OLD ROYCE 23 CHANNEL PLL HINT.

[OldTech03]

I don't know if anyone will care but there was this maybe little unknown thing Royce did with there radio models that prepared them for the 40ch allocations in 1976 they manufactured the 1-655 23 channel radio with a PLL module that would also be used to create there 40 channel radios at the time. The so you can use the module out of the 1-655 23 channel radio in the 1-675. I had a customer send me a 1-675 for repair he said it was his first radio and wanted it fixed low and behold I just happen to have a 1-655 on the parts shelf must have had that radio for 25 years anyway his needed a PLL module so I
just pulled the bad one of the 23 channel version installed it in the 40 channel all you have to do is pull the channel selector knob on the 40 channel unit and realign it to match up with the right channel and it's done. Like I said it may come in handy if you need to get a Royce from that time area back up and running. Like I said this may be something you all know already just thought I would remind you.

 

[doffo]

Was this the case with the old Kraco 23 channel radios? Reason I ask is because there was two versions of the 23 channel Kraco radios that looked exactly the same, but Version A had the crystals inside it.... Version B had the PLL chip in it.. Always wondered if it was as simple to swap/wire the stuff correctly that it could be a 40 channel radio.

 

[ChetsJug]

I understand from an old radio and TV repairman friend of mine that the major manufacturers had made kits to convert 23 to 40 after the date Jan. 1, 1977. He gave me the infamous PACE 166? Smokey & the Bandit radio. It was a 23 then he showed me the 40 channel dial. He was supposed to do it for me but it was forever on the one of these days list. Somewhere in his shop is a Digicom 100. :/

 

[TM86]

I understand from an old radio and TV repairman friend of mine that the major manufacturers had made kits to convert 23 to 40 after the date Jan. 1, 1977. He gave me the infamous PACE 166? Smokey & the Bandit radio. It was a 23 then he showed me the 40 channel dial. He was supposed to do it for me but it was forever on the one of these days list. Somewhere in his shop is a Digicom 100. :/

I've got an SBE FormulaD 40 channel with the 23 channel model plate on the back. (26CB vs 26CB/A). Not sure if it was factory converted or they just didn't have the newer plates in yet. But, yeah, you could buy kits at one point to do the conversion yourself if you were so inclined.

 

[nomadradio]

After the 40-channel rumors started, manufacturers were desperate to talk you into buying a 23-channel radio. Most of them were mortgaged to the hilt getting radios into the sales pipeline. The 40-channel announcement from the FCC stopped up that pipeline. Buyers sat on their hands waiting for 40-channel radios. Bankruptcy filings abounded. At first, the promise was that they would upgrade a 23 with a new channel selector. This was before the FCC released the 40-channel type-acceptance regulations. There were only loose limits on "spurious" RF coming out of a 23-channel CB. Public outcry about interference with TV, radio and stereos led to much-tighter performance specs for a 40. First one was a limit on how much RF could leak out in receive mode. Models with a wood cabinet top acquired a metal shield on the inside to block RF leakage. How much RF could leak out any of the connectors, power, speakers and mike cords was now limited for transmit and receive. A 23-channel had no RF filtering on those and would not become a legal 40-channel CB. Manufacturers had to withdraw their "upgrade" promises. Most of them offered a discount certificate to buy a 40-channel, but any hope of getting income from the overload of 23-channel stock evaporated.

40-channel upgrades popped up here and there, but mostly they were bootleg. A handful of brands jumped the gun and went this way only to get told "stop" when the 40-channel regs were finally announced. Fun fact: Discount offers to buy a 40-channel radio became worthless when that brand went under.

I'm from the government, and I'm here to help, says the FCC.

73