CB Rig collectors

[Techman]

Originally Posted by electronicskip

Thats a lovely old Kraco unit ,thats another one thats eluded me over the years.

Yes, I couldn't believe it when I was offered it. It brought back memories. I hadn't seen one for years, well not since the one that girl owned.

[SiriusHardware]

(regarding the Radiomobile)

Oh dear, a non-original microphone. A distinct minus as far as a collector would be concerned.

I don't know if the Radiomobile variants of those radios used the same microphones as the Cybernet branded versions but if so, they were one of the rare Cybernet built radios which did not use the standard 'Coffin' microphone, the style / shape of the microphone was virtually unique to those models. My Cybernet 1000 has its original microphone, I don't ever remember seeing any other model - apart from the other UK Cybernets - with the same style of microphone.

It would be good if someone would start up a little business printing replacement 'brand' decals for coffin microphones, because although the coffin mikes are still available they are usually branded Sharmans, Pama, Moonraker, etc which is just... wrong.

I'd pay more for a coffin mike which was supplied unbranded along with a printed-on-demand brand decal - Tristar, Ham International, Hy-Gain, Colt, York, Rotel, Harvard, Fidelity, Binatone, to name just a few brands whose radios always or sometimes used coffin microphones.

[Techman]

Originally Posted by SiriusHardware

(regarding the Radiomobile)

Oh dear, a non-original microphone. A distinct minus as far as a collector would be concerned.

I don't know if the Radiomobile variants of those radios used the same microphones as the Cybernet branded versions but if so, they were one of the rare Cybernet built radios which did not use the standard 'Coffin' microphone, the style / shape of the microphone was virtually unique to those models. My Cybernet 1000 has its original microphone, I don't ever remember seeing any other model - apart from the other UK Cybernets - with the same style of microphone.

I don't know, but I've got a baby Cybernet 1000 with the original mic that I've had from back in the day. I had it fitted in my MK1 Escort van, 3 litre Capri MK2 and series one Jaguar XJ6. That Radiomobile will never be a collectors item as it's too worn on the front panel, although it could do with a good clean to remove all the fish & chip greasy fingers grime. What it really needs is to be fitted into a vehicle and using.

[Techman]

Originally Posted by SiriusHardware

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.

Yes, and also the Barracuda, in my opinion - same 134 chassis, I believe.

Below is shown a Barracuda that was given to me by a neighbour a few years ago (now sadly passed away) who told me he had it for his boat, but I suspect that it has had very little use and has never had the case opened as far as I can tell. I seem to remember that the power is absolutely spot on at 4 watts into a dummy load over the entire band with no movement whatsoever when going directly between 1 and 40. I've got the handbook somewhere, but no original box. My younger brother bought one of these brand new from Halfords back in the day, but now long sold on, as far as I know.

Also shown is the baby Cybernet that packed up years ago, but I fixed in the end a year or so back.

[Techman]

A couple of complaints regarding the Barracuda is firstly the ridiculous placing of the on/off volume control - should have been at the far left, and secondly the five pin din mic plug and socket. A rotary delta tune would have been better than a three position switch, although it could be argued that there's less chance of accidentally moving the receive off frequency with a switch rather than a pot.

[Spec-chum]

Originally Posted by Techman

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

I've not heard the Clive fellow on you mention, but I don't think I've been on the air for a couple of years. I use to go mobile and liked parking in the Belvoir Castle car park on sunny evening with just the Amstrad and a Siro ML145. I did make contact there to a fellow in Derby who had set a station up in a field where he was camping. I also made contact with a fellow in Spilsby near Skegness, but I was parked in the village of Swarby near Sleaford a good 40 odd miles away from Spilsby at that time.

I'm aware of Richard of CB radio Servicing. Subscriber and did once speak with him on air several years ago too. I believe he was chatting with a friend who was homebased in Grantham when I came in on the side. I was again mobile more Sleaford way at the time and couldn't hear the other Grantham fellow.

I think that was pretty much it for me contact wise, but as I say that I might of had better look with an SSB set as I was only working the UK 40FM.

[electronicskip]

Originally Posted by SiriusHardware

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?

Thats a generous offer, but im happy for you to have them and i can just print off a copy from the scans for my collection, but thank you.

[SiriusHardware]

Originally Posted by Techman

A rotary delta tune would have been better than a three position switch, although it could be argued that there's less chance of accidentally moving the receive off frequency with a switch rather than a pot.

The designers of 'straight 40 FM' radios had a problem, because all an FM radio really needs is a channel switch, a volume control and a squelch control. In order to sell medium and high end models with more knobs and switches, they literally had to invent functions to fill up those switches which on the original AM versions of the chassis would be used for genuinely practical and useful functions such as RF gain and ANL / Noise blanker.

'Delta Tune' may have been useful in radios which were full of banks of crystals, any one of which might end up a bit off frequency, but by the days of single-crystal PLL circuits this function was thoroughly obsolete due to the decent accuracy of the PLL circuit in every radio sold.

However, this function did unwittingly come into its own in the UK after all, when we got people with unmodified 'export' radios trying to cross communicate with people using CB/27/81 radios - typically they would be about 1/3 of a channel low so the ability to pull the receiver tuning 'minus' turned out to be useful in a way that the designer never envisaged.

Similarly useless or frivolous control examples on 'big' CB/27/81 radios were

-Rotary display dimmer which dimmed the channel LEDs but not the meter backlight.

-Tone Hi/Lo or Hi/Mid/Low switches

-Mic gain (why would you reduce your FM deviation from the maximum allowed level, or to put it another way, intentionally make yourself sound quiet compared to everyone else?)

-RF gain and DX/Local switches - arguably useless on a decent FM receiver, but in practice sometimes useful in situations where the receiver was being overwhelmed by a close local signal somewhere else on the band.

On the medium to high end radios, all using the same chassis, the majority of the controls added nothing, except a bit more to the purchase price.

However, there were some subtle differences internally as well. My Rotel 220 is missing a (never fitted) tuned coil in the receiver, the same coil is included in the 134 chassis fitted in the higher end Rotels, presumably a move aimed at offering you better receiver selectivity if you opt for a higher model.

I had forgotten about the Barracuda (HB940?). That's another Cybernet with an unusually unique microphone so you're lucky that it still has the correct microphone. The styling looks to me like one of the Majors, can't remember which one. One of the Harvards uses the same front panel and knobs, but with more grey on the front panel and silver/grey knobs.

[electronicskip]

Here are a few of my Midland CB Radios.

Midland 2001 am/fm
Midland 2001 fm
Midland 4001 am/fm
Midland 4001 fm
Midland 38 fm
Midland 150m am
Midland 150 m am/fm
Midland ready rescue x2 fm

Also have Midland 77-095 fm and Midland 3001 not pictured

[SiriusHardware]

All six of the larger Midlands in the first and second pictures have the same Maxon (Korean) chassis - the ones which also have FM have a little daughterboard which adds the FM to what is originally an AM-only chassis. The nice thing about Maxon radios is that they almost always have the year and month of manufacture on the rear plate so you can see exactly how old they are.

All look to be in nice condition, and the 200x series ones seem to have the original blue midland microphones as well, very nice.

I also have a Midland 77-095 owned from new and boxed but I would have sworn it had a green LED channel display rather than an LCD display. Does yours also have an S-Meter on the LCD display? There is no S-Meter on mine.

[John M1JWR]

in around 1982 i bought a new rotel 240, i remember it was 35 quid and fell off the back of a wagon, a year later i bought a rotel 230 from comet at £19.99p, i know where the 240 went, as for the 230 it remains a mystery.
first one i had was a kraco 40ch am, that was in 1980.
after the 240 i went over to ssb boxes and are as follows in no perticular order.
multimode 2,cobra 146, hygain v,colt 485 black shadow, mk1 148gtldx, deaf as a post and finished off with a 320fm black shadow, pulled the plug on cb in 1985, the 320 remained unused, i bought a original margainplan bullwhip in 1982 and still have that to this day.
fast forward to 1997, a friend wanted to go back on the box, he turned up with a mk1 148 gtl dx, and offered it to me for a small sum, reluctently i bought it, and eventually used it for a short time, i nearly swapped it for a concorde 2 with a truck driver, the concorde was a dog so i diddent bother, a short time after that i sold it and bought a rci2950f new, 1998 that was, i still have it and it hasent been switched on for well over 10 years, when i passed the rae in 2000 i used it with a 10 to 2m transverter, before i bought a dual band ft8100r, and after that a 706mk2g which i still have from 2001, they do everything adequately and thats good enough for me, in 2003 i bought the 10m 320fm off a G4 out of radcom, it was nice to have a legal varient of what was really the main radio i had back in the day, and finally the tristar i bought several years ago to fix as it was dead, i will keep it just because i fixed it.

[electronicskip]

Originally Posted by SiriusHardware

All six of the larger Midlands in the first and second pictures have the same Maxon (Korean) chassis - the ones which also have FM have a little daughterboard which adds the FM to what is originally an AM-only chassis. The nice thing about Maxon radios is that they almost always have the year and month of manufacture on the rear plate so you can see exactly how old they are.

All look to be in nice condition, and the 200x series ones seem to have the original blue midland microphones as well, very nice.

I also have a Midland 77-095 owned from new and boxed but I would have sworn it had a green LED channel display rather than an LCD display. Does yours also have an S-Meter on the LCD display? There is no S-Meter on mine.

The one showing is the Midland 80 , but i will check the 77-095 to see whats on it , to be honest i cant remember as ive not used it for a long time.
I tend to use the President Jackson 2 or my trusty Harrier CBX in the car.

[thermionic]

This thread has brought back a lot of memories...........

I was an avid CB’er in the ‘80s, and it’s responsible for 25 years of marriage! ( not to a CB)!

I have somewhere, an old AM rig which I remember as being unusual. I can’t remember the manufacturers name, but it had the 40 channel led display and channel change switch on the microphone. It also had a small illuminated window on the rig that said, ‘On the Air’ when transmitting!

I’ll have to try and locate it..... anyone recognise this from my description?


Cheers. SimonT.

[Techman]

Originally Posted by thermionic

I was an avid CB’er in the ‘80s, and it’s responsible for 25 years of marriage! ( not to a CB)!

Yes, I've got a younger brother who met his wife through CB radio. Over 30 years of happy marriage with two now grown up sons who went off to uni and now both have good jobs. I was actually engaged to a lass I met through the radio, but no marriage for me on this occasion!

[Techman]

Originally Posted by SiriusHardware

The designers of 'straight 40 FM' radios had a problem, because all an FM radio really needs is a channel switch, a volume control and a squelch control.

typically they would be about 1/3 of a channel low so the ability to pull the receiver tuning 'minus' turned out to be useful in a way that the designer never envisaged.

Yes, I absolutely agree on both counts, although I think you mean to pull the receive tuning 'plus' to try to pull the old rigs in a bit better if they didn't have the facility to tune down 'minus' themselves.

Thinking about the Barracuder, yes, it's a bit like the Major radios in looks, probably the 588 and the 360. Also, probably having the (fairly useless) mic gain next to the mic socket itself was logical thinking for the manufacturer, but having the volume on/off half way along in the middle of a cluster of knobs isn't ideal until you got used to it I suppose. I personally quite like a tone control, so long as it's not too 'heavy' and is good to knock off the 'highs' for a bit of gentle evening listening.

[electronicskip]

a few more from my collection.
Stalker IV
Uniden Uniace 100
Uniden Uniace 200
Binatone 5star
Intek M495
President JFK Classic
President JFK Black.

[SiriusHardware]

Originally Posted by Techman

I think you mean to pull the receive tuning 'plus' to try to pull the old rigs in a bit better if they didn't have the facility to tune down 'minus' themselves.

Quite right of course, and I did eventually notice that but I got caught by the edit-cutoff-timeout-of-doom so I couldn't change it by the time I noticed it. You knew what I meant anyway.

'Skip, I think I already knew this but it is becoming pretty obvious that out of all of us, you are the true CB Clectomaniac. The main clue is your having not just one of any given model but in some cases two or even more of the exact same model. (Not counting walkie talkies, which logically do come in pairs).

[Techman]

Originally Posted by SiriusHardware

'Skip, I think I already knew this but it is becoming pretty obvious that out of all of us, you are the true CB Clectomaniac. The main clue is your having not just one of any given model but in some cases two or even more of the exact same model. (Not counting walkie talkies, which logically do come in pairs).

No one can be as bad (or should I perhaps say good) as the chap with one leg, in my local city (mentioned earlier), who by his own admission has multiples of the same model, although I've not seen the evidence for myself. I've got two Ham International Multimode 11s - does that count?

Loving all the collections

[SiriusHardware]

Having two of the same model does not count if you have an irrational love for the model in question, which I happen to remember you do...

[Techman]

Ha-ha, you got me there!

And now the homebase version in the shape of the Jumbo, escaped from the clutches of that 'collector'!