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Vintage Amateur and Military Radio Amateur/military receivers and transmitters, morse, and any other related vintage comms equipment.

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Old 7th Sep 2020, 12:19 pm   #41
SiriusHardware
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Default Re: CB Rig collectors

You mentioned an annoying RX to TX delay on the 'modern' Midlands - that seems to be true of all of that generation of radios made by the manufacturer of Midland / Alan / Kernow rigs (whoever they are). I think it must be a 'feature' of the PLL synth used in them. I just got used to it.

It's not actually a very long delay (1/6th or 1/8th of a second?) but when you are used to old-school radios and PLLs with instant changeover, it is quite noticeable / annoying. It also usually seems to me to be longer on the UK band than on the EU band, as though the PLL has to do a bit of extra 'thinking' before it establishes on those awkward UK offset frequencies.
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Old 7th Sep 2020, 6:12 pm   #42
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Default Re: CB Rig collectors

Think ive got about 40 CB Radios now, lots of Midland units and Stalkers in various guises along with a President Jackson 2 bought brand new with the new SSB channels available to the UK instead of the old legacy channels.
Im an avid cb user and have one hooked up in my car 90% of the time.
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Old 8th Sep 2020, 8:10 am   #43
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Default Re: CB Rig collectors

Ive downsized my collection, I did have a BELCOM LS-102L which I got working, and did have a boxed mint ICOM ICB-1050 which I bought to put on 10FM but seemed too nice to modify. so Im down to a Cobra 150GTL wich is a cybernet boarded thing. My collecting these days seems to be the old flagship Yaesu radios from years gone by, currently got a fully loaded FT-736R, fully loaded FT767GX, and a Sommperkamp FT-767DX which is a posh Yaesu FT-707

Currently in the midst of clearing and rearranging the shack to give me space for home working
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Old 8th Sep 2020, 1:51 pm   #44
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil G4SPZ View Post
Fancy that! People using an unauthorised radio frequency? How shocking. The fact that these old chaps have got away with it for 21 years illustrates how little importance the Authorities now place on ensuring compliance with the Wireless Telegraphy Act.
The person that told me about it is one of the youngest on air in this area at around 22 years old, so I suppose that most others would seem 'old' to him!

I think we're all aware that there's little point in any so called "authorities" wasting precious time and resources on this sort of thing, they're not doing any harm after all - there's more important things to worry about in the wider world I would think.
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Old 8th Sep 2020, 1:57 pm   #45
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i still have this, it hasent been switched on for over 2 years either.
The Tristar 777, a very good radio - I've had one for decades!

A much better bet than the earlier Tristar 747, which is best avoided, unless you want to do a lot of messing about circuitry wise to get the transmit quality up to any sort of standard!
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Old 8th Sep 2020, 2:03 pm   #46
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Does anyone have any 934MHz radios or experience of using the band?
I suppose 446 is the new 934

The little bit of high power CB style activity I used to hear on 446 in the Manchester area seems to have gone, and the 8 channels are largely used for their intended purpose.

I've only recently acquired a GC receiver that reaches the dizzy heights of 934MHz so I've no experience at all.
Last time I was in Manchester a couple of years ago I took a handheld with me and noticed a lot of activity on PMR 446, so I guess that's all changed now. There's 16 channels now on 446 and I've manually programmed the new '8' into the handy.
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Old 8th Sep 2020, 2:08 pm   #47
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Default Re: CB Rig collectors

934MHZ Was just too expensive and niche when it came out , and for the average cber wasnt of any real interest as 99% of other users were on 27mhz so it never really took off.

Eventually the band was reallocated to Analogue mobile phones i believe
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Old 8th Sep 2020, 2:32 pm   #48
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cb is pretty much dead here,
So that's why I never hear Grantham. I thought it was just a bad reception area for me.

However, I think there are one or two who operate from that area. There's a chap called Clive whose always mobile in his work van. It seems he installs and maintains/repairs panic alarm systems and seems to be on permanent call out and travels all over the county and beyond. He has a distinctive 'Tarzan' call and can be heard on 19 from miles away at all times of the day - and even sometimes very late at night/early hours. He's always very chatty and friendly, with a strong London/south east accent and talks to all the locals, but as far as know nobody has ever actually met him. I seem to think that he may have now moved out of Grantham and into one of the villages that way on.

Then there's Richard, who has a CB radio servicing YouTube channel and is a member of this forum, but not posted for a long while as far as I know - has an interest in 70s HMV radiograms. He resides in a village Grantham way on and seems to have a couple of locals that he talks to for radio reports. I've never heard him on-air myself, probably a dead spot for me. Link to his channel below:-
https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...adio+servicing
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Old 8th Sep 2020, 9:28 pm   #49
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Default Re: CB Rig collectors

South Essex and North Kent are pretty lively on the UK Muppets.
There are 347 members on the Essex CB Radio Group on Face book.
I cant say I have heard them all though.

Mike

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Old 8th Sep 2020, 11:51 pm   #50
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Originally Posted by electronicskip View Post
934MHZ Was just too expensive and niche when it came out , and for the average cber wasnt of any real interest as 99% of other users were on 27mhz so it never really took off.

Eventually the band was reallocated to Analogue mobile phones i believe
It was certainly expensive. I have a flyer and price list for the Reftec MTR (mobile) 934 and it's priced at £249.95. At that time (1983) most 27MHz mobiles were between £75 and £125.

Unfortunately the Reftec flyer is printed on pale blue paper so I can't scan it.
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Old 9th Sep 2020, 12:35 am   #51
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i still have this, it hasent been switched on for over 2 years either.
The Tristar 777, a very good radio - I've had one for decades!

A much better bet than the earlier Tristar 747, which is best avoided, unless you want to do a lot of messing about circuitry wise to get the transmit quality up to any sort of standard!
Agreed, from my fairly limited experience the 121 boards are rather poor quality themselves, in various places the tracks are very weak, the 777's 125 board is far better
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Old 9th Sep 2020, 8:09 am   #52
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Sorry guys, my preference is very much for the 121 board (as in Hy Gain V, Concorde II etc). I can't forgive the 125 board for its terrible receiver. To be fair, it might have been acceptable when used mobile with a mobile antenna as intended. In an urban environment with a typical half-wave vertical it was a disaster.

Dave, if you can't scan the Reftec flyer try just photographing it from overhead?

Last edited by SiriusHardware; 9th Sep 2020 at 8:15 am.
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Old 9th Sep 2020, 11:22 pm   #53
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Dave, if you can't scan the Reftec flyer try just photographing it from overhead?
Sorry, my badly worded message should have read "... so I don't think it will scan well".

But I was wrong anyway, after a bit of fiddling with Corel Paint they look OK:

I have no interest in CB equipment - if you PM me an address I'll happily post you the original papers FOC.
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Old 10th Sep 2020, 8:39 am   #54
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Thanks for scanning those items, fantastic - another little bit of CB history which could have been lost, had you not looked after those documents all this time.

I would be happy to preserve the paper originals but I'm wondering if someone like Electronicskip would like first refusal?
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Old 10th Sep 2020, 10:38 am   #55
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Default Re: CB Rig collectors

I started with CB in the early 1970's and was on the committee of one of the main lobby groups for the legalisation of CB radio in Australia, achieved in 1977. I then moved on to amateur radio.

I had a variety of radios pass through my hands in those CB days. A Hy-Gain V was a favorite, and one brand I could not afford at the time was CPI. They were American made, high spec and well built, and any of the models and accessories are collectors items today.

My own, a CP2000 base and BC2000 base console.
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Old 10th Sep 2020, 10:54 am   #56
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Very handsome looking items! I have never seen anything like that here in the UK.

I used to read the CB related magazines at the height of the CB boom and I remember seeing an article about the state of the art in the USA - one of the more interesting ones was an SSB model - (SSB has always been a legal mode in the USA) - which had some sort of auto-clarifier which would automatically zero-beat with a signal from another transceiver from the same manufacturer, thus doing away with the need to twiddle the clarifier during the first few overs until the other person 'sounded right'.

I'm not sure how they achieved this, maybe those particular models transmitted a short burst of reference carrier at the start of each transmission so that the receiver had something to zero-beat on.
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Old 10th Sep 2020, 7:17 pm   #57
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The three following radios are not ones that I've had from the old days, but are ones that have been given to me over the last couple of years or so (this is what happens when you go back on CB radio). There are more when I dig them out - perhaps I'm also a 'radio hoarder'!

I've piled them up and bodged them onto a power pack for a quick 'light up' for the photos. I've never actually tried to use any of them for actually talking to anyone, but they all seem to work and transmit a carrier.

The first is a Kraco AM only set with the washing machine dial with a bulb behind it, similar to the old Midlands shown back in post #7. It has a wood effect case and, as shown, has the mic socket in the bottom for use high up in a truck cab, so not easily stacked or usable as a 'home base' set, although I remember a local girl who I got to know quite well who had one of these and used it as a homebase back in the day.


The second is a SBE (Sideband Engineers) AM only set which lights up with very 'pretty' colours, which can be dimmed as shown and has an early scanning facility.

The last one is a slightly later FM radio, badged as Radiomobile, but will likely have the standard Cybernet chassis inside.
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Old 10th Sep 2020, 7:23 pm   #58
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The three following radios are not ones that I've had from the old days, but are ones that have been given to me over the last couple of years or so (this is what happens when you go back on CB radio). There are more when I dig them out - perhaps I'm also a 'radio hoarder'!

I've piled them up and bodged them onto a power pack for a quick 'light up' for the photos. I've never actually tried to use any of them for actually talking to anyone, but they all seem to work and transmit a carrier.

The first is a Kraco AM only set with the washing machine dial with a bulb behind it, similar to the old Midlands shown back in post #7. It has a wood effect case and, as shown, has the mic socket in the bottom for use high up in a truck cab, so not easily stacked or usable as a 'home base' set, although I remember a local girl who I got to know quite well who had one of these and used it as a homebase back in the day.


The second is a SBE (Sideband Engineers) AM only set which lights up with very 'pretty' colours, which can be dimmed as shown and has an early scanning facility.

The last one is a slightly later FM radio, badged as Radiomobile, but will likely have the standard Cybernet chassis inside.
Thats a lovely old Kraco unit ,thats another one thats eluded me over the years.
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Old 10th Sep 2020, 7:37 pm   #59
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Yes, the Radiomobile is the same set as the 'high end' Cybernet 3000, Cybernet 134 inside. Ironically the sets bearing Cybernet's own name are among my least favourite Cybernets because they have digital (LED) meters, which I consider pretty hopeless unless they have at least ten segments and certainly more than four.

On looks, my absolute favourite of the '134 inside' sets are the Rotels, which were very handsomely styled radios - I think the design still looks good today whereas some of the other classic styles, with lots of 'chrome' on the front panel surround and the knobs, were very much of their time. Of course that's exactly why they appeal to collectors.

A while back I had a 'patient' in the form of an old Pace CB radio which was the same model as the one used in 'The Bandit's' Trans-Am in the Smokey and The Bandit films and it had been bought by its owner for precisely that reason. It had the 'backlit digit' type channel selector but it was a 40-channel set, that particular model had been available for a number of years beforehand as a 23 channel set so it was actually a little bit newer than its appearance suggested, probably around 1977 when the 40-channels first came into being (in the USA).

It was still an interesting radio though, with the PLL synth made from standard logic ICs (no specialised PLL IC) and a discrete class-B audio power output stage.
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Old 10th Sep 2020, 7:59 pm   #60
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Yes, the Radiomobile is the same set as the 'high end' Cybernet 3000, Cybernet 134 inside. Ironically the sets bearing Cybernet's own name are among my least favourite Cybernets because they have digital (LED) meters, which I consider pretty hopeless unless they have at least ten segments and certainly more than four.
I agree, and unfortunately that Radiomobile has the 'LED' meter. I think I have actually tried out this radio just the once when I was first given it and was told it was 'loud and clear'. It has the 'Knights' security stickers on the case halves, dated in 2017, so has passed through their hands in the past - I've not removed them to look inside ...yet! The radio has obviously had a lot of use - it came with a modern CRT standard hand mic.
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