JUST A QUICK NOTE...

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-

499 Tahiti Allen got his rig back and is on-the-air

as of 12/23/05

HO-HO-HO

(another PDF)

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30+ Pages From LRE Cat.670 (1967)

12MB pdf

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HO-HO, 'Nuff HO'd

Woody

LAFAYETTE SUPER

HOLIDAY VALUES

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A few pages from their 1961 Xmas handout

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(Aprox. 4mb)

MERRY CHRISTMAS ! !

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Do any of you remember Grove Electronics??

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Well if so, or if not, here's an abridged version of their catalog

(only 18pg's)

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It's free to download, has some interesting prices, and the year is: 1965

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PDF Format, approx. 5mb file size

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Grove Electronics 1965

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BTW - The Hy-Gain 5 Element "Long John" is the same one that blew off our garage roof during a vicious ice storm

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Woody

SEASON GREETINGS!!

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December - what a crazy month! Here in Texas, and other Southern states, not only due we have Christmas to contend with but also many frontal systems that pass through, and sometimes come back a day later as a warm front, trapping us between an old cold front/now-warm-front and the lastest cold front (usually 2-3 days away. This gives us some pretty nice skip conditions, even some strange ones. For example, this week the Mickey D Fish Fillet almost dropped out of my mouth when I turned the rig in the car on the catch Colorado (not uncommon), Arkansas (semi-uncommon), as well as Dallas (very UN-common from Houston). All 3 were busy in their conversation, so I just sat back, munching on my sandwich, fries, and basking in the cool air blowing through my open car windows (uncommon).

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Of course, knowing Christmas is just a skip hop away, I have to force myself from buying radio items on EBay (after all - how many presents can I possibly buy myself??), and keep my mind on track about other family member gifts...(ed. - if only they were into radio too).

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December marks the end of another year (Damn....they sure come and go faster), reflections, dread of January and Income Taxes, dread of being broke until March, but hoping that the new skip cycle comes as fast as the year goes by! It's also a time to give thanks, and this year my thanks go to Rob Bellville, who had a radio/scanner website and let me start the CB GAZETTE on the worldwide web before I really knew what I was doing in regards to HTML. Thanks Rob and Merry Christmas!!

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So what would 'Ol Woody put on his Christmas list?? Oh, I can think of a few items, so I'll jot a few down -

1. An end to our dependence on Oil/Fossil Fuels
2. A MINT SBE "Super Console"
3. The bottom hoop of an Avanti Astro-Beam
4. Peace on Earth between all Hams and CBer's
5. Oh, almost forgot - Paris Hilton getting Sooooo fat she is never seen or heard from again.

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WEBSITE OF THE MONTH:

Jim Millsap

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Good link to explain "Skip"

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YULETIDE RADIO OPERATORS POEM

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It came upon a midnight clear

I was so tired I could hardly hear

137, burning some watts

(Don't know how many, just know they're a lot)

I grabbed my mike and said: "Go ahead"

137 said: "Woody, why aren't you in bed?"

Now fully awake I thought I'd be flip,

and said "I'm staying up to hear 'Ol Santa Skip"

The radio went silent, almost seemed dead

I could almost hear him thinking ("Is he daft in the head")

-

And then came the DX, right through my speaker

Jay, in the desert was stronger not weaker

He was just leaving the diner that night

and thought most the signals would be just line-O-sight

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Then Don blasted in, and I knew his Maco was fixed

'cause his signal was in-the-red (I think twenty-six)

Jeff, on the West coast, broke in for a few,

I felt like I was hearing a radio skip stew...

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Night Eagle jumped in, he was no snoozer

Just tooling around in his new PT Cruiser.

Steve, down in Clute, jumped into the fray

and it seemed just like everyone had lots to say

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Even Doug (101), and the "Fiddler" got on

and I got to rubbing my eyes - heck, it was now almost Dawn!

Then a strong voice came in loudly and called -

"Merry Christmas to Radio Operators, CB, Ham, and et. all"

'Nuff Said,

Woody

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HOW TO USE AN O-SCOPE

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O-SCOPE LINK

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Could come in handy - Woody

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS, ETC.

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Let's start of with the Bad/Sad news: Bills2wayradio is going out of the retail business, but will still handle repair work as explained by this letter on his website. I've had the pleasure of swapping several e-mails throughout the years with Bill, and he is truly one of the straight-shooters in the business. I, and many others wish him only the best....

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For the good news: The link to Eric Brauns "The Turner Microphone Story" website is once again active off the main page off the CBGAZETTE website!! Thanks Eric, I'm not sure how well you know what your information and historical data means to many of us, but believe me, it does!

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WANTED:

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(A want list from someone looking for the following)

** Base stand for a Browning "banana" mic

** Original Browning belt buckle

** Original Browning sew-on patch(es)

** Original Browning Operator & Service manuals (not the reprints - I can get those all day long from Maynards)

** Original Astatic D104 (with the "BL" 'tattoo')

** Other good condition, unhacked Browning CB Equipment

** A nice condition Browning Baron, unmodified, original mic

** Browning "Dealer" stuff

Let me know -- 73! ye OldManFuzzy (Jim, K9FI) email to--- k9fi AT comcast DoT net

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***************************EOT*****************************************

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WANTED NO.2

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From another collector:

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I am a CB Collector and have been looking for a Globe CB1 pocketphone. If you have one or know anyone who would sell me one please Email me or call me COLLECT at 219 972-1111. Thanks and you sure have a great site. Jim Millsap W9CTO. P.S. Please visit my webiste http://www.w9cto.com

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***************************EOT*****************************************

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UPDATE!!

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Work is steadily progressing on re-opening the CB GAZETTE FOR SALE section! Right now the estimated time of it's re-opening is shortly after the first of the year.

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I doubt I'll be selling any new items, as I'm more into the older stuff, but who knows, a new microphone or something might pop up from time to time. The equipment listed forsale will be tested, and left "ON" for at least 1 week to verify any quirks they may or may not have. I'll call 'em as I see 'em and price them accordingly. Prices will be fair, but on the high end of "fair" (compared to many EBAY auctions), as I'll offer a warranty (still in the worksk) but basically, if it's not what I said it was you can return it for a full refund (minus shipping charges). That's it for the 4-Sale update, but I just wanted to let ya know that I hadn't dropped my plans for it. Payment will be by M.O, Personal Check, or Paypal.

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THE BUYING CONTINUES!

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Here's a TRC-55 with box that went for $150

Rather astounding I thought...

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AND QUALITY ALWAYS WINS OUT -

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An AVANTI MOONRAKER IV, In-the-box (which I consider better quality than the ones Antenna Specialists made after they bought them out)

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SOLD FOR: $317.25

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And now my friends, you know the drill...

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'Nuff Said

Woody

BIG MONEY!!

-

Every now and then, when selling a rig on EBay, you hit the jackpot....the perfect alignment of the planets where buyers come out of the woodwork and money is NO object!! This month, is one of those "Every now and then" occasions. Here are some examples:

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A General MC-3, which sold for: $406.99

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A Radio Shack TRC-457, in-the-box

$510

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SBE CONSOLE VI

$495

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GENERAL MC-11A

$162.49

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(NO PICTURE)

"SUPER SCANNER" ANTENNA

$392

-

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This guy has a price of $350, someone actually bid $350

Guess what? It didn't even make the RESERVE!

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President Grant, fresh out of the box - $355

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Cobra 148 GTL-DX - $247.50

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TRAM D64 - $286

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1975 Starduster, in-the-box

(152)

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Turner Sidekick NOS

($206.39)

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CPI BASE - $520

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What's amazing to me is that these are coming out close to Thanksgiving.....the pre-buildup to the Xmas onslaught, and fetching high prices, and not only that, there are so many at one time! (After I write this piece I'm going to search the book of "Revelations" for some insight....)

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The other thing amazing to me is that the BUY-IT-NOW price was very fair, especially from "Sparkys CB Shack" who offers good rigs, at a fair price, and here's a tip - usually the BUY-IT-NOW price is your best option. Sure, you can place a bid, which eliminates the BIN price hoping to get a deal, but from my observations, once that is done, the item usually sells for price higher than the BIN price.

-

Let's see what happens in the next month - who knows what will come out of the woodwork!!

'Nuff Said

Woody

Ooops!

One last observation:

I've seen a ton of ad's for Uniden Grant's, Uniden Grant XL's, LT's, etc. and most (but not all) have these words in them:

"Same chassis as a Cobra 148"

Now to me, when I see that I think "Hmmm, they're implying that the 148 is a better rig". But (IMHO), the Uniden chassis is the one that's better....hell, they MADE the chassis for the early Cobra's, and then Cobra went shopping for low bid manufacturers and their quality suffered - not Uniden's. Sure, the boards look the same, but there's a quality difference between the two....sorry, I just had to get that out of my system.

HAVE YOU EVER.......?

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Wanted to pull up your first website? Or, a website that no longer exists? Well then, you should check out the Internet Archive "Wayback Machine". This site's mission is to go where no Bot has gone before, return with data and then have it archived.

-

As an experiment, I used my own site and was able to see what it looked like in 1999 (the earliest version they had), and I followed other archives to see what changes I had made ( I didn't even remember my front page in '99 until I saw it ). I also tried a couple links that currently aren't working (websites that went under) and son-of-a-gun if it didn't pull them up as well. Indeed, this was like a "Wayback" machine, and worth a try, and a bookmark!

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NEXT: We have another pair of "Twins" separated at manufacturing, but thanks to Woody's "Every Radio Dreams in Sideband", we have re-united two twins once again! Of course, they were brought up under different circumstances, so while they may dress a bit different, it's obvious they are, indeed, "Twins".....

-

-

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Okay, you've spoiled some perfectly good Skip-Shooting time reading today's Blog, so it's time to let ya get on with your E-bay bidding, or whatever makes your signal S-9......

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'Nuff Said

Woody

QUALITY LASTS

-

We are in the age of "Throwaway Electronics". Surface mount technology, cheap labor during manufacturing, and expensive labor when it comes to repairs makes it easy to justify throwing the broken item away, and buying a new one, because "It's cheaper". After all, who would want to spend up to twice the purchase price for a repair??

-

I recall when electronics made in Japan were considered cheap and unreliable, yet today, you almost drop to your knee's in a prayer of thanks when you find out your electronics item comes from Japan (China is where Japan was 45 years ago, as far as quality control).

-

A quality transceiver will not only give you many years of enjoyment, but it will continue to retain a fair amount of value should you want to sell it. For example, Yaesu's FT-101 series, which was born in the very early 70's has held a consistent value for decades. In the mid- 1980's I bought my first 101 (used, of course), for about $350. A lightning strike killed that one, but I really liked the 101 so around 1989 I bought another one for about the same price. The 1990's were no different - a Fox Tango 101 was still in the $300-$400 range.

-

And then came the turn of the century, and in the year 2005, they still remain consistent with the price range of the '90's, and 80's.

-

The same thing goes for CB Radios made in the 70's, like the President line, Uniden, Cobra, Robyn, Rat Shack, etc. If you watch the EBAY auctions you'll see that these rigs, from that era of quality still bring in a hefty price, but as you get into the late 80's and 1990's, much of what was manufactured then is taking a nose dive.

-

I wouldn't be surprised if FT-101's are still in the $300-$400 range ten years from now.....

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'Nuff Said

Woody

FAMILY GUY FLIPS OFF THE FCC

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One of the funniest animated shows on FOX, here is the audio portion (MP3) from their "FCC STORMTROOPERS" musical

number!!

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Here's the Video clip: "FCC STORMTROOPERS"

Right-click, select save-target-as.

NIB

(a.k.a. - New-In-Box)

-

Ya know, when I'm perusing EBAY or a Forsale website and see an ad for a NIB rig, I take the time to check it out, if somewhat interested. Sometimes it really is new-in-the-box, but a growing trend seems to be (for example) "COBRA 148 NIB" as a description to sucker you into looking at the ad, and then you find out it has any or all of the below:

• Extra channels
• Opened Clarifier
• Clipped Modulation Limiter (the worst thing you can do to a rig)
• Echo (2nd worse)
• Talkback
• Variable power
• ETC....

-Or, they list it as (for example) "Cobra 148 NIB, peaked'n tweaked, and modified"

So I had to ask myself, "What does NIB mean anymore?"

-

If I saw an ad in Best Buy for a DVD player, I'd expect new, but I'd be pretty pissed if I got there and they said "Oh, we modified this-and-that for you". But they don't, because once the box is opened, it's an open box sale.

-

Now we all know that opinions vary from person to person, so THIS is MY opinion. ...."NIB" means just that - NEW IN BOX. When I buy a NIB radio I expect to be the first one to open it! If someone wants to take a NIB radio out of the box and modify it, fine, but call it something else like "New radio modified". -

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'Nuff Said,

Woody

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Oops!! I almost forgot another candidate for Ebay descriptions! This one is "Appears to be in decent condition"

C-BOURBON LEGENDS...

(a.k.a. - "CB URBAN LEGENDS")

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Yep, I should have done this one during Halloween week, my bad....

-

You've heard 'em, I've heard 'em, hell...we've all heard at least ONE "CB urban legend" in our days. I'll throw out a few and see what you come up with either by comments on this blog, or straight e-mail.

-

• LEGEND NO.1 - You have to have your coax cable a certain length, (usually 18feet). This legend began in the early sixties, in my part of the country by the ever popular "Phantom". His theory was that by placing the coax in 18 foot lengths, you could create a Tesla coil effect boosting your output by 500%. The more loops of 18 feet coax you had, the bigger your signal would be. Of course we pointed out that he was the guy who sold coax in our area..... Just kidding. Actually there is a slight truth to this, where this witches brew of coax can help you IF you have a problem with your installation, in most cases, a grounding issue in a car/truck or rf feedback which creates an SWR problem. Otherwise, forget it. Example: I ran an FT-100 in my car and it had grounding issues inside the rig. If I popped on 10 meters I'd get the high SWR warning, and no Xmit. By coiling cable in loops, I was able to use it at times. It was external forces at work that caused the problem. If you have all of your ducks in a row, cut the coax to a practical length...
• LEGEND NO.2 - (my favorite). I heard this several years ago and it always gives me a chuckle when I think about it - If you have a CB and want more power, take the 3amp fuse out, and put a 20amp fuse in it's place. It will boost your signal tremendously. Of course, this is "Rocket Scientist" thinking at it's best....forget it

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Okay, I've given you two CB Urban Legends, so, shoot me (via e-mail or comments to this post) about the ones you've heard!

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'Nuff Said

Woody

SENSELESS SHIPPING TRAGEDY

-

I was awaiting a Robyn 520 SSB Base station to arrive, and of course, it came in on my day off. Nonetheless when they said that a box arrived I looked at it and thought "Hmmm, must be something else, because I don't think a 520 could fit in it".

-

Sad to say, it did, just barely, with no foam, peanuts, newspaper, etc. So I took it out of the box, plugged it in and - Nada. No lights, no nothing. Time to do a check up:

1. FUSE - GOOD
2. Knobs, button, etc. set correctly? Yep
3. 12vdc (inside) good
4. Switch - good

So that send me to the Worldwide Radio Forum where I put out a plea for help, and got some good advice, especially from Nomad. He said that those PCB's were prone to cracking during shipment, and to check near the mounting screws of the board.

-

And there I found a crack. So naturally, I went home and slept on it, and got to thinking I'd check out that cracked area again. It was pretty obvious that one connection had been isolated from the rest of the board, so I'm thinking "Hey, there must be 12vdc on that connection". A quick check with the ever handy voltmeter confirmed my suspicions. I made a bridge from wire and solder connecting the little 12v "Island" to the mainland and now have power, lights, and sound. I'll check it out tonight when I get home, but I think it may be A-OK ---However, this is a good reminder to those of us who ship radios, that we pack them well to give them their best shot at making to the other end....Alive.

'Nuff Said,

Woody

WHAT "LOOK" ARE YOU A SUCKER FOR?

PART TWO

-

Continuing on the cosmetics counter...
-

-

RANGER AR3500

(The only thing I didn't like were the channel buttons)

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BROWNING "BARON"

(Hmmmm, Gold and woodgrain finish)

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COBRA 2000 GTL

(Improvement on the 135/139/142 look)

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DEMCO SUPER SATELITE

(Ummmmm.....multi-colored lights.....)

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GENERAL RADIOTELEPHONE "SUPER MC-11"

(Elegant, gold plating with contrasting black finish)

-

Everyone has their favorites, I haven't even covered half of mine!

Side note - All pix came from my website (link on right)

Time to move on to next subject:

"CB URBAN LEGENDS"

'Nuff Said,

Woody

WHAT "LOOK" ARE YOU A SUCKER FOR?

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I was mulling this thought over while listening to two fellows in Skipland have a friendly argument on whose rig "looked" better. One guy was for the classic 60's look, the other preferred the over-used Galaxy Saturn style. So I tried to pin myself down to one particular design and couldn't....I love 'em all (except the Saturn look). I do have some favorites though and I'll try and put some of 'em down on this list, in no particular order, 'cept the order my brain digs 'em out of my memory. Here goes....
-

The Stoner Pro-40

-

Realistic TRC-457

-

Realistic TRC-24C

-

Courier Gladiator, probably the largest solid-state mobile made

-

Courier "Royale". It even came with a matching purple dust cover!

-

Teaberry Stalker XX (and for that made any Stalker)

-

END PART ONE

(Too much thinking, but send me an e-mail with your favorites!)

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'Nuff Said

Woody

MY DRUG OF CHOICE HAS ARRIVED!

-
Yes fervent fans, my preferred drug of relaxation (a.k.a. - "SKIP") has been blowing through my speaker since yesterday morning. Like a junkie who has been off the "Stuff" for awhile, I was hesitant.....would this last? or was it just 15 minutes of morning DX? I know, there some of you out there who hate skip, but most likely you're in an area where there are a lot of local contacts. In my area, there is some early morning QSO's but it's usually dead at night......except for the ever pesky Mexican trucker passing through, while screaming into his microphone (on AM naturally).
-
This morning, it's not quite a strong (yet) as yesterday - it kinda blows in and out like the wind through my open window. And, it's jumping all over the place too. Of course, if you go one channel UP or DOWN, it's dead - go figure! It's like "SKIP" is a Greek god-child and when the dx comes in , he picks up a magnifying glass as many children have done, and focuses his beam on one point (in this case channel 38).
-
[70, Eastern Ohio - sounding good buddy]
-
Of course, we know that's not true, but you have to wonder why it's so busy on 38 and so dead on 36,37,39, &40. I think we (as the FCC is only interested in selling airspace and collecting fines) should make channel 38 the official "call channel" , and once you connect, move up or down, have a nice conversation and when it's through go back to 38 to pick up another. It sure beats the "pile-up-from-hell".
-
[Woa! nice bass on Kangaroo 2850's audio in Rhode Island]
-
One of things that bothers me while "copying the mail" is when everyone is "ON" frequency, but there's one fellow out there too low or too high that really takes the enjoyment out of it. If the impotent FCC could do just one thing, they'd make it legal for having an un-locked clarifier...Oops! But that makes too much sense. While I'm on the topic of clarifier's and frequency, it reminds me of the frequency police (self-appointed), who spend more time saying "Your OFF frequency", than actual talking. A funny thing happened to me the other morning while driving to work; I had been listening to a couple fellows talking for about 20 minutes when I had a comment to insert and one of them said "What was that??", the other said "Someone off frequency", then the other guy replied "GET ON FREQUENCY IF YOU WANT TO TALK". Here's the funny part - my Grant LT does not have the clarifier un-locked, however it's set dead-on frequency. I'd forgotten that when I first heard these guys that I had to tune them in, so THEY were the ones off frequency.....(okay, it seemed funny at the time. )
-
[Think I hear "Danny", Kangaroo number one, faintly in the background hash]

-

Okay, you've wasted enough time reading this when you too could have bee enjoying some dx, so -

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'Nuff Said

Woody

RANTING, RAVING, UPDATES

-

For those of you who are used to talking to Tahiti Allen, you're in for a slight dry spell. Allen reports that his rig is on the "Blink" and he's sent it off for repair. Estimated time of return: Around 2 weeks.

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"LOOKS GOOD"

-

I know.....it's Sooooo early in the month,

but when a candidate steps right out in front of your browsing eyeballs? Submitted, for you approval, November's first "WooHah" auction photo with (in their own words) "Looks GOOD".

-

BAD AUCTION DESCRIPTIONS

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"Rare TURNER SSB + 2 Transistorized CB Microphone, Wow!"

(two points for not being rare, and of course - "Wow!")

-

"SMOKING Realistic TRC-453 AM/SSB Tranciever L@@K NR!!"

(Ed. - "Smoking?" - I'd check those finals buddy)

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"Ranger TR-966/Swing/Echo/Channeled/Talk Back/NRThis radio is brand new in the box with $125 in mods.NR"

(ones like these always crack me up, because if it's "brand new in the box" it should be untouched right? Not "..and I've added this board or that board to it"....okay call me old fashioned.)

-

Holy crap...there's actually some DX coming in over the speaker!!

-

'Nuff Said

Woody

WEBSITE OF THE MONTH - NOVEMBER

-

Dave Hall and I have swapped e-mails over time and I got a look at his website the other day and felt like you should too. There's lots of good 'ol CB remembering and hell, you need something to read besides my stuff anyways! So click on da link and "Read the mail...."

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'Nuff Said

Woody

THEY WON'T KILL THE CHICKEN

(THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGG)

-

Ok, the fable is about a goose, but as CB is referred to many times as the "Chicken Band", I made a slight change. So....you're wondering: "What da heck is Woody talking about?" (ED.- while others, who have read some of my older stuff probably know where I'm going)

-

What I'm talking about is the constant questions of: Why are export radios sold in the U.S., why don't they just shut down H&Y/Copper, etc. The answer (IMHO) is simply economics. Yes this stuff is illegal for use in the U.S. but if they shut them down, they'd lose all the money they'd fine them in future busts. If you've been around the dial as long as I have you tend to notice patterns, and the pattern I see here is:

1. Let H&Y/Copper and others sell exports and/or amplifiers then come in and bust them. It's makes for good press, the fines bring money into the coffers and everyone says they're sorry and won't do it again.
2. Of course, everyone is lying and they get right back into the business they were in, but once again, there's a quiet period of a few years, and business is good.
3. Repeat step one
4. Repeat step two

This has been going on for decades now. If they REALLY wanted to close 'em down - they could. But what the hey, by sticking to this pattern they bring in big bux from distributor busts, and many mini-bux from operators, not to mention the medium bux from dealer busts. As long as they stick to this formula, it's a consistent revenue gain for the government, with really little footwork having to be done in order to get evidence (i.e. - pick up the phone and order a free catalog, or, buy an export rig or amplifier).

-

Sure I've simplified things, but there is a method to their madness. Me? I have no problems with anyone talking between 27.415-27.555, but as for operators (ignorant or not) taking up Amateur Radio bandwidth - Nope, the buck stops there. Truckers with export rigs and/or amplifiers? If ya see 'em, take 'em away. And I know we've lost this battle in our school systems, but it would be nice if there were a rule that said you had to communicate in English.

'Nuff Said

Woody

THE TIME TUNNEL...

-

Remember that great 60's Sci-fi show where two scientists were always being thrown back into various time periods? Well who would have thought that CB's had that same capibility!!

-

While perusing the newest entries on EBay, I came across an auction for a special Cobra 29 "Gold" edition from 1974, with a buy-it-now price of $375. Naturally, being the curious sorta guy I am, I read the description about how this was a special all gold finish model given out to someone who exceeded in sales. But the picture of the rig caught my eye, as I'm sure it will yours...

-

-

I inquired about the rig - "Was it a 23ch or 40ch rig?" (although I was familiar with the 23ch dial found on the 23ch Cobra 29), and sure enough it was a 40 channel rig. So I told them that 40 channel radios didn't come out until 1977, but perhaps the radio he had was still something special (not $375 worth), and hopefully they'll do the right thing and correct the post, or maybe.....just maybe.....this IS a special rig. One that can travel backwards in time from 1977 to 1974!! We'll have to call Art Bell on this one.....

'Nuff Said

Woody

THE DAY WHEN THE FAT LADY SANG

-

I was working in the retail field when the fat lady sang her song, the song that said there was only a short period of time left that 23 channel rigs could be sold, before the 40's took over. Of course I was pretty darn upset because my $400 E.F. Johnson 352 was dropping by the hundreds, and many CB Shops (They were almost on every corner in Houston) were folding left and right. I really enjoyed using that 352, but what good was it now?? SSB freq's were moved to the upper end of the 40 channels (35-40), and believe me, it was very hard to find anyone who still used channel 16 LSB.

-

Back to the fat lady: Each week the store dropped the price of all 23channel radios, hoping to entice someone into buying them, before the next price drop hit. But there weren't many people interested, including myself. Nonetheless, if I thought far enough ahead, or even conceived the idea that they would be collectible, especially NEW-IN-THE-BOX, I would have plunked down a few dollars, bought what I could, and then put them in a time capsule destined to be opened at the turn of the century. But I was in my 20's, and distracted by the usual things 20 year olds are, so I didn't buy one (hey, I was saving up for a 40channel sideband rig).

-

The end came swiftly, with the $300-$400 Hy-gain and Cobra sideband rigs selling for $50 each. AM rigs fetched about $25, and when the dust settled there weren't as many brands around, nor CB shops to sell them. I'm sure many of these really bit the bullet on this switchover. Of course, they tried to combat the new rigs with rumors that the 40channel radios weren't as powerful, and didn't sound as good, but the writing was on the wall.

-

I'm not sure what got me thinking about this, but hey, here it is and I'm wondering, what were YOUR experiences during this turbulent time? Did you get burned? Were you in retail too? Did you lose your business? Drop me a line or make a comment about this thread....

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'Nuff Said

Woody

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

-

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It's funny how you can't even get your reserve made on an EBAY auction at times, and then see something like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5819927496&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

Buy the ending price, you'd think this was Britney's Bra being auctioned off, and if I were I betting man, I'd almost be that I'd see this one reposted....in the future.

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And.....if you're looking to spend $200 on an SSB rig, I'd pass on a GRANT LT at that price and pick up a Cobra 200 dx:

http://cgi.ebay.com/UNIDEN-GRANT-LT-AM-SSB-BRAND-NEW_W0QQitemZ5823643643QQcategoryZ40058QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

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UPDATE: The Cobra 200 DX I ordered to do a review on has finally arrived!! And boy, this is one H-E-A-V-Y radio. Expect at least a couple weeks or more for the full review, of course, depending on how much free time I get. I got it through BUY.COM, for $215, with free shipping.

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UPDATE: The Grant LT I picked up on Ebay for about 50 bux is working like a charm and I haven't found anything to dislike yet -well, almost. The Green LED is sometimes difficult to read during daylight condition, even at "high", but that's a minor complaint.

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I'll also have a review of a used Cherokee 1000 nightmare rig I bought too...

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'Nuff Said

Woody

ONLY ONE MOD

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When you buy a CB, in particular, a SSB CB, what "mods" should you do?

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The question should be:

"What MOD should you do?"

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IMHO (And Uncle Charlie, don't leave me off your X-mas list this year for it), the only mod you should do is the clarifier mod**.

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A single-sideband radio without the ability to minutely track tx/rx together is only good if you're talking to one other person. But when more than two people are in a conversation it's a real pain to have to move the clarifier for each one - thus the clarifier mod: "everyone is on the same page".

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Adjusting a radio from 3 watts to 4 watts will not do a thing on the other end.

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Clipping the modulation circuit will make you "King of the airwaves" (briefly). It will also make many enemies, because in truth, you will be the "King of splatter".

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Adjusting the modulation? Well, they're pretty well adjusted from the factory. Usually the biggest issue with modulation is not how loud it is, but the quality (too muffled, too tinny, too much bass, etc.). This is where you buy another microphone. I know I've told this story many times before, but I purchased a Uniden PC-122XL about 10 years ago as a backup rig. One day I needed this to fill in for my usual rig, so I threw it on the passenger side seat, plugged it into the cig lighter and off I went. Because it was a backup rig I didn't want to spend any extra $$$ for an after market microphone so it had the original mike with it. Later that day I ran across my radio 'bud "Doug" (currently semi-retired from radio operation) and he wanted to know what I was talking on. When I told him a "stock" PC-122, he came back with:

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"You've never sounded more natural"

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(Guess I didn't need any "MOD's", eh?)

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I know, you're wondering about extra channels. I categorize this mod as "Borderline", and leave it up to you. Usually, when there is any activity going on, you'll find the brunt of it on channel 38, thus no freq. mod's required.

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If you were paying attention, you noticed two ** after the clarifier mod. I did this because some rigs will sound like crap after it's done and would sound much better by having a shop put the rig center-slot rather than do the mod. If you've been talking SSB you know what I mean - those rigs that tend to have modulation with a warble, or flutter that makes them hard to understand. Usually, these are rigs made in China, and usually it's due to crappy/cheap components.....

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'Nuff Said

Woody

OH....THE PAIN

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Just a quick reminder: When perusing EBAY make sure you know what the shipping cost is. I just ran across an auction (took a few minutes to stop laughing before I could type) where the fellow is selling a new Turner RK56

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=

For a BUY-IT-NOW price of $10.00

[is your spidey sense tingling yet??]

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Shipping is $30.00

'Nuff Said...

CB MOD'S

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No, it's not what you're thinking (clarifier mods, frequency mods, etc.) I'm talking about the modfication of the CB case, meter lights, channel lights and such. This has been a long time coming - back in the heyday of CB Radio there were many companies putting out rigs, each looking different than the other (even though they may have been identical on the inside), giving the operator some personal choice, something that made his Robyn look different than his buddies Royce.

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And then, along came the Galaxy Saturn....

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It was one of the first base stations to sport the "Rack mount" look, and became very popular. So popular in fact, almost ever base station sold since then has had the same "footprint". This form factor became the Star Trek "BORG" of radios - and we were "Assimilated".

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The 70's ended, the 80's ended, the 90's ended and still, if you wanted a Base Rig (New) most of the product looked the same (with the exception of the Cobra 2000 GTL, which [Thank God] they discontinued BEFORE having it made in China (Ed. - Like the Cobra 2010?), thus it's reputation remains intact.

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In the PC world, a curious thing happened at the beginning of the new century: People were modifying (or "Modding") their PC's so that their plain beize or black box looked quite a bit different than someone else's. I remember thinking to myself "I wonder why it hasn't been done with CB's?"

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It's happening now though - you can buy a custom face plate cover, colored lights for your meters, replacement colored LED's for the channel readout, and even replacement top and bottom covers for your mobile rig, in a variety of colors, including "Chrome" (Which is probably the worst pick because it shows every little scratch, not to mention smudges and fingerprints).

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So finally case modding has come to CB Radio.....just remember - It may look great on the outside, but it still has the cheap guts from China on the inside.

'Nuff Said

Woody

JOHN C. DVORAK

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John Dvorak is a columnist for PC Magazine. "What does this have to do with radios" you ask? (later). Besides reading his 2 columns, I also enjoyed watching his program on ZDTV ("I WANT MY ZDTV").

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John has a knack for seeing things clearly - whether it be related to PC's, Politics, etc. and if he were ever to run for president, he'd surely get my vote (along with several co-workers). You don't have to buy PC Magazine to read his work - you can catch it online as well (although I buy PC Magazine anyways). You never know what topic he'll touch on (ed.- here comes the radio part) and just recently he wrote about the effort of HAM Radio Operators during hurricane Katrina. Here's what he had to say:

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Inside Track v24n19 10.12.05


By John C. Dvorak
The most overlooked participants in Katrina relief were the ham radio folks. Bush should give them all medals.
Two weeks after Hurricane Katrina, it was reported that over 100 Internet networks were still down in Louisiana, as well as another dozen elsewhere that had been in the path of the hurricane. So much for the notion that the Web is impossible to kill. Hard to have an Internet with no power! WiMAX and other solutions are useless, too, though I suppose a generator would be useful for WiMAX. Whatever the case, the most overlooked participants in the Katrina relief effort were the ham radio folks, who were doing whatever they could as ad hoc emergency dispatchers, creating their own network within the system. These dedicated persons pride themselves on their ability to do worldwide communications under adverse conditions, and the ARRL (Amateur Radio Relay League) and its members, as well as others, were a big part of the aid effort. Of course, since amateur radio is anything but trendy in today's Xbox, gene-splicing world, there was zero coverage of its contribution in the mainstream press, and these people are not the world's greatest self-promoters. At least some of us are paying attention. Good work, guys! Bush should be giving medals to you all.

All I can say is - "Thanks John"

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'Nuff Said

Woody

"RARE" - CONTINUED.....

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I did a quick search on "RARE" descriptions and here's Woody's TOP 10:

10. Midland 13-882 [Dime a dozen]

9. Cherokee AH-100 [PALeeeeeeze]

8. Uniden Madison [told ya]

7. Astatic Golden Eagle [I see several per month]

6. Lafayette HB-444 [close but no cigar]

5. Galaxy DX-2527 [Hmmmm]

4. Midland 77-1165 [bonus points for having "RARE" AND

"WOW" in same description]

3. Lafayette HB-600 [I see at least 1 a month, maybe

it's the same one?]

2. Teaberry T-Charlie one [Ditto]

And finally (drum roll)

1. Cobra 146gtl

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'Nuff Said,

Woody

MID-WEEK MUSINGS.....

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Just for grins, here's the comparison between the previously mentioned EFJ-351 and the SBE Sidebander II:

E.F. Johnson Messenger 351

SBE Sidebander II

Ah yes, twins separated at birth are now re-united at the CB Gazette, and our staff has tears in their eyes.....

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Other than that, I don't have much to say except I'm on a vacation day and the radio is quiet -

'Nuff Said

Woody

EBAY THOUGHTS

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EBAY THOUGHT No.1 - "RARE"

How many times have we seen this on an Ebay auction? For instance tonight's latest "RARE" item was a Uniden Madison. How many Madison's have you seen this year? "RARE" is an over used catchword used by many to lure you to the Buy-it-now. "RARE" is Soooooooo over used that it desensitizes us to the word, thus truly rare items like the Metrotek "Space Station" are overlooked.

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EBAY THOUGHT No.2 - "WOW"

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I was scanning some new listings and ran across several "WOW's" (i.e. - Great old Uniden Grant WOW!!) and began to wonder about it's origin, and came up with a couple ideas:

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No.1-

One of EBay's first "Urban Legends", that placing "WOW" in an auction listing is based on the first person who put this in an auction (believed to be sometime in the early 1700's) and the next seller who saw it was compelled by demonic forces to add this "WOW" tag in their description line before 7 days were up......or else the slimey wet hands of debt would reach out from their computer monitor and, well, you get the idea.

or,

No.2-

Someone wrote a book on how best to attract sales and probably wrote something like: "In order to attract customers and increase sales, add a "WOW" to the first or last part of your description line. The unaware auction surfer will see the "WOW", get excited and purchase your item within seconds".....WOW! I guess it works because I got really excited writing this part!

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EBAY THOUGHT No.3 - "Peaked and Tweaked"

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OMG, there are too many things to say about this but usually it means "Ask a lot, and I mean a LOT of questions":

What do they mean by "Peaked and Tweaked"?

Who did the "Peaking" and "Tweaking"?

If it was a shop, why whould someone spend $30-$50 for a tuneup only to sell the item for $30-$100??

Was the modulation limiter clipped? if so, move onto the next auction because this is probably the worst thing anyone can do to a CB (next to having (ugh) an internal echo board on a SSB rig.

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More on this later....

'Nuff Said,

Woody

EVERYTHING YOU'VE WANTED

AND MUCH, MUCH MORE....

--

It's been awhile since I've done a review, and as I perused the many CB listings on Ebay I've noticed, and passed by many of these "Secret CB Manuals and more on CD" auctions. My budget (squirreled away lunch money) was such that this seemed to be a good subject to review. After all, I'm sure many of you had the same questions I had:

How good were the scans?

Did they really have the data as advertised?

Could I read the schematics?

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The prices of these vary from .99 cents to around $10, so I picked the $10 auction and bought one.

The package arrived fairly fast, and inside I found 2 CD's. I popped in one and looked around, then the second, and indeed, everything they advertised was there. Also, from what I viewed, the scan of the manuals were pretty decent and easy to read. The only problem I really saw was a lack of an easy index, perhaps setup in an HTML format. For example, if I wanted to see what info the Secret CB's had on a Hygain "Hy-range V", it would be nice to have an index listing every mention of that rig, and the Secret CB it was in, along with a hyperlink to get there. Instead, you have to click on a PDF file that is numbered (like the Secret CB's) and spend time poking around it, then moving on to the next PDF file.

On the other CD there are files that have no meaning (at least to me) and you click on it and it opens up and tells you what schematic it is. A bit frustrating, but given the cost of buying the manuals and other schematics and information, ten bucks is a pretty good deal (it could have been done better). 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

'Nuff Said

Woody

LET THERE BE LIGHT.....

(and make it reliable)

Much to my surprise, I picked up a used Uniden Grant LT. Surprised because I thought that I'd never buy one because I don't care for radio equipment made in China (nothing against the people of China, it's just that their quality control S-U-C-K-S). But the price was right (cheap) and thus came surprise No.2 - it wasn't made in China, but in the Philippines!

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Other than the layout of the knobs (I prefer the clarifier closer to the left side of the front panel for easy access while driving), I found this version of the Grant quite likable, and yes, I'm looking for reasons to drive at night just so I can see things better with the illuminated panel!

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Dave Hall wrote me about the E.F. Johnson 351 and how it looked a lot like the SBE Sidebander II, something I'd noticed as well, and I'd still like to get the story on that model - Did they slap an EFJ tag on an SBE box as a stop gap until the 352 came out? And why did they (EFJ) make their SSB rigs (352, 4740) so hard to open up the damn clarifier??

'Nuff Said for Saturday!

Woody

A TALE OF 3 JOHNSON'S

Of course we all know that the first CB's were AM, followed by DSB, then SSB. The E.F. Johnson company (which were hugely popular with their Messenger and Viking lines) was one of the first companies to dabble in Single-Sideband in the sixties.

Their first entry into this field was the legendary model 350, a.k.a. - the "Johnnie". It was a simple transceiver with only 2 crystal controlled channels and didn't catch on all that well, because AMer's ruled the roost!

Fast forward to 1976 and once again E.F.J. came out with another SSB mobile, the Viking 352. This was a slick, no frills rig that seemed to call out to you and say "BUY ME". Of course, I answered that call, bought one, and it remains one of my favorite sideband rigs of all time.

I skipped lunches, I pass on the latest STYX album, I saved my money so I could fork out the $400 this rig commanded. And I clearly remember the advertising/reviews stating "E.F. Johnson re-enters the SSB market". Later of course, when the 40 channel rigs came out, E.F.J. offered 2 other models, strangely enough - mobiles as well (Why they didn't market a base station with SSB is beyond me).

So, for all of these years I thought EFJ only produced 2 SSB mobiles in those early years....until just recently. A few weeks ago I was perusing the newest listings on EBAY when I saw an auction for a Johnson 351 SSB mobile. "This had to be a typo" I thought, but when I saw the picture I realized the 351 was truly another 23ch SSB mobile.

Naturally, I had to buy it, and maybe I've had my head in the sand, but I would classify this rig as a rare one. If you've seen these around drop me an e-mail and I'll re-classify it, but I don't think too many of these were manufactured.

'Nuff Said

Woody