Pictures

Midland 1001Z on top....it's Crystal's radio.

Pace 162 in the middle. Nice mobile/base with front fire speaker!

On the left is the Johnson Messenger 323A...which could use new knobs. I bought it off ebay and they said it was like new. Well, not exactly. It's quite nice, but the knobs are piss poor, frankly.

Need to get pix of the Viking 152 and Sears SSB rigs up on here this week.

I've been using the Sears radio in the truck...and I love it! Nice radio...GOOD Noise blanker.

quick update today

Arrived Sat:
Sears SSB rigs - one VERY nice...one for parts.
Today:
Johnson 352 and a bonus free Midland 13-862B. :)
Realistic mic, Johnson 352 mic and Sprint microphone (no idea what it's for, but it was in the lot).

Crystal's radio is in her car and we did some testing last night, but results were not great. Something is not right....with her antenna or mine. Neither of which is proven! I was using the TRC212 and also tried the Sears rig in the truck on an un-proven antenna set up! Too many variables. We got a couple of miles barely...it should be better ..I think...but I'm not familiar with CB range in a metro area.

Only thing I'm expecting in the mail is a package of right angle mic plugs for the Johnson rigs.

Haven't tried the EFJ 352 yet. But it looks pretty good for the $10 I paid for it. :)
It's in better condition than the pictures lead me to believe.

Unit 325 clear.

1001z

Had to go down to Mega Stop in Lakeville and get a radio for Crystal. She was going to get one at radio shack, but they were sold out everywhere. That Mega Stop actually has the best selection of cb stuff I've seen...it's still not much, but better than anywhere I've seen lately. Anyway, I'm installing hers this weekend in my dad's garage. Well, I mean doing the work on her car in the garage...not installing it in the garage. It's a midland 1001z. Gets great reviews from hams and people that know what they are doing . $35. Dirt cheap for what you get. Even has RF gain control and PA.

No new radios here yet.

Found a microphone for the 352 on ebay the other day!

FG-27S pix

Looks like this...

Coil is very thin...maybe a little bigger than a pencil.

323A

My 323A is still sitting on the bench. Haven't had time to work on it yet. I'm hoping it's not a crystal. But we'll see. Will have to get that meter circuit going too.

These guys are also on the way. More SSB.

A Sears 23 ch. SSB rig that appears to be in good shape and is in working condition. The second radio was thrown in free for parts...not a bad thing to have with a 30 year old radio.

The top one works great...and my be new favorite CB rig! Still in my truck. Be fun to see how it compares to the Johnny 352.

352 is on the way.

I found one Johnson 352 this week. It's on the way here.

Here's a picture. Front view is the best. Case is a little rough, but the price was right!

Free...plus shipping. I gave the guy 10 bucks plus the shipping. He said it's working OK, but has no mic or bracket. Bracket I don't care, but I would like to find the correct mic. Just missed one on Ebay in the last week! ARGH. Need the one with the 5pin connector and the LONG cord to plug in back.

FG-27S Hustler

Crystal's antenna came today. Hustler FG-27s from R & L Electronics.
It's NICE antenna for well under $20 (with no mount). Very sleek antenna with a thin diameter center-load coil. Not too thin for performance or bandwidth I hope. I'd like to compare it side by side with an HQ27s someday. The HQ is about 7 inches longer and has a bigger diameter coil from what I read.

Will be using a trunk/hood channel angle bracket. Not a stupid trunk-lid mount. Those always scratch and come loose....especially with an antenna of any size on them. We'll put the bracket on the trunk channel.

Got a couple of different 3/8-24 stud mounts as well. I'll have to see which one fits best.
Will have to make up my own coax cable assembly for it.

The bracket is (or is the same as) the brackets we used to get from Larsen to mount NLA antennas on (3/8" hole). I'll have to drill it out to half inch. Your choices are 3/8 or 3/4 for those brackets. 1/2" is not an option.


Pictures coming!

How 'bout it Skipland?

God...I used to actually say that. If I have the urge now, I can get on 10 meters (or some other band) and call CQ like a semi-civil human being. CB was never about "skip" for me. I worked a few stations...it was fun, but I always had far more fun with seeing how well you can do on ground wave. Anyone can work around the world on 10 meters if conditions are right.
Although, I must say that DX on CB is more of a challenge with all the QRM! Ham bands seem peaceful compared to the full S9+20 roar when the band is wide open with AM signals.
I still don't know why they ever put a local communications band at that frequency. Guess maybe because radios were cheap and no one really wanted the band for anything serious! Put those darn CB'ers on that goofy 27 Mhz band. :)

Johnson Viking radios wanted 352 4730 4740

I'd be interested in purchasing a Johnson Messenger 4730 and/or Viking 352 and/or Viking 4740 AM/SSB radio if you have one you'd like to move along to a new home.

Leave a comment here.

Thanks!

Radio Shack Realistic TRC-212 service manual wanted

Still looking for one. I do have a schematic at least, but a service manual would be helpful. I need to fix one of my 212's that often times won't "start up". No RX/TX. Oscillator or PLL problem that's intermittent...more off than on, which is good I guess (for troubleshooting)!

323A update

Actually the Tx does work. Just the meter doesn't work. This is good
news!

The Tx passes the "finger RF burn" test, so it does have some power output.

The meter doesn't work in Rx or Tx. But it does swing slightly downward
on Tx, so the meter itself is probably OK.

So now just the 'start-up' problem and the meter.

If you change channels, it also quits working, so one of the oscillators
is funky most likely.
At least I have the service manual.

I may have to buy a junker from ebay for parts.

My 323a came last week. It's in pretty good condition, but not as good as they were describing it.

It receives OK if you power it on/off/on/off,etc till it works. Maybe a crystal oscillator not kicking. Old crystals can be a real pain.

But even when it receives, no TX. So it's going to be a bench project.

I'm glad the RX seems OK for the most part. Easier working on transmitters than receivers since I don't have a signal generator.

Pace CB162

Picked up a Pace CB162 base/mobile yesterday for $15 on Craigslist.org!

It's about a 9 out of 10 for condition. Cute little base station with a front-firing speaker. Runs off 12vDC or 120vAC.

Came with the box and bracket and all the cables. Seems to work fine, though the controls are a little noisy and there are some microphonics on receive at high levels.

I think it will get a place in the shack here as the 11 meter base station. :)

Now I need Sams Photofact #107.

Range test map from today. TRC-212 to TRC-212

This tool (http://www.daftlogic.com/) shows our test was just over 5.1 miles today. That's not bad for 4 watt portable-to-portable.
..

As usual...click the image for the large version.

The map shows the whoppin' 5.1 miles we covered today. Maybe could have gotten 6 miles out of it, but you better not have much noise in the area and you better yell into the mike and find the perfect position for both radios.

I'm pretty happy though...I think that's a good haul for "HTs" on 27Meg. Kinda feel like a doofus using the huge radio with the huge antenna. People probably thought I was doing some casting practice with a fishing rod!

Both radios appear to be working fine..when they both work at all. The one radio is intermittent. Seems like an osciallator is kicking out somewhere. When the one radio goes south, there's only faint noise on Rx and no output on Tx. Guess that radio gets to go on the bench. Good project for winter time.
...along with the Messenger 323A that will be here on 02 Dec 09.

AM.....it's certainly not like FM! Not a lot like SSB either. Sure can tell it's not a real efficient mode. The 212's have pretty good audio though. Nice and crisp TX audio helps punch through, but I think they are currently a little weak on modulation. I'll have to test the TX side on the bench and see how much power I'm getting on Hi and Lo power and how the modulation looks on the scope.

Doug and Crystal were the ops on the Kasota end of the circuit today. The picture above is of Doug and Denny (official observer). Doug he had the radio on top of the car..I didn't think he meant that HE was on the car. Putting the radio on top of car helps serve as a ground plane. He was just getting more elevation the way he did it.

We had to QSY from Ch. 30 to Ch. 31 due to "skip" stations on 30. Maybe that was a bad channel to pick. Guess I should have used 4 to see if any 4x4s were out there...or maybe Ch. 1 to see if any GoldWingers were out there.

\\ No pictures of Crystal since she was taking the pictures.

Go CB !!

http://girasoli.org/?p=238

Site above has a link encouraging 4x4 drivers to get on Ch. 4 or 16 (4x4!).

Good idea! Let's get some activity going locally again on the CB band.

I guess I'll have to give Ch. 4 a try as my monitoring channel in the truck and maybe at home.

Antenna

OK....so it's an ABS-1620. I just went and looked at it and they actually put the model number on it and it's still readable.

http://www.thunderpole.co.uk/shakespeare_abs-1620.htm shows this:

Antenna

I should try to get my CB base antenna installed tomorrow. I could use it on CB, but mostly for 10 meters. I should see if I can tune it for about 27.8 MHz or so. I wish I could remember what model it was. It's a Shakespeare of some sort. Fiberglass, white, no radials...about 20 feet as I recall.

Both TRC212s arrived this week

The second one arrived today along with the external mic and a 200mA charging power supply....which also supplies enough current for listening.

Looks great seems to work fine. Came with a like-new manual.

Disappointing to find out that the LCD meter show battery level and RF Output only....NOT receive signal! Weak!

I can see on the LCD display that there is a "signal" icon but they must not have used it...sad.

So now, I've STILL not had a CB walkie with an S-meter. I'm curious if they are very useful. On a mobile base rig, they usually ARE useful...depending on the design of the radio and the calibration.

Messenger 323a wanted

Looking to buy a Johnson Messenger 323a in decent condition. Working or not.

email to kzd6545 -at- palmquist.us

New blog

This blog is for the posting of CB radio technical information. OK, honestly, it's for the use of begging for such information more than anything.

Right now I'm looking for service info for the TRC-212 model Realistic (Radio Shack) "walkie talkie." I'll call it a portable CB...it's quite a bit more than what I would consider a walkie-talkie.

:)