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Regarding Lou Franklin's "Understanding Cb Radio".....

guitar_199

guitar_199

Sr. Member
Mar 8, 2011
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Deer Park, TX
If anyone has it that cares to comment......

I'm thinking of getting this one. I know there are some pretty old threads that talk about it but some forums don't like "resurrection of dead posts" so much..... so I wanted to ask......

Is the book geared towards teaching you how various circuits work? How to troubleshoot? Just a collection of "tips and tweaks"? Would you say that it is "as in depth as the reader cares to go"?

I've been watching some repair threads the wind up heading in the direction of "you need to learn more about the radio basics".....and I do. Covered it in school from an educational perspective......but I got out in 1977 and headed straight in to the digital world for 11 years, then off into software development.

I really want to go back and re-learn communications basics as they apply to CB transceivers. I have found a few documents on the web that describe superhet receivers which covers a good deal.... but this book with a focus on CB really intrigues me........

In advance, I appreciate any comments or suggestions........
 
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Lou wrote and published two related books. The "Screwdriver Expert's Guide" is written to explain the technical side of CB radio to someone who doesn't have an electronics background.

But who is still interested.

The writing style is breezy, and sticks to the practical side of the subject for the most part. It's an introduction to the subject.

The book you mention, "Understanding and Repairing CB Radios" is longer, and dives deeper into the design and a little of the (gasp) math of the subject. Reading it won't qualify you to design a radio from scratch on a blank sheet of paper. But it is meant to explain why the circuits in a radio are built the way they are, and compare how different radios achieve the same result using different design elements.

You don't need to be able to read a schematic to benefit from the "Screwdriver Expert's Guide".

But "Understanding" really does call for it. The schematic diagram is really just the language of circuit design.

You could accomplish the same thing with a university course in electrical engineering. But they'll teach a lot of stuff that doesn't bear directly on radio communications.

Lou's books focus on that subject, explaining the electronics need to make CB radio happen.

73
 
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IMO that book is worth whatever you can afford to pay for it, and even if you never use the knowledge to repair one radio; it is still an enjoyable book to read and gives a lot of perspective on radio design and application.

if you are trying to set up a CB radio repair bench and don't know where to start, this book is your best friend.

i know that they can be pricey, and while i couldn't bring myself to pay almost 100 dollars for a copy, i do consider it worth that much.

as for electrical engineering classes, the EE's that i have come through my work while they are getting their degrees all call anything radio related, "black magic".

Unless they are specializing in RF or communications, they really dont get into our type of stuff that heavily anymore.
LC
 
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The screwdrivers expert guide is written is easy to understand format and leans toward simply mod and trouble shooting info that can get you through 85 % of most simple , common things that go wrong with your avg CB radio.
Easy to understand channel mods and quick tune up info on most popular chassis.
The PLL book goes over how Crystal mixing works , common PLL types used in cb radio, truth charts And understanding how phase locked loops work.
And most common channel mods are shown with good examples that are easy to follow.
The guide to understanding and repairing cb radios is more technically written than the screwdrivers book and goes off the premise that you know basic electronics
Sections about how radio actually works , more theory , receiver and transmitter circuitry , block diagrams, mixers, synthesizers. Fault finding, signal tracing etc. One chapter is devoted to SSB and its circuitry.
Antennas and more.
I still have a well worn copy around here somewhere.
Used to have the screwdriver and PLL book but passed them on long ago.
I think I still have his uniden export service manual that covered the pb010 chassis , pc999 and pc042 boards in storage.
Last printing that I know of was back in 1996 but still packed full of useful info.
These type of books were very popular back in the day.
Now much of this info is available at your fingertips with smart phones and internet.
73
Jeff
 
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yeah me too.

Lou's getting up there in years, and as much of a hermit as he is with regard to the online CB community, we might not find out if anything happened to him.
LC
 
I emailed him a month or so ago through his site, about another product he had that is no longer listed on his site, he took a few days to answer, but he did answer.
 
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