Cobra 138 XLR AM/SSB CB Radio. I lucked out! This great old CB Radio runs like a champ. Big thanks to 597 Steve in northern Utah for donating the radio.
Very nice,I am servicing all my vintage radios, cobra 148, 138xlr, superstar 3500, and President Grant, I know the Grant and the Superstar 3500 need new finals,I bought a few from eBay and they were all bootleg crap,my HR2510 are all firing well,I just got a RANGER AR3500 free for Christmas from a local FedEx driver,I help him load and unload every day, we talk about radio I was so surprised when he gave it to me ,Happy holidays to you and family ,
a great radio, thanks for bringing us along. i also dont believe in automatically changing every cap in sight.i prefer some diagnosis first. on that subject: what do you test caps with? i was going to get an esr tester, but i see a lot of nay-sayers to them. 73's
I "had" a older unmarked device from Europe, it died so now I just check values with my Fluke. If I do suspect a bad cap in a circuit then yes I do replace it. If it looks bulged or weird in the least I replace it. Not a science but works for me. (so far) Cheers Smoker:)
I have an old Cobra 23-channel w/SSB Model 138 that I inherited years ago, that has set on the shelf. I built a dipole for it and tried it out. It receives on all channels and appears to be transmitting a carrier with the SWR at 1.2:1, and the Dynamic works (I can hear it thru the PA speaker) but there doesn't appear to be any transmitted modulation - no deflection on the meter. Any ideas?
That 138A is a great rig, I would like to help you but I'm not that familiar with the circuit. When you say you can hear thru the PA, do you mean Modulation from your microphone or just received signals from over the air. If you can hear stations but can not get any modulation from the radio, then I would wire up another mic and try that. I have seen two 138a's with a bad microphone element. Changed mics or element and was good to go.
@@390WagonMasterI can hear the mic thru the PA circuit, so the mic is working. I just don't know if I'm transmitting more than a dead carrier wave; I can't get anyone to respond to a "radio check".
