UK CB Radio 40th anniversary (2nd Nov 2021)

[M3VUV51]

Originally Posted by SiriusHardware

...In Lincolnshire? Where?

We happened to travel down to Lincoln itself a few weeks ago to pick something up. I don't remember seeing much in the way of high ground on the way there and on the way back. It's why you have so many old bomber airfields down there.

I'm considering dusting off my 5-Star and going for a little drive around as well - I'll see what sort of mood I am in later.

as far as i know there were lots of airfields in lincs was because the land was sandy and drained well,"no hills in lincs" you havent been to the wolds then!!

[SiriusHardware]

Actually that was a slightly tongue in cheek remark as I have been over the Lincolnshire Wolds, although not recently. I have to say they are not quite as 'woldy' as the Yorkshire Wolds. I imagine people in Lincolnshire must (like the Dutch) get a bit fed up with being told there there's no high ground where they live.

There is... you just need a native guide to find it.

[SiriusHardware]

My first rig was a rebadged Cybernet Beta 3000 known as a Ford Roadmaster 505.

I missed this the first time around.

I was aware that the three Cybernet models (Beta 1000, 2000, 3000) had also been available badged as 'Radiomobile' with black, rather than Cybernet gun-metal grey facias and red channel display LEDs - but I don't think I ever came across any badged as 'Ford'. As you say, it seems likely that these were intended to be bundled or offered as options.

Although I have a particular soft spot for Cybernet-built radios I'm sorry to say their own branded ones were a long way down my list of favourites, mainly due to their having very low-resolution (four segment) digital meters.

One of the stations I was hearing on air last week was using a Rotel 240 and that variant has perhaps my favourite combination of UK spec PCB and exterior looks, I think the RVC 220 / 230 / 240 still look good / modern today. Some of the contemporary radios using the same chassis - like my Binatone 5 Star or the Fidelity 2000 - are very much of their time with vast amounts of 'chrome' surrounding the facia, and 'chrome' knobs.

This combination of Cybernet 134 chassis and '70s chrome' style hit its zenith in the Midland 76-900 base station - I happen to have one on the bench at the moment, although it's not mine. I was surprised to find that the knobs are not 'chromed' plastic as I expected. They are actually solid aluminium.

It's quite a nice looking radio but the designers have gone to desperate lengths to fill up all the switches and knobs with largely pointless features, for example it has not one, but two RX tone controls, one which switches a capacitor from RX audio to GND and another which uses a pot to wind another capacitor in and out. The switched one is badged as a 'filter' whereas the rotary one is labelled 'tone'. The sad fact is that the only controls really needed on an FM set are volume, squelch and channel select. Maybe, just maybe, RF gain.

[Nicola_Jayne]

Originally Posted by SiriusHardware

...In Lincolnshire? Where?

We happened to travel down to Lincoln itself a few weeks ago to pick something up. I don't remember seeing much in the way of high ground on the way there and on the way back. It's why you have so many old bomber airfields down there.

I'm considering dusting off my 5-Star and going for a little drive around as well - I'll see what sort of mood I am in later.

plenty of high spots in Lincolnshire

all along the Lincoln edge or head up towards Stenigot and Belmont

[Nicola_Jayne]

Originally Posted by M3VUV51

as far as i know there were lots of airfields in lincs was because the land was sandy and drained well,"no hills in lincs" you havent been to the wolds then!!

or Lincoln !

[electronicskip]

Binatone brought out an unusual CB many years ago which was actually shaped like an old carphone with a seperate power unit hidden away under a seat .

I always fancied one but never saw them in the shops , it was called the Breakerphone if memory serves, looked pretty cool in its time but one that passed me by.

[davidw]

Originally Posted by electronicskip

it was called the Breakerphone if memory serves,

Your memory is fine.
http://www.radiopics.com/CB%20Radio/...eakerphone.htm

[SiriusHardware]

I never saw a Breakerphone but I have the circuit diagram, should anyone ever need one.

[Radio Scotland]

Originally Posted by electronicskip

Binatone brought out an unusual CB many years ago which was actually shaped like an old carphone with a seperate power unit hidden away under a seat .

I always fancied one but never saw them in the shops , it was called the Breakerphone if memory serves, looked pretty cool in its time but one that passed me by.

I Had one, But alas binatone wasn't renowned for their quality, (The route 66) was a real pile of.....Audioline done a similar thing, They are pretty rare.


Jay

[SiriusHardware]

Binatone were renowned 'badgers' so the quality of their stuff varied a lot even across their CB range. Whoever they sourced the Route 66 from didn't do a stellar job although that model was interesting for having an 'early' and 'late' version board, the earlier version having the unrestricted PLL02A PLL IC and the later one having the more standard UK-specific LC7136/7137.

Two of their mobile radios, the simple and unassuming looking 'Speedway' with its mini meter, and the more fully featured '5-Star', both used the decent Japanese made Cybernet 134 chassis.

[Restoration73]

It may be the Breakerphone was dropped. There was at least one fatal car accident where
the driver was distracted when adjusting the handset whilst driving.

[Radio Scotland]

Originally Posted by SiriusHardware

Binatone were renowned 'badgers' so the quality of their stuff varied a lot even across their CB range. Whoever they sourced the Route 66 from didn't do a stellar job although that model was interesting for having an 'early' and 'late' version board, the earlier version having the unrestricted PLL02A PLL IC and the later one having the more standard UK-specific

Two of their mobile radios, the simple and unassuming looking 'Speedway' with its mini meter, and the more fully featured '5-Star', both used the decent Japanese made Cybernet 134 chassis.

I heard the early route 66 models used the PLL02A Because cybernet wouldn't let them use the LC7136/7137.

I Have a few speedway meters here in the scrap pile.

Wasn't there also a ''BeamBreaker'' model ?

But the worst CB was the legend that is the fidelity 1000 and its endless clones,

Jay

[SiriusHardware]

I heard the early route 66 models used the PLL02A Because cybernet wouldn't let them use the LC7136/7137

I'm not sure that's true, as the LC7136 / LC7137 was manufactured by independent manufacturers Sanyo, and I'm sure the manufacturer would have been happy to sell them to anyone who wanted to buy them. I would guess it's more likely that the original radios were designed either just before the LC713x became available, or possibly before the manufacturer realised that only restricted PLLs would be allowed under the UK spec.

LC7136 / 7s were used in many non-Cybernet chassis (such as those made by Maxon in Korea) and Toshiba-made ICs were also widely used across manufacturers, especially the TA7205P audio amp IC and its reduced height Korean clone (KIA7205?).

Re: Your Speedway meters, I would have killed for one of those at one time because the meter in the Speedway my parents had at their caravan failed - fortunately, a fellow rig fixer got hold of a replacement and passed it on. No idea why Cybernet / Binatone saddled a reasonably decent full sized rig, otherwise equivalent to a Rotel 220 or York 861, with such a tiny meter.

If you have no use for those meters yourself these days you could offer them in the 'parts offered' section as they are a very handy sized s/rf meter for small RF projects.

Fidelity 1000 and clones: Agreed, the one we all loved to hate. Like Binatone, Fidelity were quite promiscuous as regards manufacturers, the Fidelity 2001 was a reasonable radio with the Amstrad / Mustang chassis and the 2000, quite a classy looking radio, was yet another 'Cybernet 134 inside' set.

[Radio Scotland]

[QUOTE=SiriusHardware;1424346]

If you have no use for those meters yourself these days you could offer them in the 'parts offered' section as they are a very handy sized s/rf meter for small RF projects.

Fidelity 1000 and clones: Agreed, the one we all loved to hate. Like Binatone, Fidelity were quite promiscuous as regards manufacturers, the Fidelity 2001 was a reasonable radio with the Amstrad / Mustang chassis and the 2000, quite a classy looking radio, was yet another 'Cybernet 134 inside' set.

I might just do that as i can hardly read the things.

My all time favourite legal rig is the amstrad 900/901 loved the look of them back in the day and still do, Really different to what was being sold at the time, They were love or hate radios, They command decent money now, Few years ago i had a NOS 901,

The best ones are made in japan, Hong kong models not so good, Think mr sugar was penny pinching by then, And theres a third version which apparently is a clone of the hong kong version, Really cheap PCB and no silk screening on the board, Some say its not a fake and that mr sugar was just pulling his belt in another notch.

Spinneytronic / harvard clones all seem to use the ''fake/clone'' made in hong kong PCB

the amstrad 901 design made a come back recently, Looks almost the same but is a multi band radio think its called an argosy.

Not many legal CB Radios that i dont remember from back in the day


Cheers
jay

[Radio Scotland]

If you were really poor back in the CB Golden days then you treated yourself to the ECONOMY 40, No signal meter no frills, The bare bones..Think they were knocked up using left over parts in the ''DNT'' Factory



[QUOTE=SiriusHardware;1422156]

don't think I ever came across any badged as 'Ford'. As you say, it seems likely that these were intended to be bundled or offered as options.

I Have, And yes they were an optional extra, You could look the business in your capri with ford badged CB and fluffy dice and stinking to high heaven of HI Karate after shave

[Restoration73]

I thought that set was by LCL - the internal zeners would often blow. The DNT M40 used
the MC145151 PLL, which allowed conversion to 10m.
Certainly Cybernet, Uniden, and Maxon produced radios, of which many working
examples exist. However all sales did drop off after the first year.

[Radio Scotland]

Originally Posted by Restoration73

I thought that set was by LCL - the internal zeners would often blow. The DNT M40 used
the MC145151 PLL, which allowed conversion to 10m.
Certainly Cybernet, Uniden, and Maxon produced radios, of which many working
examples exist. However all sales did drop off after the first year.

Yeah it was LCL i think, Also badged as an enterprise, I only made the DNT reference as the economy/enterprise used the same control knobs as the DNT Range, There was another LCL ''Thing'' a total heap that had two flimsy metal toggle switches on the front panel

Jay

[Radio Scotland]

Fun fact, The fancy version of the fidelity 1000 (Various brands) had an RF Gain which only turned the signal meter down, Wasn't connected to the front end,

[Techman]

Just getting back onto this thread again...

There certainly are some hills in Lincolnshire, but it's the large area of 'fens' that give it the 'flat' reputation. I love the fens and I used to live on the edge of them. They're a man-made landscape that was originally under water (and unfortunately will be again one day) and only exist because they are continually pumped. The acidic soil and high water table cause them to be a good 'ground plane' for transmitting from, despite them being at, or below sea level. The 'high spots' such as Caistor Top etc. are pretty much already taken by such as Big Rod, a retired sea fisherman from Grimsby, as mentioned before, and Tim, who lives near the other one mentioned at about 425 ASL, but transmits from his mobile at the best spot about half a mile from his house.

As for antennas mentioned, I remember the signal keeper and the joke was that it was named correctly in that it 'kept the signal' and didn't let it out on transmit! The Wot-Pole (is that how it's written?) was good and a legal upgrade on the good old 9x9 dipole. I've still got the remains of one and for many years I used the 'Half-Breed' part as a mobile antenna on a 'DV' mount - its only difference to a normal one is the hole drilled for the nut and bolt fixing. Unfortunately, when put back to Wot-Pole use it got damaged by a few TV line output valves in parallel, with the loading coil former melting, causing it to drop over and land on the TV aerial...less said about that the better. I did heat and bend it back straight, reinforcing it with a wrap of garden hose with a lot of tape and cable ties, but it was basically spoilt.

I've also got one of those 'Springer' aerials. It was given to me a couple or so years ago. It was one of those situations where I went to collect some radio related junk from someone and just as I was leaving he asked me if I wanted an old mobile antenna too, and of course I said yes and it was this bright yellow springer. I've never actually used it, but while I had the gear still in the car the next day after the 40th bash, I screwed it on the mag-mount and checked the SWR, which wasn't brilliant, but would be usable. I tend to find that these mobile antennas that were probably designed for direct body mounting, tend to be not so good like this when capacitively coupled via a mag-mount. I see they're still made and sold and are relatively cheap and the one I have measures the correct length, so hasn't been cut, there's also a small amount of adjustment via a grub screw, so I'll have to have a play with it sometime. I measured the resistance of the antenna end to end and it was less than half an ohm. Regarding 'skin-effect', I've never been convinced that it's significant at the 'relatively' low frequency of 27MHz. However, I use it in arguments regarding people saying they're going to pay a four figure sum for the likes of a Gainmaster or Antron etc., which is just a thin wire inside a fibreglass tube (yes I know there's a bit more to them than that), when they can buy a thirty quid Silver Rod with a nice fat alloy tube for that wonderful extra 'skin-effect' efficiency - all a bit 'tongue in cheek' and admittedly double standards on my part!

As for the 'Half-Breed' proper, I use one that I was given with another antenna that someone I know was given and didn't want them, so passed them on to me. The Half-Breed is good, but on a little test a few years ago I parked a short way from home with the proper Half-Breed, the Wot-Pole Half-Breed (after it had been burnt out and bodge repaired) and this other mystery antenna, and with someone receiving a few miles away on a home-base with a proper 'needle' type S meter, the worst one was the damaged one, the next best was the normal Half-Breed, but the best one was the unknown one. So other than that test, I'd never used that unknown aerial until the other day for the 40th anniversary outing. I hadn't used it before due to it having rather a long whip, longer than the Half-Breed, making it more liable to catch on things and also more difficult to store in the back of the car when not in use.

So this unknown make/model (to me, anyway) antenna was the one I used on the night and turned out to be a very good performer, I did have the 'known good' Half-Breed with me just in case. The SWR was excellent on this aerial and it's interesting to note that seeing as I was running from an isolated separate car battery, and not the car 12 volt supply, nothing was DC grounded to the car body, just capacitive/RF coupling via the magnetic antenna mount.

I left everything in and on the car until the next day and took several pictures of this antenna while it was still mounted. the unusual thing about it is that the whip has a step, or join half way up where it changes thickness, rather than a gradual change along its length. This has just reminded me that the other difference between the Wot-pole and the Half-Breed is that the first has the same thickness of whip wire for its entire length, while the latter has a tapered whip.

Photos below - anyone know what this antenna is? I think it's quite old.

[SiriusHardware]

No signal meter no frills, The bare bones..

That wasn't the only time anyone sold mobile CB radios with no meter at all, in the next generation of UK CBs there was the Midland 77-095 for example - neat little radio with digital channel up / down buttons, but no meter, not even an LED meter. I've just given mine away.

Regarding Half Breeds and clones:-

the first has the same thickness of whip wire for its entire length, while the latter has a tapered whip.

This was what I considered made the difference between the two, the clones usually had a steel whip of uniform thickness which made them quite ungainly, with a tendency to bend over at speed and swish about all over the place when going slowly over uneven ground. The Half-Breeds with their tapered stainless steel whips were the essence of elegance. With the top section offering much less in the way of weight and wind resistance they tended to stay more or less upright. When I used mine for the first time in years recently I remember thinking what a smart looking aerial it was.

From the same stable came the centre loaded 'Warrior' and while it may have possessed the expected advantages of centre loaded over base loaded, it was middle heavy and caught the wind a lot more. I have one of those too.

That base loaded aerial of Techman's is a new one on me, I don't recognise it at all.