maps
Mudduck
Posts: 1
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Mark IV
Nov 25, 2021 2:58:41 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by maps on Nov 25, 2021 2:58:41 GMT -5
Hello Members
I just bought myself a Golden eagle D104 Im getting ready to get a MarkIV radio. I've found a cpl for sale. i just believe the prices that are being asked. i had one when I was a teenager and want to get back into the CB life again. im looking for any suggestions or help. Thank you
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Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss
Posts: 6,250
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Post by Sandbagger on Nov 25, 2021 21:34:34 GMT -5
Hello Members I just bought myself a Golden eagle D104 Im getting ready to get a MarkIV radio. I've found a cpl for sale. i just believe the prices that are being asked. i had one when I was a teenager and want to get back into the CB life again. im looking for any suggestions or help. Thank you Yeah, thanks to the proliferation of for sale sites like EBay, and the rise in interest in the nostalgic restoration of old vintage radios from the 60's and 70's, people have gotten the idea that old radios are worth a king's ransom. It was not all that long ago, when you could pick up decent older radios for less than $50. Now, it's become insane. People are selling 45 year old radios for more than they sold for brand new. I've pretty much stopped collecting radios because I refuse to indulge in this insanity. But if you are really patient, and look in places like yard sales, flea markets, hamfests etc., you might stumble upon a diamond in the rough for a reasonable price. It's still doable, it's just a bit tougher than it was 10 years ago.
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Post by 2600 on Nov 26, 2021 1:18:40 GMT -5
I have one suggestion that could save you real heartache.
Avoid the original Mark 4 like monkey plague. Never mind why.
What you want is the Mark 4A. That "A" suffix letter is vitally important. The transmitter was redesigned to fix the fatal flaws in the original "4" transmitter. And I do mean fatal.
Best of all, you want a specimen with low mileage. There's no odometer to just read the numbers from. But the fewer miles, the fewer wear-and-tear issues you'll confront.
Unless someone has caught up the last 43 years of maintenance, you'll only have a working daily-driver radio after the task falls to you. Every electrolytic capacitor over ten years old should get replaced. Naturally this includes EVERY factory-installed electrolytic.
As a rule, a radio with that money already spent on it commands a higher price than the radio that will need five hundred bucks spent to bring it up to date.
Or should. Bedraggled specimens that are dirty inside and full of original parts way past their use-by dates tend to bring the same money, or nearly so.
Tricky part is to tell one from the other. A radio that had only the big, obvious electrolytic capacitors changed may still have a dozen-plus smaller ones all through it. Each one a potential headache later on. Changing them all is the only way to get any reliability down the road.
73
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Mark IV
Dec 1, 2021 13:53:08 GMT -5
Post by cbrown on Dec 1, 2021 13:53:08 GMT -5
I agree with both Sandbagger & 2600.
The Browning base radios that are selling today are way overpriced for what they are, and you have to make sure you go through them because it's not a matter of if, but of when they will break.
Also, as 2600 said, avoid the Mark IV, the Mark IVA is the one you'd want to get.
And two other things - in my opinion if you plan to ever use SSB, don't do it with the Brownings. While they will work, they won't do it well. And number 2 is to avoid at all costs the Ebay seller named superhawkwss6.
Good luck in your hunt!
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