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Why are mobile CB radios stuck in the 70s?

Some of these CB radios are so bright at night that they light up the entire cabin. Why are there so few radios with Dimmers?

Well, let's look...

Many earlier radios used the incandescent lamps...which tended to burn out...

1661944722708.png
and also used supertwist LCD which due to their polarization filter, would black out the display when you wore polarized sunglasses

Some even used LED light rings...
1661944600181.png

There was the Cherokee Nite-Rider 100 and 150 series...

1661944476297.png

I owned (read Past Tense) one of these and to be honest, you could not use one effectively in the nighttime those things used blue cyan spectrum light and attracted bugs...

Do not use such backlit panel radios in convertibles when driving at night!

Now if you read the above...

Have you been hiding under a rock or what?
1661944869897.png
 
I enjoy working on electronics of all kinds. Especially CBs. For me, it's so gratifying to fix a rig that everyone else gave up on. Or dream up a new mod that makes a rig work better.
However, the latest CBs all use SMD (Surface Mount Device) technology, and to most techs, are difficult to work on. Plus ... no schematics are available. If it's not a blown driver or final, I won't touch anyone elses f'd up SMD tech CB w/o a schematic. I took classes and can remove and replace SMD parts with the best of them. But without a schematic ... NO WAY. Another problem is their size. If I wanted to fit, say, a speech compressor board into a new SMD cb, I'd be hard pressed to find the space. The good thing about their size is that they will fit into the shoebox automobiles available today. Both my wife and I drive pickup trucks for many reasons, but mostly because they're big, safer, and still have personality. Both have a CB too.

So ... I like the older CB sets better. Simple to work on, easily modifiable, and not a PITA to operate.

My personal opinion is that if the cb manufacturers would provide service manuals and schematics with their new models, they would sell like crazy. This alone would help CB servicers, because it would force them to adopt, work on, and learn the SMD technology.

- 399
 
I am really interested in wiring an amplified microphone for my sears road talker black face am 40 channels. I bought 2 of them and finally found the Hitachi power cords. Very rare. Nice looking radios. I need the schematic to turn the audio out, but a power microphone might help. Buying off eBay is a hit or miss. Please help. I enjoy CB, having been in it so many years. I want to set up a base downstairs, so my wife can talk to me on the property or on the road for a short distance. Eddie AKA Ducksoupe Studios
 
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I'm in the camp that doesn't care for finely detailed menu selections and touch screen this and touch screen that when I am driving a vehicle. Driving down the freeway and trying to navigate menus... no thanks. I also consider that I care about function more than style. I don't personally see the need to have a boatload of background and font colors to choose from.

One other thing is "prevailing quality".
Back in the day there was (in my opinion) attention paid to the quality of the build at least by major manufacturers. I know that many if not most used boards and chassis from the same companies...but even so... the product was just "better made".

In these times... everything is about "make it as CHEAPLY as it can possibly made", "make it to where it will only last a while so they have to buy another one"!! Markets are driven by profits, as has already been pointed out.But they have excelled at building junk at the cheapest price point.....which looks GOOD to the consumer... everybody wants low prices. But cheap has a way of
breaking down" and like many things now.... throw it away and buy another one... because you can't fix the one you had.
 
I am really interested in wiring an amplified microphone for my sears road talker black face am 40 channels. I bought 2 of them and finally found the Hitachi power cords. Very rare. Nice looking radios. I need the schematic to turn the audio out, but a power microphone might help. Buying off eBay is a hit or miss. Please help. I enjoy CB, having been in it so many years. I want to set up a base downstairs, so my wife can talk to me on the property or on the road for a short distance. Eddie AKA Ducksoupe Studios
My memory may be fuzzy, but I seem to remember getting a Sears am/ssb mobile w/o the mic, which had one of those 5-pin "half moon" connectors like the Rat Shack radios did. So I borrowed one of my RS mics and as I recall, it worked w/o changing anything. There's probably more info on Rat Shack mic wiring than the Sears models, so look there.
 
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It seems like the manufacturers have paid attention to what little new markets open up and do a fair job. You can find quite a few very small but competent CBs intended for use in off-road trucks and ATVs these days that are just about perfect for the market. I just installed a President Bill II FCC FM in our old Tacoma (it and a GMRS radio take up the space where an ashtray once lived) and its a sweet little modern radio. I just wish it had SSB...that would be a big deal.
 
Because a lot of CB'er's are not that bright. We have a lot of cavemen with 1970's thinking.

Just like the people that take a 3/4-1 Ton diesel truck and proceed to put low profile giant tires, wheel extensions, huge lift kits and then roal coal with terrible tunes! They think they are cool but the rest of us think they are idiots!

The Stryker 955 is the poster child of everything wrong in CB even though it is not a type accepted CB radio. The face is too packed with controls to be properly usable in a mobile while driving. It has been since it came to market. As an export radio or 10m radio it is almostly stupid!

If someone gave me one I would use it and smile every time I used it. I would never spend what they charge for one. Add a little more and you could get a real amatuer HF radio.

Now the Stryker 955 would make a great base station for someone that wants to over pay for things they will likely not use, limit the amplifiers you can pair with it and have a radio that should you decide to punch your ticket will be of no use to you go ahead. I also forgot to mention how HUGE it is which makes mounting in a modern car difficult. Most of us today do not drive pedo vans and Tractor Trailers. In fact if you are not and owner/operator you might not be able to find space in the company truck which is likely a leased vehicle and not customized so a lot will not accept anything larger than a Cobra 29 or 25 sized radio.

What we really want is a an old school President Lincoln with a ChipSwitch or an RCI 2950 Shrunk down to Cobra 29 size. We want solid controls like radio's from the 1980's and 1990's had not the cheap garbage controls we have today on the modern RCI2950 and modern President Lincoln II, II+, Magnum, Yeti Optima. Modern controls feel like they are fragile and worn out when new out of the box!

You have to get rid of the ignorant and low value buyers before you can have anything good. You have to have a large enough market to be of value and you have to have a market that will vote with their wallets until the market gives them what they actual want! If you just buy what ever they kick out the door nothing changes.

As long as a market is made of super consumers you will never get quality you will get gimmicks and cosmetics. You can see this with cars and trucks that are loaded with fairly worthless content. Most of it will not be working on the truck 5, 10, 15 years latter.

Blue LED's and all the other garbage is just that garbage! It damages night vision, increases eye strain and interrupts your natural sleep and hormones! I am not Boe and Luke Duke, I am not Rosco P Coltrane or Cooter and I do not want my radio choices to be limited to radio's that Rosco P Coltrane would find cool!

There is a reason we do not see blue led's in aircraft cockpits, military vehicle displays, lab equipment, or rifle optics!

I gave up on seeing anything I want to own enter the market around 1998 when my first son was born and I got a President Lincoln. The only "New" radio I have purchased since was a NOS Yeti Optima because the price was right. All of the other radio's I have purchased post 1998 have been radios made prior to that. All of my other radio's have been gently used from about 1995 to about 1977.

I refuse to reward companies for putting out products I do not want.

Sadly I know that I am urinating into the wind because the average person buying a CB is not going to raise the bar or stop being a super consumer. I might as well hope for something impossible like the average driver using their turn signals and driving in a predictable, polite and sane manner!
 
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well menu driven radios,humm lemme think. OHHH EVER TRY MAKING A MENU CHANGE IN A MOVING BIG TRUCK,TRACTOR OR DOZER?
and dont say cause im old but itty bitty button pushes hit a bump n dammit wrong thing.
980 uniden in big truck is crapshoot. want to go to lsb? touch button hit bump n might go back to am. my galaxy 99v grip that knob n turn to the detent n your in lsb mode. or the weather mode or any other function.
we got buisness band radios in our tractors 2 are old school n easy to operate. the 3 new radios you just stop moving to set them
very very few things these ugly dull black faced new radios have that impresses me
im sure you prefer new design which is fine but for my application its not my cup o tea.
speaking of lasting my galaxy 99v has crossed the usa many many times.been in shop 1 time for a light that burned out. after all those miles n shaking its slowly growing weak. the 980 is giving lots of trouble n not many miles on it.actually 2 cause i got cb's in every truck we got and both980's are acting up.
ok im off my soap box n done
I agree I hate menu driven radio's. I also hate cluttered up face plates like Stryker 955 equally worthless to try and mount and use while driving in the average non-commercial vehicle. The most useable designs I have ever seen for a radio is the RCI2950 since all of the regular controls have a button or knob. It is just too big to mount in a car or most trucks unless you bolt it to the top of the dash. Then you are trying to clear the windshield and also not have it get blasted into an occupant should and airbag go off. Not to mention the modern 2950 is built so poorly and with such cheap parts.

You can only have so many controls on the face before your bumping stuff. Maybe some remember the Mercedes in the 1990's they had so many buttons and controls on the dash you would think you where flying a 747. Tiny buttons it was hard to read them or press the correct button while driving with out taking your eye's off the road for a longer than ideal time! All I every really wanted in a car or truck was simple HVAC controls, head light, wiper controls, turn signal and decent radio/cassette/cd player. I would rather the rest of the money go into engine, transmission, comfy seats etc...

If someone made a Uniden Grant XL or SSB Cybernet Chassis with the same quality of components and construction in a package the size of a Cobra 29 I would be on it like white on rice or stink on poop! Galaxy has never made a product that was as good as Uniden used to make. I am even fine with SMD components. Ranger/Galaxy just do not build a quality product and they charge too much for what your actual geting. I have owned a lot of Toyota's over the years so I am used to paying a lot more for a lot less content because I was getting a lot of quality and durability and ease of maintenance. I am willing to pay a premium if the design, quality and execution are all there! If not I would rather go with out than compromise!
 
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Because a lot of CB'er's are not that bright. We have a lot of cavemen with 1970's thinking.

Just like the people that take a 3/4-1 Ton diesel truck and proceed to put low profile giant tires, wheel extensions, huge lift kits and then roal coal with terrible tunes! They think they are cool but the rest of us think they are idiots!

The Stryker 955 is the poster child of everything wrong in CB even though it is not a type accepted CB radio. The face is too packed with controls to be properly usable in a mobile while driving. It has been since it came to market. As an export radio or 10m radio it is almostly stupid!

If someone gave me one I would use it and smile every time I used it. I would never spend what they charge for one. Add a little more and you could get a real amatuer HF radio.

Now the Stryker 955 would make a great base station for someone that wants to over pay for things they will likely not use, limit the amplifiers you can pair with it and have a radio that should you decide to punch your ticket will be of no use to you go ahead. I also forgot to mention how HUGE it is which makes mounting in a modern car difficult. Most of us today do not drive pedo vans and Tractor Trailers. In fact if you are not and owner/operator you might not be able to find space in the company truck which is likely a leased vehicle and not customized so a lot will not accept anything larger than a Cobra 29 or 25 sized radio.

What we really want is a an old school President Lincoln with a ChipSwitch or an RCI 2950 Shrunk down to Cobra 29 size. We want solid controls like radio's from the 1980's and 1990's had not the cheap garbage controls we have today on the modern RCI2950 and modern President Lincoln II, II+, Magnum, Yeti Optima. Modern controls feel like they are fragile and worn out when new out of the box!

You have to get rid of the ignorant and low value buyers before you can have anything good. You have to have a large enough market to be of value and you have to have a market that will vote with their wallets until the market gives them what they actual want! If you just buy what ever they kick out the door nothing changes.

As long as a market is made of super consumers you will never get quality you will get gimmicks and cosmetics. You can see this with cars and trucks that are loaded with fairly worthless content. Most of it will not be working on the truck 5, 10, 15 years latter.

Blue LED's and all the other garbage is just that garbage! It damages night vision, increases eye strain and interrupts your natural sleep and hormones! I am not Boe and Luke Duke, I am not Rosco P Coltrane or Cooter and I do not want my radio choices to be limited to radio's that Rosco P Coltrane would find cool!

There is a reason we do not see blue led's in aircraft cockpits, military vehicle displays, lab equipment, or rifle optics!

I gave up on seeing anything I want to own enter the market around 1998 when my first son was born and I got a President Lincoln. The only "New" radio I have purchased since was a NOS Yeti Optima because the price was right. All of the other radio's I have purchased post 1998 have been radios made prior to that. All of my other radio's have been gently used from about 1995 to about 1977.

I refuse to reward companies for putting out products I do not want.

Sadly I know that I am urinating into the wind because the average person buying a CB is not going to raise the bar or stop being a super consumer. I might as well hope for something impossible like the average driver using their turn signals and driving in a predictable, polite and sane manner!
aint you kinda brisk saying some are ignorant n not so bright? im not very impressed with your comments to people who use cb radios. if they want what they buy its their freedom to do so. i see no good in your post. but thats my opinion. you have the right to your opinion but to call a group out like you did isnt very bright of you but thats my opinion and view. lets quit calling people ignorant and dumb publicly.
 
So you like the stupid Christmas tree lights radios that change colors, look like a ufo, have echo and other worthless features, break and malfunction on you in 3 months, have unreadable blue meter/channel Lights and are 90% plastic? That's a modern radio in case you haven't noticed. I will take old school radios any day. New radios are ridiculous.
Nothing wrong with a little Echo on AM
 
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Wow! You're on a pedestal are you?

Maybe you should take a look and see how many CB guys are in this forum.
years ago at a gun show ,early opening big line getting in. a young punk had a huge cart full of .223 ammo. he was crowding his way throught the crowd in the line,on his phone shouting im hurrying but all these old farts are in my way.older guy got him stopped n said act civilized n we might let you out quicker. a deputy sherriff was checking firearms in. he said kid lots of us olfd farts here today.you might fall n i cant see a thing.id advise shutting up and show manners. he sure cooled down quickly. wonder if same person ? just my opinion
 
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