Uniden PC68XL Manufacturing Date?

[LeftHandLou]

I picked one of these up for $25 at a yard sale this morning. Owner said he hasn't used it in 10 years, never had cover off. He couldn't remember when exactly he bought it. Is there any way to determine the actual manufacturing date or year by the serial number? It is a front mic model.

Serial: 26035133
Made in the Philippines
FCC ID: AMW3K2-230P

 

[357magnum]

Try Google .

Sent from my NB09 using Tapatalk

 

[LeftHandLou]

Google was no help. Thinking one of the techs here might know how to determine. I know my Yaesu has a formula to read year of manufacture by looking at the serial.

 

[hpssb]

A model number means almost nothing, for example the cobra 148 has been made since the late seventies and is still made today.

A maker will not want to hold inventory so the date codes on the components are a good indication of how old something is, look for the four digit universal date code stamped onto an i.c. along with the part number.

The first 2 digits are the year and the last 2 digits are the week of that year, from 01 up to 52.

Example below,
top i.c. = 1976, mid june
middle i.c. = 1999, mid / late janurary
bottom i.c. = 1988, early september

Loz!

 

[unit_399]

I am aware of two Uniden date code schemes:

1. Some models have a manufacturing code. It is either rubber stamped or on a small label on the back of the unit. The date code consists of a two digit code representing the month followed by another two digit code representing the year.
For example, the date code 0AID would decode to Jan 1994 0A = Jan (A=1, first month of year) ID =94 (I=9, D=4)
A=1, B=2, C=3, D=4, E=5, F=6, G=7, H=8, I=9, 0=0

2. Other models have a label with numbers separated by the letter A. The 1st number is the month of mfg, and the 2nd is the last digit of the year of mfg. For example, 4A6 would decode as April 1976, April 1986, April 1996, etc. If you're not certain of the year, check the mfg dates on the ICs as suggested by HPSSB in the previous post. 73s,

- 399

 

[AudioShockwav]

a good indication of how old something is, look for the four digit universal date code stamped onto an i.c. along with the part number.

In general, that is a way to figure out when the IC was made, but not the radio. A prime example is the SuperStar JA.......
These radios were released decades later than the IC`s.
Another thing to think about is that Manufactures buy huge quantities of ICs, and they are used on more than one model, sometimes years later.

73
Jeff

 

[hpssb]

that is a way to figure out when the IC was made, but not the radio. A prime example is the SuperStar JA

That's true for some of the smaller makers, but the big players like uniden and the sony / panasonics / similar buy parts they use a lot of often and just enough to keep them going. Nearly all the parts with date codes in these brands will be fairly close, a year at best in a lot of cases.

The ja's were 20 years old, there was a thread on cbt where out tech had to do a lot of work to a couple of them straight out of the box, bad capacitors, stripped threads, corrosion, and date coded parts from the nineties!

Loz