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Post by Night Ranger on Oct 22, 2015 9:30:01 GMT -5
What were your vintage walkie mods?
So how many of you started on CB walkie talkies? Back in 1974 through 1976 I had three different walkie talkies. The first was an Archer Space Patrol Senior from Radio Shack. My brother borrowed them to use for a haunted house, and then he lost them. My father made him buy me a new set which was the regular Archer Space Patrol walkie talkies. For Christmas of 1975 I received a much bigger and nicer Realistic TRC-27 3 channel 100 milliwatt walkie talkie.
Some of my mods included a bunch of metal pipes hooked together to look like a big stick base antenna. The "antenna" was raised outside the top of a cedar tree. I hooked one end of wire to the bottom of the metal monster and then ran the wire back to my bedroom. Back in my bedroom I wrapped the other end of the wire around my collapsed walkie antenna. The range and reception was improved somewhat.
I also figured out that if I leaned my portable AM/FM radio (Panasonic RF-563) up against my walkie talkie (Realistic TRC-27) at just the right angle and just the right spot the receive audio from my walkie talkie would come out the better speaker on my portable AM/FM radio. I'm not sure why that worked. Perhaps it was pure induction or a shared 455 kHz IF bleeding over from my walkie talkie to the receiver on the AM/FM radio, but it worked. I'll have to see if I can recreate that external speaker set-up since Ebay had provided with me with the same model radio and walkie talkie as I had back in 1976. Maybe I can figure out why that worked this time.
Night Ranger
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Post by BBB on Oct 22, 2015 10:07:15 GMT -5
Yep, started on a pair of JC Penny walkie talkies. I recall they were red and white, but have not been able to find a pair like them since. Long wire was my first mod. Loaned one to my neighbor across the street an had hours of entertainment with them.
Both of my young boys have used GMRS radios since they could squeeze the PTT button.
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Oct 22, 2015 12:49:05 GMT -5
What were your vintage walkie mods? So how many of you started on CB walkie talkies? Back in 1974 through 1976 I had three different walkie talkies. The first was an Archer Space Patrol Senior from Radio Shack. My brother borrowed them to use for a haunted house, and then he lost them. My father made him buy me a new set which was the regular Archer Space Patrol walkie talkies. For Christmas of 1975 I received a much bigger and nicer Realistic TRC-27 3 channel 100 milliwatt walkie talkie. Some of my mods included a bunch of metal pipes hooked together to look like a big stick base antenna. The "antenna" was raised outside the top of a cedar tree. I hooked one end of wire to the bottom of the metal monster and then ran the wire back to my bedroom. Back in my bedroom I wrapped the other end of the wire around my collapsed walkie antenna. The range and reception was improved somewhat. I also figured out that if I leaned my portable AM/FM radio (Panasonic RF-563) up against my walkie talkie (Realistic TRC-27) at just the right angle and just the right spot the receive audio from my walkie talkie would come out the better speaker on my portable AM/FM radio. I'm not sure why that worked. Perhaps it was pure induction or a shared 455 kHz IF bleeding over from my walkie talkie to the receiver on the AM/FM radio, but it worked. I'll have to see if I can recreate that external speaker set-up since Ebay had provided with me with the same model radio and walkie talkie as I had back in 1976. Maybe I can figure out why that worked this time. Night Ranger I got my first 100 mW radio (which was not technically a walkie-talkie) for Christmas in 1969  Like many others the first "mod" that I did was running a long wire out to my mother's clothes pole at the end of my back yard. It really helped the shortwave receive on that radio, but didn't seem to do a whole lot better for CB transmit. But it did help a little Later I added a 3 channel switch and put crystals for channel 11 and 7 in it along with the standard channel 14. In early 1973, I got this Midland 13-428 100 mW 3 channel superhet walkie-talkie:  In the early fall of 1973, I bought a used Realistic TRC-99 3 watt walkie-talkie. I couldn't keep my fingers out of it, and I eventually trashed it.  Then for Christmas in 1973 I got this Midland 1 watt 2 channel 13-700:  The only mods I did to those units was to "peak" them using a homemade field strength meter that I built with a Radio Shack 100-in-1 project kit. Wire antennas were tried with varying degrees of success. On the 1 and 3 watt units, there were warnings about attaching extra wire to the antenna damaging the transmit final, so I never tried with those. |
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Post by Night Ranger on Oct 22, 2015 13:58:14 GMT -5
If we get some winter Sporadic E skip between PA and SC I may have to try a walkie talkie long range contact. I might be able to get one of my 1 watt 3 channel TRC-83 walkie talkies to drive a D&A Phantom, and then run that in to my Lazy H antenna. Hmm. If I created a manual key (knife switch or hard wired in relay) I might be able to get my 100 milliwatt 3 channel Realistic TRC-27 to drive the D&A Hornet and then that could drive something bigger depending on the output. TRC-83 (1 watt) => D&A Hornet => Henry 2K dual 3-500zg => Lazy H or TRC-27 (100 milliwatt) => D&A Hornet => D&A Phantom => Lazy H   Night Ranger |
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Post by BBB on Oct 22, 2015 14:01:03 GMT -5
That would be cool  |
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Post by Night Ranger on Oct 22, 2015 16:45:58 GMT -5
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Oct 23, 2015 6:01:01 GMT -5
I'm not surprised by that. When you consider that once the 1970's rolled around, and the majority of CB radios ended up being made by a small handful of Japanese companies, walkie-talkie "clones" offered by different companies would have been a given. |
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Post by Sandbagger on Oct 23, 2015 6:04:13 GMT -5
If we get some winter Sporadic E skip between PA and SC I may have to try a walkie talkie long range contact. I might be able to get one of my 1 watt 3 channel TRC-83 walkie talkies to drive a D&A Phantom, and then run that in to my Lazy H antenna. Hmm. If I created a manual key (knife switch or hard wired in relay) I might be able to get my 100 milliwatt 3 channel Realistic TRC-27 to drive the D&A Hornet and then that could drive something bigger depending on the output. TRC-83 (1 watt) => D&A Hornet => Henry 2K dual 3-500zg => Lazy H or TRC-27 (100 milliwatt) => D&A Hornet => D&A Phantom => Lazy H Night Ranger In 1975, I took a Realistic Rover 1500 (1.5 watt), put a tape recorder mic into the mic jack and drove it into my Contex 6706 amp, for about a 10 watt carrier output, and into the base antenna. Very few people believed me when I told them what I was running that night....  Back then, a 1 watt drive signal would key the amp. 100 mW would not, so I had to manually push on the relay with a wooden dowel, when I tried driving the amp with the Comstat 25 in the 100 mW position. I'd get about 1 or 2 watts out of the amp with 100 mW drive. |
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Post by cbrown on Oct 23, 2015 8:25:08 GMT -5
Archer Space Patrol when i was young, but then in 1972 I jumped right to base units. In 1974 though I got a 6 channel 1 watt walkie talkie set with a center loaded antenna. Can't remember who made it.
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Post by MonkeyMan on Oct 24, 2015 12:10:25 GMT -5
I had a MacDonald Instruments (sold at Kmart at the time) 3 channel, 2 watt walkie. At some point I realized that under the belt clip on the back of the unit was a nice square opening. I bought an SO239 chassis mount over at Radio Shack and had big dreams of mounting it on the back to use with an external antenna. I don't remember clearly, but I think I improperly wired up an AC adapter for it before I got to the SO239 install.    As an aside, my brother had the 6 channel, 5 watt version...  |
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Post by BBB on Oct 24, 2015 14:31:20 GMT -5
Nice Meters!
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Post by Night Ranger on Dec 18, 2015 20:56:09 GMT -5
I picked up the MacDonald version of this walkie talkie mint and cheap. I had to re-tune the transmit and receive oscillator inductor coils to put the crystals back on frequency, but other than that it works fine. Replacing the channel 11 crystals with a new set did not fix the problem, and the channel 14 crystals I added to the "B" position were off frequency by about the same amount. Now both 11 and 14 crystals are on frequency. The date stamp on the back plate says it was manufactured in January of 1976.  Night Ranger |
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Post by Sandbagger on Dec 18, 2015 21:39:11 GMT -5
I picked up the MacDonald version of this walkie talkie mint and cheap. I had to re-tune the transmit and receive oscillator inductor coils to put the crystals back on frequency, but other than that it works fine. Replacing the channel 11 crystals with a new set did not fix the problem, and the channel 14 crystals I added to the "B" position were off frequency by about the same amount. Now both 11 and 14 crystals are on frequency. The date stamp on the back plate says it was manufactured in January of 1976. ![http://www.shadowstorm.com/cb/rigs/MacDonald-1-watt-2-ch-wt.jpg]() Night Ranger Cool! Those 1 watt units really talked well for what they were. There wasn't much difference in signal between those 1 watt radios and 3 watters. Decently loud modulation too...... |
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Post by Night Ranger on Dec 18, 2015 21:49:12 GMT -5
I picked up the MacDonald version of this walkie talkie mint and cheap. I had to re-tune the transmit and receive oscillator inductor coils to put the crystals back on frequency, but other than that it works fine. Replacing the channel 11 crystals with a new set did not fix the problem, and the channel 14 crystals I added to the "B" position were off frequency by about the same amount. Now both 11 and 14 crystals are on frequency. The date stamp on the back plate says it was manufactured in January of 1976. ![http://www.shadowstorm.com/cb/rigs/MacDonald-1-watt-2-ch-wt.jpg]() Night Ranger Cool! Those 1 watt units really talked well for what they were. There wasn't much difference in signal between those 1 watt radios and 3 watters. Decently loud modulation too...... Now the temptation is to run it in to my D&A Maverick and Lazy H, and see if I can make it to PA when the Winter Sporadic E kicks in. : ) -MR |
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Post by Sandbagger on Dec 19, 2015 9:38:29 GMT -5
Cool! Those 1 watt units really talked well for what they were. There wasn't much difference in signal between those 1 watt radios and 3 watters. Decently loud modulation too...... Now the temptation is to run it in to my D&A Maverick and Lazy H, and see if I can make it to PA when the Winter Sporadic E kicks in. : ) -MR There's no external antenna jack on those (at least none on the Midland version), so you'll have to be a little more creative on where you tap the feedline. But we'll have to do a walkie-talkie skip night if that happens. I may have to do something similar with my Midland....... |
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Post by Night Ranger on Dec 19, 2015 10:04:00 GMT -5
I picked up the MacDonald version of this walkie talkie mint and cheap. I had to re-tune the transmit and receive oscillator inductor coils to put the crystals back on frequency, but other than that it works fine. Replacing the channel 11 crystals with a new set did not fix the problem, and the channel 14 crystals I added to the "B" position were off frequency by about the same amount. Now both 11 and 14 crystals are on frequency. The date stamp on the back plate says it was manufactured in January of 1976. Night Ranger Here is the schematic for it. MacDonald CE-410 1 watt 2 CB channel walkie talkie from 1976. www.shadowstorm.com/cb/schematics/MacDonald-1-watt-2-ch-wt-CE-410-schematic.jpgSams CB Photofact CB-106 has the alignment instructions for a Surveyor 1000 which is the same walkie talkie with a different plastic face attached to the front. The Surveyor 1000 comes with channel 14, and the MacDonald CE-410 comes with channel 11. Other than that they are the same. -Night Ranger |
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Post by dilbert on Jul 31, 2019 9:56:11 GMT -5
Ive got a Realistic TRC218. Only a channel 14 crystal. I can reach about a mile barefoot.
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Post by TheStonerGuy on Oct 12, 2019 16:20:07 GMT -5
The only "mod" we did was to swap the rx/tx crystals to have our own private channel |
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Post by whiskeycharlie242 on Oct 13, 2019 16:10:37 GMT -5
My first real CB radio was a Midland 100mW walkie talkie I got for Christmas in 1970 IIRC.
Little did I know then how much it would change my life through friendships and adventures and create lifetime memories.
I can’t recall the model number but I’ve been looking for one for a while and have yet to see the same model.
It was superheterodyne with 3 channels, had a PTT with a separate tone call button and was made of a solid metal case with a real chrome (not plastic) face. It took 6 AAs IIRC.
It weighed a ton and took two hands to hold it up for the most part. Outdoors it had a range of a mile or so, just enough distance to discover my earliest childhood friend Sandbagger with his walkie talkie.
Almost 50 years later and we’re still playing on the radio!
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Post by whiskeycharlie242 on Oct 13, 2019 16:42:05 GMT -5
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on Oct 13, 2019 18:21:02 GMT -5
My first real CB radio was a Midland 100mW walkie talkie I got for Christmas in 1970 IIRC. Little did I know then how much it would change my life through friendships and adventures and create lifetime memories. I can’t recall the model number but I’ve been looking for one for a while and have yet to see the same model. It was superheterodyne with 3 channels, had a PTT with a separate tone call button and was made of a solid metal case with a real chrome (not plastic) face. It took 6 AAs IIRC. It weighed a ton and took two hands to hold it up for the most part. Outdoors it had a range of a mile or so, just enough distance to discover my earliest childhood friend Sandbagger with his walkie talkie. Almost 50 years later and we’re still playing on the radio! Yeah I remember quite vividly how we came across each other shortly after Christmas in 1973. I had just gotten a 1 watt Midland 13-700 WT and we were setting up shop on channel 11 after most of the neighborhood crew ditched the channel 14 cheapies. For some reason, I thought you lived over a mile from me (and as the bike rides, you probably were), so I didn't think I'd hear a 100 mW that far. But there you were one day with your Midland and that long wire antenna you strung outside. I have also been looking to see if I could find out which model Midland that was. So far I can't seem to find a picture that matches my fuzzy memory of what it looked like. I still have my 3 channel 100mW Midland 13-428. It's pretty banged up now, but I used the heck out of that one during most of 1973. Those definitely were good times..... |
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Post by whiskeycharlie242 on Oct 13, 2019 18:28:21 GMT -5
My first real CB radio was a Midland 100mW walkie talkie I got for Christmas in 1970 IIRC. Little did I know then how much it would change my life through friendships and adventures and create lifetime memories. I can’t recall the model number but I’ve been looking for one for a while and have yet to see the same model. It was superheterodyne with 3 channels, had a PTT with a separate tone call button and was made of a solid metal case with a real chrome (not plastic) face. It took 6 AAs IIRC. It weighed a ton and took two hands to hold it up for the most part. Outdoors it had a range of a mile or so, just enough distance to discover my earliest childhood friend Sandbagger with his walkie talkie. Almost 50 years later and we’re still playing on the radio! Yeah I remember quite vividly how we came across each other shortly after Christmas in 1973. I had just gotten a 1 watt Midland 13-700 WT and we were setting up shop on channel 11 after most of the neighborhood crew ditched the channel 14 cheapies. For some reason, I thought you lived over a mile from me (and as the bike rides, you probably were), so I didn't think I'd hear a 100 mW that far. But there you were one day with your Midland and that long wire antenna you strung outside. I have also been looking to see if I could find out which model Midland that was. So far I can't seem to find a picture that matches my fuzzy memory of what it looked like. I still have my 3 channel 100mW Midland 13-428. It's pretty banged up now, but I used the heck out of that one during most of 1973. Those definitely were good times..... 13-121 is the model. See the link I posted to a pair of them in eBay right now. |
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Post by Sandbagger on Oct 13, 2019 18:29:03 GMT -5
The only "mod" we did was to swap the rx/tx crystals to have our own private channel Yeah, we did that too. It was our "secret" channel.  |
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Post by Sandbagger on Oct 13, 2019 18:34:19 GMT -5
Yeah I remember quite vividly how we came across each other shortly after Christmas in 1973. I had just gotten a 1 watt Midland 13-700 WT and we were setting up shop on channel 11 after most of the neighborhood crew ditched the channel 14 cheapies. For some reason, I thought you lived over a mile from me (and as the bike rides, you probably were), so I didn't think I'd hear a 100 mW that far. But there you were one day with your Midland and that long wire antenna you strung outside. I have also been looking to see if I could find out which model Midland that was. So far I can't seem to find a picture that matches my fuzzy memory of what it looked like. I still have my 3 channel 100mW Midland 13-428. It's pretty banged up now, but I used the heck out of that one during most of 1973. Those definitely were good times..... 13-121 is the model. See the link I posted to a pair of them in eBay right now. That looks about right. My memory of it is not all that clear. I think you only showed it to me once or twice. But the seller on Ebay (like most) is nuts. $30 + $15 shipping? Yeah..... no. Maybe if they were mint in the original boxes..... |
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Post by whiskeycharlie242 on Oct 13, 2019 18:57:44 GMT -5
My first real CB radio was a Midland 100mW walkie talkie I got for Christmas in 1970 IIRC. Little did I know then how much it would change my life through friendships and adventures and create lifetime memories. I can’t recall the model number but I’ve been looking for one for a while and have yet to see the same model. It was superheterodyne with 3 channels, had a PTT with a separate tone call button and was made of a solid metal case with a real chrome (not plastic) face. It took 6 AAs IIRC. It weighed a ton and took two hands to hold it up for the most part. Outdoors it had a range of a mile or so, just enough distance to discover my earliest childhood friend Sandbagger with his walkie talkie. Almost 50 years later and we’re still playing on the radio! For some reason, I thought you lived over a mile from me (and as the bike rides, you probably were), so I didn't think I'd hear a 100 mW that far. But there you were one day with your Midland and that long wire antenna you strung outside. I love modern tools! Using a distance measuring app with integrated aerial imagery I measured the distance in a straight line from the middle of your roof to the middle of mine. It was .58 miles, so 100mW was good enough to make the trip. Over the roads via the shortest route it was probably about a mile and a half, so it just felt like it was a more impressive feat. The external wire probably had little effect. |
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Post by Sandbagger on Oct 13, 2019 21:40:31 GMT -5
For some reason, I thought you lived over a mile from me (and as the bike rides, you probably were), so I didn't think I'd hear a 100 mW that far. But there you were one day with your Midland and that long wire antenna you strung outside. I love modern tools! Using a distance measuring app with integrated aerial imagery I measured the distance in a straight line from the middle of your roof to the middle of mine. It was .58 miles, so 100mW was good enough to make the trip. Over the roads via the shortest route it was probably about a mile and a half, so it just felt like it was a more impressive feat. The external wire probably had little effect. Google earth has opened my eyes to a lot of distances. It's funny how we thought the distances were nearly twice what they really were. Here's a spreadsheet a I did a while back showing just how many people were within a mile of me and those who were further out. It's no wonder there was so much bleedover back then. And those were only the people I knew..... CB_distances_signals.xls (34 KB) |
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Post by whiskeycharlie242 on Oct 13, 2019 22:00:43 GMT -5
I love modern tools! Using a distance measuring app with integrated aerial imagery I measured the distance in a straight line from the middle of your roof to the middle of mine. It was .58 miles, so 100mW was good enough to make the trip. Over the roads via the shortest route it was probably about a mile and a half, so it just felt like it was a more impressive feat. The external wire probably had little effect. Google earth has opened my eyes to a lot of distances. It's funny how we thought the distances were nearly twice what they really were. Here's a spreadsheet a I did a while back showing just how many people were within a mile of me and those who were further out. It's no wonder there was so much bleedover back then. And those were only the people I knew..... View AttachmentSeriously, did you keep a log book with all of this data so that decades into the future when Google Earth and spreadsheets existed you would be able to map it all? Freaky, but amazing! 👀😀 |
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Post by whiskeycharlie242 on Oct 13, 2019 22:06:43 GMT -5
Google earth has opened my eyes to a lot of distances. It's funny how we thought the distances were nearly twice what they really were. Here's a spreadsheet a I did a while back showing just how many people were within a mile of me and those who were further out. It's no wonder there was so much bleedover back then. And those were only the people I knew..... View AttachmentSeriously, did you keep a log book with all of this data so that decades into the future when Google Earth and spreadsheets existed you would be able to map it all? Freaky, but amazing! 👀😀 What happened to Tex, Country Girl, Wildcat, Linda and Johnny C? 😬 |
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Post by Sandbagger on Oct 14, 2019 6:15:05 GMT -5
Seriously, did you keep a log book with all of this data so that decades into the future when Google Earth and spreadsheets existed you would be able to map it all? Freaky, but amazing! 👀😀 What happened to Tex, Country Girl, Wildcat, Linda and Johnny C? 😬 I only included the people where I knew their exact locations. Those that you mentioned I never knew exactly. I was at Tex's once but I don't remember where exactly it was all these years later..... |
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Post by Sandbagger on Oct 14, 2019 6:17:29 GMT -5
Google earth has opened my eyes to a lot of distances. It's funny how we thought the distances were nearly twice what they really were. Here's a spreadsheet a I did a while back showing just how many people were within a mile of me and those who were further out. It's no wonder there was so much bleedover back then. And those were only the people I knew..... View AttachmentSeriously, did you keep a log book with all of this data so that decades into the future when Google Earth and spreadsheets existed you would be able to map it all? Freaky, but amazing! 👀😀 No log book. Only memory. Google earth provided the details, except for signal strength. That was from memory, but could be skewed due to using a different radio for the later entries. |
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