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Round two: 70-80's Radio. Which ones were the cream of the crop?

70cst

70cst

Well-Known Member
Dec 4, 2009
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As some of you know I just purchased a Black Cat Mobile Tube Amp and looking at another Mobile Tube Amp. Now I need to get serious about a 23 or maybe a 40 Channel radio from the 70's-80's. This will go in my restored 70 pick up. It is my understanding the 40 channel radios came out in mid to late 70's (I think)

As there were hundreds of different CB Radio manufactured...I would imagine only a few were the cream of the crop.

This being the case, put on your memory caps and lets hear which radio in your opinion would be worthy on my pickup.

Let the opinions roll...
 

You know it is a bit of a loaded question, everyone has a favorite.
But since you asked...
AM only, try to find a Kris XL-50.
Not many around, very good radio and the look awesome with the 3 meters across the face.
For SSB of course the Cobra 148 Gtl was probably the most popular radio at the time for the SSB guy on the radio.
Myself, I liked the Midland 70-893 SSB rig, but that is because I just liked the look of Midland radio as compared to the Cobras.
Midland was often associated with the 1976 Cb trucker convoy craze and they even had the Midland CB Convoy Buddy radio that was marketed with that crowd in mind.
Had a picture of C W McCall on the Box, and his signature as well, I am sure you remember the song that reached number one position on the Billboard pop and country charts by him, Convoy.



73
Jeff
 
That Midland looks way ahead of its time. Never seen one until now. Pretty cool.

But I think back to the early 70's, weren't the Johnson tube radios tops? Or at lest the Johnson 23 channel crystal radios pretty high up on the food chain?

That would be my choice . . .
 
The Video and picture are the Kris XL-50, it would be hard to find one mint today, but if you look they are around.
The 79-893 looks much like the 23 channel models, nice and clean 13-893 or the 13-895.
The13 -895 had a built on ac to dc power supply in a compact chassis.

Link to the Owners manual for the 79-893 on Cb tricks
http://www.cbtricks.com/radios/midland/79_893/graphics/midland_79_893_om.pdf

Mods from Cbtricks
http://www.cbtricks.com/pub/secret_cb/vol_02/graphics/secret_cb_vol_02_pg20.pdf
 
In the 70s-80s I used Cobra 29 23 ch and a Cobra 26 23 ch with a switch for the funny channels.....my group talked strictly on ch 1 so there was no need of 40 channels....once in a while if we got a moron keying down on us we would go down below ch 1 to escape...or go there to discuss something privately.
 
in 1979 i had a t240d as a base with moonrackers but in my 1970 montecarlo i had colt midnight special tube type which was more or less the same radio as the robyn, in the early 70s around my part of the country then, everyone was running johnsons (123, 101, and the tube bases, and the 250) any thing else was browning ......and yes the colt was mounted under the dash right in the middle. 73s midnight special
 
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Cream of the vintage crop? A very subjective question. However I don't think that there will be much disagreement with these choices: (Yes I know some of them are base radios!)


Trams of course. Why? In a word, overbuilt. Pick one up and you can feel the quality.

Brownings. Need I say more? Okay, the Mark IV was problematic but when they worked, they worked wonderfully.

I've said it before: Pearce-Simpsons. If you couldn't afford a Tram or Browning, this was the next best thing.

The old 23-channel Sonars had a great sound to them and IMO are a worthy addition to any serious CB collection.

I'm told that the Demco Satellite (all 5 pieces) were a force to be reckoned with but in over 40 years of CBing I've never heard one on the air.

Johnson Viking. When you want to totally dominate a channel. If you've ever heard one on the air, you won't forget it. If you haven't, you have no idea of just how good AM can sound.

On to the more esoteric:

CPI: Seriously now, was there anything more advanced for it's time? They looked and were built like nothing else. 100% made in USA. Could there be anything better?

Well, yes...

Was the Stoner the best CB radio ever? Tough call. An SSB-only radio that cost more than anything else on the market? Definitely not for your average CB'er. They had to be doing something right, pristine examples still bring four figures on the used market.

Lesser known but still a major contender was the ARF 2001. Talk about advanced for it's time! Who the hell knew what a microprocessor was back in the 70's? Damn fine radio.
 
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I have recently won two Rangers, the AR-3500 type, from Ebay and they both work well....! One I have been replacing some caps and tuning it up. The second is near mint, :whistle: well about an eight out of a ten. These were one of the best in the eighties!
They seem to have something about them but at the time were top class. The best average CB most likely was most anything made by President or Uniden, includes many Cobras made bu Uniden or having parts by them.
Most CBs made in Japan seemed to be tops and the last made in the USA were very good too! But I lean towards the AR-3500! :p:

73 mechanic
 
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