10m Ranger mod for CTCSS?

[kf7qzc]

Hi everyone! I got my hands on a Ranger RCI-2950 DX some years ago. I got it in pretty near factory condition except for a pretty easy and obvious mod … we don't talk about fight club, etc. It's been sitting in storage because what it doesn't have is a way to connect a CTCSS device installed. Because why the hell would the original owner want that? But I do, because it's actually a decent 10 meter radio for its time.

So … is it difficult to add? It sure as hell is undocumented, I've looked around. The manual says it can be done and that's about it. I mean it can't be just as simple as injecting the correct tone in through the mic jack, can it? Surely that's done somewhere inside the radio after the audio has been amplified from the mic, and there's a specific place you inject a tone of the correct frequency at so many volts to be mixed in to the transmitted audio.

I'm sure there are boxes made 20-30 years ago that are like hen's teeth that you plug into a connector you add to the radio. Y'know or you realize it's 2026 and that generating one of a few selectable sine waves by turning a clicky little knob is an easy task to accomplish. That'd be my plan. But first I've got to have the means to inject the tone, and some idea about e.g. what the voltage needs to be.

Are there people who do these mods, and what's it likely to cost, ballpark? (e.g. is it difficult enough I'm better off selling this thing to a trucker who'd use it legally I'm sure and buying a 25W Chinese radio with all mode features?)

Info wanted!

 

[SuperLid]

Hi everyone! I got my hands on a Ranger RCI-2950 DX some years ago. I got it in pretty near factory condition except for a pretty easy and obvious mod … we don't talk about fight club, etc. It's been sitting in storage because what it doesn't have is a way to connect a CTCSS device installed. Because why the hell would the original owner want that? But I do, because it's actually a decent 10 meter radio for its time.

So … is it difficult to add? It sure as hell is undocumented, I've looked around. The manual says it can be done and that's about it. I mean it can't be just as simple as injecting the correct tone in through the mic jack, can it? Surely that's done somewhere inside the radio after the audio has been amplified from the mic, and there's a specific place you inject a tone of the correct frequency at so many volts to be mixed in to the transmitted audio.

I'm sure there are boxes made 20-30 years ago that are like hen's teeth that you plug into a connector you add to the radio. Y'know or you realize it's 2026 and that generating one of a few selectable sine waves by turning a clicky little knob is an easy task to accomplish. That'd be my plan. But first I've got to have the means to inject the tone, and some idea about e.g. what the voltage needs to be.

Are there people who do these mods, and what's it likely to cost, ballpark? (e.g. is it difficult enough I'm better off selling this thing to a trucker who'd use it legally I'm sure and buying a 25W Chinese radio with all mode features?)

Info wanted!

I don't recall a factory CTCSS board for that radio, but you could install a third party board, like a COM-SPEC or Selectone. Not sure if you are looking for only encode or tone squelch, which will make the difference as to what board you use.

You will need to be mindful of enabling the encoder in FM mode only, so you will need to examine the schematic, to see where and how to inject the tone.

At one time, Ranger had an instruction sheet for installation of a Com-Spec encoder in the DX model. These boards are no longer produced, but they can be found.