Cobra 142GTL Paired with 148

[Simbalage22]

Well so far I am at no luck getting channels on my royce, Not that I have given up, but would getting a 148 to match and doing the channel mod line up with the channels that this 142 has? For simplicity i'd like to have similar setup on the mobile especially so the wife will know.. "A, go to 14 with 1 up and 1 down" ect... As far as the royce goes whatever channels I do get will be for trial and what not... but would these 2 pair the best? or would any radio having the same pll as the 142 do and still be same layout?

 

[Carl]

yes it will, they both use the same pll.

you could also find

president grant (newer, older were 858's), mcinley, uniden grant (some), grant xl, grant lt, realistic trc-450, robyn sb505d (newer), robyn or sbe brand lcbs-8, lcms-8, stalker 9-fdx, tram d80, cobra 46, 50, 47xlr, 55xlr, pc879, 148's, midland 63-445, 79-900.

also the galaxy 949, 959, texas ranger 296's, 696f + freedom ones, 966, 969wx will work. they all are real easy to mod, the wires are already there just need to have a toggle inline to break the connection.

im pretty sure the galaxy dx 919,929,939, and 979 channels line up but i havent tried one to know for sure.

 

[Simbalage22]

yes it will, they both use the same pll.

you could also find

president grant (newer, older were 858's), mcinley, uniden grant (some), grant xl, grant lt, realistic trc-450, robyn sb505d (newer), robyn or sbe brand lcbs-8, lcms-8, stalker 9-fdx, tram d80, cobra 46, 50, 47xlr, 55xlr, pc879, 148's, midland 63-445, 79-900.

also the galaxy 949, 959, texas ranger 296's, 696f + freedom ones, 966, 969wx will work. they all are real easy to mod, the wires are already there just need to have a toggle inline to break the connection.

im pretty sure the galaxy dx 919,929,939, and 979 channels line up but i havent tried one to know for sure.

WHOA! Yea thats probably what i'll do... That Royce is in excellent condition, but I believe it was you who shed the light on just modding a simpler rig

 

[Simbalage22]

Picked up a cobra 25LTD For cheap

Picked up the original 40 channel Cobra 25LTD with mic on side. Can I do it to this one? if not I will wait to find one of the above that will match with the 142. The tuning slugs are gone, and they have a cap/resistor so I am guessing they were using this inline with an amp... Why they removed the slugs is beyond me.. Low 1w deadkey and swings to 10.. Should be doing a little better then that

btw....I paid 7 bucks with mic for her

 

[Carl]

cobra 25's are good little radio's. if you are wanting to add extra channels by modding the pll you cant. if you want to put extra's in it you can find a expo or galaxy s+ kit, (the + is above ch 40, the - is below 1). you take the old mixer crystal out and add a knob that holds a different crystal as well as the old one. jumpers go to the old crystal location and you switch between the 2 banks of 40. most of the time they dont work worth a crap and in my exorearnce you always have to realign after installing

you can always npc and add a mosfet final to it (just kidding, dont do that).

 

[Simbalage22]

cobra 25's are good little radio's. if you are wanting to add extra channels by modding the pll you cant. if you want to put extra's in it you can find a expo or galaxy s+ kit, (the + is above ch 40, the - is below 1). you take the old mixer crystal out and add a knob that holds a different crystal as well as the old one. jumpers go to the old crystal location and you switch between the 2 banks of 40. most of the time they dont work worth a crap and in my exorearnce you always have to realign after installing

you can always npc and add a mosfet final to it (just kidding, dont do that).

I know you can upgrade the final, but yea I just figured I would ask because I didnt see that listed, but picked up the 25 for 7 bucks with minor repairs needed to it Thanks for the info. I noticed they put a cap/resistor so its DK at 1w, will it still getout barefoot? or woud putting a bypass switch be better when using it barefoot?

 

[loosecannon]

the PLL mods on a 142 will NOT line up with those of a 148gtl.

they use two different crystals and a different set of N codes.
the 142 uses a 11.1125 crystal and switching pin 10 will cause it to go DOWN.

the 148 uses the 11.3258 crystal and switching pin 10 will cause it to go UP.

there are ways to get the same channels out of both radios, but its not as simple as just doing the same mods to both radios.
LC

 

[Simbalage22]

the PLL mods on a 142 will NOT line up with those of a 148gtl.

they use two different crystals and a different set of N codes.
the 142 uses a 11.1125 crystal and switching pin 10 will cause it to go DOWN.

the 148 uses the 11.3258 crystal and switching pin 10 will cause it to go UP.

there are ways to get the same channels out of both radios, but its not as simple as just doing the same mods to both radios.
LC

Then why does carl say....

yes it will, they both use the same pll.

you could also find

president grant (newer, older were 858's), mcinley, uniden grant (some), grant xl, grant lt, realistic trc-450, robyn sb505d (newer), robyn or sbe brand lcbs-8, lcms-8, stalker 9-fdx, tram d80, cobra 46, 50, 47xlr, 55xlr, pc879, 148's, midland 63-445, 79-900.

also the galaxy 949, 959, texas ranger 296's, 696f + freedom ones, 966, 969wx will work. they all are real easy to mod, the wires are already there just need to have a toggle inline to break the connection.

im pretty sure the galaxy dx 919,929,939, and 979 channels line up but i havent tried one to know for sure.

Wouldnt you just match the mods the same for the same pll?
Also would a 10M export work with the channels the 142 has?

 

[Carl]

i had a brain fart, i forgot the 142 uses a stupid crytal. unless you want to monkey around with it you should find a cobra 140 gtl or president mckinley those are the indential mobile version of a 142/ late washington.

i believe you can just swap the 11.1125 crystal for a 11.3258 and isolate pin 10 on the pll (cut trace). the mod would be pin 10 switched to ground and pin's 11 & 12 switched together. i would get a frequency counter before modding any more radios. they are very helpfull.


exports like galaxys use a different pll all toghether. for example 50 (27.5050) on most galaxy exports are channel 8, one band up (D? been a while sence i has my 88 and cant remember) if you had a saturn, ssb, malaka, 2517, excalibur etc for the base and one of the billion different export mobiles you could do that. thats expensive as that same money you pay for a base could buy you a used kenwood, icom, or yaesu hf rig that will run circles around those galaxy's. my ts-440s has enough memorys so i could program the 11m band, popular freeband, am radio, and some 10m frequency's so the wife just had to spin the knob to go to the right frequency.

 

[Simbalage22]

i had a brain fart, i forgot the 142 uses a stupid crytal. unless you want to monkey around with it you should find a cobra 140 gtl or president mckinley those are the indential mobile version of a 142/ late washington.

i believe you can just swap the 11.1125 crystal for a 11.3258 and isolate pin 10 on the pll (cut trace). the mod would be pin 10 switched to ground and pin's 11 & 12 switched together. i would get a frequency counter before modding any more radios. they are very helpfull.


exports like galaxys use a different pll all toghether. for example 50 (27.5050) on most galaxy exports are channel 8, one band up (D? been a while sence i has my 88 and cant remember) if you had a saturn, ssb, malaka, 2517, excalibur etc for the base and one of the billion different export mobiles you could do that. thats expensive as that same money you pay for a base could buy you a used kenwood, icom, or yaesu hf rig that will run circles around those galaxy's. my ts-440s has enough memorys so i could program the 11m band, popular freeband, am radio, and some 10m frequency's so the wife just had to spin the knob to go to the right frequency.

Damn Carl, I am workin you overtime LOL.. I will say this, your information has been really informative with facts, and thats cool in my book...So many opinions vs facts these days...

 

[loosecannon]

carl is correct, you could switch the crystal in your 142 to a 11.3258 and control pin 10 to make the mods line up.
of course, these days you would have to already have a 148 to get the crystal from in the first place.

trying to do freq mods without a freq counter is difficult at best, and you can really screw things up if you try to adjust the radio to get the freqs in without one.

simbalage, you should check out a book called "the screwdriver experts guide to repairing CB radios". its by lou franklin the same guy who wrote the PLL book you are getting.

lots of good stuff in that book.
LC

 

[Shockwave]

the PLL mods on a 142 will NOT line up with those of a 148gtl.

they use two different crystals and a different set of N codes.
the 142 uses a 11.1125 crystal and switching pin 10 will cause it to go DOWN.

the 148 uses the 11.3258 crystal and switching pin 10 will cause it to go UP.

there are ways to get the same channels out of both radios, but its not as simple as just doing the same mods to both radios.
LC

Hey LC, there must have been a change in the production run at some point with these radios because I distinctly remember a time when the 148 and 142 GTL were modified the exact same way. Channels and switches lined up the same. Frequency coverage was 26.815 to 28.045 on both radios with the mod. I think what happened here is that they changed the crystal at some point in the 148. I recall the PLL chip in some of these radios was switched out to the MB8734 that wasn't so modifiable either but that may have been on President radios.

 

[loosecannon]

the 148/2000 dual conversion chassis always had the 11.3258 crystal.
the 142/washington single conversion chassis always had the 11.1125 crystal.

the 2000gtl was the only version of this chassis that used the mb8734.

the popular mod for the 142 used to be to change the crystal to the 11.3258 and then, if i remember correctly, the mods would line up.

if you didnt change the crystal in the 142, i think you would end up on 26.175 instead of 26.815.
been a LONG time since i played with a single conversion MB8719 radio.
LC

 

[Shockwave]

OK, perhaps my old 142 GTL had the crystal changed before I got it. I just remember the channels lined up perfectly with my 148 GTL when I had them both.

 

[Shockwave]

LC, what you say makes perfect sense now that I think back. I modified that 142 GTL at one point to use both crystals with a second VCO coil to cover the range of the second crystal. One switch would control a relay that changed the crystal and VCO coil in use. Combined with the standard PLL mod I think it went from 26.175 to 28.045.