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Sears Roadtalker 40 SSB "Slant face" repair

Hurricane145

Well-Known Member
Aug 12, 2011
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I have a Sears Roadtalker 40 SSB "Slant Face" as it is called with a display problem. On some channels it may only display partial numbers, not all of the sections of the LED will light up all the time. They will with careful wiggling of the channel selector however. Some sections on some channels are very touchy!

The channel selector switch assembly is all housed in a plastic case and just looking at it does not appear serviceable or cleanable. I have only worked on older 23 channel rotary switches so not familiar with this type of assembly. Does it sound like a dirty contact problem or is it component related? Is it practical to expect to be able to repair this kind of problem?
Not a valuable rig, I know that, but interested in seeing if I can get it to work ok.
It definitely appears that someone did some channel expansion mod involving the CB/PA and the Noise Blanker switches. I haven't sorted that out yet but it shouldn't be hard...I think...We'll see!
 

The Sears Roadtalker 40 SSB, is a capable rig.
Sometimes cleaning the switch with deoxit (contact cleaner) will fix the channel indicator LED issue, though it's difficult to get the spray into the switch. Sometimes the LED segment needs to be replaced, and sometimes it's just a dirty channel selector switch, try cleaning it 1st before replacing anything.

-LeapFrog
 
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It is a very capable radio. I have two of those with the same problem. I have three of those total, the one that doesn't have it I took it apart and sprayed De-Oxit in to the switch.
Very good radio though. I liked the dual power arrangement it had. My first one was mounted on a "Slide Mount" and always made the trip into the house to run as my base station.
Made by Hitachi if I'm not mistaken.
 
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Thanks for the video and all the comments about it. That explains it all. I have a Dremel tool. I really can't live without one since about 1968!
I will try to get to it this weekend and see how it goes.
 
I'd pay close attention to that video, as it pointed out where the wafer switches inside the switch are at.
I wouldn't want to accidentally grind on one of those wafers inside after the Dremel tip penetrates!
 
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Turns out that there are a couple of very small square holes on the side of the switch housing that I didn't see earlier.
A couple squirts of Deoxit and all is well with the LED segments now!

Now on to figuring out what was done with adding the channels in the past. Looks like the tone, CB/PA and NB switch were all involved. I haven't found anything on the internet
involving those three switches and model 934.38270700.
Not enough chit chat on CB at all to just listen and figure it out. Not even sure what switches have to be where to get the standard 40!
More mystery!!
 
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Time for a freq counter. Would help a bunch.
Yeah. I'll get to that pretty soon here. I have 3 of them last time I looked. Just listening around and playing with the switches I found the positions for the normal 40. I was cleaning up the cabinet, knobs and face plate earlier.The previous owner was definitely a smoker! Looks real good but the RF gain knob is a bit bent.
Not always easy to find the time to mess with this stuff on the weekends!
 
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If you are computer savvy, you could also connect a 20$ software defined radio to your computer, like an RTL-SDR and with the "uknown switches" radio TX (using a dummy load preferably) while watching the waterfall on the software display and see where you are at on the RF spectrum, use a different radio you know can go to those ranges to confirm that it is receiving on the same channel (i.e. if they did a correct channel mod).

This will help you learn the true range while not having a frequency counter, flip different switch positions while recording what frequency you are actually transmitting on.
Then make yourself a nice "truth chart" and print it out & laminate it to have for the years to come.

Amazon Links:
RTL-SDR Dongle (Currently Unavailable, but will be back soon I bet for 20$ w/ free shipping.)

& Grab one of these:
UHF Female to SMA Male Jump Lead ($6.50 w/ free Shipping)
UHF Female to SMA Male Adapater ($6.59 w/ free Shipping)

These things are great for seeing if your radio is on frequency, they tune commercial broadcast and VHF/UHF better, but from my testing they work great for upclose testing of CB equipment, just be sure to not connect an antenna to the SDR while transmitting from your CB (unless it's on a dummy load) you could even use this to test/adjust 54 mhz T.V.I. trap circuits.

Best Regards
-LeapFrog
 
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