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Tell me about CB Radios

Chief Brody

Chief Brody

"Amity Island Welcomes You"
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I got an original new in box never opened Midland 77-822 and when I got it, it didn't work.
I wanted an old CB from the era that my Blazer is, but it doen't look like that is going to work out.

Can some of you who own CB's tell me what your experiences are with old versus new and what brands?

Midland makes a "Classic" that looks almost just like the old 1976 modwl, but the old one was made in Japan...the new is China.
 
If you feel like it was a good deal and want to be accurate, send it to a reputable shop to be repaired. May be a cheap easy fix.
 
What does it do or not do? I've fixed a number of them in the past. Not sure I have worked on a Midland, and all my old CB manuals are gone, but it might be easy to talk you through some stuff.
I'd hate to say how many I have "tuned up" over the years. Had one in my old jeep that I did some minor work on, that for some unknown reason, always seemed to key up at 100 watts..........
Never did figure out why..........
 
It powers on but I hear no squelch...If I dial the squelch all the way left I hear a faint hiss...it does not seem to transmit or recieve though.

I have a 102" whip antennae connected and well grounded
 
I've got a pair of 23 Channel Midland 13-857B's from '76. I paid $5 for one from a mid 70's 3/4 4x4 Dodge in the junkyard. My friend got the other from a 75 Lincoln, but since it had been "tainted" with Ford product, he gave it to me.

Both of them work great, easily as good if not better than my newer Cobra in the Dodge. I've got one in the Blazer, with a Wilson 2000 Trucker center-load I can pick up anything within about 4 miles crystal clear, and there is almost no static whatsoever, regardless of the squelch. The Cobra in the Dodge with it's 102' has more range, about 10 miles, but I only attribute that to the antennas.

Once you get it working, you won't be disappointed.

One of the Midland's
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The Cobra in the Dodge
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I need to quickly figure out if it is worth it to have it repaired. I have a limited time to return it to the eBay seller
 
Make sure its set on CB, and not PA. Grab your ohm meter, take the PL259 off the back of the radio and check between the center pin and the shield on the cable. You should not have any continuity between the two, open circuit.

Any ohm reading there is your problem. But if it does not try to transmit, then its most likely the radio.
Once you are sure the cable is not shorted, hook it back up, key the mic and let it snap back a few times.
The mic switch kills the audio when its pressed, so if the switch is dirty or stuck slightly you will not get any audio.
And, of course, make sure the mic cable is hooked up all the way.

Also flip all the switches back and forth a few times. Especially the PA/CB switch. Sitting up in the box all these years may make them cranky at first.
 
Also make sure you have the plastic insulator on the correct side of the antenna, I made that mistake a long time ago.
 
Well...I've got nothing to lose...the eBay seller refunded my money and said keep the radio. I have called all over and cannot find anybody (including Midland) that will work on a CB radio.

So I guess I can tear into it and see what I can do. :doah:
 
Fordum said:
But if it does not try to transmit, then its most likely the radio.
Once you are sure the cable is not shorted, hook it back up, key the mic and let it snap back a few times.
The mic switch kills the audio when its pressed, so if the switch is dirty or stuck slightly you will not get any audio.
And, of course, make sure the mic cable is hooked up all the way.

Also flip all the switches back and forth a few times. Especially the PA/CB switch. Sitting up in the box all these years may make them cranky at first.
Click to expand...

I checked it...it's ok
it hums but no hiss. The PA function works mic and all
but on CB it just hums...but when I key it and speak the light in the meter dims in rhythm to my voice...but the needle does not move
 
I've got a Cobra 29GTL that works great, although the SWR meter doesn't work at all, you can't really tune it, but I've got it marked where it's set at now.
 
I am leaning towards getting a new CB...unless I can find somebody local to fix it...is there any pro to keeping this one and paying to get it fixed vs buying a new one?
 
I know this sounds like a stupid question, but why are you installing a CB? If its to add to the looks of the Amity blazer, then you probably need to try to find something close to the movie.
But, if you are actually going to be using it a lot, then its probably best to just go with a new one.

In looking around, I see they are not as cheap as they used to be when I was so heavily involved in them, but you can probably get a new one for what it would take to fix that one.

Even back in the day, I would often just get a new one when one of mine died. Unless it was a special one.
For instance, I rebuilt the Pace 223 several times over the years. But it would key about 8 watts right out of the box, and only took one transistor and one adjustment to get almost 50 out of it.

Not that I would do anything like that of course........

If the radios were stock, and/or hard to work on, I would do some basic checks, like loose solder joints, bad mic or antenna, and it was going to take some serious bench work, I would just chunk it and get another.

If yours is actually new out of the box, its probably something simple to fix, but by the time we shipped it here, I found time to work on it, and shipped it back, you could have a new one up and running for not much more than the shipping costs.

I would not charge for working on it of course, but with the move to the swamp coming up along with other stuff, I don't know when I would have time to work on it.

I wish you were closer, I would love to look it over. Not sure if I could fix it at this late date though.
I gave away all my schematics and manual years ago. Heck, even some of my equipment is gone.
Some given away, some lost when friends died who I had loaned it to.

Got any good flea markets around your area? I used to see them in those all the time at good prices.
 
Fordum said:
I know this sounds like a stupid question, but why are you installing a CB? If its to add to the looks of the Amity blazer, then you probably need to try to find something close to the movie.
But, if you are actually going to be using it a lot, then its probably best to just go with a new one.
Click to expand...

A little of both...I have identified the whip antennae and bracket on the Jaws Blazer as a Hustler BM-1 which I already have.
Obviously I can't put a police radio in there that works....so a CB is the next best thing.
So the Blazer will look Jaws correct from the outside and I will have a functional radio.
How much I could actually use one??? I really don't know. But I just want one in the Blazer...seems right...
 
I found having one is useful on the interstate and if you have any locals running the standard channels it can be fun to chat with them some. I would like to have one in my truck for trips and interstate running. A hand held to let someone you are caravaning with can be helpful too.
 
This is bugging me a bit,,, your original post stated you bought a "new in box, unopened" cb radio, and it doesn't work...

What happens when you buy another "new in box, unopened" radio, and that one doesn't work either?

Not trying talk down about anything ya did during hook up, but are you ABSOLUTELY sure everything is hooked up right, including that antenna like I previously mentioned.

I only mentioned that plastic piece because I did that once and didn't realize it until I went back through the whole hook up procedure, realized it had it on the wrong side of the antenna and was essentially grounding out the main antenna rod.

It too would turn on, hum, but no static like it wasn't receiving anything, I could key it up, the meter would swing, lights dimmed, everything.
 
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