Midland 77-857

[Smokinone]

I just opened up this little Midland 77-857 from 1976.


The sticker is a certification for use on the band.






As can be seen, it looks to have lived a tough life. It's been in my garage for about 15 years, something the wife picked up at a garage sale or auction I'm sure.

I just wanted to comment on the quality of these radios from a build aspect. They used studs and wire wrap on most of the board connected wires, and have a few quality film caps throughout. Lots of heat sinking and shielding going on too, other than using just the case.

This is what it looked like just as the case came off. No cleaning done.


What I did to the radio was replace all the electrolytic caps, wired an SBE microphone for it, and turned it on. I thought I might have to do some adjusting, but the frequency is almost right on, I will try and make a slight adjustment, I think it's CT-1. I don't have the manual. 5 watt dead key, shows about 20 swing on my WM-1 on peak scale.

Anyway, just wanted to show the quality Midland radios were back in the day.

I was going to sand and paint the case, but I decided to just clean it, and I used some polish on it to protect it. This little radio I'm sure has earned all the battle scars it has, and since it all still functions well, basically leave it alone. Other than a recap of the electrolytic, and a new power connector at the rear to replace the busted one, some cleaning and possibly a little tuning, it's as it was. It has a PLL02a in it as well.

Now to get on the air and see how it sounds...

 

[Holydvr]

I have a similar unit, but it seems to have more switches. Been about six months or more since I ran it. I seem to remember it was about a Cobra 29LTD equivalent as far as features are concerned. Mine works well also. I believe the maker of this era was Cybernet.

 

[sunbulls]

I love these old Cybernet radios. Besides the usual recap for something that old, I also change the mic wiring inside the radio over to the cobra standard. Yours doesn't look that bad. At least I'm not seeing ta lot of rust on the backside or screws.

 

[sunbulls]

Also check out the 77-882 at CB Tricks. That model uses the same PTBM048AOX board, but has cleaner looking copy of the schematic.
http://www.cbtricks.com/radios/midland/77_882/graphics/Midland-77-882-schematic.png

 

[secret squirrel]

Awesome work.

 

[Smokinone]

I love these old Cybernet radios. Besides the usual recap for something that old, I also change the mic wiring inside the radio over to the cobra standard. Yours doesn't look that bad. At least I'm not seeing ta lot of rust on the backside or screws.

We don't see much rust here in the desert, but, the heat usually dries things up pretty fast As clean as the inside was on this radio, I'm sure it was thrown around more than used. I replaced the speaker mounting screws with new ones, left the others after a few minutes in an ultrasonic cleaner.

I never thought about changing the mic wiring in the radio, the SBE mic was wired for I don't know what originally, but is now wired for Midland. It's a nice little mic, and clear. Has a little like transformer in series with the mic element which I don't remember seeing in other mics. Good idea though.

Not sure of the board manufacturer, but I have a JCPenney 6241 that I'm pretty sure is a Cybernet chassis. They made good boards from what I understand. My father in law thought so as well I remember. But, this little rig was built with pride you can tell.
I think in the hey day, most CB manufacturers were trying to put out the best product they could, using the best components they could within reason. I also have a Midland 79-892, and it also seems to be well built and solid, my first side band.

Not just CB's, but in most of the electronics built back in the day were of pretty darn good quality, I think. I also think the quality control was a little more stringent and not left to the end user.

Anyway, getting good strong and clear audio reports.

I just need to find homes for some of this stuff. I just recapped a Cobra 90LTD as well. I haven't been on the air with that one yet, still have a little checking to do on it. It seems built pretty well also, and it has a what I consider large transformer for an AM rig. It's a heavy little base radio.