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New to CB radios, trying to find a kit to build a 8 pill linear amp.

Ahh OK, so it's the old style of transistor before FETs and MOSFET? Or something along those lines? He showed me one that the guy built for him awhile back that had 6 of those Toshiba pills, but who knows if they are real or not.

Yes. They are bipolar transistors. The Toshiba 2sc2510 is still available but they are require 24 volts. 8 of them plus shipping will cost you $800
 
Will this work on a cb radio? He's using one of the presidential cb radios, and is wanting a stronger amp.

Yes, these are designed for CB use. The largest amp or kit they sell is a 1000 watt version, which if your dad has a 6 pill isn't going to do more output than what he already has. Also - an 8 transistor amplifier isn't going to be a major upgrade over a 6 transistor amplifier - maybe 200 watts average/rms assuming 2879 style transistors.
 
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My father said he thought those with the meters in the description is solely for ham radios is this true?

Hard to say. People used to list CB amps as ham amps trying to stay out of legal trouble. If you new to all of this I can understand why that would be confusing. You kind of have to know what you're buying.
 
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Good to know, thank you. Which I know my father specifically wants Toshiba pills.

First, welcome to the forum! Now the bad news.
Toshiba 2sc2879's IF you can find 8 mached will run you $1600.00+. That's just transistors, nothing else. Not a viable choice anymore for the 11 meter enthusiast. BEWARE OF THE FAKES ON EBAY, AMAZON AND OTHER SITES!
If you or your dad see Toshiba transistors for less than $200/piece they will be FAKE 100% of the time. Do not buy them.
Also do not buy any new Texas Star amps because if you dont get bunk DEI crap you get fake toshibas. Yep thats right, ts is using fake Toshibas so again, beware of the many fakes out there.
Your dad is about 10 years too late for new Toshiba 2879's for a decent price. He would be better to spend the $45/piece for HG 2sc2879C series transistors rated at 150w pep minimum as opposed to the regular 2879 transistor which is 100w pep minimum. The HG 2879C has good reviews so far. I have a ts 1600dx being reworked with the C series pill. Cant wait to get it back.
For gods sake stay away from the dei transistors. If you see any run like hell. Same with the pp100 pills, just walk away. So few were made compared to Toshibas you wont find many hidden stashes but you never know. Just beware.
 
First, welcome to the forum! Now the bad news.
Toshiba 2sc2879's IF you can find 8 mached will run you $1600.00+. That's just transistors, nothing else. Not a viable choice anymore for the 11 meter enthusiast. BEWARE OF THE FAKES ON EBAY, AMAZON AND OTHER SITES!
If you or your dad see Toshiba transistors for less than $200/piece they will be FAKE 100% of the time. Do not buy them.
Also do not buy any new Texas Star amps because if you dont get bunk DEI crap you get fake toshibas. Yep thats right, ts is using fake Toshibas so again, beware of the many fakes out there.
Your dad is about 10 years too late for new Toshiba 2879's for a decent price. He would be better to spend the $45/piece for HG 2sc2879C series transistors rated at 150w pep minimum as opposed to the regular 2879 transistor which is 100w pep minimum. The HG 2879C has good reviews so far. I have a ts 1600dx being reworked with the C series pill. Cant wait to get it back.
For gods sake stay away from the dei transistors. If you see any run like hell. Same with the pp100 pills, just walk away. So few were made compared to Toshibas you wont find many hidden stashes but you never know. Just beware.


Thank you for the info. Only cb I have ever owned was a cobra 25 I had in my 18 wheeler, but over the past few years my father has gotten heavily into cb radios, but he dosent know very much about electronics. He's one of those people who can disassemble a entire combine, then put it back together days later, where I do electronic work, but it's all IT related so I'm lost on radios.
 
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Thank you for the info. Only cb I have ever owned was a cobra 25 I had in my 18 wheeler, but over the past few years my father has gotten heavily into cb radios, but he dosent know very much about electronics. He's one of those people who can disassemble a entire combine, then put it back together days later, where I do electronic work, but it's all IT related so I'm lost on radios.
Youve stumbled upon a place where there are some really good folks. There are a lot of ripoffs in this hobby. Get inside pics of any equipment you are thinking of buying and post them up here. Folks who know will be able to tell you whether its good or been hacked.
 
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Here is a link to a thread about amp plans. I posted some as attachments on page 6. I can't member where I got them from and have never tried to build anything with them. I have heard that they will point a person in the right direction. Some tuning of the input and output will probably be needed with the HG transistors as these plans had Toshiba transistors in mind. I was going to build a 4 pill and started trying to buy the stuff. It seemed that there was not a place to get everything from. I think I had it narrowed down to about 3 different places the stuff was coming from. Then I added up the cost of parts and shipping and I was very close to the price of buying one already assembled. The biggest obstacle for me was knowing if there was a problem with the amp before the transistors blew up? How would I know if it was oscillating? The first amplifier maybe should be a little smaller, like a 2 pill on a 10 pill chassis for future expansion maybe.



https://www.worldwidedx.com/threads/free-1-16-pill-amp-plans.33972/page-6
 
Yep, he has one of those antennas that look like the old TV antennas on a pole next to the exterior wall of his shop.
Sounds like he needs a better antenna. Too many people ignore the antenna and go golly for an amp to "fix" the problem. My advice is to scrap the idea of building an amp and work on the antenna system first.
 
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I agree
Moving from 6 to 8 is a waste of money.

You need a tube (s) for what you want to do.
It is a lot of effort to run 12 volt amps on a base when you can do it a lot better with real tubes.
Can you post up a picture of the antenna he has?
Does it rotate?

73
Jeff
 
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My question would be how far up in the air is his current antenna? I assume it's a ground wave antenna, what is the name of the antenna? Height is might when it comes to running a base station. If the current antenna is only 15-20 feet off the ground then put the time and effort into getting that system up 50-75 feet. That alone will make an amazing difference.
 

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