Compressor

[brandon7861]

I have never seen a stock, 4 pin 8719 in the wild.

I thought this was normal for this radio, but I've never seen any other washington in person, so I wouldn't know. I am almost 100% sure it has the 8719 in it. I don't think I have any 858 radios.

I am not the original owner, nor is the guy I got it from. I know two owners ago, a hole was drilled in the speaker grill for a crystal switch, but I removed that. She is definitely not mint, but it sounds great on the air.

I didn't know about RF limiting either. Hopefully I can finish up that compressor this weekend and move on to the DSB limiter. I burned up last weekend working on my server so it works with a GPS tracking app my friend made. The coordinates go right to my hard drive at whatever interval I set so I will never lose my phone again. Too many projects going on at the same time as usual.

 

[Cable Guy]

I thought this was normal for this radio, but I've never seen any other washington in person, so I wouldn't know. I am almost 100% sure it has the 8719 in it. I don't think I have any 858 radios.

I am not the original owner, nor is the guy I got it from. I know two owners ago, a hole was drilled in the speaker grill for a crystal switch, but I removed that. She is definitely not mint, but it sounds great on the air.

I didn't know about RF limiting either. Hopefully I can finish up that compressor this weekend and move on to the DSB limiter. I burned up last weekend working on my server so it works with a GPS tracking app my friend made. The coordinates go right to my hard drive at whatever interval I set so I will never lose my phone again. Too many projects going on at the same time as usual.

I have 4 Washingtons, all 8719, and I have 2 friends that run the 858. They both perform well, and the factory compressor of the 858 puts it just beyond the 8719 IMO. They can be great radios with a solid alignment, some of the best compliments I ever received were with a Washington, UR6QW 8 band EQ and a cheap studio mic.

 

[loosecannon]

the other way to tell which washington you have is the number of buttons on the lower right.

if you have three buttons, its the 8719 version.
if you have two, 858.


UPD858 version:

MB8719 version:

LC

 

[nomadradio]

The original 4-pin Washington radio with the uPD858 inside bore the brand President. It was made for only one year, 1978. Then the FCC outlawed channel selectors that could be tweaked between detents to produce not-legal binary codes. All radios built `1979 and later with unlocked PLLs like the 8719 required a channel selector with an additional spst contact circuit. It closes when the shaft is between detents, and connects to the PLL's out-of-lock circuit to disable transmit when the selector is between stable detent positions. Oddly enough, Uniden ditched the 858 chip for the MB8719. Story is that after approving the Cobra 140, 142 and 148 models the FCC griped about the simplicity of modding pin 10. The Cobra 2000 was approved a bit later, after Fujitsu tweaked the 8719 to produce the MB8734. That chip disables pin 10 altogether. No telling how reliable that story is, but if the type-acceptance approval paperwork for the 2000 had been submitted earlier, it would have contained the 8719 chip as well. The President name on the front panel changed to "Uniden" some time in the very-early 1980s, long after the transition from the 4-pin radio to the radio with the MB8719 and the 5-pin mike. If the front panel says "Uniden" the first digit of the serial number should indicate the year of manufacture.

Onlly until you get to 1989. That's the year production moved from Taiwan to the Phlippines. A serial number that starts with "9" could be 1979 or 1989, but only if it says "Taiwan ROC". A peek inside to look for 4-digit date codes will resolve which decade.

73

 

[brandon7861]

I will have to take a look at the serial number. It says Uniden on the front, has 3 buttons, the MB8719 PLL and a 4-pin mic. I will look at the serial number when I get home. Interesting history with all the changes. Long ago, I read something about floating that PLL pin to trick the internal inverter on the last bit but I still have not tried that.

 

[nomadradio]

Somebody has modded the mike socket. Just how well they did it, you'll find out. If it says "Uniden" it was built with the 5-pin mike.

73

 

[brandon7861]

philippines 75001466
and yes, I see the glue, luckily the wood stove keeps the humidity at about 12% in here.

the switch shaft just north of the volume knob was the crystal switch that was stuck through the face. I moved it there hoping that shortening the wires would make the frequency stable before I discovered the problem was a bad trim cap. That switch is now disconnected, which is the little coax poking up through the hole between it and the volume knob. I just left it in the radio because it has no other purpose, same with the crystal taped to the left side. Other than that mess, it is almost untouched. I put the red wurth cap in, so clearly I had a total disregard for the sonybond when I did that. Put the new cap in over the glue lol. I was just getting into radio when I did that. Anyhow, the mic stuff looks factory, but I believe you when you say it shouldn't have come like that.

 

[kopcicle]

I have been saying that for years and years. When the new shack-in-a-box radios came out with audio processing everyone was WOW!!. The processor in my new at the time FT-857 could not hold a candle to the processor in my Kenwood TS-820S which uses RF processing. People would not believe me since a new fangled radio just HAD to be better than a 40+ year old radio with (GASP!!) tubes in the finals. Then I would switch between them and show them. Made a few enemies doing that. LOL

TS-830S Thing of beauty Cap

 

[doffo]

TS-830S Thing of beauty Cap

I have 3 of the TS-830S radios. Two work, the 3rd one was part of a trade I did with a friend last year. VOX works and will put the radio into transmit, but no audio ever makes it to the finals... Project for another time.