Korean AM/SSB CB Radios - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

Julesomega · 30th Nov 2025, 10:01 pm

A discussion in another thread prompted me to look for my data on such models, and I find that there are six related models. The Colonel FR360, WKS 1001 are 3-band 120Ch 'L-M-H bands' Freeband rigs with identical presentation. The Stag 357, WKS 100 are single-band FCC legal, with identical presentation to the above. The Teaberry Stalker 101 has almost identical presentation to the Stag 357 and WKS 100

The Palomar SSB 5500 has quite different presentation but the schematic is identical to the Stag 357 and WKS 100

A lot of searching the internet has added a few images, including an inside view of a Palomar SSB 5500.

A good pdf of the Palomar SSB 500 schematic can be found on the internet so I don't need to upload any schematics here. The 3-band versions will have additional switching and conversion frequencies.

Information on the PLL devices used seems to imply that several devices were direct equivalents - see pedrokv.com. I'll look inside my three models to get some photos and confirm the PLL device types at a later date.

SiriusHardware · 30th Nov 2025, 11:28 pm

Those alternative brand / model numbers are a very useful lead as I was only previously aware of the WKS 100 / Colonel FR360 with that similar external tooling.

Just found the Palomar diagram you mentioned - way better than the old nth generation photocopy of the WKS 100 diagram that I have, so thanks for finding that cross reference. Always happy to add another one to the library.

Julesomega · 1st Dec 2025, 12:14 am

Looking through my file on these, it appears that the Korean manufacturer WKS Elektronic had copied the design piecemeal from the Taiwanese President Adams, which would have been a Taiwanese design, though the earlier USA imports were branded as 'President' on the rear label.

Again, a good schematic is available, see CB Tricks.org

SiriusHardware · 1st Dec 2025, 8:22 am

That's interesting in itself, as I was always under the impression that 'President' branded models were almost invariably (Japanese) Uniden chassis under the hood, much like Cobra, where only a few low-end Cobra models like the 19X tended to have (Korean) Maxon chassis.

SiriusHardware · 1st Dec 2025, 11:36 am

Just one question, in #1 you mention both a Palomar 500 and a Palomar 5500 (and also one of the images is captioned Palomar 5500). Are these different radios or was one a typo?

Julesomega · 1st Dec 2025, 1:07 pm

I hadn't spotted that discrepancy. Searching for the 5500 I had landed on the page Palomar SSB500
Documentation Project

Without further research, I suspect the 5500 was a later model. Radiomuseum also has a Palomar SSB 600, the fuzzy pictures look identical to the 500

SiriusHardware · 1st Dec 2025, 1:19 pm

Digging around, it seems there is a 'Universe 5500' which is the same as the Palomar 500.

One thing I'm noticing is that the Palomar 500 and Adams diagrams both have a mic gain control with quite a bit of circuitry devoted to that - (on the President diagram it's called 'Dynamic' rather than Mic Gain), whereas the WKS 100 and Colonel FR360 don't have a mic gain control.

It wasn't uncommon for the same PCB to feature in both basic and more advanced models with a few more of the component positions populated in the advanced models.

I'll dig out my bad photocopy of the diagram for the WKS 100 tonight and compare it with the various other diagrams you have linked to.

SiriusHardware · 1st Dec 2025, 5:47 pm

Hmm, well that was interesting. I dug out my photocopy of the WKS 100 diagram which I've had in my box file for about 40 years only to find that it is line for line and component for component identical to the diagrams(s) under the link in the above previous post, complete with a mic gain control and associated circuitry... which the WKS 100, WKS1001 and Colonel FR360 do not have.

So whatever it is, it is not the exact diagram for the WKS 100, which it is supposed to be the diagram for. Is it still a close enough match? I guess that remains to be found out.

Back in the day, I was part of a little group of technically interested 'young people' who all to some extent knew electronics and were interested in CB so between us we saw and fixed a lot of sets for people. I actually did this through a shop, part of my day job, so whenever we got a radio brought in with the user manual which very often had the circuit diagram and sometimes the PCB layout in the back, I would whizz up to the local library at lunchtime and photocopy the circuit.

The WKS 100 diagram on the other hand came from another member of the group who was spectacularly good at acquiring diagrams for very obscure sets, and most of the time he did very well but in this case I think he somewhat mis-identified the set the diagram was for, or maybe he thought it was 'close enough'. Its only due to this thread that I have finally realised there is at least one discrepancy between my diagram and the control layout on the radios themselves.

electronicskip · 1st Dec 2025, 6:41 pm

Did i get my WKS from you Sirius? i have a feeling it was , i got it working and its one of my fav rigs as the sensitivity is really good.

Techman · 1st Dec 2025, 7:15 pm

From memory I thought that the WKS and Colonel were based around the President Alan chassis, but I could be remembering this wrong.

SiriusHardware · 1st Dec 2025, 8:48 pm

Quote:

Did i get my WKS from you Sirius?

Nope, not from me. You re-homed a pair of 'Sonic Envoy' walkie talkies for me once but I don't think I have ever put anything else your way.

electronicskip · 2nd Dec 2025, 12:55 pm

This is my President version AM/SSB built in Taiwan ROC on the back.

SiriusHardware · 2nd Dec 2025, 1:07 pm

Nice looking radio, the styling has 'Uniden' written all over it so it's interesting that these don't actually seem to be Uniden inside. That set noticeably does have a mic gain control (concentric with the RF gain control) so the diagrams we've been looking at are probably a closer match for that set.

Nick_B333 · 2nd Dec 2025, 5:03 pm

I had both the WKS1001 and the President Adams. 7.8KHz single conversion, no FM.

The Adams was easy to expand as the PLL used BCD, so it ended up with 3 BCD thumbwheel switches in a box on the top. The WKS IIRC used the MC145106 PLL and could be expanded using a couple of binary adders. Also added a CW keying modification by unbalancing the MC1496 balanced modulator, used this to drive a home brew 160m transverter as I couldn't afford anything else at the time.

SiriusHardware · 2nd Dec 2025, 5:33 pm

The FCC-legal versions (40 channel AM/SSB) use the LC7120, I believe. If 'skip has his WKS-100 handy, perhaps he could confirm (or possibly contradict) this.

G0HZU_JMR · 2nd Dec 2025, 7:19 pm

It's a long time ago but I remember all these radios from my spotty youth as a student in the 1980s.

I think that the President Adams was made by the same people that made the popular export radios like the Cobra 148 GTL-DX etc. These were made in Taiwan ROC and were always described as Uniden built radios. The Stag 357 and WKS radios were made by someone else.

Back in the early/mid 1980s the Stag 357 radios were almost worthless because they only covered the US 40 channels and they also only had a basic clarifier and no FM. I was given a few of them for free but never really liked them.

The 40 channel AM/SSB 'Uniden' radios built for the US market were usually very well made with excellent performance. Often they had an aluminium chassis, along with an excellent internal speaker and well designed audio stages. The ANL/NB circuits were usually very good too. Performance on SSB and AM was usually excellent.

The multimode 'export' versions of the Uniden radios that were popular here in the UK such as the Cobra 148 GTL-DX weren't quite as well designed. These really only worked well on SSB and were fairly poor on the other modes and they also suffered from spurious issues on transmit. But they were so popular and sounded so good on SSB that they earned a cult following.

I've still got quite a few original 148/360 radios here that are totally original with no part swaps or mods. Some are still boxed. There was a time (after CB died off) you could buy these radios for about £20 in the 1990s but they are worth an awful lot more now. I really should sell them all but will probably end up keeping them partly for nostalgia reasons even though none of them have been used for many, many years.

SiriusHardware · 2nd Dec 2025, 9:55 pm

Quote:

The FCC-legal versions (40 channel AM/SSB) use the LC7120, I believe.

Looking up the LC7120 in Lou Franklin's 'CB PLL Data Book' the entry for that IC includes a 'used in' note which doesn't include the WKS or Colonel radios, but it does say that it is used in the Palomar SSB500 (late version) and the Stag 357.

So it looks like late domestic versions of this chassis did use the ROM-restricted LC7120 and in fact, on combing over my very bad 'WKS 100' diagram with a magnifying glass I see that the PLL on my version of the diagram is actually an LC7120, not the MC145106 shown on some of the diagrams linked to earlier.

SiriusHardware · 7th Dec 2025, 10:34 am

I've just been looking around for a better diagram for the WKS-100, the version which uses the LC7120 PLL. I found one (so I thought) on radiomuseum.org but after dodging multiple clickbait links and buttons the diagram on offer was so low-res as to be unreadable - even worse than my 40-year old photocopy.

Does anyone know where to find a readable copy?

(Or one for the STAG 357, which also appears to use the LC7120 version of the synth).

30th Nov 2025, 11:28 pm	#2
SiriusHardware Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK. Posts: 13,784	Re: Korean AM/SSB CB Radios Those alternative brand / model numbers are a very useful lead as I was only previously aware of the WKS 100 / Colonel FR360 with that similar external tooling. Just found the Palomar diagram you mentioned - way better than the old nth generation photocopy of the WKS 100 diagram that I have, so thanks for finding that cross reference. Always happy to add another one to the library.

1st Dec 2025, 12:14 am	#3
Julesomega Dekatron Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Stockport Heatons, Greater Manchester. Posts: 3,096	Re: Korean AM/SSB CB Radios Looking through my file on these, it appears that the Korean manufacturer WKS Elektronic had copied the design piecemeal from the Taiwanese President Adams, which would have been a Taiwanese design, though the earlier USA imports were branded as 'President' on the rear label. Again, a good schematic is available, see CB Tricks.org Attached Thumbnails __________________ - Julian It's good here

1st Dec 2025, 8:22 am	#4
SiriusHardware Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK. Posts: 13,784	Re: Korean AM/SSB CB Radios That's interesting in itself, as I was always under the impression that 'President' branded models were almost invariably (Japanese) Uniden chassis under the hood, much like Cobra, where only a few low-end Cobra models like the 19X tended to have (Korean) Maxon chassis.

1st Dec 2025, 11:36 am	#5
SiriusHardware Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK. Posts: 13,784	Re: Korean AM/SSB CB Radios Just one question, in #1 you mention both a Palomar 500 and a Palomar 5500 (and also one of the images is captioned Palomar 5500). Are these different radios or was one a typo?

1st Dec 2025, 1:07 pm	#6
Julesomega Dekatron Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Stockport Heatons, Greater Manchester. Posts: 3,096	Re: Korean AM/SSB CB Radios I hadn't spotted that discrepancy. Searching for the 5500 I had landed on the page Palomar SSB500 Documentation Project Without further research, I suspect the 5500 was a later model. Radiomuseum also has a Palomar SSB 600, the fuzzy pictures look identical to the 500 Attached Thumbnails __________________ - Julian It's good here Last edited by Julesomega; 1st Dec 2025 at 1:15 pm.

30th Nov 2025, 10:01 pm	#1
Julesomega Dekatron Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Stockport Heatons, Greater Manchester. Posts: 3,096	Korean AM/SSB CB Radios A discussion in another thread prompted me to look for my data on such models, and I find that there are six related models. The Colonel FR360, WKS 1001 are 3-band 120Ch 'L-M-H bands' Freeband rigs with identical presentation. The Stag 357, WKS 100 are single-band FCC legal, with identical presentation to the above. The Teaberry Stalker 101 has almost identical presentation to the Stag 357 and WKS 100 The Palomar SSB 5500 has quite different presentation but the schematic is identical to the Stag 357 and WKS 100 A lot of searching the internet has added a few images, including an inside view of a Palomar SSB 5500. A good pdf of the Palomar SSB 500 schematic can be found on the internet so I don't need to upload any schematics here. The 3-band versions will have additional switching and conversion frequencies. Information on the PLL devices used seems to imply that several devices were direct equivalents - see pedrokv.com. I'll look inside my three models to get some photos and confirm the PLL device types at a later date. Attached Thumbnails __________________ - Julian It's good here

1st Dec 2025, 1:19 pm	#7
SiriusHardware Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK. Posts: 13,784	Re: Korean AM/SSB CB Radios Digging around, it seems there is a 'Universe 5500' which is the same as the Palomar 500. One thing I'm noticing is that the Palomar 500 and Adams diagrams both have a mic gain control with quite a bit of circuitry devoted to that - (on the President diagram it's called 'Dynamic' rather than Mic Gain), whereas the WKS 100 and Colonel FR360 don't have a mic gain control. It wasn't uncommon for the same PCB to feature in both basic and more advanced models with a few more of the component positions populated in the advanced models. I'll dig out my bad photocopy of the diagram for the WKS 100 tonight and compare it with the various other diagrams you have linked to.

1st Dec 2025, 5:47 pm	#8
SiriusHardware Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK. Posts: 13,784	Re: Korean AM/SSB CB Radios Hmm, well that was interesting. I dug out my photocopy of the WKS 100 diagram which I've had in my box file for about 40 years only to find that it is line for line and component for component identical to the diagrams(s) under the link in the above previous post, complete with a mic gain control and associated circuitry... which the WKS 100, WKS1001 and Colonel FR360 do not have. So whatever it is, it is not the exact diagram for the WKS 100, which it is supposed to be the diagram for. Is it still a close enough match? I guess that remains to be found out. Back in the day, I was part of a little group of technically interested 'young people' who all to some extent knew electronics and were interested in CB so between us we saw and fixed a lot of sets for people. I actually did this through a shop, part of my day job, so whenever we got a radio brought in with the user manual which very often had the circuit diagram and sometimes the PCB layout in the back, I would whizz up to the local library at lunchtime and photocopy the circuit. The WKS 100 diagram on the other hand came from another member of the group who was spectacularly good at acquiring diagrams for very obscure sets, and most of the time he did very well but in this case I think he somewhat mis-identified the set the diagram was for, or maybe he thought it was 'close enough'. Its only due to this thread that I have finally realised there is at least one discrepancy between my diagram and the control layout on the radios themselves.

1st Dec 2025, 6:41 pm	#9
electronicskip Nonode Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Gloucester, Glos. UK. Posts: 2,239	Re: Korean AM/SSB CB Radios Did i get my WKS from you Sirius? i have a feeling it was , i got it working and its one of my fav rigs as the sensitivity is really good. __________________ Oh I've had that for years dear!!

1st Dec 2025, 7:15 pm	#10
Techman Dekatron Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Lincolnshire, UK. Posts: 5,588	Re: Korean AM/SSB CB Radios From memory I thought that the WKS and Colonel were based around the President Alan chassis, but I could be remembering this wrong.

2nd Dec 2025, 12:55 pm	#12
electronicskip Nonode Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Gloucester, Glos. UK. Posts: 2,239	Re: Korean AM/SSB CB Radios This is my President version AM/SSB built in Taiwan ROC on the back. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Oh I've had that for years dear!!

2nd Dec 2025, 1:07 pm	#13
SiriusHardware Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK. Posts: 13,784	Re: Korean AM/SSB CB Radios Nice looking radio, the styling has 'Uniden' written all over it so it's interesting that these don't actually seem to be Uniden inside. That set noticeably does have a mic gain control (concentric with the RF gain control) so the diagrams we've been looking at are probably a closer match for that set.

2nd Dec 2025, 5:03 pm	#14
Nick_B333 Tetrode Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: UK East Midlands Posts: 88	Re: Korean AM/SSB CB Radios I had both the WKS1001 and the President Adams. 7.8KHz single conversion, no FM. The Adams was easy to expand as the PLL used BCD, so it ended up with 3 BCD thumbwheel switches in a box on the top. The WKS IIRC used the MC145106 PLL and could be expanded using a couple of binary adders. Also added a CW keying modification by unbalancing the MC1496 balanced modulator, used this to drive a home brew 160m transverter as I couldn't afford anything else at the time. __________________ Still reading Radio Servicing by Abraham Marcus.

2nd Dec 2025, 5:33 pm	#15
SiriusHardware Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK. Posts: 13,784	Re: Korean AM/SSB CB Radios The FCC-legal versions (40 channel AM/SSB) use the LC7120, I believe. If 'skip has his WKS-100 handy, perhaps he could confirm (or possibly contradict) this.

2nd Dec 2025, 7:19 pm	#16
G0HZU_JMR Dekatron Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK. Posts: 3,080	Re: Korean AM/SSB CB Radios It's a long time ago but I remember all these radios from my spotty youth as a student in the 1980s. I think that the President Adams was made by the same people that made the popular export radios like the Cobra 148 GTL-DX etc. These were made in Taiwan ROC and were always described as Uniden built radios. The Stag 357 and WKS radios were made by someone else. Back in the early/mid 1980s the Stag 357 radios were almost worthless because they only covered the US 40 channels and they also only had a basic clarifier and no FM. I was given a few of them for free but never really liked them. The 40 channel AM/SSB 'Uniden' radios built for the US market were usually very well made with excellent performance. Often they had an aluminium chassis, along with an excellent internal speaker and well designed audio stages. The ANL/NB circuits were usually very good too. Performance on SSB and AM was usually excellent. The multimode 'export' versions of the Uniden radios that were popular here in the UK such as the Cobra 148 GTL-DX weren't quite as well designed. These really only worked well on SSB and were fairly poor on the other modes and they also suffered from spurious issues on transmit. But they were so popular and sounded so good on SSB that they earned a cult following. I've still got quite a few original 148/360 radios here that are totally original with no part swaps or mods. Some are still boxed. There was a time (after CB died off) you could buy these radios for about £20 in the 1990s but they are worth an awful lot more now. I really should sell them all but will probably end up keeping them partly for nostalgia reasons even though none of them have been used for many, many years. __________________ Regards, Jeremy G0HZU

7th Dec 2025, 10:34 am	#18
SiriusHardware Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK. Posts: 13,784	Re: Korean AM/SSB CB Radios I've just been looking around for a better diagram for the WKS-100, the version which uses the LC7120 PLL. I found one (so I thought) on radiomuseum.org but after dodging multiple clickbait links and buttons the diagram on offer was so low-res as to be unreadable - even worse than my 40-year old photocopy. Does anyone know where to find a readable copy? (Or one for the STAG 357, which also appears to use the LC7120 version of the synth).