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Cherokee Nightrider 150 extra channels

T

Techno1

Active Member
Feb 21, 2022
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New Hampshire
Are there any mods for these radios that have the pll encased in black epoxy?
Someone has one and wants extra channels.
here is a picture of the pll in black epoxy, has anyone attempted to do extra channels or has some info
on doing this.

thanks150 nightrider.jpg
 

I looks like a standard galaxy/ranger pll MC145106, but it's being controlled by the processer on the board behind the channel board.
Not sure what to tell you here.

Oh NOMAD!!!... Got anything for this?
 
its hard epoxy and im sure board damage would happen.
The pll is programmable what im also looking for it a picture of the bottom side to see if epoxy is on bottom also. I guess the fcc would not let them sell radio in USA so the get around was to encase the pll with the epoxy
 
Techno1 said:
its hard epoxy and im sure board damage would happen.
The pll is programmable what im also looking for it a picture of the bottom side to see if epoxy is on bottom also. I guess the fcc would not let them sell radio in USA so the get around was to encase the pll with the epoxy
Click to expand...
And the PLL isn't even listed on the schematic. I had to look at the block diagram to see exactly what it is.
 
The only way "Wireless Marketing Inc" could get this radio approved as an FCC-legal 40-channel CB was to totally prevent any channel expansion. Yes, the MC145106 is a 500-channel chip in theory. The epoxy glob that hides it from view also engulfs a variety of other nearby parts. Only way I could see to expand it would be to unsolder all the globbed-up parts and replace them.

If what you want is a radio with multiple bands like a Galaxy you would also have to add in the two CD4008/MC14008 4-bit adder chips. These are where the band selector is connected. There's room for a piece of perfboard for those two chips. And a dozen and a half (or more) wires to it.

Of course you could use the toggle-switch method and simply change the logic state of one pin at a time on the PLL chip. This results in a disjointed sequence of frequencies, typically not in any end-to-end order. A radio with a frequency display makes this a little less inconvenient to operate. But this radio doesn't have one.

But you'll have to install all the parts that got 'globbed', not just the PLL chip. Not a barrier. Just time and money.

I still have a Nightrider 150, and concluded years ago that the time and labor to expand it was just a total waste of time and money. Too many more-economical ways to obtain the frequency coverage. And the radio is nothing too special, just a nominal clone of the design found in literally millions of radios made by RCI over the last 40 years.

As the old saying goes, just because you can doesn't always mean you should.

73
 
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Hi Nomadradio.

Thanks for that info on the 150 for channels.
Is there directions to add in the two CD4008/MC14008 4-bit adder chips/
Also for the wiring. Or just the pins on the chip/pll to add channels. I have someone wanting channels in the radio but if it still involves trying to remove the
epoxy then the idea is dead in the water for sure.
thanks again.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: groundwire

I looked at the schematics, the Channel Selector is a rotary Up/Dn encoder like on these newer CPU driven radios. The Epoxy encapsulated CPU/PLL board is most likely the same or similar to an earlier Cherokee CB radio, the CBS2100, which has a LOT more info on the page. The plug names and lines going to / coming from the CPU/PLL board are the same names and pin-outs.


Are there empty holes where the MC145106 PLL and 4008 adder chips and band selection diodes for the adders, in the front corner of the main board where the PLL would normally go? You would have to remove the epoxified CPU/PLL board(s) and put the components back on the main board like on a Galaxy style radio. And, get a Channel selector, LED display from a Galaxy style donor radio too.

Rob
Tampa FL
 
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NZ8N said:
Are there empty holes where the MC145106 PLL and 4008 adder chips and band selection diodes for the adders, in the front corner of the main board where the PLL would normally go?
Click to expand...
It has been literally decades since I looked inside of that radio. Figured sooner or later there would be a sequel to the flick "Joyride" and I'd get stupid money for it on fleabay.

How 'bout it candy cane?

I'll pop the cover and refresh my memory. Maybe that's the radio that used a Zilog microcontroller with the rotary encoder, the Z8671. I wrote code for hire for the predecessor version of that chip in the mid-1980s. At the time it was called the "Z-8". Never tried to hack one in a channel selector.

73
 
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