Thanks for making this video, Erik! Thinking about getting a CB radio as a first paycheck purchase! Currently 16, hoping to get into the hobby. Wish me luck!
Brings back memories from the old days! I just dug out my old Lafayette 625 23 ch. CB to see if it was still working after being in storage for the last couple of years and it still works except for the indicator lamp over the S-meter and channel selector. I guess I had better put new ones in. Thanks for your video.
Great video...I miss the 80s. My Dad had a great base station set_up in his shop....I am slowly getting back into CB...Learning is allot easier with vids like yours....Thanks man
Yeah, I got the truck stop radio as my first cb. Should have watched this video first. Spent $104 for a uniden pro510xl and a Wilson little wil. As entry level gear for a new hobby goes, I think I got out of it pretty cheap. Rifle shooting, archery, carpentry, collecting, photography, car restoration, knitting, sewing, ALL require a lot of continuous investment in order to maintain. With CB radio you only need to buy your equipment and then you're good for the rest of your life, unless you want to go further.
Great video. Of course you didn't warn viewers of the sickness. I was watching you while finishing an alignment on an almost new in box 1976 Royce 1-600b I just picked up for $10 at Salvation Army. Looking to the left side of my bench is a stack waiting to be checked out a RoadTalker 40 ssb, Samdo 700, Palomar 49, Johnson msgnr 40 (wood grain), and a few Cobras 19xs, 21, and two Philippine 29s. It's a sickness.
Well, its true that every once and while I do find a dud, but when I'm playing with $5.00 I can afford to loose every now and again. Most of the time I buy something that does have and issue, like that gold browning's LED read out, I can usually fix it up. Good luck with the search!
Erik, yesterday I picked up a President Washington with upper and lower side band, the Astatic D-104 microphone and maybe 20 feet of antenna cable, for $35. All I know so far is that it powers up. Need to buy an Antron (already have the mast due to the previous home owner) and I'll be listening for you. Thanks again for what you're teaching.
Nice score on the Baron! Those are really good units. eBay is way over priced on radio equipment and the sellers are usually not honest about condition. I've bought HF ham equipment that was advertised as great condition and had to repair every time. I recently went through CBs on eBay and prices were high ($40+) for mostly untested, parts only radios. Yard sales or Good Will is better. If you buy a used one that's no good you won't be out a lot of money. Avoid altered radios. Most are over modulated and splatter power all over the band.
You show a Browning Baron which was a good SSB mobile rig but the problem I found with it when they were brandnew was that they had a impossible chip in them for extended frequency coverage. Otherwise, they were good 40 channel radios. The old Browning LTD 23 ch. mobile was my favorite.
You are spot on about the price I've had some nice radios from America that even when you factor in shipping to the UK they are cheeper than I can find at home. I picked up a 23 channel midland Convoy rig in its box for about £40 all in (I had to buy it after all Convoy and smoke and the bandit was the thing that really started CB in Britain) I would love to get an old valve CB but the size and weight would make it out of the question for my limited budget. The strongest thing I own is a pair of 100mw two channel walkie talkies I got from EBAY they came compleat with both outer boxes and were marked as 16 guineas that's an old pre decimal amount a guinea is one pound one shilling and as we went decimal in 1971 I recon they are old
Keep in mind when buying a used radio, you never know what hack job mods have been done to it. Plus, electrolytic capacitors go bad over time and some manufacturers used a type of glue on the circuit boards that would turn corrosive and rust components off of the circuit board. CBs can go bad from just sitting.
That D-104 has a crystal microphone element in it,also that D-104 Is powered by a 9v battery I saw the Mic gain pot on the bottom. That is a later model Mic, the early one had no battery in them any d-104 Is an outstanding Microphone.
@@FarpointFarms : Hello Eric, Absolutely, like I said, those D-104 microphones new, old or otherwise, are fantastic mics, and built very well to boot. I wish you well this Holiday season, and are looking forward to more of your instructional/ education/ overview videos in the future. Kind regards, Eric Dee.
Awesome finds back when I was getting out of CB I came across a huge deal of radios and gear that I just put into a box and forgot about till recently when I found them in the attic and I'm sorting through it all now. I think I only paid 20 bucks for all of it and there is three D-104s. I'll have to let you know when I get something up and running hopefully soon.
My brother inlaw gave me his Midland 1001z that he got when he was trucking years ago. Its only a 30 dollar radio but it works. I can use it with my Cobra whip in the Truck or n the house to do that intercom thing we was talking about. I have 3 AM radios now. Still working towards the SSB radio.
I live on the west coast of Canada. judging from my years of frequenting numerous garage and yard sales, 2nd hand stores ect. I would say CB radios and their vital accessories like power supplies, transmission cables, antennas, mobile or base. although very cheap, they are also fast becoming extremely rare, at least in my area.
I think the real reason for CB radios rarity is not just from smartphones or Facebook. It’s the growing popularity of VHF 16 channel 156 MHZ Marine band radios I see in growing numbers of pickup trucks. From my experience, even in the heady 1970s 80’s many folks constantly complained about noisy fowl mouthed CB skip interfering with local CB talk, prompting many to move to Marine VHF with a little extra power and range, smaller antenna, as well as less susceptibility to skip. I still use CB to work skip on SSB mode although lately the solar cycle is at rock bottom so I don’t expect to hear skip again for at least 3 or 4 years from now when the cycle peaks again. In the future I would like to install a VHF and CB in my truck.
Erik, Great job again. You give some great advice ....on lots of different subjects ! A real renaissance man. I get some great ideas from you. Keep up the good work!
That is a serious good score on the browning. Those things go over 100 bucks on eBay. It about The same guts as a tram D 62 Ssb and similar chassis To some of the cobras from that era. Good old radios.
I have been buying some CB radios from an auction I frequent. Out of 5 radios 2 seems to work. Can't bitch to much, about $6.00 per two radios. Now that I have gotten a couple of antennas and a SWR meter I can be a little more careful before I give the final payment. Put an ad on Craigslist and you just may be contacted.
I never thought about a wanted ad. Thanks for the tip! A lot of CB's that don't seem to work can be brought back from the dead with a good cleaning, sometimes a fuse, or a good whack on the top of the case.
I know got a collection of CB radio over years and how started in 1986 still going ! I found how did it talk a lot CB to get and found prices of new also what need too and place sell used too! My first base radio a Realistic TRC 48 23 channel base / mobile with Big Stick Shakespeare 1/2 plus 50 feet base coax for 75.00 ! Then got radio shack 415 40 channel mobile radio , Blue Streak antenna plus 50 feet base coax plus 6 amp power supply for $50.00 ! Plus bought lots other radio and antenna too over ! Plus first mobile set up was a K40 magnet mount and President P200 40 am to ! Funny part in 2010 my birthday came my oldest neice Nikki found a Undien Grant XL made in 2002 had been used past but Am need repairs on plus Antenna Jack so got Clarifier by tech to and bought Wilson 1000 magnet mount at Radio shop both still going excellent! At Pawn shop near me had Realistic TRC 428 40 am rig in a excellent shape $40.00 bought for and run excellent plus 3 lights need repairs I did myself! Plus got a Undien PC 68 XL 40 am excellent condition and Cobra 29 LTD basic model New never use yet but save for back up! But got lots CB radio in base and mobile last me life time!
If I had property around with our I was allowed to put an antenna on the roof I would definitely be there man has my situation is here in Toronto Ontario Canada I'm only restricted to using my my handheld but honestly I still enjoy listening to your your videos are extremely informative I was a member of the trans-canada radio club at the time in 1982 it was the biggest CB club in the world I used to enjoy shooting Skip and it was just a blast the chance again I'll I'll give you a shout 73 to you
The only thing I can add is a suggestion to research a little. And I don't mean the local "golden screwdriver" operator. Read up on the products online AND in old publications. It has been my experience that the person who talks the most/ loudest isn't the real expert. And the guy that brags about his setup pushing 600 watts will try to convince you to spend WAY too much money. Old and used are not bad things, and don't mean junk.
I just sub'd to your channel and I'm proud subscriber number 9474!! I too am looking to get back into the cb hobby/life!! I had a blast in the 70's and 80's (and a bit of the 90's) and I want to have that fun again!! I will check with you regularly, and when I get my mobile/base set-up done I'll let you know!! Until then, "keep the shiny side up and the dirty side down"!!!! Norman in Montreal xm52-62718
I had a T.R.C realistic 457 tuned for 95 percent clean modulation with a stock Mike while the other guys were buying d104 silver eagles Golden Eagle microphones for like hundreds of dollars to get the same the same performance out of my I had for stock microphones on on hand that I bought radio meetings for like two bucks Canadian for each Mike which worked out to a dollar twenty-five us per Mike 4 / microphone haha
$25 for older uniden bearcat and a uniden magnetic antenna at flea market. Put antenna on a pole on shed roof. Order power supply from amazon for $15.....i have a regular range of about 30miles....just that easy
CB radio over 25 years and I never had a problem with the ones that I did again I bought a Montgomery Ward 23 Channel then I moved up little bit 40 channel that was the ultimate one so my next one is going to be the president if they're still around because no one better then cobra
Erik, if you still have the walkie-talkie I take it. But since I just got this today I don't think my chances a very good. That browning is a good one.
hey Erik brother ive got a question for you .... i want to put a CB in my hot rod 1965 chevy truck ... i picked up a Cobra 148 old model with sideband and a Cobra 29 xlr for with Mic on both for 30 bucks at a yard sale i think i scored lol anyway wen i put the unit most likely the 148 in my truck i want to get out and be heard and receive just as well so ... is my best antenna option a steel 102 whip ? or if im willing to spend the money for something better is there a better option ? also i dont have a tool box my bed is empty and my bumper is aluminum so in your opinion where would you say the best place is to install a whip if that is indeed the best antenna to run ? and last would it be better to run gauge 8 coax for all of this or still the small stuff ?
A 102 inch whip is the ideal antenna if it is center of the vehicle, if it on the rear bumper it becomes very directional because your vehicle is the ground plane. Picking up an old K40 mag mount or a Wilson 1000 would probably serve you a lot better than the whip but the choice is yours!
We all need a meeting time on a certain channel and go live at the same time! See if some of us can make contact. How bout it dx land 747 western North Carolina waving a hand.. I’ll break out the galaxy saturn and Texas star 500. Lol might be fun.
I find nothing radio related at thrift stores in marietta Georgia. Either someone has first dibs by an employee friend. Or no one donates. However i use to work at our goodwill manager finds out anyone is giving favors to friends they get fired.
I have a question, recently, i ran across an old Cobra side band radio that i had picked up some place years ago, i hooked it up and it come on, but i need a mic for it, instead of a 4 or 5 pin mic, it takes a 1/4 in mail plug like for an electric guitar, can you still get mics for these old Cobra 138 radios?
I've been looking for 27 MHz CB radio for 2 years haven't found one for cheap because anyone selling them wants $900 for them I've been using 477 MHz radio would you do get fuckall range out of it 50 To 60 kilometres with a 6 db car antenna mounted on the roof of my house
I just got into CB, only thing that's a bit of a turn off. Is all the jerks that have a million watt radio setup. That yell I to the mic talking crazy. They make me want to stop getting on the air,there on every channel it seems like? I can't talk or hear anything over them yelling,"radio,I farted,motor mouth,ect...". I just started CB and after a month I'm ready to give it up??
I just put up an Antron99 on Sunday. I tried 3 other antennas before that. They all stunk for a B.S. The A99 was night and day. Its a great no ground plane antenna. Its been around for decades. Many people use it. Mine was 110 on ebay with a 50ft R8 cable. Cut to the chase, dont goof around with under rated stuff. Sorry to chime in but I wasted a lot of time and money before I got the right one. Also the higher the mounting the better. At least 15-20 ft off the ground.
One more point. I did a SWR test before and after I put up the A99. With my old whip ant it was 2:8 on 1 and 40. With the A99 it was 1:1 on 1 and 1:4 on 40. That was right out of the box. I know I'm just a stranger on the web where opinions are a joke. I'm just trying to save you some of the grief I went through.
