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President line of radios
- Thread starter Red Ranger
- Start date
Good info - thanks and kudos.
President Electronics was a stand-alone start-up company from late 1976 until acquisition by Uniden sometime between late1978 and early 1980. Unfortunately, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly when that acquisition took place or accurately nail down when President stopped production. Just as difficult is determining exactly which models President produced before the acquisition. When Uniden took the reins, they stepped in and continued with the President name, model names and numbers. But, everything regarding the transition has been left mostly to speculation.
Many people incorrectly think that when "President" switched position from above the channel selector to beneath it, that signaled the Uniden takeover. It actually happened before the name position changed, and use of the President name continued for awhile even after the Uniden branding was introduced....with good reason. President began as a "freeband" radio producer and, during the company's relatively brief existence, it established itself solidly in what was then a CB niche. That's why Uniden acquired the company and ran with it without making any immediate changes.
Here's all I do know for a fact: Pre-Uniden President developed and produced the Jackson. Here's three of the prototypes I picked up from an ex-Dynascan engineer involved in the production. If I remember correctly, the top one went from 26.965 to 29.000. The other two went from 26.065 to 28.315 (with the +10 kHz switch engaged).
One of them had the MRF455 final and the other two were MRF477.
They produced a three-band Grant with fine/coarse unlocked clarifier which I ran in my car early 1978. No picture of that one because how/where would I have posted it back then....I've always been an AM junky. I am assuming the Grant was a more economical alternative to the Jackson which was $300+ when it hit the market. In fact, I really had no use for the Grant. I traded it to a guy for an AX144 and a $50 bill. I know that President further refined and produced these rigs before Uniden took over.
I have reason to suspect that the original President Electronics ceased production after those three models and Uniden took over from there. First, Uniden rode the freeband wave for all it was worth until the FCC filed "cease-and-desist" and threatened to pull type-acceptance on all their products for non-compliance. There was a crackdown in the mid-80s where NALs were as common as junk mail. Uniden shut down multi-band radios completely for the US market.You still had the models but they were all being branded "Uniden" and met type-acceptance.
AX144 vs. AR144. Both rock-solid performers for SSB, but I suspect the AX144 was a President creation which continued under Uniden; but, the AR144 was solely a Uniden product. That's because all of President' focus was on SSB performance and AM suffered. However, the AR144 shined as well on AM. Another reason: I had both models. The tech I was dealing with back then modded my AX144 for extra channels with no problems. Later, when I picked up my AR144 and took it to him, he told me he'd rather not mess with it and I wouldn't be happy with the price if he did.
I looked it up at Defpom and don't remember the details, but there was a difference or differences that made the AR144 difficult, or maybe even next to impossible to mod for extra channels. This was during the period when Uniden had tightened up it's act and the AX144 was out of production. Wasn't a real disappointment for me because I didn't work out of the legal 40 anyhow. The AR144 was a lot of fun and a great little radio in every respect.... I ran that thing for a lot of years.
Hope I haven't put anyone to sleep. I may be the world's greatest fan of the original President radios and would love to see any further information anyone has....even if it is contradictory to or in conflict with what I have written. The whole story of President needs to be told.
73 To all and to all a good night.
I am loving this thread! think I have 10 or more old school President rigs sitting here. Then add on the 2510 and 2600 I have Chipswitch-ed and recapped with the corrosive glue removed!
What really blew me away was the swing on my 2 JFK radios! Dead key 5, swing 35....
Next on the list will hopefully be a Grant II and JFK II someday.
What really blew me away was the swing on my 2 JFK radios! Dead key 5, swing 35....
Next on the list will hopefully be a Grant II and JFK II someday.
Had a Grant II, it was the perfect little new radio that had everything and lower power output. Matched up great to my many 2 pill amplifiers. Sad thing is the SSB audio has an odd monotone nasal drone sound to it. All the locals I talk to hated the audio so down the road it went.
another President junky!
i collect the president line, but am a cheap bastard and won't pay the price many of them fetch on the fleabay.
When i find a steal, i grab them up.
never really knew the story, just that uniden took over.
do we know whether or not today's president electronics has any ties to the original?
LC
i collect the president line, but am a cheap bastard and won't pay the price many of them fetch on the fleabay.
When i find a steal, i grab them up.
never really knew the story, just that uniden took over.
do we know whether or not today's president electronics has any ties to the original?
LC
From what I have been able to find out new President is not directly connected to Uniden.
They use two ODMs - Uniden and Qixiang.
The only ties that I see are that they used Uniden as the ODM for some radios.
If they are made in Vietnam, Unident is the ODM.
China, Qixiang is the ODM.
Interesting sidenote - anything made in Vietnam should not be subject to Trump tariffs.
They use two ODMs - Uniden and Qixiang.
The only ties that I see are that they used Uniden as the ODM for some radios.
If they are made in Vietnam, Unident is the ODM.
China, Qixiang is the ODM.
Interesting sidenote - anything made in Vietnam should not be subject to Trump tariffs.
You may well be right; but I've never seen a President chassis that wasn't marked by Uniden.
Which model did you see?
I got an early president grant.has uppers and a factory unlocked clarifier.bought it actually 2 in ohio in a cb shop.consecutive serial numbers.gave 1 to dad n we talked long dx at nites.dont know if step mom took it or what.power supply is still here wish radio was for sentimental value. My grant works flawlessly today
My 2nd JFK, which is pristine in physical condition, has a bit of noise coming out from speaker even the squelch is all the way up. Just sounds like background channel static. Not really noticeable unless it is in a quiet room. Now I have not done a recap or alignment yet but I don't think that is gonna help. I have heard of other radios having this problem. Thoughts-comments?
You know, I have changed out a lot of caps in a bunch of radios - yet never regretted doing that. Because after testing the old caps I took out, I test all of them and found they many were dried out and ready to be another failure point just waiting to happen. If you are going to keep that ye olde radio then consider to recap it. Otherwise, it will return with another problem in time. Usually sooner than later - to boot you in the hindquarter. Murphy's law.
I think your problem with this radio is cap related. Doubtful that any resistor is going bad since only a few are ever getting enough real stress to get hot and then weaken. Not saying that isn't it. Same is true for the mylar caps. But mylar caps are starting to get pretty old and are the next thing to fail. Sometimes transistors get noisy rather than failing outright too. Best let a qualified tech sort it out if the recap didn't take. At least you won't have to pay for that part of the job ('recapping') and makes it easier for him to throw it on a scope and trace the noise down. This can only improve the end result.
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Noisy Green Chiclets - those polyester / Mylar green flat-pack caps. Just start tapping around on them - you'll see what I mean. They're starting to fail.
Knowing that you have the SQUELCH control all the way up an it still passes thru - there are several areas to look into - including the output hi-cut filter in the Audio amp section.
MB3712 although does use an Offset pin, the feedback path parts are the ones I think you should look into replacements Pin 7 uses 2.2uF or thereabouts. Those are electrolytic - and replaced in pairs to keep the Audio amps balanced.
Knowing that you have the SQUELCH control all the way up an it still passes thru - there are several areas to look into - including the output hi-cut filter in the Audio amp section.
MB3712 although does use an Offset pin, the feedback path parts are the ones I think you should look into replacements Pin 7 uses 2.2uF or thereabouts. Those are electrolytic - and replaced in pairs to keep the Audio amps balanced.
Thank you gents. Will look into them with a closer eye. I am also in process of re-capping an old 1992 Technics home audio receiver that we use at work. That thing has many a bad caps! The Vloss and ESR on almost all of them are horrendous to the point that the voltage regulator sections to the PA IC were making the PCB get hot and discolor.
Glad I caught that before any real major damage occurred. Although, the cooling fan that quit wasn't helping either!
Glad I caught that before any real major damage occurred. Although, the cooling fan that quit wasn't helping either!
Need to update this thread now that all the FCC models are now available.
73
Jeff
73
Jeff
I must have read the question Wrong because most of what I see posted were NOT allowed to be sold in the USA? No FM CB is or has ever been a Legal CB in the USA. All of ours would be just AM or AM & SSB Only.Anything with FM would be an Export model so Not a USA Legal CB.If you just listed the Legal USA CB's as he wanted then the list is far smaller but still quiet extensive.For me the President ADAMS was my Favorite but I used it as a base not a mobile because it's HUGE but a Beautiful CB Radio in anybody's book who likes CB's at all.
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