got a "real" radio, the Sears found its way to the back of my closet and eventually was thrown out in a clean-up. Shame that I did that.......

2. My Midland 13-428 100 mW walkie-talkie saw a lot of use from 1973 to 1974. I eventually crystalled and tuned it to receive the local fire dispatch (33.700 Mhz), and I still have the radio, which now sports the antenna from my original 13-700 1-Watt WT.

3. Realistic TRC 99, 3 watt 3 channel WT. Originally bought in the summer of '73 for $30, it had a weak receiver. While trying to "peak" the receiver, I cracked the slug in one of the I.F. cans which completely wrecked the receiver. Later, while trying to "peak" the transmitter, I shorted out the final transistor, which then relegated that radio to the scrap pile.

4. Midland 13-700 1 Watt. Got as a Christmas present in 1973, and used extensively for the next 6 months, the PTT switch eventually wore out and it ended up in the scrap pile. The antenna was rescued and transplanted into the 13-428.

5. Realistic "Rover 1500". Someone gave me this WT, because it didn't power up. The problem was a crack in the PC board and I fixed it and used it for a while. Eventually got cannibalized for parts.

6. Realistic TRC-47 SSB mobile. Bought it from another kid in tech school for $50 in 1975. Final was smoked, and required replacement. Took care of that, but the radio never talked well on AM (Modulation transformer was also cooked). Used on SSB for a while until trading it for my Midland 13-885 (which was a victim of the lightning strike).

There have been many other radios which were bought, fixed, sold, traded, all for the purpose of improving my overall station situation. I didn't have to many amplifiers. My original Contex 6706 2-tuber was acquired in a trade, and was again traded away for something else. I then built an equivalent to it, owned a D&A Hornet, traded for a Maverick 250, and then a homebrew 2 813 tube ham amp (which never worked right).

I still have my original D104 (which I traded a Turner +2 for in 1974), and it's all pitted up and looks every bit its age. But it still works.

It's been a wild ride and I wouldn't trade it for anything.....

[cbrown]

Awesome thread! ;D If I wasn't so tired from driving I'd jump in it right now.

[Night Ranger]

Dec 2, 2011 13:09:10 GMT -5 Sandbagger said:

That's why we get along so well, we've gone through the same sort of scenarios on CB radio in the beginning. I too, had a major cash flow problem, and had to deal with home brewed antennas, power supplies, bottom of the line and 2nd (or 3rd) hand radios etc. Yea, like you, it used to piss me off (out of pure jealousy) when a couple of my friends had parents who financed their radio stable. Having friends running brand new Cobra CAM 89's and Royce 1-640's, while I had a 10 year old (at that time) Comstat 25, pushed me into learning all that I could about the in's and out's of radio. Eventually, it worked in my favor when I started making money off of those who wanted their radios tuned up or "channel 22A" put into the blank spot, or numerous other repair opportunities. I too, have a "bone pile" list of old radios. Some, I still have, others are in that radio graveyard in the sky (or the local landfill)...

1. My original Sears 100mW "TransTalk" base station. I modified the heck out of that radio with a channel selector switch and other stuff. When I finally got a "real" radio, the Sears found its way to the back of my closet and eventually was thrown out in a clean-up. Shame that I did that.......

2. My Midland 13-428 100 mW walkie-talkie saw a lot of use from 1973 to 1974. I eventually crystalled and tuned it to receive the local fire dispatch (33.700 Mhz), and I still have the radio, which now sports the antenna from my original 13-700 1-Watt WT.

3. Realistic TRC 99, 3 watt 3 channel WT. Originally bought in the summer of '73 for $30, it had a weak receiver. While trying to "peak" the receiver, I cracked the slug in one of the I.F. cans which completely wrecked the receiver. Later, while trying to "peak" the transmitter, I shorted out the final transistor, which then relegated that radio to the scrap pile.

4. Midland 13-700 1 Watt. Got as a Christmas present in 1973, and used extensively for the next 6 months, the PTT switch eventually wore out and it ended up in the scrap pile. The antenna was rescued and transplanted into the 13-428.

5. Realistic "Rover 1500". Someone gave me this WT, because it didn't power up. The problem was a crack in the PC board and I fixed it and used it for a while. Eventually got cannibalized for parts.

6. Realistic TRC-47 SSB mobile. Bought it from another kid in tech school for $50 in 1975. Final was smoked, and required replacement. Took care of that, but the radio never talked well on AM (Modulation transformer was also cooked). Used on SSB for a while until trading it for my Midland 13-885 (which was a victim of the lightning strike).

There have been many other radios which were bought, fixed, sold, traded, all for the purpose of improving my overall station situation. I didn't have to many amplifiers. My original Contex 6706 2-tuber was acquired in a trade, and was again traded away for something else. I then built an equivalent to it, owned a D&A Hornet, traded for a Maverick 250, and then a homebrew 2 813 tube ham amp (which never worked right).

I still have my original D104 (which I traded a Turner +2 for in 1974), and it's all pitted up and looks every bit its age. But it still works.

It's been a wild ride and I wouldn't trade it for anything.....

As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. In your and my case the lack of cash necessitated learning how to keep up with those with bigger radios, bigger amplifiers, bigger antennas, tall towers, and more cash to spend. I was never pissed off at those whose parents funded their nice radios. In most cases their parents also talked on the radio, so the sons and daughters benefited from their parents interest in CB. My parents however had no interest in CB radio. In the long run I probably had more fun with CB as the other users came and went like leaves blowing in the wind.

I also take pride in taking a different path than most CB'ers. Most CB'ers use the same radios, the same antennas, and the same amplifiers. When I come on the air with my vintage CB, my D&A Raider with 22jg6a tubes, and my home made Lazy H antennas I am one of a kind.

One note on your 813 amplifier. I heard an old timer ham tech once say that the 813 tube had too much internal capacitance to work at full power on 11/10 meters. I have never used them myself.

Night Ranger

[Sandbagger]

Dec 2, 2011 13:56:02 GMT -5 Night Ranger said:

Dec 2, 2011 13:09:10 GMT -5 Sandbagger said:

That's why we get along so well, we've gone through the same sort of scenarios on CB radio in the beginning. I too, had a major cash flow problem, and had to deal with home brewed antennas, power supplies, bottom of the line and 2nd (or 3rd) hand radios etc. Yea, like you, it used to piss me off (out of pure jealousy) when a couple of my friends had parents who financed their radio stable. Having friends running brand new Cobra CAM 89's and Royce 1-640's, while I had a 10 year old (at that time) Comstat 25, pushed me into learning all that I could about the in's and out's of radio. Eventually, it worked in my favor when I started making money off of those who wanted their radios tuned up or "channel 22A" put into the blank spot, or numerous other repair opportunities. I too, have a "bone pile" list of old radios. Some, I still have, others are in that radio graveyard in the sky (or the local landfill)...

1. My original Sears 100mW "TransTalk" base station. I modified the heck out of that radio with a channel selector switch and other stuff. When I finally got a "real" radio, the Sears found its way to the back of my closet and eventually was thrown out in a clean-up. Shame that I did that.......

2. My Midland 13-428 100 mW walkie-talkie saw a lot of use from 1973 to 1974. I eventually crystalled and tuned it to receive the local fire dispatch (33.700 Mhz), and I still have the radio, which now sports the antenna from my original 13-700 1-Watt WT.

3. Realistic TRC 99, 3 watt 3 channel WT. Originally bought in the summer of '73 for $30, it had a weak receiver. While trying to "peak" the receiver, I cracked the slug in one of the I.F. cans which completely wrecked the receiver. Later, while trying to "peak" the transmitter, I shorted out the final transistor, which then relegated that radio to the scrap pile.

4. Midland 13-700 1 Watt. Got as a Christmas present in 1973, and used extensively for the next 6 months, the PTT switch eventually wore out and it ended up in the scrap pile. The antenna was rescued and transplanted into the 13-428.

5. Realistic "Rover 1500". Someone gave me this WT, because it didn't power up. The problem was a crack in the PC board and I fixed it and used it for a while. Eventually got cannibalized for parts.

6. Realistic TRC-47 SSB mobile. Bought it from another kid in tech school for $50 in 1975. Final was smoked, and required replacement. Took care of that, but the radio never talked well on AM (Modulation transformer was also cooked). Used on SSB for a while until trading it for my Midland 13-885 (which was a victim of the lightning strike).

There have been many other radios which were bought, fixed, sold, traded, all for the purpose of improving my overall station situation. I didn't have to many amplifiers. My original Contex 6706 2-tuber was acquired in a trade, and was again traded away for something else. I then built an equivalent to it, owned a D&A Hornet, traded for a Maverick 250, and then a homebrew 2 813 tube ham amp (which never worked right).

I still have my original D104 (which I traded a Turner +2 for in 1974), and it's all pitted up and looks every bit its age. But it still works.

It's been a wild ride and I wouldn't trade it for anything.....

As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. In your and my case the lack of cash necessitated learning how to keep up with those with bigger radios, bigger amplifiers, bigger antennas, tall towers, and more cash to spend. I was never pissed off at those whose parents funded their nice radios. In most cases their parents also talked on the radio, so the sons and daughters benefited from their parents interest in CB. My parents however had no interest in CB radio. In the long run I probably had more fun with CB as the other users came and went like leaves blowing in the wind.

I also take pride in taking a different path than most CB'ers. Most CB'ers use the same radios, the same antennas, and the same amplifiers. When I come on the air with my vintage CB, my D&A Raider with 22jg6a tubes, and my home made Lazy H antennas I am one of a kind.

One note on your 813 amplifier. I heard an old timer ham tech once say that the 813 tube had too much internal capacitance to work at full power on 11/10 meters. I have never used them myself.

Night Ranger

I completely agree, in fact I've editorialized these feelings on my website before. I strongly feel that because I was forced to take the difficult path as I forayed into the CB hobby, I learned a lot more and ultimately made far more great memories, and had more fun in the process. At the time I would dream of having a Tram or Browning, and a Moonraker on the roof. But then I wouldn't have made all those strange devices that I did (like a slider and a BFO) so that I could follow those who had better rigs than I did. And I guess I wasn't really "pissed off" as I was just jealous, of those friends who had rigs purchased for them. And you bring up a good point. Those guys who had parents involved were monitored more closely and were restricted in the sorts of things they were allowed to do. I had no such limitations, or doing things like building amplifiers, modifying radios and playing around on "extras" wouldn't have happened, and that would have taken away a lot of the fun and education.

And your old timer was right, the 813 did fall off precipitously above 15 meters. It would do around 500 watts on 40 meters, but I could barely get 175 watts out of it on 11. The Maverick that I traded for it did much better.... Oh well.

[car53wash75]

And I was going to buy a new Midland to add to my collection...I think Ill pass on this one.