I did it again.... (new radio related)

[guitar_199]

Back to my hijinks.... I found a Midland 77-888 on Shop Goodwill. This was the exact model that my wife had in her car "back in the day". She actually used to use it a lot....but probably wouldn't anymore.

It will take time for it to get here but, from the pictures, it is uggggggllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeee. Ugly as home-made sin. I am seriously thinking of repainting the covers, touching the chrome up with some kind of chrome paint pen, just... generally cleaning it up as well as I can. Another one of those "just buying it for the memories" things. $11 plus shipping... so not too bad. But I tell ya... this is probably going to stand as the ugliest radio I have ever bought. It was kind of like a puppy though..... it was so ugly it was cute... and I couldn't resist.

Just having fun with the hobby....... you can go back to what you were doing now.....

Bob

 

[guitar_199]

Just for giggles.....

 

[TM86]

It really doesn't look all that bad. No missing knobs, no holes drilled or cut in the case. Just a quick 40 to 50 hours of cleaning and it should be fine.

 

[guitar_199]

It really doesn't look all that bad. No missing knobs, no holes drilled or cut in the case. Just a quick 40 to 50 hours of cleaning and it should be fine.

I wish it had the bracket... but... oh well.....

And of all things.... "she" doesn't know I bought it yet. "She" doesn't know it is on the way..... I feel so.... dirty.....

 

[TM86]

I wish it had the bracket... but... oh well.....

And of all things.... "she" doesn't know I bought it yet. "She" doesn't know it is on the way..... I feel so.... dirty.....

That's because you've been a naughty boy.

 

[guitar_199]

That's because you've been a naughty boy.

49 years in 16 days.... if she isn't used to it by now...........

 

[guitar_199]

Received it today!!!!! I was working my "day job" so I didn't have a lot of time... but on my lunch break... I ran it through some tests....
PA - works fine.

RCV - threw it on the B&K 2040 - receive works fine. It hears QUITE far down (to the bottom attenuator and then roll the knob down almost to the bottom!). RF Gain seems to do it's job.

XMT - put it on the dummy load ... spectrum analyzer hooked up.... absolutely transmits... and I can see modulation. It looks like it might be a little low in modulation but the carrier peak is nice. Modulation being low???? I can deal with that. This hopefully means nobody has boogered up the AMC. An alignment will get that taken care of.

I would say that a good alignment would be in order.... and OMG... every POT IN IT needs cleaning!!!!!!!!

But .... in the end.... I would call it functional.

 

[TM86]

But .... in the end.... I would call it functional.

That's the best kind of radio.

Working.

 

[unit_399]

Looks decent . . . and works. What more could you ask for 11 bucks plus shipping.

-399

 

[sunbulls]

I thing of beauty… Good old 02A Cybernet radios are among my favorites. I have several of those, both the 13-888 23 channel and the 77-888 40 channel versions. Along with changing all the electrolytic caps, the mic jacks were changed to accept the 4 pin Cobra standard. Anyway, I was never fond of that stock “volume mic” that came with them. It’s time consuming, but I also generally remove all the wire wrap binding posts. Instead, all the wires are soldered directly to the board. Those binding posts are great for trouble shooting, but you wouldn’t believe the amount of extra wire they used in that process. Trimming the wire harness wires down to size lessens the amount of stray capacitance, plus results in and cleaner appearance IMO. All the current robbing incandescent bulbs are also replaced with warm white LEDS. Is all this worth the effort? Probably not for most techs, but I’ll put mine up against any stock 4 watt AM radio made in the last 10 years. Listening on a below 1 converted 02A Cybernet…..too easy.....

 

[w9cll]

I saw that one on there.