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.

:)