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Midland 79-290

Uh, without rereading this entire thread, I thought I mentioned my work and findings on this radio ... maybe not(?). Anyway, I have done the channel and modulation mods and pk/tun. The clarifier mod has yet to be determined as to its viability for the effort. Most other improvements are from a technician's viewpoint (applying thermal paste to all heatsinked components, switch to Astatic NC mic, center the Wx band to the clarifier's detent, realign the S meter. This radio, despite its few shortcomings, is no slouch by any means. IMHO, it's right up there with the other popular radios and in some aspects, better than having to hack front panels to add channel switches, modulation boost, and refer to freq. charts for radios that don't have a readout to begin with, costing much more from the start!!

I also have a 150w Ranger AR3500 that is a splendid radio, top to bottom, side to side! ChipSwitched it operates from 12m to 10m. I'd stack it against a RCI or Galaxy DX base any day.
 
My bad I didn't realize I was clicking on second page of the thread. I thought about getting one to play around with maybe run as a mobile. Thanks
 
79-290

i was checkin this radio out saw on a forum used some were and am gona buy it .I heard midland was a good radio well see
 
Mine came with access to all the other channels and also 10 meters the only other thing that would be great would be to have a 5khz slide so as to be able to go down and use the zero channels. Just wondering if anyone else has done this to these radios. Having access to 10 meters is great even if you are not licenced as you can listen to the 10 meter beacons to find out where the skip is coming from.
Murray
 
Can anyone tell me what crystal is used in these radio's? I have just sent the radio off to a tech to get a slide installed so I can drop down 5khz but the tech wants to identify the crystal used, but unfortunately I sent the radio off to him yesterday so Can't open it up to have a look.
Murray
 
Hey Old Pirate,
Has the guy ya sent it to done one of them before?
Modding the clarifier in this radio,will not be accomplished by crystal swap....all he need do is open it and realign it,,,and the course tune should get you to "Zero".
The mod that I do is performed on the front panel unit...
Let me know if he need's guidance...But,,,this radio isnt a Cobra 148,and if ya havent dont one....might be good idea for him to take his time and be very carefull around the PLL in that radio....

rfpower
 
To answer your question yes he has done this on them before but a couple of years ago. Option one is to tweak the course clarifier and option two is to add a second crystal and oscillator to achieve this. He thinks the crystal is 4500mhz but I have no doubt that someone on the forum here will be able to confirm this.

Thank-you for the reply


Murray
 
I agree with RF Powerman ... tell that tech to leave the xtal option alone. Instead, do this:

Unlocking the Clarifier

1) On the back of the clarifier pot follow the blue wire to the PCB.
2) Cut the blue wire about 1 inch from the PCB.
3) Find jp-44 and solder the blue wire to it.(its the 8vdc source)
4) Cut the resistor on the bottom of the clarifier knob.
5) Solder a wire from where the resistor was to ground on the PCB.
6) Finally jump D-40 and cut D-42.You should now have about 6Khz of slide.

If the radio is properly pkd/tuned the 8vdc should be adequate to do the job.
 
Highland Ranger said:
Just ordered this radio off Amazon.

Any tips for easy mods for a novice?

Going to use it mobile with Firestik antenna . . .
Click to expand...

http://www.hardwarehacking.com/category/radio/citizen-band-radio/cb-radio-mods/midland/
The channel expansion is done by removing the front display unit and disassembling it then the mod itself. Depending what your definition of novice is, some of these mods require care and caution when working with SMT componentry. Also, many components are not labeled in the 79-290 making identification tricky to impossible.
 
Highland Ranger said:
Just ordered this radio off Amazon.

Any tips for easy mods for a novice?

Going to use it mobile with Firestik antenna . . .
Click to expand...

Highland Ranger, Sorry for the late reply, if you haven't bought the firestick yet, don't bother buying it as ther are better antenna options. I am currently using the predator 10k with a 4 pad magmount and this absolutely kills the 5ft Firestick I used to use even the Wilson 5000 would be a vast improvement on the Firestik.
Sorry to burst your bubble.

Murray
 
http://www.hardwarehacking.com/category/radio/citizen-band-radio/cb-radio-mods/midland/
The channel expansion is done by removing the front display unit and disassembling it then the mod itself. Depending what your definition of novice is, some of these mods require care and caution when working with SMT componentry. Also, many components are not labeled in the 79-290 making identification tricky to impossible.[/quote]

do you know what needs to be done (soldered) in the front panel for 240ch expansion ?
i have v1.1 of 79-290 and just using guide from http://www.hardwarehacking.com/category/radio/citizen-band-radio/cb-radio-mods/midland/
does not do anything ...

tia
 
maximus said:
http://www.hardwarehacking.com/category/radio/citizen-band-radio/cb-radio-mods/midland/
The channel expansion is done by removing the front display unit and disassembling it then the mod itself. Depending what your definition of novice is, some of these mods require care and caution when working with SMT componentry. Also, many components are not labeled in the 79-290 making identification tricky to impossible.
Click to expand...

do you know what needs to be done (soldered) in the front panel for 240ch expansion ?
i have v1.1 of 79-290 and just using guide from http://www.hardwarehacking.com/category/radio/citizen-band-radio/cb-radio-mods/midland/
Maximus, I bought my 79-290 new and it already had access to six bands of 40 channels and my buddy John also got one at the same time.I don't know if these were an export version but I am sure other members will know. You might like to try this, turn radio and then turn it back on again while holding in the CH9 and DW buttons. This should give you the six bands starting 1A and going to 40F, NORMAL CB band begins 1D.
If you want to visit 10 meters turn radio off and then turn it on while holding in the LCR AND MIC buttons this gives coverage from 28.000 to 29.70 . I am not sure if this coverage is standard in these radio's but both radio's were bought new and already had these channels fitted. To return to the standard 40 just repeat the process.
Murray
 
Just got the radio back from having the frequency slide done and everthing is working well, even had some good contacts down on the Kiwi band (40 channels 26.330 to 26.770) ssb call channel is 35 or 26.720.
Murray
 

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