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Post by oldgeezer on Jan 18, 2021 5:35:18 GMT -5
There are quite a few desirable base type solid-state radios for sale on ebay. Most are 1977 to about 1980 radios. These radios President Madison, Cobra 135XLR, Robin SB-520D, Cobra GL-142 and President Washington. The Cobra 2000 started production in the early 1980s thru the I believe 1995. Serial number 93001000 is 1993 I believe. I never seen one completely rebuilt for sale. These old radios have about forty (40) capacitors inside and chances are good many have lost capacitance. This results in a radio that does not perform correctly. Replacing all the capacitors is quite a task and most are polarized meaning they can be placed in backwards causing shorts or blown up capacitors. Some are tantalum and all are bad (replace with electrolytic). Fragile boards need a solder sucker to keep the circuit board tracks intact. At $150 to $250 IMO they are not worth it. Even a tube radio only has a few capacitors to replace making for a reliable CB radio.
The oldest solid-state radio I would buy in NOS or used is year 1990 and I prefer 1995 or newer. This leaves the Uniden (not President) Washington that was introduced in 1983 and produced I believe thru 1995. Same for the Cobra 2000. The President Washington was produced in 1977 thru 1982. Uniden Washington have three push buttons in the lower right corner. Of course buy the later version with highest serial number you can find. Later serial number of 90008080 for example is likely made in 1990. I seen a few serial numbers in the 30008080 range likely made in early 1980s. There is no documentation from Uniden posted. I also read they have not kept records either. The only new lower cost base I know of is the Galaxy DX-2547 at about $375 to $399.
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,245
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Post by Sandbagger on Jan 18, 2021 19:39:37 GMT -5
There are quite a few desirable base type solid-state radios for sale on ebay. Most are 1977 to about 1980 radios. These radios President Madison, Cobra 135XLR, Robin SB-520D, Cobra GL-142 and President Washington. The Cobra 2000 started production in the early 1980s thru the I believe 1995. Serial number 93001000 is 1993 I believe. I never seen one completely rebuilt for sale. These old radios have about forty (40) capacitors inside and chances are good many have lost capacitance. This results in a radio that does not perform correctly. Replacing all the capacitors is quite a task and most are polarized meaning they can be placed in backwards causing shorts or blown up capacitors. Some are tantalum and all are bad (replace with electrolytic). Fragile boards need a solder sucker to keep the circuit board tracks intact. At $150 to $250 IMO they are not worth it. Even a tube radio only has a few capacitors to replace making for a reliable CB radio. The oldest solid-state radio I would buy in NOS or used is year 1990 and I prefer 1995 or newer. This leaves the Uniden (not President) Washington that was introduced in 1983 and produced I believe thru 1995. Same for the Cobra 2000. The President Washington was produced in 1977 thru 1982. Uniden Washington have three push buttons in the lower right corner. Of course buy the later version with highest serial number you can find. Later serial number of 90008080 for example is likely made in 1990. I seen a few serial numbers in the 30008080 range likely made in early 1980s. There is no documentation from Uniden posted. I also read they have not kept records either. The only new lower cost base I know of is the Galaxy DX-2547 at about $375 to $399. Electrolytic capacitor degradation is a very real situation, but generally, it is a far more chronic condition in tube radios than in solid state. I have solid state radios from as far back as 1971, with all original caps, and they work as good now as they did when I first picked them up. Solid state radios do not have the high voltage and heat exposure that tube rigs have which can cause electrolytic caps to age quicker. That being said, there are solid state rigs to be wary of. Starting somewhere during the early 80's and extending for nearly 10 years, primarily Uniden made radios (President, Cobra, Radio Shack, Courier etc.) were manufactured with a faulty batch of electrolytic caps. These were nearly all of the 10V variety and they tend to prematurely fail in a leaky or near short condition. These were typically used in a power supply decoupling or in audio stages, and can cause all sorts of problems. So ironically, you are better off getting a radio that's either older than 1980, or newer than 1990, or radios that are made by companies other than Uniden. SBE & Johnson (NDI), Midland, HyGain, Pearce Simpson 40 channel, Kraco, Colt, Lafayette etc (Cybernet), Cobra 132/135, Tram and Browning mobiles (Toshiba), And some older Radio Shack, Sears, and JC Penney (Hitachi), should be ok.
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Post by oldgeezer on Jan 19, 2021 0:59:07 GMT -5
Great post. I would rather replace the few large caps in a tube radio vs the 30-40 tiny caps on fragile circuit boards. Also, about 3-5 paper caps needs replacement in tube radios. A task I perform in about 10 minutes.
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